For nearly three many years within the Mission: Unattainable franchise, Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt has gone face to face in high-speed bike battles, climbed Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, and hung from the facet of a aircraft throughout takeoff. Oh, and he additionally died at one level (following an prolonged free dive into an underwater information financial institution). However within the newest movie, Useless Reckoning Half 1, Ethan Hunt faces his hardest opponent but: an all-powerful AI that might reshape geopolitics as we all know it. After defying the legal guidelines of physics, it solely is sensible that he has to defeat a god.
As ludicrous as that will sound, it additionally suits completely throughout the Mission: Unattainable sequence, a universe the place Ethan Hunt has been described because the “dwelling manifestation of future,” and everyone seems to be properly conscious that the “Unattainable Mission Drive” appears like one thing pulled out of a comic book e-book. At this level, it is a franchise that exists for Tom Cruise and his collaborators — most not too long ago, author/director Christopher McQuarrie — to go wild with spy devices and death-defying stunt sequences. It is made by spy film geeks, for spy film geeks.
That is been true of the sequence from the beginning. The unique TV present centered on grounded spy craft, albeit in a world the place folks may simply impersonate others with practical face masks. Brian de Palma’s 1996 movie was a throwback to paranoid ’70s spy thrillers, however it additionally made room for devices like glasses that wirelessly transmitted crystal clear video. And, in fact, there’s the nail-bitingly tense infiltration of a CIA server room, a scene that infiltrated popular culture for years.
John Woo’s Mission: Unattainable 2 is much much less cerebral, however it additionally leans closely into his operatic Hong Kong motion fashion. It isn’t an excellent film, I will admit, however as a fan of Woo’s motion movies, I am unable to assist however be thrilled by the automobile chase meet cute, and the balletic finale which morphs from a bike chase right into a hand-to-hand combat on a seashore.
Paramount Photos and Skydance
After a slight hiatus, JJ Abrams rebooted the franchise in 2006 with Mission: Unattainable 3, a movie that constructed upon the spy shenanigans from his TV sequence, Alias. Since then, the franchise has been on a relentless quest to one-up itself. 2011’s Ghost Protocol goes full on Buster Keaton with each set piece (director Brad Chook primarily turns Ethan Hunt into a personality from The Incredibles), culminating within the scene the place Cruise himself truly scaled the Burj Khalifa.
Arriving amid Daniel Craig’s James Bond run (which is crammed with motion pictures I both love or completely hate), and the tip of the unique Jason Bourne trilogy, Ghost Protocol felt like a throwback to the whole lot that made the Mission: UnattainableTV present so addictive. There is a loyal and highly-skilled workforce, a nefarious villain and tons of devices on show. However crucially, issues do not at all times work out as Hunt and crew anticipate, which makes the franchise extra relatable to all of us with failing devices. (Each time my iPhone crashes, I am unable to assist however be grateful I am not climbing the Burj Khalifa with solely a single high-tech gecko glove.)
With the arrival of Christopher McQuarrie, who directed 2015’s Rogue Nation and its sequels, Mission: Unattainable discovered a groove that differentiated it from most different fashionable franchises. Nearly like motion movie jazz, McQuarrie and Cruise incessantly got here up with concepts for set items and constructed motion pictures round them. Scripts have been reworked on the fly. Usually this is able to spell catastrophe, however McQuarrie ended up thriving within the chaos. Along with stunt coordinator Scott Eastwood, he additionally managed to push the sequence into astounding new sensible set items (see: Ethan Hunt hanging out of a aircraft in Rogue Nation, or the prolonged skydiving sequence in Fallout).
Paramount Photos and Skydance
Useless Reckoning Half 1 builds on McQuarrie’s earlier entries. This time, Hunt and a brand new companion (Hayley Atwell’s Grace) are chased by Rome’s slim streets whereas driving a souped-up, tiny Fiat. He base-jumps off of a mountain utilizing a bike. He fights on an actual practice dashing alongside at 60MPH. All of the whereas, he is making an attempt to cease the villainous AI, recognized solely as The Entity.
On the face of it, Useless Reckoning , the newest present co-created by Damon Lindelof which additionally incorporates a robust protagonist towards an omnipotent AI. The movie additionally dabbles in related themes: Absolutely an all-powerful synthetic intelligence would additionally encourage near-religious devotion. In Useless Reckoning, that is embodied by Gabriel, the angelically named sociopath performed by Esai Morales.
Whereas the movie not often slows all the way down to discover the true affect of AI, Hunt and his workforce — Simon Pegg’s Benji, Ving Rhames’ Luther — immediately grasp the bigger implications. Whoever can management the AI may principally management the world — not merely by bodily power, however by defining reality and actuality itself. An AI may erase an individual from surveillance footage, or flip them into another person fully. Nothing could be trusted. As we grapple with the affect of ChatGPT and generative AI in actual life, it’s laborious to not really feel like we’re on an identical path. (It is also humorous to see within the midst of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, that are immediately tied to complaints about studios profiting from creatives with AI.)
As a lot as I like different motion movie franchises – like John Wick’s more and more elaborate choreography, or the sheer ridiculousness of the Quick and the Livid – Mission: Unattainable stays uniquely pleasant. It’s dedicated to delivering astonishing sensible stunt work. It’s self-aware simply sufficient to poke enjoyable at itself. And part of me hopes that one way or the other, a workforce of geeks may also combat again towards the excesses of AI.