TAKE ONE Presents... - The Impossipod 7: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE (2023)

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

Simon and Jim discuss Christopher McQuarrie's third Mission: Impossible film, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE, the first of a two-parter that will cap off this franchise (for now). They discuss the film's troublesome title (again), the reconfiguration of the IMF from an intelligence agency to a weird cult with echoes of Tom Cruise's own religion, how the film is in dialogue with more traditional political thrillers like those of Tom Clancy and Brian de Palma, the nebulousness of the AI antagonist and what it misses about human-computer interaction, the issues created by the film's flabby and repetitive script, and then their minds are broken upon discovering which derided English film director has an inexplicable knighthood.Content warnings: the COVID-19 pandemic; verbal abuse and workplace harassment; cult leadership and the Church of Scientology; violent deaths including murder and assassination; nuclear weaponry; public transport disasters including a train crash.Our theme song is Star - X - Impossible Mission (Mission Impossible Theme PsyTrance Remix) by EDM Non-Stop (https://soundcloud.com/edm-non-stop/star-x-impossible-mission) licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.Full references for this episode available in Zotero at https://www.zotero.org/groups/5642177/take_one/collections/4UGZV7LG

Your mission should you choose to accept it is to obtain photographic proof, theft, shadow glitzen to his buyer, and apprehend with both. As always, should you or any member of your I am force be caught or kill Secretary of Sabo? Hello and welcome to Tech One Presents the Impossopod. Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to listen to us, watch all the Mission Impossible franchise films in order, contextualizing them and critiquing them. I'm Simon Bowie, and I'm joined, as always, by my co-host, Jim Ross. Hello, Jim. Hello. How are you?

I'm good. I'm good. You know, not making any... I haven't been forced into making the choice recently, which we'll talk about, I'm sure. The portentous choice. Yes, the choice. You know, I've not lived and died in the shadows, so, you know, yeah, I'm all right. Since we last recorded, I have been out to see The Final Reckoning, so I've now seen all the Mission Impossible films, and I'm not going to talk about the Final Reckoning. We're going to keep our discussion to Dead Reckoning Part 1.

but these are two parts of you know two productions that were filmed back to back two parts of the same thing but Simon when will we do dead reckoning part two exactly never so for my clarity are we going to be as we're discussing things here

are we going to be calling it dead reckoning part one dead reckoning or dead reckoning part one let's do the title stuff now and get it out the way, because we already did like five minutes on this at the end of the last episode, and people are sick of it. When I watched the film on Netflix, the title screen came up, and I think I sent you a photo of it on Signal, because it clearly, clearly says Dead Reckoning Part 1 on the title screen and everything. So, yes, the problem is you're opening up a philosophical can of worms here

because that means that the Irishman is actually called I heard you paint houses well that's interesting is that what comes up on the title screen yeah films without titles which is frankly what it should have been called that's a better title anyway that's a discussion for a different day yeah I remember what that refers to

in the context of the film I couldn't tell you who the Irishman is probably Robert De Niro right yeah yeah so today yes we are covering mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1, which is the seventh, 7th Mission Impossible film in the franchise. It came out in 2023 and was filmed back to back with the 8th film in the franchise, Mission Impossible, the Final Reckoning. Jim, what's your memory of first seeing Dead Reckoning Part 1?

Do you remember it? I do. I remember it very clearly, and I'm probably enough to hand in my Cinefile card for this. so I didn't get to see it in cinemas on its first run because it was around about the time that I was moving conducting a sort of three-location house move between Edinburgh, Oxford and where I am now I knew you at the time that this came out

and you were having a very stressful time of it you just had a baby and you were moving house and whatnot yeah yeah right so it was a good like two or three month period where I didn't really get to the cinema much, much at all. So I didn't watch it when it first came out. So I didn't actually watch this until New Year's Eve, 2023. And I watched it on my phone on a plane. So I'm presumably going to make Tom Cruise cry with that information.

Feels a spike of agony. Yeah, yeah. Because once we started doing this, series. I have since watched it on the reasonably large 4K television I own. It was a digital copy, but it was downloaded. I didn't stream it. So I have

improved the visual viewing experience since then, but no, my first watching of this was on a plane on my phone. Crumbs. Yeah, not the intended viewing experience. And for context, this comes out in July 2023. So that's a good six months after it came out.

But yes, I remember seeing this at Cine World in Glasgow, the tallest cinema in the world. I don't think anybody who's not been there really appreciates that. How ridiculous... It does genuinely feel like you're ascending a space elevator

when you go to the City World. Really, it does. It doesn't feel like the tallest cinema in the world because it's not a massive building, and yet no one has beaten it. I think it would be very, very... easy for like Dubai or whatever to build a cinema out of one of their mega skyscrapers but they haven't done. So I was in Glasgow, went to see it at the cinema there and then I covered

it on the Synotopia. The Sinatopia podcast with Amanda Rogers. That came out in July 2023. That episode is still up if you want to go listen to it. We covered Mission Impossible, Shaboo and Asteroid City on that episode and Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 was the film I liked the least. We'll get into the reasons for it but I generally think this is a pretty weak entry and isn't very good. But yes, this film is directed by Christopher McCrory, Tom Cruise is still producing and they announced that these Mission Impossible films would be filmed back to back, that they were going to do seven and eight together. the same time. The advent of COVID-19 scuppered their plans for release. So this

actually became, it was planned to come out in 2021, but was pushed back for two whole years because of filming challenges, shooting challenges around the pandemic and then the opening of cinemas again in the wake of the pandemic. So it became a big, it was a big kind of tentpole for, you know, COVID filmmaking, for how cinema could be after COVID. This was, like, representative of the first big blockbuster that would pull people back to cinemas. And there was a lot of talk about Tom Cruise's, you know, the savior of cinema and this messianic figure, paralleling Ethan Hunt's journey in this film, this messianic figure who

would save cinema through this blockbuster release. And interestingly, when I was searching for, you know, research material for this episode, journal articles and so forth, there was a lot of articles called Mission Impossible, like COVID cinema, COVID-less movie theatres. I found a particular project by Colby Henderson et al saying that the overarching goal of their Mission Impossible project is to build an effective, scalable, and cost-friendly movie theatre

that could solve the issue of fear of contracting the coronavirus by going to the movie fair during the pandemic. And I didn't really read the article, it's a lot of virology, which isn't my field, but it's like a movie theater with big, you know, air purification systems and screens and curtains for people passing through and blah, blah, blah. But they call it Mission Impossible because there was this buzz around Mission Impossible as a COVID film.

And that also leads on to one of the things that, as a critic, I felt I was the only critic who remembered when this film came out, which is that Tom Cruise yelled at people on set, and this was, this came out in the news, the recording of Tom Cruise berating, verbally abusing crew members on set for violating social distancing guidelines, like they were getting too close,

and Tom Cruise exploded at them. And a lot of the critics I saw praise this film a lot and didn't mention that aspect of it, but I did make sure to mention it in my Cynetopia review because it's yeah yeah

you and I had a little bit of discussion about this at the time actually because you know in the in the context of the film itself right you know I don't know how much of an effect

it you know I mean let's not get into separating art from the artist's discussion but intermittently boring but I think my problem with it wasn't that people praise the film my problem with it was a lot people praise that behaviour. Yes, that too. Right? Because, you know,

it was around about the time when, you know, people were, certainly, especially when that came out, right? Because obviously that came out ahead of, you know, ahead of the film coming out when we were still really properly in the thick of it. And, you know, as lot of people say, oh yeah, no, I wouldn't stand for it either, and it was like, well, yeah, but you're talking about an extremely

powerful individual who has sort of like, you know, control of these people's jobs and he's screaming at them. Like, I, this is not, this is not adult behaviour. I'm sorry, it's just not, I don't, and the fact that it's about, like, mask-weary, going to

sort of, like, COVID-sensitive environment is neither here nor there. There are ways to deal with that and ways to raise your concerns and frustrations. It doesn't involve you screaming like entitled maniac. I just, I find it a very bizarre set, I just found it a very bizarre period

to watch people kind of like cheating that on. It was. A slightly different flavour of that. Slightly different emphasis. Frankly, a different individual, because this is around about the time where like the laundering of Tom Cruise's public image reached kind of like its peak confusion with me.

