Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

Spon Farmer

I DON’T KNOW IF SPOILER TAGS ARE NECESSARY NOW, SO SPOILER WARNING.

Saw it yesterday. Fantastic stuff.

Hayley Atwell absolutely stole the show and it was nice to see the recruitment of a new agent. I don’t remember if there was mention in the previous movies of life prior to the IMF, so that they all have a past life they are trying to redeem, escape, etc is an interesting revelation.

The White Widow is a lot of fun (I only realised she was the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave’s character during the meeting with Kittridge even though her scene in the series had her mention Max several times) and Ilsa got a great end to her story.

I didn’t like the Kittridge mission briefing at the start. The tape scene is meant it to be the facts of the mission and “reminding” Ethan that he “owes” the IMF was a silly way bring up the “I accept” element and a bad way to introduce Gabriel. The scene with Grace having that moment and Luthor & Benji explaining they all had it too was how it should first have been revealed. Gabriel at the check in desk at Dubai airport and when Ethan momentarily sees him was the perfect entrance.

Henry Czerny’s voice also detached from the film m, like it was playing on a separate device to the film audio track. Same at the end. Basset’s voice at the end of FALLOUT was the same.

Bacchus

Saw it last week. I thought it was fantastic. Not as clever as some of the previous ones but as a sheer rollercoaster experience that doesn't let up it is A+. The time absolutely flew in cinema. The recruitment angle they introduced was a neat insight never shown before. Gabriel and the AI entity are a fantastic, horrifying combo. The AI is cold and calculating and Gabriel is the perfect human avatar for that. One thing that grated on me was the line early on indicating it had become "sentient". No none of that please. Why couldn't it just have been AI that had a directive from a human (an AI prompt gone wrong) and it is executing that to an extreme. It shouldn't want anything or have motives. I hope they ditch the sentience bit in the sequel. Otherwise though it was put to scary use in it's ability to predict outcomes.

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907582#Comment_120907582

This is the first time an AI has been actually scary in a film and I hope Part 2 has it doing more to put life’s in danger. The noise it makes is very creepy.

And you are right about the Entiry and Gabriel being a great combination.

And nice little twist that it’s prediction that Paris would betray them and join Hunt actually caused her to save Hunt and Grace, not Ethan’s mercy.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907773#Comment_120907773

I think I've been scared of AI since 2001 a space odyssey 😅

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120890818#Comment_120890818

Perhaps but pragmatically, were any of these people anything but talking heads anyway? Only two in the room feature at all after that scene and it's purposes was to convey the info about The Entity. I enjoyed they took a stuffy bit of exposition and gave it a little life, however affected the dialogue was. And the whole scene being punctuated by Ethan throwing his green gas grenade just underlined the point this was going to be a MI that accentuated its reality a little.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907773#Comment_120907773

I think the film could have done with more moments like the bit in Venice, with Ethan following the voice of "Benji"; more scenes where the Entity was actively fúcking with the team, rather than Gabriel and his convenient past that intertwined with Ethan's own.

Tazium

My wife was reading something online that the next one is the final one with Tom Cruise. I guess he is starting to age out of these kind of roles and I don't know if I'd like to see him still doing the silly running at 66 or 70. Anyone got any insight to what happens the franchise after part 2?

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908614#Comment_120908614

McQuarrie has started stating in interviews that the creative team are now tossing around ideas for a ninth film. It was very much implied that 8 would be the big finale for Ethan Hunt, but there's some notable backtracking on that now - with McQuarrie suggesting the series is far from over.

However, even that backtracking could be a misdirect, in a bid to throw people off the scent about Hunt's potential fate (death, retirement, other?) at the end of DRP2. Befitting Mission:Impossible, you'd never quite know who's messing with who :)

Tazium

^ yup, could be a Daniel Craig moment maybe in Part 2. Interesting!! Thanks

The Black Oil

Wonder what sort of calculus Tom and Paramount are doing now re 8, given 7 hasn't exactly been the box office juggernaut they likely hoped for.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908706#Comment_120908706

No but the timing of the release was terrible; Paramount couldn't have reasonably predicted Barbie & Oppenheimer would turn into a weird cultural "moment", with the former tearing up the box office. And there's obviously still some hesitancy over summer blockbusters - this has been a fairly píss poor summer by all accounts, if not one of the worst in living memory(?). Dead Reckoning might have been stained by the saturated market of dross out there.

johnny_ultimate

Well part two is all but in the bag, other than apparently one big final setpiece and a few other bits - and production is paused now due to the strike. So the film's absolutely coming out as planned, although I wouldn't at all be surprised if it was a bit later than the current release date.

