Commentary Track: Mission: Impossible

With the latest (last?) Ethan Hunt excursion due to embark shortly, we decided to hop back in time 29 years and re-watch the movie that started it all! Listen separately or watch along as we talk through 1996’s MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE! How has Brian DePalma’s TV-to-feature spy pic starring Tom Cruise held up over the decades? We have plenty of thoughts, plus behind-the-scenes stories, amusing asides and plenty of laughs, so won’t you please accept this mission? 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome friends, it's podcast podcasting. Dinho Zaki again, Bryan.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
They're talking died mom in now bocks on Baby.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Super Game being ambushed. Abort.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
That's an order they knew, they knew we were coming here.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Do you read me?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
I can understand you're very upset.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
You've never seen me very upset. This table was self destructive.
Five seconds.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Welcome to a movie film commentary track. My name is
Zaki Hassan, and your mission, mister Hall, should you choose
to accept it, is to join me in this conversation.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
I accept.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Hey, sweet, oh, I think this thing is gonna explode.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Whoa And now cut to us with the you know,
Looney Tunes soot on our faces and hair sticking straight up.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Oh see, I was going to a darker place. I
was like with the wings and a halo, old Zachi.
The camera like pans up above the clouds and it's
like I should have warned you about that or whatever
you know.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
And I'm like hitting you with my harp. Yeah, the
Captain to Gilligan or Skipper or whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
But hey, hey, we are here to talk about Mission Impossible.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, which I recently rewatched before we even really settled
on this. It was playing in a theater and I
got to catch it again and I was like, man,
this is just such like a cool cracker Jack hest movie.
And then when you brought it up, you know, to
do as a commentary because we have Final Reckoning coming
out in about a week, I was like, Yeah, this

(02:03):
is gonna be a great one.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
The nice thing is, at least for me. I mean,
I had not seen this in a little while, so
it did feel somewhat fresh. And I feel like, at
this point it is remarkable to be twenty nine years
deep into a franchise that is still ongoing as of
this recording. Absolute, and let's be real, even if the
Reckoning is final to some extent, I don't think it's

(02:28):
final final.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
No, No, I mean it may change in some ways,
but this is just such a lucrative franchise for Paramount.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
To quote Joey Pants, during the making of The Fugitive,
they'll pay some other asshole twenty million dollars and have
him run really fast.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Exactly exactly, and then you know, Cruise will probably become
sort of like an elder Statesman figure or something, you know, and.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
He'll become the Jim Phelps.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yes, that's right. Yeah, and then he can put chatty.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
It doesn't do it now? Does it exactly? Exactly? Yeah?
But yeah, so we have lots to say about this.
I think it's gonna be a fun conversation. Nineteen ninety
six is Mission Impossible, directed by Brian de Palmo. Big
big hit when it came out, and obviously the proof
of its success is the fact that they are still

(03:20):
going three decades later.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
It is remarkable.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, so we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna, you know,
watch this together. There's only the one cut, So folks,
if you're listening and you want to watch along with us,
you can certainly do that.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
You can join us. If not.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
As always, we'll try to keep the conversation interesting enough.
Hopefully that mission Mission it may be the most impossible
of all we'll find out. So we're gonna do the
usual thing. We will hit plan three. So one two
three plate, Brian, you're ready, I'm ready. Here we go,
one two three plate.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
I feel like I say this every time, but this
is one of my favorite movie logos.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
The old Paramount, well specifically the nineties Paramount logo.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's sort of pushing to that beautiful blue
orange sky and then the stars coming in swirling around.
There's just something very cinematic about it. I love now
this movie.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
I think I mentioned I've not seen it a ton,
and yet as soon as the logo came up, I
could hear Danny Elfman's music coming in. Oh yeah, yeah,
I think this is one of his best scores. And
it was the first time I heard a Danny Elfman
score where I was like, that doesn't sound like a
Danny Elfman score.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, because there was that moment. Well, he had pee
Wee and back to School and those definitely are kind
of of a piece. But then once he did Batman,
it feels like for a couple of years everyone was like,
do Batman again. You know, you got dark Man and
Dick Tracy and those are very much in that Batman
family or vocabulary. But this I love this score because

(04:55):
it does feel like Elfman. But yes, it feels like
it's Elfman attacking something else, right.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, Well, the marriage of Danny Elfman with Lalo Schiffrin's
iconic Mission Impossible theme is really something special. Like I think,
you know, every movie has some reorchestration of the Mission
Impossible theme I think this one might be my favorite
out of all of them.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, well, Elfman already leans into a lot of percussion
instruments and things, and the original Mission Impossible theme is
very percussion heavy. So yeah, it just feels like a
great fit.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
I mean, I don't know how much we want to
get into it just right off the bat, but I
mean Ellen Silvestri, yeah, was originally hired to do the
score and had done about twenty twenty three minutes or
i'm seeing here of music, but he was eventually taken off.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
And I have that soundtrack via bootleg.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, I listened to it this morning. Actually, yeah, it's okay.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Right, I had that thought. I was like, I think
they made the right choice.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, Like it's fine, but knowing what we wound up with,
this feels like it fits much better and adds to
the movie in a more special way. Yep, it you know,
being Elfman. It has this kind of frantic sound that
I think fits the jangled energy of this movie. Yes,
you know.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, I like this intro sequence as kind of it's
an example, it's like a just another mission of the
of the im Force.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, kind of a cold open.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Exactly right, And when we jump into the opening title sequence.
What I think is really cool is they preserve something
from the old television series, which is actually the films
have continued to do throughout, which is that you have
the opening title sequence including scenes from this episode if
you will, your right, minus context, right right, And that