You just change those circumstances of the person slightly, and it would be rightly, roundly condemned. Yep. Yeah, this is why I'm mentioning it up front now, because I don't want it to be part of the film criticism proper, and yet it is part of the production and the figure of Tom Cruise and how he was portrayed publicly

and people's perception of him. Because like you say, people like this behaviour, like people were cheering it on. Because I think he was, it is important to enforce safety protocols on set. I understand that. And there are people's jobs on the line. But like you say, there's a way to deal with it in a professional way. and it's not. I'm going to quote what you said, because I think it's important. This is from a CNN article. Tom Cruise said,

I don't ever want to see it again ever, and if you don't do it, you're fired. If I see you do it again, you're fucking gone. And if anyone in this crew does it, that's it, and you two and you two. We are the gold standard. They're back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us, because they believe in us and what we're doing. We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherfuckers. I don't ever want to see it again.

You can tell it to the people who are losing their fucking homes because our industry is shut down. It's not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education. That's what I sleep with every night, the future of this fucking industry. Delusions of grandeur much. Yeah, there's a few things I want to pick up on from that piece.

That's what I sleep with every night. Cruz is huffing his own farts here. He believes. I know, and nobody was willing to engage with that. Yeah. He believes. He believes he is the saviour of this industry. We are creating thousands of jobs. They're back there in Hollywood making movies because of us, because they believe in us. That's what I sleep with every night. He's a madman. He believes he's a savior of cinema. And when critics go around saying, yeah, it was important for him to say all that. It was important for him to be serious on set. isn't the talk of a serious man he believes he's the savior of cinema and you're playing into that

yeah yeah it's things like it's when he says things like that I just keep coming back to that image in my head from like you know Brian Cox in success just going you're not serious people yeah you know it's just

yeah uh huh we don't have to engage seriously with this as you know enforcement of safety protocols. This is the rantings of a cult leader and a madman.

So yeah, I remember being very frustrated around the reporting of that because it seemed everyone was on his side and no one deserves to be talked to in their workplace the way he talked to the crew members there.

It's completely unacceptable. So I wanted to mention that as part of the production and some of it does play into the role of Ethan Hunt in this film, which we'll get into. But yeah, just take it as yet more criticism of Tom Cruise as a person, as a cult leader, and that's a weird out. It's a weird guy. But yes, anyway, the film came out in July. It had its premiere in June, in Rome and came out in July

2023 globally. So the box office for that year was a funny one because like to say, Hollywood was coming back from COVID. Blockbusters

were starting to eke their way back into cinemas after a few down years and there were several labor disputes in 2023 that impacted what came out more in 24 perhaps

but there was still an impact and the box office is dominated by the force of Barbenheimer so the top ten is Barbie at number one Super Mario Brothers movie at number two

Oppenheimer at number three Guardians of the Galaxy volume 3 Fast X Spider Man across the Spiderverse Full River Red by Huanchi Media Wonka, The Wandering Earth 2 and then Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 at number 10 So it's interesting in a way

It's not all superheroes and franchises in the way it has been for the past couple of Mission Impossible films You know, there's a few like Oppenheimer These Chinese films Full River Red and the Wandering Earth 2 Obviously the Wandering Earth 2 is a sequel and even Wonka I know that's big IP but it's not

I don't know it doesn't feel like superhero or franchise stuff yeah I mean Wonka I think was kind of sold more on the and I say there's something not seen it

hence the reason I'm talking about what it was sold on I feel like I was sold more on the Timmy Shalmy factor than the Wonka factor Yeah and I was going to say

the Paul King factor as well because you know it was like another film from the parenting guy. Oh yeah, right enough. Right enough. Yeah, it's an interesting little, there's an interesting little mix of things there. You know, because like Barbie and Oppenheimer,

Oppenheimer in particular is kind of original material in the sense that it's not, you know, IP based. Barbie obviously is, but it's kind of like, you know, it's an odd one because it does have Greta Gerwig behind it. It has that weird sort of slightly idiosyncratic twist on it. I'm not quite in love with it as a lot of people are, but, you know, It's a good time at the movies. It is. I liked it a lot, and it is more innovative and original than you would expect. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. I had my issues with the film, but I mean, it is a lot more interesting, innovative, and...

I don't want to say edgy, because that implies it's more edgy than that actually is, but it's a far more interesting film than it really has any right to be. And the rest of it, it's a weird little mix, you know? Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. it's obviously kind of like deep into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's the third Guardians of the Galaxy film, but it kind of felt like its own little self-contained thing, yeah.

Which given that I think it's probably I'm just thinking about the other thing, probably the best of that kind of phase of those Marvel films I've seen probably says a lot about that. You know, but then you've got your kind of like your big, you know, your big franchise behemoths in there as well.

You've got, yeah, Spider-Man. I would actually put Super Mario Brothers in that category. agree right because it's just that sort of film I realize it was the first of that you know you know this animated Mario it's kind of the first one there but it kind of sits closer in that area in my head than other things but it's interesting because further down the list like relative to the budget some of these films HUD you've got stuff that was probably considered reasonably unsuccessful frankly the film we're about to speak about dead wrecking part one is probably one of those films it's the prize

I do think that, you know, we'll probably get into that. I think some of that is just the fact it came out, I think just before Barbie and Oppenheimer, so I think maybe a lot of its market was cannibalized, quite frankly. But, you know, and then you've got other things like, you know, Ant Man the Wass Quantum Mania didn't do that great. You've got Aquaman in the Lost Kingdom. You've got another Transformer sequel. There's a hunger game spin-off. You know, oh, to Christ, the Flash was the Flash? The that did a lot worse than I thought it did. I mean, I knew it didn't do well. But, you know, so, like, the point is, once you go down to Litter, it is kind of like, you know, it's interesting. It's interesting. It's a slightly less, less of a slam dunk on existing IP. Yeah. We've had in some previous, even slightly earlier years.

Yeah. The Wikipedia article that I'm reading from points out that there were several flopbusters, underperforming blockbusters, which includes Ant Man and the Wasp Contamania, the Neckerminia, the new Shazam Indiana Jones on the Dial of Destiny which you would have thought would have been a slam dunk the Marvels

the fourth expendables film and it attributes this to kind of superhero fatigue and kind of people being sick of superhero of a movie going down the list I've noticed that Killers of the Flower Moon made more money than Shazam Fury of the Gods

which you know what I'm pretty pleased about because Zachary Lafie can go fuck himself really So anyway, there you go Yeah Shall we Shall we get into it

Then get into the structure of the film Run through it And talk about what we What we liked and didn't like Let's go for it So we start underwater in the Bering Sea It's a Russian submarine And immediately

It kind of The film starts in dialogue with this kind of Tom Clancy aesthetic, this kind of Cold War aesthetic. I love a submarine film. I love Crimson Tide. I love The Hunt for Red October. And there is a fun moment

liking The Hunt for Red October where they switch from spoken Russian to spoken English. It's less effective than Red October because it's only for one scene. So you think they could have just used subtitles. But it starts off in dialogue with this Tom Clancy stuff,

which is interesting considering where this film goes. and how it's in dialogue with kind of Brian De Palmer's first film, the first mission possible film. It's reaching for something else. I don't think it's successful, but we'll discuss that later. So there's an AI on this submarine. It's a state-of-the-art AI guiding the submarine,

and it conjures a phantom enemy to fool the Russian sub into firing on itself. The Russian sub explodes, and the crew members float to the surface. one of them carrying a significant key. We cut to Amsterdam, where Ethan Hunt receives a deliveroo from someone. He's made to recite an oath before he receives the package, and we immediately get a repositioning of the IMF in this strange cult way that they've never had before, and that maybe I'll talk about more later, but it starts here where he has to say an oath.