The film actually opened to pretty good, standard numbers for Mission:Impossible, and the series tends to have decent legs - but obviously, Barbenheimer has upset the balance a bit. I think I read somewhere Mission:Impossible will be getting some IMAX screens back in the US in a few weeks though which might give it a bit of a second wind.

It was never exactly going to be another Top Gun: Maverick, though, and the main thing is this is another of this year's films that probably had an extra 50-100 million added to the production budget due to pandemic logistics. But even with that, I'd say Cruise has a 'blank cheque' at Paramount for a few more years yet after Maverick, even if this only did 'fine'.

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908457#Comment_120908457

Yes there definitely should have been more scenes of the Entity doing things to actively interfere with the IMF like alert the police to locations, etc.

It does need a human thought but also should get an explanation that it sought the best adversary for Ethan. If it is to be his last mission then it needed to be an enemy that affected his life in a big way, even if it was something we didn’t know about previously.

And I really Luthor going into hiding doesn’t mean he is absent for most of the next film. I want to see where he is and what he is doing,

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909201#Comment_120909201

Like Solomon Lane?

A scene where the Entity managed to manoeuvre Lane to freedom from imprisonment in a Gitmo style facility would have actually have demonstrated that the Entity was something to be afraid of, while also giving it a human face that had a history with Hunt and who had already proven he needed to be feared.

Could have been a cool scene, with guards being reassigned, doors and locks being opened electronically, a path being cleared while Lane doesn't even understand why until he has a face to face with the entity and receives his own mission.

Instead we got the non-entity and Benico Del Toro's non union equivalent.

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909201#Comment_120909201

Luthor will reappear in part 2 in Alaska with a familiar face from M:I1

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909201#Comment_120909201

As someone said, Solomon Lane was the obvious choice here for an antagonist with a personal vendetta or connection to Ethan Hunt; IIRC he was last seen being handed over to English authorities so he's still out there - maybe he's set to return, or maybe Sean Harris had enough of blockbusters.

I suspect Luthor will be the key to taking down The Entity, cos he seemed to have an idea of what to do next. It's nice to see Ving Rhanes back, man always had a good charisma to him.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909662#Comment_120909662

Who's that cos I'm trying to think who'd still be alive from MI1 apart from Luthor.

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909679#Comment_120909679

Lane is a great villain but I don’t think that the Entity’s goal will be the same new world order that he and Walker had. Plus using him again so soon isn’t interesting.

A new character that reveals information we or Luthor didn’t previously know about Ethan is better.

I thought we’d get some more background in Part 1 and I’m surprised they are leaving it all for Part 2. They also have to explain where he has been for the last few decades as Ethan thought he was dead (I think - but I’m sure he at least said it wasn’t possible that he really saw him) and why he so dangerous yet Luthor hasn’t heard of him. Whatever it is that he believes in is why the Entity chose him. I assume that Gabriel asked the Entity to involve Ethan so that he could settle personal matters hence why the AI choose to involve Elsa.

Did Elsa say she had heard of him before or was all she knew in the electronic communication?

Spon Farmer

Anyway the Entity has to start bringing the world to its knees in Part 2. Maybe the closer the team gets the worse it will react.

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909679#Comment_120909679

The guy who was supposed to be guarding the NOC list at Langley and that Beart gave the ****.

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909662#Comment_120909662

Poor guy surely isn’t still there. :P

Spon Farmer

If Part 2 is the end for Crusie, I wonder if the plan might be for Atwell to lead a new team?

If not and the next is simply the last them maybe a new ongoing Paramount+ series (more the original series/first film - more about deception than action since there is no way they could match the movies). And

Four to six episodes each season to tell the story. Each season changing some cast members

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909858#Comment_120909858

Apparently he is. In fairness he really **** the bed in his last role for them 😂

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909982#Comment_120909982

Has he been mentioned in the previous films or have you done a spoiler for Part 2 ?