(06:58):
was something the original show did. What's really cool is
if you look at the shots that we get of
each of the of the team members in the beginning,
it's it's them right before they die. Well, I don't
know if I noticed that, Like, pay attention here, watch
this each of them right here, right before they die.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Isn't that funny?

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Before getting in the car and the elevator shaft?

Speaker 2 (07:26):
But you don't know that, right?

Speaker 1 (07:27):
No, I didn't think about it. That's really funny. Wait,
so I want to ask you said you haven't seen
this a lot. I thought you were going to say recently,
but just in general, is this the one? Well I
assume too.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Is probably two I've seen twice.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Okay, yeah, yeah, so you don't come back to this
one very often?

Speaker 2 (07:44):
I well, So, just to just to lay my cards
on the table, I harbored a grudge against this film
for a long time as a fan of the television
series I was. I loved the TV show when I
was a kid. I gone up inside her abay these
and this film, which I was very excited for, and

(08:04):
I was very excited to hear they were bringing back
the character Jim Phelps, who's the who's the lead you
know in the series, portrayed by Peter Graves. And when
I watched it and the whole thing turned on on
making Phelps not just a heel, but really an unrepentant heel, right, it.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Really it irked me.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, sure, you know, and so I sort of like it.
It was a tough thing to get past when when
watching this film, and then when it came to the franchise,
you know, the second one was so god awful in
my opinion, that it was very easy for me to
just write off this franchise period. And then you know,
I saw the third one with Sean actually an opening

(08:46):
day when it came out, and I loved that, and
I was like, this feels like the old series to me,
you know, And from then to now I had never
looked back, but but this one, you know, I'm at
a point now just to be clear, I mean, it's
been almost thirty years. I'm saying when I'm at a
point now where I'm like, you know what, Yes, he's
called Jim Phelps, but in my head he's John Boyd.
It's easier for me to accept this is that asshole,

(09:08):
John Boyd. You know how Billy z Ayine plays Billy
z Aye and Zoolander. It's like, exactly, this is John
and so that's what I choose to do.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
I think that makes sense. Well, yeah, and I can
understand because I didn't grow up watching the series. I do.
There was a reboot at one point right in the
again the late eighties, right eighties. I do remember watching
that with my dad, so I was familiar with Peter Graves,
and they brought Peter Graves back for that yep, yep.
And I did like that a lot. But I can't
say it was I brought that with me into this,

(09:40):
so I did just take it at face value. But
I can imagine, yeah, something I'm a little more familiar with,
like say Star Trek or something, and they make a
Star Trek movie and then Captain Kirk is yeah, like
the unrepented villain. Yeah, that would not be enjoyable.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
That was the example I would use, Like imagine they
did the first episode of Next Year Narration involves Captain
Kirk being a trader. You know, people would rightly be upset.
And my thought, and I promise I'm not going to
delve into this too much, but my thought was, it's
having Phelps. If you have him die heroically handed off,
no problem having him be the heel. I'm like, the

(10:17):
only people who are gonna like that. The only people
that's going to mean anything to are the people who
watched the show and who would know and like the characters,
So like, why do that?

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Maybe he dies at the hand of a mole exactly.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Right, Like like let's say the opening sequence here where
where we think Phelps is dead, Let's say that's his
heroic death, okay, or he he he ends up through
the course of it, you know, dying heroically.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
That's fine.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
But yeah, I again, I want to be very clear,
I'm past that.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Now. Now.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
This scene here was not they didn't shoot it originally.
This seque is right here. And this is something Emilia
Stevez talked about where Branda Palmas screen in the film
for George Lucas, and George Lucas said Oh yeah, it's great,
but but where's your where's your spaghetti scene? Yeah? And

(11:09):
by that he meant a scene where you have the
characters over and over a meal discussing the plan yep,
and they're like, oh, yeah, that's a good that's a
good idea. And and this is Brian to Palm that
you talked about. It's like back then, you know, it's
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and Seid of Franciscopo.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
We just get to we just show each other our
movies amazing.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
And I was thinking, I was like, this scene is
so important because it lulls you into thinking, oh, this
is our this is our crew.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yes, yes, especially with Emilio Sivez, like a big star
being a part of it. Yeah, so which is you
know that that happens? Right? There's like the big twist
in Psycho where your main character dies in the middle
and you're like what you know? And then I don't
know many many times it happens a lot. I just
baked on all of them, but it's like, oh a