There's never been an oath before, this has just been a job, so someone delivers the briefing or whatever. So that's strange. Hunt gets his briefing from Kittridge, from the first film, Henry Cheney, and we get some kind of retconning background on who Ethan was freed from a prison sentence by the AMF. Anyway, the mission is that he needs to find a key, and Ilsa Faust, from the previous films, allegedly has one half of it. So Ethan travels to the Arabian desert near Yemen to find Ilsa, there is a shootout in a sandstorm with some bounty hunters, and then Ilsa appears to be dead. Then we cut to an intelligence community briefing. This is all before the title screen. An intelligence community briefing in DC where they explain what the entity is, with Cariel, where's Mark Gatis, Rob Delaney and Kittredge from the first film. So the entity is the big baddie for these films. It is an AR,

which has left traces in major systems and is taking over kind of cyberspace, the kind of digital world. So the intelligence communities are all making hard copies of all their digital data. You'd think they could just print it. They've air-gapped servers, but they believe that won't be enough,

as corrupted humans will still be vulnerable to the AI. The AI can corrupt people and get it to do its bidding like disciples. This is all a lot of nonsense. to be honest and I don't like the AI enemy at all he never feels tangible

it never feels significant and it requires people to continuously say on screen how dangerous the AI is without actually showing us in any way it operates entirely off screen

yeah it's it's a weird one and I think there are some points I will make about the entity which in particular some of the presentation of it i'm going to say for when we discuss next film right yeah the final reckoning because there's certain things that that film does where i think that there's echoes over here but they really lead into it in that last film but focusing on this one right here i'll go on it like i i've softened on this film

since i first watched it right and we'll get into kind of like the things that i work in the things I don't think work as we go on, right? But this is probably, I think part of the reason it's never going to, it's never going to, like, fully rehabilitate itself in my mind is this overarching conceit just feels very half-baked. It feels very half-baked. It really doesn't work. Yeah.

And it makes nods later in the film to what people want to do with the entity, right? So if it was kind of like the use of artificial intelligence to maintain power structures and, you know, the established ways or whatever, like if they leaned more into that, right, then I might have a little bit more sympathy with this as kind of like, you know, the framework to hang an antagonist off. But that's the thing, right? This film is very indecisive about whether it wants the entity to be the antagonist or when it wants. whether it wants to be the tool of an antagonist, right? So as a result, there's a lot of talking about how threatening it is, not a lot of

seeing how threatening it is, and there's a lot of people positioned as kind of like, you know, the actual threat with the, you know, the entity by its side, you know, and it will develop further. And it just, it never quite settles into a meaningful a meaningful rhythm. There's some comparison points that I'll bring up later where I think

similar things have been done to slightly better effect, but it's kind of, it does, it just never really quite works, and it means that there's not that backbone to kind of like hang a lot of the stuff that follows off, you know? Yeah, I think I have more to say about the entity in the final reckoning, so we'll discuss it then, but I think generally this, this falls into the trap of overhyping the idea of AI, I think it falls into the kind of corporate marketing of AI, quote unquote, that we're seeing these days, where I is being pushed by corporate

software providers as a big solution to all world problems. And here, obviously it's not a solution, but I think they're still over-hyping the idea of what it is capable of currently, what current technology is capable of, in a way that

plays into corporate marketing hands. Well, the thing being, it basically, it kind of gives it gives a weird science fiction edge to this, which, you know, I mean, you know, I'm not going to sit here and say that everything in the mission possible films has been, you know, actually, you know, something that exists, right? There's been plenty of kind of like flights of fancy in these films from kind of like gadgets to

various other things. Like, of course there has. But this has a science fiction edge to it in that the AI, the entity, it bears more resemblance to something like Sky. it from Terminator, you know, it's not a credible, it's not a credible threat in my book. No, and it's interesting that this film is simultaneously going into sci-fi more than any of these Mission Impossible films have, and also trying to be a bit more espionage and real politics in its kind of, in the Tom Clancy illusions that I've already spoke about, and in the kind of aping of Brian DePalmers' cinematography from the first. film. It's trying to

go back to a more grounded approach while also having this zany sci-fi antagonist. And for me, these elements just do not marry at all. But there is a key that can apparently deactivate the entity and this key will be the Mcuffin for the rest

of the film. During this intelligence community briefing, there's more hyping up of the IMF which kind of established is that the IMF is basically completely rogue. Now, it is simultaneously within the text of the film, part of the US state, and also entirely independent of it. So Ethan Hunt is essentially rogue from the start of the film. Carrie Elwes didn't even appear to have heard of the IMF

before in this scene, which is very bizarre. But a mysterious figure gasses the security briefing and I remember when breaking into the CIA was the central set piece of a film we've not even got to the titles yet and the entire security apparatus of the United States has been gassed but it's even in a rubber mask It's equivalent to the joint chief of staff

or incapacitated within five minutes yeah it's even in a rubber mask and then there's flashbacks that establish that Ilsa isn't dead so that scene two scenes ago One scene again, Wales had died, could have been cut, like immediately. It reminded me of when they killed Tubaka in the Rise of Skywalker,

and then revealed in the next scene that they didn't really kill Chewbacca. I found it very frustrating. So Ilsa's not dead. And Ethan tells Kittredge that he's on his own side, like I say, Ethan's gone rogue, and it'll do everything he can to destroy the entity. And then, finally, we get titles. which, as I say, were Dead Reckoning Part 1.

Then we cut to the United Arab Emirates where Shia Wiggum is leading a team against Ethan. He calls him a mind-reading, shape-shifting, incarnation of chaos. Yeah, I love this. I love this in a sort of amusing way, because it's like this is, we're getting into

the latest entry in the descriptions of Ethan Hunt Hall of Fame. I think is, actually, I've got I wish I'd put the fool. That's not even the full quote, you know? Like, he has this little mini monologue before, and he went, you know, for all intents and purposes, a mind-reading, shape-shifting incarnation of chaos.

Oh, Jesus Christ. You know, just put in Alck Baldwin's mouth and say lemon after it. And, you know, it sits right alongside some of his lines from the previous two films. Yeah, it really goes into this pumping up of Ethan as a character, as a Messiah, which I'll talk about later.

But Ethan meets Lufa and a very tired-looking Benji at Abu Dhabi Airport and they need to intercept a buyer who has the other half of the key. There's an odd reversal here where Ethan has to explain the tech to find the key to Benji

whereas normally Benji would explain it to Ethan. But Ethan is now a messianic superhero who already knows everything. So in this one he has to explain it to Benji, who is just following. Yeah, Ethan Wiggum's team

pursues Ethan through the airport Benji and Lufa hack the facial recognition systems in the airport Ethan follows the buyer and he sees Haley Atwell who he's playing Grace she steals the key and Benji goes after a bomb

heading towards a plane to Venice the bomb knows heep Benji's name and there is a Gollum-style riddle contest to determine where Benji is forced to say out loud that his friends are the most important thing to him, because friendship is the theme of these films now.

Spy friends. Exactly. I'm already getting frustrated because every scene in this film is the same few groups chasing each other in a new exotic location. It's always Shea Wiggum chasing Ethan, Ethan's chasing a key, Grace is running from Ethan, Gabriel and Pom Clemionette are hanging around menacingly, and it all starts in this airport scene. So there's going to be more of this in Rome and then in Venice.

wherever and it's all the same characters doing the same thing yeah and it's very I think it's because there are fun things that happen in this film but it's just quite yeah quite flabby and repetitive right you know because there's bits in here that I like it right I mean like when he's going through the when Shade Wiggum's character is you know trying to find hunt in the airport and they've hacked the facial recognition so basically they keep chasing people who like

are not to him, right? To make it look like him. And there's one where he's kind of like he's grabbing some guy's face and sticking his fingers around to see if he's got a mask on his face. Like that's the sort of like... That's fun. Yeah, exactly. It's exactly the sort of like

goofy nonsense that you need to just kind of like soften the edges of these films a bit. And I think some of the best moments in the franchise before this are where the film is serious about its execution, but not too series about its content, right?

And I think this film, particularly, you know, I think Fallout started doing it in here as well. It's starting to lose that a little bit, but you just do see these little echoes of kind of what I feel like these films are at their best. But it's amongst a lot of kind of like flabby, repetitive structures of what they're doing, really. The script is incredibly flabby. It is a really bad script. And there are so many scenes and plot beats that could have been cut. Like, I've already mentioned Ilsa's death, being a fake out in this earlier scene. So you could have just cut that.

