Audiences only follow a movie’s plot the first time they watch it. With each subsequent viewing, they don’t look at a plot they already know. The things that make a movie rewatchable are anything but the plot, such as the visuals, the performances, the themes, the soundtrack, the character arcs and, in the case of the Mission Impossible movies, Tom Cruise’s deadly stunts. Just like the crowd goes to a Star Wars movie to indulge in the sheer escapism of intergalactic adventures or go to a Judd Apatow production for its signature blend of laughable hilarity and heartbreaking sincerity, they go to a Mission Impossible film to see what daring antics Cruise has embarked on during this time.
In action movies, the less complicated the plot, the better. The clue is in the name; the audience wants a story driven by action, not one that takes the occasional break for some action. The plots of action movies only serve to get the heroes from one life-threatening situation to another. The less screen time they spend on the “boring” scenes like exposition and character development and hostage negotiations, the more screen time they can spend on car chases and fistfights and explosions. Plotting is not the USP of the Mission Impossible franchise; the USP is Cruise’s breathtakingly practical stunt work.
Mission Impossible is no ordinary action movie franchise, as the producers don’t use CGI or even stunt doubles to create the illusion that Ethan Hunt is risking his life; Cruise actually does it all for real. When the audience goes to a Marvel movie or a Fast & Furious movie, they expect lifeless CGI spectacle. If they go to a Mission Impossible movie, they expect a kind of visceral thrill they can’t get from any other franchise. Any action blockbuster can use movie magic to give the impression of skydiving or helicopter flippers. But only Mission Impossible let his inexplicable star perform all the stunts by himself while just pointing a camera at him.
‘s scripts Mission Impossible movies often use classic MacGuffin-driven storytelling, as this is the easiest and fastest way to string the set pieces together. Alfred Hitchcock invented the MacGuffin for his own spy thrillers like The 39 stepsarguably the foundation for all contemporary Hollywood escapist entertainment, and north-northwest. These Hitchcock classics were precursors to the modern James Bond and Mission Impossible movies. in a typical Mission Impossible movie, is there any plot device like nuclear launch codes or a list of enemy spies. This plot device is simply there to take Ethan Hunt around the world as he goes from climbing the side of a skyscraper to hanging from a helicopter to jumping from roof to roof to fighting a mustachioed Henry Cavill on the edge of a cliff.
Ever since Cruise climbed the side of the world’s tallest building in Ghost protocolthe Mission Impossible series has become an extravagant exercise in one-man art. In Rogue NationCruise was hanging from the door of a plane as it took off. In precipitation, he dangled from a helicopter and then flew that helicopter through a narrow valley. He ran over a series of rooftops, broke his ankle on one of the jumps and continued with a broken ankle so the crew could save the shot. Plotting doesn’t really matter that much in a Mission Impossible movie, and since fans come to these movies to see action, that’s fine. The plot just needs to do its job without getting in the way, giving Cruise plenty of opportunities to put himself in danger.
But the next Mission Impossible movie, Dead Reckoning, can’t get away with a petty conspiracy. Not only is Dead Reckoning planned as final closing for the franchise; it’s split into two parts, so the plot needs to be captivating enough for the first part’s cliffhanger to end to spark the excitement for the second part. Two-part finales are becoming more common in blockbuster franchises, and they’re more effective when the first part ends with a shocking twist that makes the second part a must-see, like Voldemort taking the Elder Wand from Dumbledore’s tomb in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 or Thanos collecting the sixth Infinity Stone and wiping out half of all life in the universe in Avengers: Infinity War.
Based on the teasers that have appeared online intermittently in recent months, Dead Reckoning will feature even bigger, daring stunts than any of its predecessors, from a train crash to a doorless chase to a primary colored biplane dogfight. But based on the franchise’s previous entries, it may not have a compelling enough plot to warrant a two-part film. Still, after pulling off the cinematic magic trick of Mission: Impossible – Falloutthere’s reason to trust Cruise and returning writer-director Christopher McQuarrie.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One will hit theaters on July 14, 2023.
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