That's not a bad thought/excuse. If so, hopefully DR2 is back on track in that regard.

Tom Cruise is older in Dead Reckoning than Jon Voight was in the first Mission Impossible and that's insane to me pic.twitter.com/ztqEZtsO5A

— who, me? (@le_post_enjoyer) July 15, 2023

Also, a ton of Christian/religious subtext in this one...

- The Entity as an all-seeing, all-knowing God
- Gabriel as God's messenger
- A crucifix-shaped MacGuffin
- Grace as a character who receives just that
- Multiple sequences in Rome, home of the Vatican

Any others I'm missing?

Re: Grace, I forgot to mention just how moving her arc was. Maybe the most emotional element of the entire franchise? Because I literally teared up at one point, when Ethan and the team fully/unconditionally accepted her despite her "sins." Atwell did such a great job in that moment, going from hardened thief to vulnerable orphan who, deep down, as her eyes welled up, knew she finally found a family. Just incredible stuff.

That, and I guess her audibly "accepting" a role in / giving her life to the IMF in the end had a Christian/religious undertone as well.

In the event the ringer does a rewatchables for this, if the Kittridge character doesn't win the "Ruffalo/Hanna/Rubinek/Partridge Overacting Award" for his eye twitching and emphatic whispering during the Intelligence briefing scene I dont know what else will. He was going for it.

HE PUTS HIS “DIRECTED BY” TITLE CARD IN A SHOT WITH ONLY GABRIEL IN THE FRAME https://t.co/jc2UlpcIDD

— Marcelo (@MarceloJPico) July 15, 2023

Gabriel is his name… an Angel from the Bible

C@LAg said:

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TCTTS said:

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I think a huge part of that was the bright, digital cinematography, which just had me scratching my head throughout, especially compared to Fallout, which looked so incredibly rich and stunning. I just don't understand how they went from that look to this look, abandoning film, utilizing some suspect CGI here and there, etc.

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or it is b/c of limitations incurred by peak covid period filming, to get it done,

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It is also worth remembering that they were originally going to blow up a bridge and crash a train. But I think it was whatever country's government that found out they were doing it, and blew the whole thing up, figuratively.

I felt the tone was very "campy" at times, which is the best way I can describe it.

Perfect example is the scene at the beginning where all the government heads are explaining what the Entity is. They all say something and then stop talking, and another person talks. It felt super weird to me, and people just don't talk like this in real life.

That, coupled with the extreme close-ups on people's faces, the insane number of Dutch angles, and that super bright cinematography you mentioned, made me realize they must purposely have been trying to make it campy, like a 60's TV show. Once I accepted that fact I enjoyed it a little bit more.

Not to say it wasn't an odd choice, but I can only assume they must have purposely wanted that tone for the movie.

Hah, nice.

Watched it Friday afternoon and absolutely loved it
Still think as y'all have mentioned that fallout is still number 1…but the train sequence was absolutely incredible and just a really enjoyable movie from beginning to end
Got lost with the Gabriel stuff a few times/trying to remember things from the past
Was really sad when Ilsa died but when he said someone had to die I had a feeling it would be her at the end

Cannot wait for part 2!

TCTTS said:

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Also, a ton of Christian/religious subtext in this one...

- The Entity as an all-seeing, all-knowing God
- Gabriel as God's messenger
- A crucifix-shaped MacGuffin
- Grace as a character who receives just that
- Multiple sequences in Rome, home of the Vatican

Any others I'm missing?

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Lol my wife said it was the best version of the davinci code yet because of this.



I really enjoyed it. Tom cruise just can't miss right now.

good movie, plot has a few holes in it, ran a little long

One thing I was NOT expecting from #MissionImpossible7 were TWO scenes where characters look at Ethan Hunt with tears in their eyes and realize—perhaps for the 1st time—that someone values their life above his own. Powerful, emotional stuff for a franchise not built on emotions. pic.twitter.com/WG254ISqaf

— NostalgiaCast (@DWLundberg) July 16, 2023

I thought that Dead Reckoning was a really good Mission Impossible movie, but it was missing something for me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm came out of it a touch disappointed. Maybe I was hoping for something slightly different? Not sure. I did think all the performances were great and the plot was interesting (though the crypto payment line seems dated already). I guess after 7 of these they have grown a tiny bit stale?

Any chance that Ilsa is somehow still alive? And that she comes back in surprise fashion in 8? I think she was definitely stabbed by Gabriel, but something about the way they hardly dwelled on her death - the death of such a crucial character for two-and-a-half movies - makes me think there's some kind of sleight of hand going on there.

The epic train scene alone was worth the price of admission. Unreal. To know that it was a real train that was built for the scene makes it even more impressive.

Grace being given the choice between life in prison, death, or joining the IMF didn't seem like much of a choice. And then hearing that everyone on the team was there because they'd been given the same choice cheapened the team. It's like… I thought these folks were here out of a sense of duty or service, but now I learn they're just a more functional Dirty Dozen? That's a radical rephrasing of what we thought this team was about.

I'd bet she's 100% dead, but the Entity could mess with Ethan by trying to make him think she's alive. That would be pretty wild.

Aggie_Journalist said:

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Grace being given the choice between life in prison, death, or joining the IMF didn't seem like much of a choice. And then hearing that everyone on the team was there because they'd been given the same choice cheapened the team. It's like… I thought these folks were here out of a sense of duty or service, but now I learn they're just a more functional Dirty Dozen? That's a radical rephrasing of what we thought this team was about.