There is no need for it. It's incredibly flabby for a three-hour film that doesn't need to be. And a lot of it is just these repeated plot points and repeated scenes. I've softened on this film than when I first watched it. I liked it more watching it again, but it's still not good. Ethan is still in the airport, he freaks out and he terminates the mission when he sees Gabriel, who is played by S.A. Morales, and there is a flashback to retcon Gabriel into Ethan's backstory.

So Ethan escapes via the airport roof, but I'm sure we'll learn more about this mysterious Gabriel later on. it would be absurd if we never learned anything more about him ever so we'll talk about that later yes we look forward to explaining the resolution of this character's introduction when we talk about the film the final reckoning where everything will be finalized who is this woman with him what is he to even who is he what is his job what is his role I'm sure

find out later. So Grace is now in Rome. She gets arrested and even poses as her lawyer. This bit has filmed in Senate House Library in London where I used to work. And they film a lot of things there, so I can recognise it every time it's in a film. I also, this scene

Unexpected Mission Possible three throwback for Eve, where we get a chance for Ethan Hunt slash Tom Cruise to butcher the Italian language again. Yeah, like sneakie. prego the Vatican Prego

Prego Prego Yeah Big Lieutenant Alderraine vibes again So Grace doesn't actually have

the half of the key because she slipped it to some dude on the plane Grace escapes from Ethan and she attempts to flee in a police car while Ethan pursues in a police bike

There's a chase scene which kind of establishes that Grace isn't of a good driver before she crashes and we get to the good chase scene involving Ethan and Grace

being handcuffed together and that's a fun complication for a chase scene that I enjoy even if as with all of Macquarie's action it's only competently shot Yeah I think I think the strength To return to that point we made about like you know Shia Wiggum grabbing people's faces I think you know it's a tiny Fiat 500

A tiny yellow Fiat 500 Eventually it's a tiny Well yes no eventually And that is the fun bit of the chase But there were two full chase scenes before that fun bit. Which speaks to the flabbiness that you've really. Just cut them.

Just go straight to the Fiat 500. There has to be a way to consolidate these scenes. And chase on chase is something that I criticised Christopher McCrowy for before in one of the earlier films. I think Rogue Nation. And to see it done again,

except there's free chases. It's frustrating. Because you're right. The bit that sticks in my mind here is the bit with the wee yellow fee at 500, and that is kind of the fun bit. And it's actually, it's a really important point you made, because I've basically wiped from my memory

the lead-in to that, right? Because it's entirely superfluous. It's entirely superfluous. And it's just after that, I think when you get into it, it has that kind of, like to return to the earlier points where we were about Shade Wiggum, drabbing faces and stuff, the image

of that and kind of like the weird complication of like, you know, the mean hand-hand and him being, you know, the both needing to drive. It has that blend of kind of muscular action that McQuarrie is I'll say good at, right? I don't think remarkably

remarkable at right, but you know, he has a track record now of doing a solid job with that sort of thing. But it combines that with that sort of like that daffness that I think that these films need sometimes. And I think

that's the reason this particular sequence I think stands. The thing is, if I look back, with the exception of some aspects of the climax of the train, which we'll get to when we get to there. This is really the only one that kind of stands out in my head, to be honest. Yeah, same.

It's like a souped-up Fiat 500, so it's it's... Yeah, he finds it on his phone. He's got like an IMF app that lets him access these IMF planted vehicles all over the shop. So I'm very

unclear on who the IMF is at this point. Because, like, they're a shadowy rogue organization who is just Ethan, Lufa, and Benji. And yet also, they have cars and vehicles planted all over the world. Yeah. Who are they? They want it in both ways. They want it to be Ethan against the world and also to be part of the US state. One might say that there are shape-shifting incarnation of chaos.

Well, quite, quite. So Grace escapes Ethan again. again and everyone, now including Ilsa, heads to Venice. Benji does some exposition, which establishes that Grace will be attending a party hosted by the White Widow, the lovely Vanessa Kirby from the previous film, and they also try and find the person who is planting physical things like bombs for the entity, and this is Gabriel, by SA Morales. The entity's Dark Messiah is the chosen messenger.

And even again alludes to his mysterious pre-IMF past with Gabriel. foreshadowing when we will definitely find out about it in detail all we're ever going to get the gangs start to panic that they can't believe that anything is real because the entity can tamper with any digital information the only thing they can count on is their friendship so listeners didn't see Simon sort of like hold his fist aloft

to kind of like indicate the power of friendship there we're recording over over the internet but if I could, I would have clasped your hand like the meme from Predator of the strong men clasping hands. So Ilsa and Ethan go to the White Widows Party in Venice. Now Venice is a ghost town in this film. Because of the COVID restrictions during filming,

the city is empty. Like they film in Piazza San Marco and Campo de la Salute, which are full of tourists, even at night. and yet here there's only one or two people milling about and it's it's kind of sad it looks sad and it makes the world feel empty which makes the world of the film feel empty like I've said the film is like half a dozen people

fighting and chasing each other in various locations and it feels detached from civilians it feels detached from actual threat it feels detached from the rest of the world I think they addressed some of this in Final Reckoning, which we'll talk about, but for now, in Dead Reckoning Part 1, it all feels very freed from actual material concerns. So Gabriel meets Grace and tells her that all the women that Ethan uses ends up dead. I don't think that's really true, but it helps to set up Ilsa's imminent death, for real this time.

The White Widow talks about the choir in the key Gabriel reveals that the party was set up by the entity I'm not sure how that matters There's some weird set up where Gabriel says either Ilsa or Grace has to die And I didn't really follow Why or how But it leads to a foot chase through the streets of Venice

Grace has the key Gabriel is trying to kill either her or Ilsa Shea or Wiggum again turns up to chase Ethan this is the same stuff we just saw in the airport. The entity uses an AI-generated Benji voice to Ilsa towards Gabriel. This is the only interesting thing the entity does in two films, as far as I'm concerned. This idea that you can't even trust your tech, the people on the other end of the line, is interesting, and it's not expanded upon. There's a brief fight in a narrow alleyway in Venice, where he's fighting Pom Klamenteev's Paris, assassin.

Ethan beats her up and chooses not to club her over the head with a metal pipe. Because he's a good guy. I'm just beating her up. Sorry, again, with this big audio only, you know, when he's seen Simon's furtive look to camera and he says, because he's a good guy. But yeah, I think this fight in a narrow alleyway in Venice is also frustrating because it feels poorly choreographed and it reminded me of the bridge scene in Mission Impossible 3. Like, how do you fail to establish a space in an alley that is like half a meter wide?

Yeah. But I think that this is actually, because the thing is, I think this, this speaks to I think some of Christopher Bacori shortcomings is a director right yeah because like

we've spoken about kind of like you know muscular action chase scenes like he's he's decent at right you know I mean they're good and he hits a memorable one every so often

I do feel like when he needs to be more inventive with how he presents space and moves the camera and the characters around a scene which he needed to be here it comes up short

and I wouldn't go so far as to say it's like bad but it's like it's just so perfunctory you know when he needs to be more inventive it just doesn't seem to have it in his locker yeah

he's got more ideas than he can handle gracefully which is a shame and it feels like they had a lot of ideas for these two films but don't handle any of them particularly well and so the whole thing ends up flabby and repeating itself

and leaning back on what he thinks he can do which is chase scenes and Cherwig him chasing Ethan, Ethan chasing Grace Grace chasing Gabriel, whatever Also this entire sequence in Venice I was slightly distracted on my rewatch because I decided that Grace's outfit looks quite a lot

like the puffy shirt from Seinfeld just as a minor minor flippant note, but, you know. Grace has some good outfits. Like, Grace looks good. I mean, I think Haley Atwell pulls this shirt off extremely well and far better than Jerry Seinfeld ever did, but nevertheless, the comparison is there in my head.