(11:57):
scream was another one that came to mind, where Drew
Barrymore is on the poster and she gets killed in
the first several minutes, and so yeah, it's a it's
a good fake out right, thinking that Amelia will be
part of this movie, but we're shocked that we could
lose everything. We don't know who's safe.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, it's well, it's pretty the setup is pretty ingenious
because well, first of all, emilias Steveez. That's that's how
it was pitched him. It's like, you'll be in the
first scene and then we're going to kill you off.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
Nobody expected.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
He's like, oh, that's great, you know, which.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
But the you know, sort of the the crux of
the television series both versions was that the team would
get into their scrapes and you think it's it's a
it's a moment of tension or danger, but ultimately they
get out of it and you know, nobody in the
im team dies.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Right.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
I've used the term competence porn before. That's mission impossible.
You watch the television show.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
You know, I should really go back and watch this.
I feel like I would love them. You you absolutely should.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
One thing I always say is like to me personally,
like I I I like it. Starting with season two
because that's when Peter Graves came on, he was on it.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
But the seasons two.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
And three, you've got you've got Peter Graves as the lead,
You've got Martin Landau as as essentially they eat the
hunt Master of Disguise character. Okay, Barbara Bain, it was.
It was like a great cast during like seasons two
and three. Yeah, absolutely worth watching.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
Well and while we're still on it with Amelia Stuvez.
So he's also uncredited. Yes, right, And apparently I didn't
know this, but Tom Cruise appears uncredited and Young Guns?
Wow is that right? Apparently? I I, you know, I've
actually never seen Young Guns, but that's not a long

(13:48):
time ago. There's like the Outsider's connection. So you wonder
if they're just kind of buds, yeah in this moment,
you know, and just I don't know, doing that for
one another. Well I like that, Yeah, me too.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
This, I mean, this was Tom Cruise's first just straight
up action movie.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, which is strange to think about because now they
think of him as one of our greatest living action here.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Isn't that interesting? Like at the time, this was sort
of this was a lark for Tom Cruise, who was
like a very well respected you know, thrillers and dramas
and and hadn't done action movies, but this was his
first movie as a producer.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah, that's really interesting, right, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
And I think it's it's it illustrates. I mean, the
guy's you know, he's got good instincts in terms of
storytelling and whatnot.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, I mean, I think you have some more to
add to this, but it sounds like there was some
tension between Tom Cruise and DePalma. And knowing what we
know now, I mean, Tom Cruise in most cases is
a very hands on producer, Yeah, right, possibly even a
co director at least when it comes to the mission
impossible films, like a co collaborator in every sense of

(15:09):
the word now with mcquarie. Right, Yeah, So it sounds
like he was maybe bringing that energy even as early
as this movie.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
And well, and it goes beyond Cruise and de Palma.
You know, you also had a tension between Brian de
Palma and Robert Town who who who Tom Cruise and
Paul Wagner had brought in to rewrite the David kepscript.
The kep script is what de Palma wanted to direct
Robert Town, you know, Chinatown, Robert Town.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Obviously having him, you know, in the mix, would sort
of add to the prestige, and so you had he
had certain instincts Di Paluma wanted to go a certain way,
and oftentimes it was like Cruise was the tiebreaker, you know.
But yeah, it is remarkable how this movie did point
the way for the rest of his career. Really, yeah,

(16:04):
this is this is what inaugurated the great Tom Cruise
running meme, right, I mean.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, yeah, it really is. I mean yeah it started here.
I mean before this, yeah, I mean you think the
younger roles, risky business outsiders, things like that, but yeah,
it was, like you said, sort of adult thrillers like
The Firm or you know, dramas like Born on the
fourth of July, Far and Away, epic kind of stuff.
But yeah, this is what we would. Yeah, this was

(16:30):
a shift, a pivot for him a little bit, it.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Was, and it it came in a pretty good summer.
Like I was, I was looking at this is this
is a memorial Day of ninety six that it came out.
This was this was a few weeks after the Rock Wow. Yeah, right,
I think the Phantom was this year maybe, like maybe no, No,
In fact, the Phantom was the same weekend that The
Rock came Out's also paramount that one did not do well,

(16:56):
by the way, but yeah, yeah, it did well in
my heart. Independence Day was this year.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, well, I uh just looking it up. I mean,
I have the box office here because I was interested.
So this was the third highest grossing movie of nineteen
ninety six. And by the way, Jerry McGuire came out
this year, which I had a hard time like putting
that in my brain because I remember seeing both in
the theater, but they don't.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
Was that was that in the Fall?