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I'm fairly certain Ethan was an agent of some sort back in the day, when Gabriel killed who looked to be either Ethan's partner, girlfriend, or both. Ethan was then wrongly blamed for her death, and at that point was given the choice of prison or joining the IMF. So A) Ethan was *already* an agent of sorts, almost assuredly out of a sense of duty/service, and then B) instead of going to prison, chose to join the IMF.

Same goes for Luther, who was "disavowed" from the CIA going into the first movie, when Cruise essentially recruited him into the IMF. But Luther almost assuredly had to have first joined the CIA out of a sense of duty/service as well.

So, yes, the IMF is made up of number of Dirty Dozen misfits, but that doesn't automatically mean they weren't already honorably serving their country prior to joining. I just get the impression that if you happen to screw up in some way, but still have certain valuable skillsets, you're then given the opportunity to join the IMF, which is obviously off-the-books and essentially made up of "ghosts."

That said, it doesn't seem to be made up of *just* misfits, since Voight's character is mentioned as having been on an IMF "recruiting" trip just prior to the start of the first movie. So it's probably traditionally been a mixture of both "legit" agents and "misfit" agents.

That's a good point, and it underlines why they should have provided more of the Cruise, Gabriel story in MI:7. I thought Kittridge had said something about finding Ethan a thief at the start of the movie. Did I mishear that?

Aggie_Journalist said:

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Grace being given the choice between life in prison, death, or joining the IMF didn't seem like much of a choice. And then hearing that everyone on the team was there because they'd been given the same choice cheapened the team. It's like… I thought these folks were here out of a sense of duty or service, but now I learn they're just a more functional Dirty Dozen? That's a radical rephrasing of what we thought this team was about.

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If you remember, Ethan had a different but similar conversation with Luther in the original Mission: Impossible when Luther was on the run from the government when Ethan played to Luther's ego and chance to get back in.

Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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TCTTS said:

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Any chance that Ilsa is somehow still alive? And that she comes back in surprise fashion in 8? I think she was definitely stabbed by Gabriel, but something about the way they hardly dwelled on her death - the death of such a crucial character for two-and-a-half movies - makes me think there's some kind of sleight of hand going on there.

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I had a similar thought. Don't know how they would pull that off, but I liked her character probably the most and never expected her death.

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If you bring her back now, you risk going Full Fast & Furious, which is not good. It's one thing to sleight-of-hand a death. It's an entirely different one to kill a person and then bring them back. I don't think Cruz & McQuarrie are scraping the bottom of the plotline barrel to do that one.

BassCowboy33 said:

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Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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TCTTS said:

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Any chance that Ilsa is somehow still alive? And that she comes back in surprise fashion in 8? I think she was definitely stabbed by Gabriel, but something about the way they hardly dwelled on her death - the death of such a crucial character for two-and-a-half movies - makes me think there's some kind of sleight of hand going on there.

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I had a similar thought. Don't know how they would pull that off, but I liked her character probably the most and never expected her death.

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If you bring her back now, you risk going Full Fast & Furious, which is not good. It's one thing to sleight-of-hand a death. It's an entirely different one to kill a person and then bring them back. I don't think Cruz & McQuarrie are scraping the bottom of the plotline barrel to do that one.

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If they need her for the story, she'll be back; if not she won't. I agree they left it open enough that she could have somehow survived that, but agree it would trend toward F&F territory.

I'll take the middle ground here - since you guys came up with a great idea actually

Ilsa is definitely dead.. no way she is able to come back to life

However

The Entity is getting stronger and more powerful so.. much like mimicking Benjy's voice - The Entity will mimic Ilsa, and all of the other females in his life to try and get him to lose focus on the mission

This entire MI Series is really the Ethan Hunt story and the bad guys always want to destroy the world AND hurt Ethan too

I like my idea because then Rebecca Ferguson would still get some screen time - just as an image and not real.. but it would count

Can't wait to see how it plays out

Well that would certainly fit in the AI realm of the story.

BassCowboy33 said:

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Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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TCTTS said:

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Any chance that Ilsa is somehow still alive? And that she comes back in surprise fashion in 8? I think she was definitely stabbed by Gabriel, but something about the way they hardly dwelled on her death - the death of such a crucial character for two-and-a-half movies - makes me think there's some kind of sleight of hand going on there.

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I had a similar thought. Don't know how they would pull that off, but I liked her character probably the most and never expected her death.

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If you bring her back now, you risk going Full Fast & Furious, which is not good. It's one thing to sleight-of-hand a death. It's an entirely different one to kill a person and then bring them back. I don't think Cruz & McQuarrie are scraping the bottom of the plotline barrel to do that one.

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I'll be honest, this was the first movie I felt already veered much closer to F&F territory than any movie before.

And don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the F&F movies, but the sci-fi plot, "overacting", campy tone and comedic moments definitely felt like a F&F movie.

According to sources Ilsa is listed in MI 8

Likely as a flashback and or something to fill in missing pieces to the puzzle

Rebecca Ferguson is 21 years younger than Cruise. She could be his long lost daughter.

LarryElder said:

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good movie, plot has a few holes in it, ran a little long

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Excellent summary