Yeah, well, I want to talk about Haley Atwell, and I'll do it after this next sentence. So Ilsa sword fights Gabriel, but ends up getting fatally stabbed, and Ethan finds her body and weeps over his friend. so Rebecca Ferguson had a free film contract which obviously ended with this film and did not want to renew the contract to go into the 8th film so they had to find a way to write out the character of Ilsa Faust

Rebecca Ferguson also felt that this is an interview with the Unwrapped Podcast she felt that Ilsa was becoming a team player and she wanted Ilsa to be rogue like that was always her conception of the character which makes sense with the Ilsa we see in Rogue Nation there was too many characters coming in the film and not leaving enough space for Ilsa as a character

Ferguson Fort there's also a lot of waiting around with Mission Impossible Productions you devote a lot of time to it as an actor for very little screen time so she didn't want to do that again so they write her out which is fine but they essentially give over all Ilsa's stuff to this new character of Grace, played by Haley Atwell.

Now, Haley Atwell's good. She's very good in this, and the following film. But she's so clearly just a straight replacement for Ilsa as a kind of another brunette woman with a vague resemblance to Tom Cruise's ex-wife. And it doesn't feel like there's any need for Rebecca Ferguson to be here at all. Like, they could have killed her off earlier in the film, when they pretended to

or just not included the character and it would have been fine. Or even, I mean, frankly, yeah, I mean, you've got to remember the first instance of this character was the reference to kind of like, you know, you should have left with me, I think it is, way back in Rogue Nation, right?

So, this idea of, like, I think the Rebecca Ferguson's conception of the character there, you know, is correct, certainly, on the way that she was set up in the previous two films. I think the thing that I find it strange about this is they've kind of got away with it, right?

Because I don't think this kind of like little switcheroo is particularly well handled at the script level, but they've lucked out because I think Haley Atwell is good, right? I think it's an engaging performance. She has that sort of screen presence and charisma that allows them to pull this off, right? Now, I don't want to, you know, and I don't want to be too kind of like reductionist about it

because obviously you'll probably have to think about that winter casting the person who's going to fill that role, right? but I do think it's another example of a flabby clunky script that does not handle things gracefully and in this instance they've got away with it on the strength of the performer that they've managed to secure for that role agreed it is testament to Haley Atwell that she manages to imbue grace with all this energy that differentiates this poorly written character from Ilsa just enough to pull it off because she is clearly an Ilsa replacement but Haley Atwell

pulls it out of the bag to save the character a little bit and it's a shame because Christmaver Croix has been so intent on writing good women characters like the White Widow in the last film he brought back Ethan's wife

Julia and Ilsa of course are all good characters and it's a shame that Grace feels so underwritten in this film and the next. After Ilsa dies, Grace goes to meet Benji and Lufa, and they talk about poor dead Ilsa. They discuss the upcoming mission on the Orient Express to Innsbruck

and how they will need Grace to pose as the white widow. And in this scene, they offer Grace the choice, capital T, capital C, which they have all taken. I hate this so much. To be part of the IMF. Now this is part of, along with the oath that Ethan recites at the start of the film it is this reconfiguration of the IMF into this weird cult organisation where you really feel the influence of like the Church of Scientology quite frankly

where the IMF is now a cult rather than an intelligence group and they all made the choice they didn't just take a job which Benji clearly just had a job when he was introduced in Mission Impossible for it. He just worked for the IMF

which was a big organization. We're only two films removed from playing computer games at a desk. Yeah, right? He just had a job in intelligence services and then he got a kind of field promotion and went out into the field. But now the IMF is this weird cult

that operates in the shadow and it's only what like five people and they all made the choice to be part of this group and they all follow the messianic figure of Ethan Hunt and it it feels like a cult it feels like scienceology yeah I actually

so from a purpose in the film and a narrative standpoint I hate this I really hate it I dislike it intensely from a sort of extra textual standpoint, I find it fucking fascinating, right, because it does feel very Scientology-ish, right, in a way that it's like it's been sneaked in the back door. It's very odd. I think it also, it's also an interesting, you know, for films at Hove kind of questioned the actions of the American state before, right? You know, and I don't. I'm thinking about, like, even Mission Impossible 3 and the weird, you know, the rant that Billy Crudup's character goes on and, you know, his position as a villain.

It kind of reminds me a little bit of kind of like some of these really strange, like, motto-based or, like, credos that you see in branches of the military, right? Where it's kind of like, it's not a job, it's an identity, and you create your identity out of it, and this is our guiding ethos, you know. In the case of the IMF, it's the whole kind of like, we live and die in the shadows thing, you know? And it's, it's really strange to me. It's really strange to me. It's really turned around just so much from the, like, you know, you think about the dynamic in the first, in the very first film with that team and kind of like, you know, it's a job. Like, yes, it's a, you know, shady espionageal, but that's what it was. They were there, they were there to perform a mission in the sort of like, you know, objective sense.

wasn't, like, a calling. It wasn't a calling, and this is part of our identity, and the fact that that's been woven in now is deeply, deeply strange to me. Yeah. Very weird to have this, the choice, to

join the IMF as this life-changing, world-altering thing, when it has just been a job. It does feel very strange. And, yeah, like you say, it feels like, every I go to Cineworld now, I get an advert before the film for like the Navy.

You like, you find yourself in the British Navy. Yeah. And it feels like that, which is a strange, a strange retcon, and I don't like it. It was also at this point in the film I realized I wasn't sure where the two pieces of the key were. There's a lot of exposition about the threat of the entity and how bad the entity is. and yet basic plot mcuffins are unclear to me. It's a bad script. It's a flabby script with too much exposition

and not enough focus on what they should actually be focusing on, like, this key, apparently. So Luther decides he needs to head off-grid to go figure out how to kill the entity. The mask machine dies as they're printing, so Ethan has to find another way onto the train. They've got the mask of the white widow, but they haven't got Ethan's mask of whoever he was going to be. So there's a big final set piece where everyone converges on the Orient Express. Ethan is heading for a curve in the track where the train slows down,

but apparently the train is a steam locomotive, so Gabriel is able to sabotage it and it speeds up. Now there's a few trains that use the name Orient Express. The name Orient Express is more of a marketing term these days, so there's a few companies that use the name. But the Venice Simplon Orient Express has, has no dedicated motive power. So the locomotives for this train, this is the train nerd bit of the podcast.

The locomotive for the train is provided by the state railway where it is. And the Venice Simpleon Orient Express, which is the only one that would do this route to Innsbruck, does not have steam locomotives. It has conventional electric and diesel locomotives. there was one a steam traction

for the Orient Express and that took place in 2017 in Hungary only within the bounds of Budapest to the city you don't get steam locomotives doing this kind of journey is my point

but it looks better on film and it creates this vision of old Europe which Americans love is also I have another theory about this right with like quite they've got, because, like, yeah, I think the steam locomotive looks more, it looks more dramatic, right, and there's more noise and steam. Yeah, especially going through the Alps, yeah.

So I have a two-prong theory about why this is, why in particular it had to be a steam locomotive here, right? And I don't, I'm not necessarily suggesting that the first of these was a conscious choice on the part of the filmmakers, but I do, there's part made of wonders about it. there is more for the competent but unremarkable Christopher Macquarie to shoot with that muscular sort of action capability than there would be if it was like the Eurostar in Mission Possible one. Yeah. Right? You can focus on rumbling of, you know, wheels on the locomotive. You can focus on the steam billowing out and it kind of rattles around more, whereas you need to be a little bit more inventive if you're shooting something,

which is basically just an electric one which is just gliding across some rails. That's my first thing, right? I don't know if that one is necessarily a conscious choice, but it maybe plays into it, right? I think you'll find that maybe he could imagine how that scene would be shot better. The second part of it is also, and I think this maybe probably is a conscious choice, this is very obviously sort of a slight throwback to that scene and mission possible one. Right, you know, one of the most famous scenes in the franchise, and I think if, unless they make it a steam train, right, it's, there's a lot of things going on here. I think unless they make it a steam train, it's too direct to reference, and it's going to be too direct to comparison. I also think when you get to the climax of the scene, they want that image of kind of like, they want that feeling of kind of like, you know, we are the airs to Hollywood action cinema. right you know you know you're not watching you're not watching buster keaton anymore right

we're taking that legacy and we're you know i'm thinking about things in the general and things like that you know it's like we are the heirs to this and we're ramping it up and this this is our thing right committing spectacular feats to cinema and that has a more direct echo with the sort of imagery you think of in that sort of history yeah it doesn't make sense that it is a steam locomotive but it's more cinematic and they're plugging into cinema history like you say so Gabriel Sametage is the steam locomotive

and speeds it up which isn't how steam locomotives work without coal it would stop even misses the curve as the train doesn't slow down and Benji is leading him in a Benji's in a fancy self-driving car despite one scene ago saying

that they have to use analogue technology. I haven't even thought about that. One scene again. There's interesting things you could, you know, like to say, when the AI mimics Benji's voice, that is an interesting kind of threat of the AI. Five scenes later, it's not driving them off the road in his cloud-connected car.