Speaker 1 (17:23):
That was in December? Okay? Yeah, but uh yeah, highest
grossing movie starting at one was Independence Day, then Twister,
than Mission Impossible, Twister, I forgot about that, Yeah, then
The Rock, then Netty Professor at five Ransom, which we
bring up sometimes is a lost or not long lost,
but forgotten movie that was the sixth highest grossing movie
of nineteen ninety six, and.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Way down in seventy eighth place the Phantom.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yeah yeah, yeah, but you know what's interesting, this movie
came out it got a sixty five percent Rotten Tomatoes,
not that that existed then, but now looking at it,
sixty five percent Rotten Tomatoes. Most critics I saw complaining
that the plot was too complicated. I remember that, and
it has a B plus cinema score. Kind of interesting.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
That is interesting. Well, I remember it did well, but
I don't I don't know that anyone really loved it
when it came out.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
I wouldn't say that I loved it, but I remember
liking it a lot. I thought it was cool. I
thought this movie is very cool. It has a really
this movie has a weird energy, right.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, especially like on its own, but also when you
compare it with the other films.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yes, but I mean I mean that lovingly. It's it
doesn't feel like a nineties film necessarily. Like there's a
weird other worldliness to this movie. I finally, like I was,
I was trying to figure out how to describe it.
I mean, it's certainly heightened, yeah, and all of them
are to a degree, but this one almost reminds me
of like an anime, right yeah, well, certainly with.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
The camera angles and things like that.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, and like the way the drama is executed, and
even the action sequence, especially the the train sequence at
the end, there's like a weird, otherworldly, anime esque sort
of feel of this movie, yeah, which I kind of
I remember loving then and I still love now, which
I I do remember, especially when the series turned around
a little bit with three. Yeah, this was thought of

(19:17):
as less than but I was always like, I don't know,
there's always been a little place in my heart for
this one.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
And uh, my sense is that this one was always
fairly well regarded. I don't know anybody who loves the
second movie. Yeah, and I'm sure they exist. I don't
want to have anything to do with those people, but
I'm sure. I'm sure they're out there. But what I
like in it too is the fast and the furious

(19:44):
this one.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, that's a great comparison.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
This is the fast and the furious of the Mission
Impossible movies.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yes, meaning I mean, if you want to yeah, yeah, well.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
It's it clearly points the way towards the series, but
but the stakes are a little smaller, the not all
the pieces are there quite yet, and you know, you
kind of look at it like, well, this is what
got the whole thing started, you know.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah. Yeah, the tone is very different than any of
the other films.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
In this one, they're content to steal DVD players off
of trucks and yeah, exactly if you will, the knocklist
being the metaphorical DVD player.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Metmorical DVD TV sets or whatever you know. Like, by
the way, I there's two things I want to say.
All right, I'm gonna say this one little factoid because
we're talking about moments in time and then we can
comment on what's happening on screen. But h a funny fact.
I saw that this was the last major studio movie

(20:48):
to be released on Beta Max video cassette, Wow, which
puts it in a weird moment in time, right, like
it ties it to well, this is all the past,
but like past past, let's say, and this movie is
also still tied to twenty twenty five because we're getting
a sequel from it in about a week. So isn't
that kind of interesting?

Speaker 2 (21:09):
It's like a it's like a nexus point in time. Yes, exactly,
the past and the future meet. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Did you ever, I mean, just because I think it's
kind of interesting, did you ever have a Beta max player?

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Or I did not have a Beta Max But but
you know, Beta never really took off state side, right,
but in Saudi Arabia, I would say Beta.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
Was the preferred format.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, and so we had we had a VHS and
it was always harder to get movies on BHS.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
Oh interesting, My neighbor had a Beta player, and I
remember it was like kind of weird because we couldn't
swap movies. Yeah, you know, and I was like, right,
why are your VHS cassettes like shorter and stumpier and
yet better quality. Yes, that's the thing that's the rub, right,
like they were a higher quality. But anyway, so I yeah,

(21:55):
I do want to comment on this sequence here, and
I love the I mean, I'm just gonna say it
low fi spycraft happening where it's sort of like a
woman with a perfume bottle spraying some sort of chemical
that can you know, on someone's back that can be
seen through special glasses so they can keep an eye
on him. Like, I love all this stuff.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
It's very h when you when you talk about the
type of spycraft, it's very feels you know, cold War centric, you.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
Know, yeah, even though we were a few years removed
from that.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
But this right here, so so we have First of all,
I didn't I forgot how freaking horrifying his death is. Yeah, Emilios,
but this is the type of thing like you would
never have seen this in the old TV show, right,
they always have these last minute things, and so right
away it's meant to be like this, ain't this, ain't
that anymore? You know, like right here when when Phelps

(22:51):
is like man down, you never heard man down and
mission impossible, right, And I think it's a great way
of shaking up the edges sketch.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
You know. Yeah, and knowing what we know after watching
the movie at least one time, seeing Phelps here just
so cold, so cold, and he's orchestrating this death. You
don't know it in this moment, but yeah, exactly, yeah,
and then it's horrifying for this PG. Thirteen movie. We
see the jagged whatever the hell that is, like go
right into his face.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
Oh yeah, he's extremely dead, ded dead. Yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
This came at kind of a career resurgence moment for
John Voight too, right, because he was in Anaconda right
around the same time, and then he kind of found
this vein of just like bureaucratic assholes that he played
for the next decade or so.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
You know, yeah, because I know they referenced him on Seinfeld,
you know, the Yeah, that's Urge buys the car with
John Foyd's pencil in it or whatever. But I didn't
really know who that was. I feel like this is
the moment where I was beginning to like understand who
John Voight was.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, man, I'm with you, but.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, man, they killed Gordon Bombay.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
No, it is nothing sacred.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
I know, what's my teenage self supposed to think? Now?