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120910022#Comment_120910022

Didn’t think it was much of a spoiler as he was announced as a cast member months ago.

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120910045#Comment_120910045

It is a spoiler if I didn’t know the cast list :P

No harm though - it isn’t anything major.

Still Luthor better have major screen time - the fact that he has gone into hiding already tells us that he will be the one who figures how to kill the AI (unless the plan is for the heroes to lose!!) - but he better not be just showing up near the end.

delboy85

I'm working my way through a re-watch of the previous films (in advance of going to see the new one next week).

I love the first film. Have a real soft spot for it. Yeah, the special effects look a bit ropey now but it's such an enjoyable movie.

As for MI2, I hated it when I saw it in the cinema back in the day. Have never seen it since until this week. Wow. It is truly awful. Just as bad as I remembered. Am absolute turkey. The slow motion moments, the doves, the terrible acting, Tom's ridiculous floppy hair...

I watched MI3 today and absolutely loved it. Philip Seymour Hoffman was brilliant as the villain.

MisterAnarchy

Bit of a mixed bag for me.

The film basically looked like a sequence of actions scenes stuck together with almost no plot or a nonsensical Mac Guffin plot. The tone was all over the place, sometimes serious, other times camp over the top comedy.

There were alot of weird scenes, shots, and editing possibly as a result of Covid filming rules. The chase scene in Rome was like a parody of previous films, the 2 goons constantly chasing Cruise was also irritating. Too many boring and overly long chase scenes.

How many times has Hunt been accused of going rogue now ? Has this man not proved his loyalties at this stage. The plot felt stale and the dialogue felt wooden.

Vanessas Kirbys character is a really annoying character, that scene in the nightclub where they were all just sitting around and growling like dogs at each other, please. Kittridges acting was over the top, really hammy, Elwes was also unconvincing.

The whole Entity threat and the Key, poorly explained alot of mumbo jumbo, not much substance.

The script is really really weak.

By far the dumbest film of the series, I didnt care that much for Grace, she was ok, it reminded me a bit of Knight and Day with the silliness of Cruise and Grace.

6.5 out of 10.

Full_Circle_81

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120928227#Comment_120928227

Interesting comparison there at the end. I know Knight and Day isn't that well regarded, but I enjoyed it's silliness and OTT action scenes and how hard Cruise commits and leans into the jokey tone throughout. Dead Reckoning kinda fluctuated between the silly and the serious, maybe highlighting some tonal issues.

If this had been Knight and Day sequel, I think I'd have found the plot a little easier to swallow...

homerun_homer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908706#Comment_120908706

They'll likely give it a re-release ahead of / with Part 2 to try get a few more quid out of it. I can easily see many fans doing a double bill. It was really was a shame it has stalled the way it has because of timing. Reviews and fan reactions have all been stellar, and it clearly should have been a hit as standard. I doubt anyone could put it down to fatigue with the franchise or anything like that. They'd have done well to have brought it forward a little, or push it out to August as they saw the momentum of Barbennheimer growing.

MisterAnarchy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120929237#Comment_120929237

Yes I enjoyed Knight and Day, but that was played strictly for laughs.

This was all over the place.

The Black Oil

I did cringe a little early on, English speaking Russians with subtitles, really? I guess it's the default a lot of the time in Hollywood productions, or they cast Americans and British actors. I've less of an issue with this. I had heard Kermode and Mayo's effusive praise for DR and I was primed for a stunt or something potentially jaw-dropping that perhaps had been held back from the trailers or simply did something new in this genre. It wasn't to be, so I was a little bored as the train going over started to intensify. I was also hoping for a little more from Henry Czerny's warning to Hunt 'this will cost you dearly', per the trailer. It was probably there, but I forget it now amongst the green smoke! Fallout had a certain energy that flowed throughout from the Wolf Blitzer mask, to the HALO jump, bathroom fight, Lane, the moment where the police officer is shot, jumping out the window, the camp, Julia and Luther with the bomb, Ilsa fighting and the final chase. You bought into the fun, scale and dynamic and it knocked your socks off along the way. DR simply didn't have this magic, imo.

homerun_homer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120930003#Comment_120930003

English speaking Russians with subtitles? At my screening subtitles appeared for the first line and then dropped as if they realised a wrong setting was selected. They pay off the English speaking element the same way they do it in TC's film Valkyrie, where it's acknowledged that they are speaking their own language and then there is that shift to English so they don't need to do subtitles, and have non native speakers learning the language.