Yeah, and now they're just on their, you know, little Bluetooth whatever communications again. Like if they had to switch to like walkie-talkies or something, that's a fun complication. But they never do anything with it. They never do anything with this idea of analogue technology. It's frustrating. So Shia Wiggum's also on the train looking for Ethan Hunt. He says that Ethan Hunt always goes rogue, which is true.

Grace intercepts the white widow and seals her identity, takes possession of both halves of the key. She meets Kittredge to trade the key. and this franchise is incoherent approach to banking continues as Kittred sends money via an IBAN number and also apparently the blockchain. There's this long sequence where it is decrypting the blockchain on the phone app and whatever. Gabriel meets Kareelwez, who knows what the key unlocks. It turns out that the AI was a US artificial covert operative

which was broadcast onto the submarine at the start, went rogue, and the original source code is now only on the submarine. So Gabriel kills Cari El-West and attempts to kill Paris to keep that secret. Ethan reaches a cliff edge and he jumps onto the train from there, parachutes on. There's a fun exchange between Benji and Ethan here, which feels like classic Mission Impossible, and it works a lot better than any other element of Ethan in the film. so I haven't mentioned this but Ethan is so

po-faced throughout this film he is so self-serious and portentous and I found the tone very off-putting like these films used to be about rubber masks and heists and even Benji is barely even comic relief in this film

it's all darrow and serious and even so rarely smiles and this this fun exchange where he's like I can't jump onto the train is the most fun even ever gets in this film. Yeah, and the thing that I find really funny about this sequence, right, is this sequence was trailed to absolute death before this film came out, right?

You could not turn. You could not turn for, like, seeing images, like, before the film was even out, of crews jumping off. this cliff, right? You know, behind the scenes snippets, doing this, this is the big thing for this film, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I don't be wrong, it's impressive.

But the thing that's actually most impressive about this scene, and the thing that brings the film, it gives the film the biggest shot in the arm, is the exchange between those two characters leading up to it, right? It's the first thing where it's like you say, where it's kind of like the, you know, the portentousness

and, you know, other characters have done it. Like I've mentioned, like some of the stuff that Shea Wiggum's character does, but these two characters, Benji and Ethan, it's kind of really the first proper moment where they have an extended interaction that feels a little bit more like something that was in Ghost Protocol, for instance.

Yeah, it feels like they're their characters again. Yeah, right? And to me, that's why this sequence stands out. I mean, yeah, the stunt's very impressive, of course it is, but that's actually the thing that serves the film best here, right? Because they've only had one... there's one tiny little echo of it earlier in the film

and I think it's when they're in the airport well it's meant to be Abu Dhabi airport it's actually Birmingham New Street Station but let's not go into that Not really Yeah Yeah But

Where he says sort of like A nuclear bomb is something you always bothered me immediately with You know like that's That brought a chuckle to my face Yeah that's a good line But this We've gone through a huge swath of the film

With like nearly a hint of this up to this point yeah no instead they're they're talking about how serious the entity is and repeatedly telling us how serious the entity is and talking about the choice and it's it's such a misjudgment of tone but yeah Ethan jumps onto the train and he gets onto the train just in time to save grace from the white widows men but Gabriel manages to steal the key and even fights him on the roof of the runaway train I think I think a lot of these train sequences suffer from poor background compositing and kind of visible CGI, especially later on when the train actually crashes. And I think the fight on top of the train looks about as realistic as the fight on the train from the first film, 30 years ago. It feels like there's been no progress in train fight technology in 30 years. I think that speaks to just this feeling a bit.

shonkier as well. In particular I think also there's some I think the scene with the car where then it ends up driving into Spanish steps in Rome in the early sequence there's some pretty there's some pretty ropey looking compositing

and green screen going on there as well. Because obviously they didn't destroy the actual Spanish steps right? Yeah. But Gabriel escapes the train and he activates bombs on a bridge ahead of the train. But Evens used his close-up magic to steal the key from Gabriel.

I think Gabriel does a kind of raff of card. Ethan! Scream to the heavens. Now there was some controversy around this bridge sequence because they got help from a Polish-American film producer called Andrew Exner, who found a bridge in Poland in Lowell-Sylasia, that they were going to use. for this bridge explosion

and it was decommissioned so they were actually going to blow it up Eskner misrepresented a report saying that the bridge should be decommissioned and blown up and so there was an outrage among kind of Polish heritage people and the registry for cultural property

and people, yeah, there was a backlash against the idea of blowing up this old bridge they eventually went to a different bridge and found a different bridge in the peak district and used a disused quarry for these scenes but it ended up with Exner suing paramount for breach of contract

because they didn't blow up the bridge which he had misrepresented as ready to be blown up so anyway they they blow up another bridge and like you say it looks fairly CGE when they do and the carriages go off the edge so Even and Grace are now balancing on the locomotive they manage to decouple the locomotive from the carriages

but the carriages head towards the destroyed bridge they have to run back through the train as the carriage is descending to the ravine gluing through the kitchen car and the dining car and they're also saved by Poms Paris who tells them what the key unlocks before passing out she says it unlocks the Sevastopol which is this submarine I did

just an example of kind of like this film being a little bit unclear when you first watched this film did you think Palm Clemente F had died yeah when I watched this film most recently I thought oh did she die

but she's in the next one because she was in the next one and I'm not going to lie I did spend a couple of us going wait what but it's an example of you know I'm fully open to the idea that it's maybe just me not

maybe not paying attention but I have watched this film twice and I think there is a small line where they say yeah she's in trouble but she's going to be okay or whatever yeah it's an example of kind of like there are bits of this film that I just don't think are clear and thought out really

you know it's yeah yeah so Ethan escapes with the key Grace tells Kit Trude so she wants to join the AMF I think she says like I've had the choice and I've taken it or whatever. And then Kittridge gives a voice over. That's the actual line in the script. I've had the choice and I've taken it or whatever.

Kittridge gives a voice over which ends the film on a very portentous note about the world counting on Ethan. And then the final screen before credits is a title card which reads end part one. Again, again, making it. clear that I am right in calling it Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1. But yeah, that's, that's Dead Reckoning Part 1. I liked it more this time than the first time I watched it. I felt more generously towards it. It didn't drag as much.

Maybe I went in with massively lowered expectations from having seen it in the first film for the first time and hating it, but it's still got a lot of problems. Like, the script is poor. The script is the major problem. is flabby and it is unclear what the threat of the entity is and there's new characters like Gabriel that don't get fleshed out. Grace isn't particularly well written and it's flabby and repetitive and very poor, very shanky. I think, yeah, I think the thing, like, sorry the first time I saw this, right, and I actually went to look this up, right, because I do,

because I haven't deleted it, but I do think I was quite... The day after I watched it, I put up a post on social media, which I said, I quite enjoyed it in spite of myself. The action mostly remains fun, felt well-paced despite the long run time, but it's definitely the shankiest entry since Mission Impossible 2 or 3. So much seems utterly half-baked, right? Yeah. Now, when I watched it again, I think I kind of stand by that,

but I'm less annoyed by it. and I think the one thing I will say not to kind of like you know be premature and talking about kind of like ranking these films I think I certainly think I'm less offended by it than I ambition possible

two or three right I think it's more just a case of there are things in here that I like and things that I like about these films but the note I've got here I've written out is that I feel like for every fun moment you know a Shee Wiggum pulling at someone's face

some silly close-up magic moment with Grace and Tom Cruise, the conversation between Cruz and Benji on the cliff edge, you know, all this sort of stuff. There are four flabby exposition monologues or two portentous monologues with just fluffing them, right? And I think they've made a real, I really do think, and again, the problem I have is that I'm constantly trying to, check myself of not kind of like overstepping in my critical analysis of these films into what