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Did you see this in the theater?

Speaker 1 (24:11):
I did? I remember it very well? Actually, wow, yeah,
I remember this and Twister. I don't know why, but
those experiences I remember really well.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Twister was like the week before this, I think, wow, yeah,
I think I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah, yeah, did you not?

Speaker 2 (24:29):
I didn't see this in theater? You know, I saw
this via Well. Corey hebying a listener to our show.
He at the time, we went to high school together.
He worked at Suncoast Hey Rip, and so he got
me the VIHS tape for Christmas that year. Oh cool,
So that was how I That was how I saw
it for the first time.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that's so. We talked about how
DVDs really busted a door wide open where you know
it used to be sort of unique at least for
people our age to own many movies, right, And then
TVD happened, and that was when I was in college,
and it feels like everybody had at least like eight
or ten DVDs of something.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
That's exactly it, because I when I was in high school,
I already had like a little VHS rack and it
was like my movies. And that was that it's a
weird thing to say. People maybe don't Yeah, that was
not normal for most people because they would just rent.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah you know. Yeah, So that's why when you said
it like that, was getting this little feeling inside remembering
in ninety six or seven or whatever, how it would
have felt having this would be like, oh, that's kind
of special.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Like I remember specifically when you're talking about ninety six,
I owned The Rock on BHS. I owned the Phantom
on VHS. I owned an Independence Day on VHS. I
owned this on VHS. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah, I always think back and kind of chuckle remembering
using my allowance to buy The Fugitive when I was
thirteen years old, Like what boy was? You know? It
like a target with his allowance money buying The Fugitive.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
On BHS because that's so funny.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
So now as everything's going down, all the members are
going to be taken out. So I was reading, I
thought this was kind of funny. So this was shot
in Prague, yes, and it was a huge logistical nightmare
lighting all of this. I mean it's oh wow, you know,
two miles worth of riverfront that they had to light,
so they took two weeks to prepare, figuring out how
to light it, setting it up. And because they had

(26:23):
done such a beautiful setup, apparently photographers, like amateur photographers
just came out and droves because now their city was
lit so beautifully, they could take all these unique pictures,
you know, with everything I don't know, so beautifully illuminated.
I thought that was like kind of funny, Like what
an opportunity. You know, your city's lit up professionally in

(26:46):
this way that it will probably never be lit up again.
It's like, well, let's go get some pictures.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Oh and right here, as we're watching, you know, John
Voyd just took a header into the ocean. I was thinking,
here's another way this movie is different from what come.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
It comes later.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
You know Ethan Hunt would would Aquaman dove into the
water after him. Oh yeah, yeah, Now we have Jesus Hunt. Yeah,
remember in which one was I think it was a
rogue nation right where it's like it's it's Ethan Hunt
disguised as the Alec Baldwin character. Yeah, and he's like

(27:24):
Hunt is the manifestation of destiny or whatever.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
Remember that? Oh yeah, yea absolutely, I'm like he's a
living manifestation of destiny.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
I think that's that's what That's what Tom grizz thinks
of eth the Hunt as you know.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Yeah, by the.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Way, that was a beautiful car explosion. It's tricky, right,
like you don't want it to be too big, Yeah,
but it's got to be big enough that you believe
that the person inside is.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
A crispy critter. Yeah. I'm sort of like admiring the
craft at least. I feel like now things get plused
in such a way that we were like, oh, that
car exploded, but we also are our brains kind of
realized that that was like an effect. But that was
a real scrappy sort of car explosion that felt all
the more dangerous and yeah, for those reasons.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
Now, Christen Scott Thomas, I'm pretty sure this is the
first movie I saw her in.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
I'm sure it was for me.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
But English Patient was probably a couple of years after this.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
Right, Oh was that like six or seven or something?

Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, it well, it was it was when Seinfeld was
still on Yes, yes, of course, So therefore we've got
like a like a two year window.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
I remember watching The English Patient on VHS with my
girlfriend at the time and being like, this is boor
that's my memory of it.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
Well, then that Seinfeld episode really spoke to you.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
Yeah. Yeah, And apparently the knife that he sees there
is the same knife that we later see Jean Renau has, right, Yes,
that's right.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
And and and I mean it's really clever because they
lay all the pieces in place where I think when
you're watching it, you're not like, once once the reveals
are out there, you're not like, oh, come on, it
all pretty well fits, I.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Think, you know. And and there is much more.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
Like there's more of a mystery aspect to this movie, yeah,
than than the later ones, which are which are I
think more broadly big stunt filled capers totally and you know,
talking about how you know, it's sort of sort of
the fast and furious connections which I've made those connections before,

(29:48):
because I remember when when we did Dead Reckoning and
that came out the same year as the same summers
as Fast Ten. I was like, these two movies are
like it's like a film school assignment where people come
back with very different movies, but it's it's the same idea,
you know. Yeah, yeah, I think I said, like I
would release them as a two pet called Friends and Family.