The Black Oil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120931133#Comment_120931133

Kermode has often talked about the demise of projectionists. How does it work now, is it primarily computer based?

homerun_homer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120931309#Comment_120931309

I saw it on Cineworld Imax which I believe is digital. Not sure if it’s a glitch that happens other times it screens there but it happened on opening night.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120931133#Comment_120931133

They were just doing the same thing as in Hunt for Red October, likely as a little homage given the setting. Establishing that it's Russian with subtitles, then switching over to English and dropping the subtitles.

They did some little camera move to cement the switch too - not the same one as in HfRO, but something similar.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120931309#Comment_120931309

Yes most cinemas these days have automated projection systems - all hooked up to a server, and then it’s all just set to start at a given time. There’d be some technicians to set everything up and trained staff to keep an eye on things in case something goes wrong, but not much more than that in a lot of places. Most films are delivered digitally, but some would still be sent on hard drives.

Only the rare places like IFI, Light House etc… would have dedicated projection teams these days.

The biggest problem is that it’s led to a decline in the quality of the experience in a lot of multiplexes. My biggest gripe is how they’ve just completely removed screen masking in a lot of screens - often the image just ‘floats’ there in the middle of a screen, with grey bars above, below and to the side.

gmisk

So now passed 450m dollars worldwide...291m dollar budget, not great usual rule of thumb is 2.5 times budget to break even so 720(ish), gonna likely lose a lot of money. Release date obviously didn't help, Oppenheimer gobbling up audience (and IMAX screens) barbie packing them in.

Agent Coulson

If that is the box office the only MI to do worse at the box office was MI3.

And with inflation etc this is probably the worst box of the lot.

To be honest it did exactly what it says on the tin for me and what I'd want from an MI movie.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120934863#Comment_120934863

I will always use any mention of that scene to share it: it's one of my all time favourite "tricks" of cinema. So simple, yet such an effective and compelling way to switch languages

https://youtu.be/uEvwbxcRaCQ

Mitch Connor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120936424#Comment_120936424

Yeah, its an absolute bomb - they should have moved it to September, which is barren in terms of big releases. Coming out the week before Barbie and Oppenheimer was a huge mistake, one I am very surprised they made. While I did think Barbie would be big, I didn't think it would be as huge as it is, but I did expect Oppenheimer to absolutely dominate the box office for a couple of weeks at least, and with taking IMAX/PLF screens away from MI in its second week it was always going to suffer.

I know from speaking to a couple of cinema chains that even the meagre slots they gave MI could have been better used for Barbie in particular.

I am a fan of the MI movies, and I really liked Dead Reckoning - i don't think it 'deserves' to flop badly in comparison to Fallout or RN, GP etc, I don't think the movie is a disaster. But if you put a movie out at the wrong time, this is what happens. Then again, it has done considerably worse in China than Fallout, and I don't think Barbie has swallowed the BO in China and I don't think Oppenheimer has even released there - don't know if there is some other 'Wandering Earth' type title over there at the moment though.

I do wonder if they may salvage some BO for it prior to Dead Reckoning Part 2. I could see them re-releasing it in the build up, maybe 2 months out, to try build hype for the sequel - but then Dead Pool 3 is out early May and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes a couple of weeks later in late May (so far) and might take out that time frame. If either of those move due the current strikes it could open a nice landing spot for a re-release.

Drumpot

I enjoyed it and think 7/10 is a solid score for it.

But there were a few things that irked me.

Hayley Atwell , I don’t get the praise, she wasn’t terrible but she’s no Rebecca Ferguson and I just don’t find her acting great. I think she might be the sleeper agent baddy of the movie, with Gabriel being a decoy. What better way to infiltrate Ethan’s crew?

There were some weird parts of the movie and I can’t put my finger on it. Perhaps the editing. Like I’d swear there was a moment where it looked like a character was gonna be killed and they were smiling for a split second as Ethan looked at them and then concerned a few secs later.