I want them to do rather than what they were intending to do. But positioning the entity as the antagonist and not a tool of the antagonist, right? Because that's ultimately what does and it really leans into the next film. We'll talk about that when we come to it, is it's really putting itself up against some pretty stiff competition here, right? Because when you hear Gabriel's description of the entity, right, it sounds quite a lot like concepts that we're floating around

in popular culture at the time, right? Especially when you put it in mind that this film was delayed and it sounds exactly like this concept of Rojobo in season three of Westworld. I don't know if you've seen that. There was this idea that... Yeah, I've seen season three of Westworlds,

but I have purged it from my memory entirely. There is one scene I remember which is a fight scene in a car to Pope's common people. And that is, having seen the entire season, that is all I remember. So you're going to have to explain this to him. No, no, no, so I remember quite a bit of it,

but it's just, it's indicative kind of like just, Hollywood or kind of like, you know, American film and television, just not quite nailing this idea, right? And it was this idea, and it was this description. I went and pulled it out, right? This is Gabriel in

in, um, in dead reckoning. Right? And I think it's during the scene where he talking to, where they're having their little tete-a-tete with the, you know, the vision of the entity kind of light up on a screen, right? You have no idea the power I represent. Thousands of quadrillions of computations per milliseconds, subtly manipulating the minds of billions, while parsing every possible cause and effect, every scenario, however implausible, into a very real map of the most probable next. And with only a few changes to the present, the future is all but

assured, right? And it's leaning into this idea, right? And this is kind of like where I saw the echo, Rahum, where it's this thing that's so all-powerful it can anticipate threats to its existence, right? Yeah. And it can kind of like manipulate people into acting the way it wants them to

by kind of like shifting this kind of like probability map in its head, right? So the first thing is it's, I actually find this an interesting concept, right? So I spent a lot of time working statistical analysis and kind of like, a previous professional all the life.

And I actually find this quite a compelling way to represent the idea of probability in a way that kind of like works potentially in a Hollywood movie scenario. However, they still, they lean into this idea that this thing has motives. This thing has an identity

that it is trying to preserve, right? And that's kind of what happened a little bit in season three of Westworld with this. And it's also what's happened here, right? They are obsessed with the idea of giving this AI antagonist some semblance of personality or they kind of reverse engineer a personality out of the fact that it's cold and calculating, you know? And it just doesn't make for a compelling thing to fight against. I think so many things that have tried this, they just fall apart.

I'm even thinking about the terminator franchise here, right? When it leant into that idea and it did it with Genesis and kind of like when it really leans into that idea, it falls apart because there's nothing to actually grip onto because when they make it the antagonist rather than the tool of an antagonist, it goes nowhere. And I think it would be a more interesting idea if they lent more into. the idea of someone using it to their ends and they pay lip service to it here

you know I mean you've got Carielas like running around saying things in gravelly voices about kind of like you know the power that you then possess but what's the point of any of this and they spend so much time explaining it they have to spend so much verbiage explaining why this is so important

rather than just kind of like give me like a solid character who does something obviously villainous, which is enabled by this thing. And like, it would just, it would just streamline everything so much, whilst still retaining that core, kind of like, AI is

a threat, AI is a tool of, you know, those who want to retain power and, you know, they're, like, you can do all of the thing, these themes are just, not even half baked, quarter baked, underlying the script, just with a slight tweaking. I just, I do not understand why it's

gone this. route. Yeah, there's so much telling about what a threat the entity is and what it will do through digital information. But it's so rarely shown on screen, like barely at all shown or manifested or physicalized in any interesting way. I think of the Kremlin explosion in Cross Protocol and how that embodies a threat, how that is a big, dramatic

moment that says this is a threat that has material impacts on the world and there just isn't that for the entity. Now, I am interested in the interaction between humans and computers. I am a software developer as my day job, and I am interested in AI, you know, despite my criticism of kind of corporate marketing of what they call AI. I am interested in AI. I'm interested in how software thinks, quote unquote, and how humans interact with computers and how interaction with computers change how we think.

and those kinds of questions. And Clem Bastow, who is an Australian critic and did their PhD on Mission Impossible, wrote an article for The Guardian, where they say, If Top Gun Maverick was a metatectoral ode to making movies like they used to, Dead Rockening Part 1 has a lot to say allegorically about the rise of algorithm-powered streaming and misinformation.

The fact it was filmed during COVID-19 lens, it's quieter moments, an eerie quality that recalls the paranoia of Brian De Palma's early 80s thrillers and many nods are given to De Palma's Mission Impossible. I think the film does think it has a lot to say allegorically about the rise of algorithm

powered streaming and misinformation, but I don't think it actually says anything meaningful about that. Yeah, I would agree with you there because I was about to say, I'm going to disagree with Glenn there. There are a lot of... I would actually go further and say that I don't think it actually has a lot to say

about it. I think it draws a lot of allegorical connections. I don't think it does a lot with them. Yes. You know, because it's, you know, because the thing that all stands out to me. So I also, I also work in software development, right, but in a supporting role rather than a coding based one. And in particular, actually, I work in a CCTV. And one part of it I found actually, like, fascinating was when they're going around the airport and Gabriel keeps getting erased from the footage, like on the fly, right? And it really kind of like, it really kind of like, it could have had a lot to say about, you know, in an age of kind of, you know, digital image manipulation and the rise of AI, right, which of course every company is kind of like pushing to put into their tools and their software, right?

what is authentic information and when you then coupled out with kind of like this guy's shady background and the goals of the nation-states that want to control it is like I say if you position it as a tool of an antagonist right you know this thing is so powerful what happens when it falls into the hands or is wielded by somebody with ill-intent

with malevolent motives right and there's echoes of them that. They're really, but that's what they are. They're echoes. Instead, they decide to lean into kind of like, what's the entity wants, you know, and it's like, I don't give a shit what the entity wants. The entity is a fucking computer program, but if you, like that Carriela's motherfucker, he seems like a nasty piece of work, right? What's he want to do? It, you know, but it lean, it goes full sky net on it and it's just bizarre to me. It's really weird. I find it really weird.

No, instead of being based in any kind of interesting, you know, crunchy ideas about how technology influences humans, it leans more into this kind of fairy tale idea of AI as exemplified in something like Rocco's Basilisk. Can you familiar with this? No. It's this thought experiment that computer nerds had about the idea is that one day, humanity will create an AI so powerful that it will punish everyone who what didn't contribute to its development.

Like it will be able to see if you helped it to come into existence or not and it will punish everyone who didn't. I think it's a nonsense idea with no actual basis in kind of software development or what technology can do. I've seen it described as nerds imagining a boot so big that they have to lick it. and it's it's that it's this fairy tale idea of AI and technology that has no basis in any interesting discussion about what we're currently experiencing with algorithms misinformation and digital disinformation and how the digital can be manipulated yeah it feels like it feels like a simplification of that threat to such a degree that it is actually fairly meaningless. That's the thing, you know. And I don't want to prejudice or be premature about the discussion of a bit in the next film. It's why I find that there's a

secret, there's a little bit in the opening of the next film that I actually find quite interesting about what it says. We'll talk about it when we get there, but it's more case of, you can see, it's throughout this and even the next film, you can see, I do, I think what I find so frustrating about this film is, it just seems on so many levels, levels half-arced in its ideas, right? Yeah. And that is not to mean that, you know, and like, people could criticize me for saying that because it makes it sound like I'm saying that this ridiculously long film that we've

criticized for being, you know, having exposition everywhere and taking too long is rushed, right? But part of considering your ideas is streamlining them and, you know, boiling them down to the thing which has the most kind of, like, punitive. behind them. And this film has not done that, right? It's really not done that. It's got all these ideas floating around the way out of it, but it's not actually sat down and really kind of put some meat on the bones. It's just kind of like throwing this sci-fi mumble-jumbo at the screen. And with the best will in the world, nobody on the creative front in this film knows how to do sci-fi, basically, right? It's a weird choice for this film,

to make. And that doesn't mean that it shouldn't or it can't. But it needs to have some sort of idea of how to get across a technological threat within the context of the film. And this film doesn't. This film doesn't, right? And that's why I brought up the West World Season 3 stuff

because I haven't watched West World after season three. Season 1 is genuinely one of the best seasons of television that I think has been produced in decades. I think it's fantastic, right? Season 2 was fine. But then it just starts to spin out when you get to season through.