(30:10):
That's good because if you're if you're Don Tretto's family boy,
you're you're in like Flynn. And if you're eating Hunt's
Friends boy, I'll tell you he will manifest destiny on
your behalf.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Uh. I feel like, uh, man, I had somebody I
was telling you off, Mike. I mean, in researching this movie,
it's just so many fascinating things, much more than I
expected with this movie. I mean, it's funny. I want
to talk about the movie, but I also want to
talk about the making of the movie. I thought this
was interesting. This was the third movie and final movie

(30:48):
that Paramount Pictures developed, uh, having bought from Lucille Ball's
Desilu Productions. Right, so we got star Trek Untouchable, Untouchable,
This is impossible, Like that's just one of those things.
You it's like a little footnote, but a fascinating one
for Lucille Ball.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah. Well, well, and you can see why Paramount was
probably entirely on board with to Palma directing because he
did The Untouchables and it was very successful. Right, But
it wasn't like hiring di Palma was not a Paramount decision.
It was a Tom Cruise decision. And I thought that

(31:27):
was interesting in and of itself because because Cruz met
Di Palma, I think I think it was while they
were filming, while he was filming Interview at the Vampire,
which remember all the consternation over that, Like I wasn't
I was not familiar with the Interview of the Vampire
at all, or Leastotte and any of that. But I
remember people pre Internet having shit fits over Tom Cruise

(31:49):
being cast as lastatt Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
I might have been a little young and not super interested,
Like it wasn't in my sphere of interest kind of
a thing. But I do remember that that was a
big like I remember that story, that's right, but I
don't have an opinion on it because I still to
this day I haven't seen it either.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
But he so he meets di Palma. He's having dinner
with Spielberg. I think he meets Di Palma. He goes back,
he watches all of his movies and he's like, this
is the guy.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Which I kind of get because whatever he's bringing to
this movie, it is here right, like, yes, this is
a DiPalma.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Scene, is a perfect evocay, Like this is a DiPalma
scene right here.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Yeah, so so heightened, almost cartoonishly so, but also deliciously so. Yeah. Right,
I gotta admit, I mean, I'm recently catching up on
my DiPalma. I just saw Body Double in the past
couple of years and things like that. But he's I mean, yeah,
he's got such an identifiable style.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
Yeah, And I would say I'm kind of hot and
cold on him.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
I remember that from back in the day. Actually, I
kind of remember that.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
Yeah, Like I don't I don't dislike him, but I
do think sometimes he gets sort of overwhelmed by his
own sense of style.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah, which I would say is fine with me with
him if he's working on his own material, right, But
if he were to come in and do an Indiana
Jones movie or something, I would be like, yeah, you know,
but I do feel like I'm glad that not all
the Mission Impossible movies feel like this, but I think
this is a cool one that we get.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
I agree with that, and I think what he brought
to this was obviously good enough to get the ball rolling,
you know, and you know it gave it the momentum
to just keep going. But you also appreciate I think,
let's see this right here, look at the cantid angle.
Can't and like in his crotch look, I mean, yeah,

(33:41):
we can see his nose hairs, you know.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
Yeah, but it's freaking awesome.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, I think I think this scene is one of
the best scenes in the whole movie. And it's not
an action sequence per se.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
No, it feels like one, but it isn't. Yeah, you know,
the tension is almost comical, but it feels good. Well.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
The great thing to me, like, I've always dug Henry
Cherney as a character actor. I think he portrays such
a unique type. Right yeah again.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
Just bureaucratic asshole.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
He's your man, you know, because yeah, I was in
clear in present Danger of the year before this, but.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
So and I haven't seen that in many, many years.
But is he is heightened in that movie as the
performance he's giving in this scene.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yes, and no, I think he's got a certain delivery,
like he sounds like, you know, you go weaving as
Agent Smith. Yes, great comparison, Yes, right, and he's just
got this presence and I think it tells you something
that they were like, no, no, we got to bring him back.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
It took a while, we got to bring him back. Oh,
it's just like incredible. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
It just embodies an archetype, you know. Yeah, So that's
why I like this scene because it gives us a
window into how quick of a thinger Ethan is. And
I think the floating fish tank is a great button
on it.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
And again it's relatively speaking, it's pretty restrained. But watching
it again, I was like, this sequence is nuts, Like
that's that's.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
A lot of water. Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna say,
great practical effect. It might not feel as I'll use
my word that people attribute to me. I guess bombastic.
I'm not very conscious of whenever I say that. But
you know, now you'd go much much bigger. But that
looks very real because it is and also very like, damn,

(35:31):
I wouldn't want to be trying to.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Stay ahead of that water. Yeah, that's right, it's very cool. Well,
apparently this is what Brian de Palmers said that he
talked to Tom Cruise and he's basically like, you have
to you have to do it in order to make
it look. We can't have a stunt man. You have
to do it. Yeah, And Cruise is very reticent about it,
and he was like, I don't know. I'm an actor,

(35:52):
I'm not a stunt man.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
I know it's weird movie the irony moment, that's right,
but you know whatever biopic.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah, it's oh, it's a Paul McCartney as a kid.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
You know. It's like, oh, I just played the guitar, yeah,
and played the bass.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
And so Brian Defalma says, he's like, I think I
I sort of you know, got that ball rolling because
once he did it, he's like, oh my god, I
need to fall off things now, you know or whatever?
What does that be a building to climb?