There just felt like there was a couple of moments I was brought out of the movie with some jarring things. Whether it be weird dialogue or weird editing, I don’t know. Maybe it’s cause we were closer to the screen then I usually am.

And maybe it’s cause I had one of those moments where I thought “did Tom cruise have plastic surgery” a couple of weeks ago, but I felt I couldn’t stop staring at his face at times. If you really look you can see the smooth parts of his head where he’d have a few ridges or blemishes. It’s hard not to stare when you feel you can see what should be an aged cruise looking smoother then he has in some movies.

Overall I did enjoy it.

Cartman78

Saw this earlier - wasn't in the mood for Oppenheimer tbh....just wanted something entertaining that I wouldn't have to think too hard about.

Have been a fan of the franchise over the years and this is a another solid entry imho.... maybe not as slick or coherent as the previous two but ticked all the boxes for me.

I didn't particularly mind the exposition pieces at the start...the main thing that bugged me was the carelessness with the key....if someone just had a secure zip pocket on their pants it would have saved a lot of drama 😂

The train sequence was excellent, and the other stunts,chases etc were well executed and good fun.

I guess we might all be reassessing our opinions on this one based on the success (or lack thereof) of the second part.

expectationlost

Don't quite understand how this dropped off so badly, are people's minds blanked once the media marketing focus goes to other movies, surely if people wanted to see this, there were still enough screens to go see it, it got lots of 'its fun go see it in the cinema' recommendations...

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120958769#Comment_120958769

Enthusiasm might remain or exist, but it means nothing if there are no screenings: with Barbie and Oppenheimer becoming phenomena, as far as I can read the stats the number of theatres Dead Reckoning is playing in in America has halved. And even then the times across the day would have shrunk; all making it harder to go.

By way of example: I checked my local cinema and there's one showing, at 215pm today - while the aforementioned other two films still have dozens of showing across the day, morning to evening. Dead Reckoning is getting buried by dint of bad timing.

Looks like it might limp to 500 million worldwide which in the end mightn't be the worst given everything - and no doubt it'll do well on digital platforms too.

Mitch Connor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120958942#Comment_120958942

also, beyond simple time slots. I know myself I wouldn't bother going to see it in the Cinema if it is in a smaller screen - may as well watch it at home.

To make matters worse, Paramount have thrown TMNT in on top of this box office too - they've buried their two titles with bad release dates. COuld have moved both into late August/September and had the Box Office to themselves. Bizarre.

MisterAnarchy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120959493#Comment_120959493

I watched it in Screen 5 of my cinema, had reservations beforehand as its one of the smaller screens but it didnt take anything from the experience.

The sound was actually better in that cinema than the bigger ones.

The picture would probably be that bit sharper too I guess as its not stretched as much.

~Rebel~

I wonder if the demand over time has lessened as the general public become more aware that it really is just half a movie too. People who'd have gone to a standalone may just catch this one on streaming, and go to the cinema for part 2.

homerun_homer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120960228#Comment_120960228

It's simply because it came out so close to Barbenheimer and it quickly got forgotten in the mix of what people felt they needed to go see first. Those two films continue to gain more and more traction and hype even after they were released, and word of mouth with Barbie in particular would inspire people to check it out when they may have been sceptical before.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120961466#Comment_120961466

For sure, that's a massive factor, but on top of that I don't think it helps that it's half a movie. When you're making the decision of what to go see, and have those 3 options, MI feels easier to let go for streaming and catch the second half in cinema. For instance I don't think MI: Fallout would have faded quite so easily under the same circumstances.

homerun_homer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120961480#Comment_120961480

I get you, but that didn't affect Dune, or Avengers Infinity War/Endgame. I know this year's 2 part franchise films have been let downs from projections at box office (Fast X) so it may be a factor, but Barbenheimer is the big factor. Reviews and fan ratings for MI:DR were massively positive, if they had no competition, kept their bigger screens like Imax and iSense, then it wouldn't have waned.

pixelburp

Dune is an odd example cos while it did well as an R Rated blockbuster, it didn't exactly break records either. There was a bit of talk about whether the sequel would get a green light at all - though admittedly maybe that was indeed because it front-loaded itself as "part 1". It was a brave move cos unlike Dead Reckoning the sequel wasn't locked in.