It just starts to spin out and it becomes overblown and it loses that connection. Yeah, it loses that connection to kind of like the original kind of like human interface with that technology. This one has gone straight to that. It's gone straight to that. You know, it's spun out from any context in which you could really relate to it. Yeah, it feels like in putting these films together, these two. films back to back that they had a list of set pieces and arranged those set pieces on their board or whatever

and then drew the script in between them to join up the set pieces it wasn't like the idea for the story came first it was like what will lead us from driving through the streets of Rome to jumping onto a train and then the train crashing you know yeah these ideas for set pieces that they hang a story on and the story ends up half-baked and too long and flabby and all over the place. The one thing I will say, and this is probably foreshadowing when we talk about the final

reckoning now that we've both seen it. The one thing I will say about this film is it has a lot of, it's not the one thing I'll say about this film. Another thing I'll say about this film is it does have quite a lot of nods to previous films and on really, watching it. I don't think they're handled too badly, to be honest. No. So, yeah, we have talked about the kind of Tom Clancy and De Palma

illusions, but we haven't really got into the De Palmer-ness of it. So there are kind of some Dutch angles in the intelligence briefing that remind me of De Palma's more interesting approach to

cinematography. They've obviously brought back Kittredge, Henry Cheney, from his role in the first film, where they're clearly trying to tie into that legacy of De Palma, and again, this comes into Christopher McCrory being obsessed with continuity in this franchise, and attempted to tie everything together, which we'll discuss more in the next episode. But, yeah, there's a De Palma equality to it, which, as we mentioned at the very start, doesn't sit right with the kind of sci-fi-ness of the internet.

it's also you know I don't want to rail on Christopher Macquarie too much but it's like you know what we said earlier about him not having the inventiveness right to kind of give impact to different

types of space once he once that kind of like competent muscularity of action isn't what the mode he's in I think to this Kittridge conversation right particularly at the start right but there's a few

echoes of it later in other conversations right here it's got his Dutch angles going on and it's very obvious that's the vibe it's going for but it's still a fairly rapid fire dialogue scene to lead up to that he does it he just like I don't know who edited this film I'd have to go to go look

I don't know off the top of my head right but the combination of them it doesn't seem to have the patience to let that settle you know and it kind of comes up in other ways like the Venetian you know the the the running through the Venetian alleys,

it felt in a lot of ways like the aftermath of the mission going awry in the original mission possible, right? But again, it's more frenetic and running around. It doesn't have the patience to just kind of like let the threats sink in.

And it's just like, it's a very, to me, it's a very superficial understanding of what is making those things work and what else is coming into the scene to heighten that technical approach. It's more just kind of like, you know, you tilt the camera and make it look a bit paranoid.

Yep, okay, job done. Jobs are good, and there's something not quite there about it. So it's not too overbearing, like these nods. Like, even the presence of Kittredge himself is a nod to previous films. But the note I've got here is that it's a reasonably chunky role he's got, right? You know, he shows up. It's not a sort of like Leo DiCaprio pointing meme

and then you never see the dude again, right? It's, it is reasonably well handled from a, you know, it's not fan service. It's not empty fan service, I think is the way I put it. It doesn't necessarily mean it's delivered to its maybe full effect or truly understands what made some of those things work in previous films, but it's not completely mishandled. The film was edited by Eddie Hamilton. Eddie Hamilton

has worked with a few directors but has got into a groove of working with Matthew Vaughn and Christopher McCrory Oh boy So he actually edited The previous Christopher McCrory Mission Impossible films

And also Topgum Maverick For which he was nominated for a lot of awards And the Kingsman films Did he edit Argyle? No, I'm not seeing Argyll here That's fine Good for you I don't know if I have no idea

I have no idea whether in any of these podcast series we've done I've made sure I got genuinely genuinely one of the most fucking abysmal big budget films I've ever seen And I do not understand when people like it So Sorry does Matthew Vaughan have a fucking knighthood Does he? It's Sir Matthew

Alad Robert Vaughn on Wikipedia. No, it's not. I'm looking at it. Yeah, it is. No, it's not. Legal name, Matthew Alad Robert DeVay Drummond. Sir, that's a pit. What did he get a bloody knighthood for? Surely not. I am astonished.

He would made a night. Vaughn was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2024 Prime Minister's resignation honours for services to the creative services to the created industries. All right. As if I needed

a reason to dislike Rishi Sunak anymore. Good God. Bloody hell. God, he was only one of like six there's six knights in Sunak's

resignation honors. And he's one of them and he's the only one who's not he's the only one that's not an MP or cricketer James Anderson Oh my God I am I am absolutely

fucking blown away by this Sir Matthew Vaughan Good God What a bum shell What a bum shell I'm sorry I can't cope with this I can't cope with this

I'm sorry I'm going to read this man's filmography Argyle, shite, the Kingsman. I haven't seen it yet, but I understand that I'm pretty sure the villain did that as a Scotsman who wants independents, right? Kingsman the Golden Circle, shite, Kingsman the Secret Service, overrated, X-Men First Class. Realers, I'm controversial here,

I'm in a minority, but I don't think that's good. He wrote the debt, which I reviewed in 2010, also shite, kick-ass. Maybe I'll give you a pass on kick-ass, but it has a lot of problems. Stardust, I can't remember enough about Stardust I'll say layer cake, layer cake's quite good I'll give you layer cake math But I'm sorry, layer cake is not

worthy of a fucking knighthood Like This is ridiculous Oh dear Yeah, I'm astonished I often have discussions about Whether I would accept a knighthood Because I keep saying I wouldn't

And people don't believe me I think honestly I've really just got my next example of why I would not want a knighthood because if they're giving them out for services to create industries as a director of fucking Argyle yeah yeah no I I wouldn't accept a nighthood um I mean not to get too dark too quickly not to get too dark too quickly but you're not you'd fucking Jimmy Saville so I mean you know it's not exactly an indication of good moral character, anyway. Oh Lord, no.

Yeah, anyway. Vaughn is a supporter of the Conservative Party. Of course he is. Vaughn has served on the committee of a Tory fundraising ball. Just... That's unsurprising. Anyway... At least explains how he got a resignation honours knighthood,

because I can assure you're certainly not for his service to the creative industries. It's not what you know. It's how much money you give to the third party. You should have been stripped of it as soon as our guy all came out. Good God. Anyway, on that bombshell, Mission Impossible.

On that bombshell. Mission Impossible Dead Reck in Part 1. Not a good film. Not a good Mission Impossible film. It has its moments, but they're few and far between. I'm not a fan. I wasn't a fan when I reviewed it on Sinatopia. And if you want a harsher version of this,

go listen to that that's an atopiate review i do because i i was even harsher than i am here i've softened on it a little bit i think you were right at the outset and i think lowered expectations plays a role in here because i was going into my rewatcher this expecting to not really like and i was like okay this is a little bit more fun than i remember but unfortunately the emphasis is on the word little there it's a little bit more fun than i remember a little So next time we will be covering Mission Impossible the Final Reckoning, which came out just a scant few months ago in 2025

and is planned to be the final Mission Impossible film, question mark. It's certainly the last one in the franchise so far, and it's the second part of this continuing story that started in this film. Yeah, there is an official sort of. emphasis you need to use when saying the title it's not mission possible the final reckoning it's mission possible the final reckoning you know you reckon it's fine yeah that's that's that's that's the official the official inflection you should use but yes we'll be back next month to discuss mission possible final reckoning the latest mission impossible film that came out earlier this year

until then uh do keep sharing the podcast let people know that you're listening to the on Take One Presents. Go to Take1Cinema.net for film reviews, including Jim reviewed, Mission Impossible, The Final Reckoning on there, which we'll discuss next time, and, you know, follow Take One on the socials at Blue Sky and Mastodon and wherever. Until then, we will see you next month. So thank you for joining us, and see you then. Bye.

You know, I'm going to be. You know,