Speaker 1 (36:26):
Yeah, I was gonna say Toby maguire and uh, Spider Man,
He's like, the power feels good. Well, I only remember
that because Sean used to do that all the time.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
He would always quote that the power feels good. It
is from Spider Man.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Three. Is that what it is? Three? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Oh man, that's really funny. Yeah, but that one's awesome.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
And there's like, we got an awesome little lens flair there,
you know when lens flairs used to be tasteful and
sort of accentuate things versus flooding the frame.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
But uh, before JJ came in in the third movie
and just just lens flared the living shit out of everything.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
But see this kind of stuff here. Now, where's he's
gotten away? He's used the chewing gum. We should call out,
you know, the red light green light thing. FLI up
the fish tank, got away. Now when he's going to
the safe house. I love the low craft or low
five spike craft stuff, you know where it's like breaking glass,
spreading it on the floor, you know, so you can
hear someone coming. And I just I don't know, all

(37:27):
this feels possible. I don't mean that that was not intentional,
but like, I want to see spectacular things, but I
also want to see clever things, right, and I enjoy
the cleverness of those smaller sorts of things.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
Well, it tells you something that in the early goings
they were still trying to figure out what this series is,
and I think that's reflected in how different movie one
movie two are. Right, It's it's a pretty wide spectrum,
with each of the first two films on either end

(38:05):
of it, you know, right, And I think I think
that's that's this by the the whole process by which
he tries to find Max and his his web searching
is hilarious to me.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
Well yeah, because right he puts in something. I don't
remember what the first thing is, but it's like three
hundred results in the entire world.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
Job three fourteen and it says no results, right, And
I'm like, how is that even possible?

Speaker 1 (38:41):
You know, isn't that fascinating?

Speaker 2 (38:42):
You'd get at least one hundred thousand up front? Half
of them would be pornography.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Right, exactly exactly, you know.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
But the idea of like nothing being found is very funny.
This is this is a very mid nineties view of
what the Internet was going to be like, you know.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
M hmm, yeah, yeah. I mean I doubt I was
even using the internet at this point. I maybe in
school maybe.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
I think fall of ninety six I started.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
Yeah, yeah, I don't think I had an email address
until ninety seven.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Yeah, definitely for me ninety seven. Yeah, yeah, but I
remember Apple was really leaning. Apple was in like a
down period because this is pre Steve Jobs coming back, Yeah,
and they needed whatever help they could. So I mean
all the all the you know, laptops or Apple laptops,
and I remember all the TV ads.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Oh really, I don't remember that. I was reading about
it though, Like he's using a model that hadn't even
come out yet, just to show how you know, sleek
and sophisticated their laptops were going to be. So they
had like a different laptop actually operating inside of it.
But it's just funny now because you look at it
and you're like, look at that cinder block it really

(39:55):
but yeah, pretty clever Job three fourteen, Job three fourteen.
Although this whole thing, yeah, him messaging like so many
people trying to a needle inside a haystack inside another haystack.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
For some reason, it reminds me of like you imagine
all the people getting that email exactly exactly. It reminds
me of the SNL sketch where John Malkovich is the
guy from in Line of Fire and he calls the
wrong guy.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
I forget I remember that.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Yeah, he's a little kid. He's like, how did you
feel when Kennedy died? It's this little kid is like
Kennedy died. That's so funny.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
That's a good idea.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
It's a funny, funny premise that would mean nothing today, right,
but back then, comedy.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Gold see right now? Oh, I guess he's doing different languages.
I was gonna say, he's just copy paste this email
instead of writing it like four hundred times. This was
kind of fun. I mentioned I saw it in the
theater recently. So my friend works at Hairamount and then
the lead up to the final movie coming out, they've

(41:04):
been showing every mission impossible at their theater on the lot,
and so yeah, he and I went and saw the
first one, this one, and man, what a blast watching
this on a big screen again, Like it's just so,
I don't know, it's not something that gets replayed a
lot at repertory theaters. And it is thrilled, very thrilling.

(41:25):
But yeah, watching it with a crowd was really fun.
And hearing people sort of chuckle at the I don't know,
a nachronistic sort of stuff like this scene. I remember
people kind of snickering when Voight walks in no with
the internet stuff the internet. Yeah, but it's just just fun.
It's kind of fun.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
I like this beat here with with the Phelps car
where where we realize he's just imagining seeing Phelps because
it allows the moment later when he does come back
for you to be like, wait, is this real?

Speaker 1 (41:55):
It is very dreamy, isn't it. Toward the end of
the film, when he's putting it all together and the
way that he imagining all the grace mind, Yeah, I
love that scene. Yeah, so this is kind of interesting
with Claire. I was reading that apparently there was sort
of like a love triangle happening. Yeah, it's even so

(42:15):
much as filmed.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
You can see it in the trailer. It's in the trailer.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
Yeah, I think even in the opening sort of sizzle,
real sort of thing that's happening. There's a moment where
they're like kissing, okay, and I guess through test screenings
people didn't jive with that, which I kind of agree
with it. It sort of makes them feel like a dirtbag.
I definitely agree with that.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
But it's also it's interesting because at the end of
the film, you have, you know, the Phelps character being like,
oh and I knew that he would fall for your
temptation or whatever they said. I'm like, yeah, but nothing
really happens. I don't think you know.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
No, it's very ambiguous artistic in the final version, right
where he kind of like she kisses his hand or something,
and then that's it in crossfade to something else.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
I guess that's meant to be be the the temptation, you.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Know, Yeah, yeah you can. I guess, bring whatever you
want to bring to what happens next. But yeah, so
I was also I mean, going back to the original
cast of Mission Impossible, they were all invited to be
in this film, but apparently they were going to be
the characters that populated the opening scene. So it'd be
Ethan Hunt with the original cast and they would one

(43:26):
by one get picked off, and they were like, yeah,
now we're good. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Well, and that wouldn't have made sense for a couple
of different reasons because by by then, you know, Martin
Landau was substantially older, and it's hard to imagine him
doing the same Master of Disguise stick you know. Sure,
so yeah, I I they wanted Peter Graves to come back, sure,
and he was like, yeah, yeah, absolutely, not, you know.

(43:55):
But what's interesting is that many years later, once JJ
Abrams came on as not just director for the third one,
but he became co producer for a couple of the
movies there, he said like, I want to bring back
Peter Graves. I want to kind of like redeem his character.
And then, of course Peter Graves passed away a couple
of years later. But I like that he had that instinct. Yeah,

(44:19):
you know, because they had done something similar with Star
Trek right when they did when he did, when Abrams
did his Star Trek movies.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
Oh, let's bring in Leonard Nimoy. Let's honor him and.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
Do something similar. I would have liked that as a fan.
I don't know that would have mattered that much.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
But yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, well it's nice. Yeah,
someone going in, who's well a story that feels like
a little opposite of what you're saying. Apparently, one of
the original directors of a lot of the episodes of
the original Mission Impossible, Yeah, I was asked by Paramount
to be on set just as sort of a consultant,

(44:53):
and apparently Di Palma spoke with him and was like, hey, man,
love the original series, but what we're doing is nothing
like the show and probably just gonna make both of
us uncomfortable having you here. And so apparently the director
was like, understood, thank you for your honesty, and ya
left set.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
Yeah, And and that makes sense because because the TV
show excelled at at doing these little episodic, little mini plays,
you know, right, and and it is different. So I
don't know that that instinct by the studio was very
smart because because somebody like Brian de Palma has a
very clear creative sensibility. So so if you hire him,

(45:32):
it's because you want whatever he brings, right right, you know.
But but that all being said, I I do think
De paulm is somebody who benefits from some limitations, sure,
you know, And and I think The Intouchible is a
good example of that. I've never been a big fan
of Scarface.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
Yeah, I have not seen that since my early twenties. Yeah,
I don't really remember it super well. But yeah, I
remember it not being exactly my thing.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
It's not my thing, and I know people who like
it a great deal, but yeah, it doesn't really do
much for me. Yeah, yeah, excess a little too much. Yeah, So.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
Tell me what you think about this plot. So now
we have I mean, we have a lot going on
at this point, yes, right, where like his team has
been taken out and there's like apparently a mole who's
working with this arms dealer to sell a knock list,
and now Ethan's been set up, they think it's him,
and so he's going to go meet with the dealer

(46:41):
to try to suss out or be called smoke out
the true mole. Yeah, is this plot overly complicated? I mean,
and I don't mean that to sound like are we
smarter whatever than whatever? But like have movies become more complicated?
I guess is what I'm saying, because I did watch
this again weeks ago, being like, Okay, I do remember

(47:02):
this being a little tricky to follow, but I'm really
going to try to like listen to every word and
see if I can absolutely understand it as it goes.
Do you think it's a little too complicated for its
own good? Or do you think it's it feels about right?

Speaker 2 (47:17):
So I'm up two minds. I I I don't think
once once you have the high level, I don't think
it's particularly it's you know, it's it's not that hard
to follow. I do think that they try to be
a little too clever by by trying to make it
seem more complicated than it is.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
I I think I one hundred percent agree with what
you're saying, right, yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Because I I what I said before was like way
back in the day, like like thirty years ago, is
when I wash it. I was like, okay, so wait this,
and then he's doing that and they're looking for that, okay, whatever,
Like yeah, once, once you put it all together.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
It's it.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
It doesn't mean very much. And I I don't I
think that's fine. I think what the Mission Impossible movies
figured out is we don't really care that much about
the thing. Just tell us the thing you're after. Yeah, right, yeah,
And I think you know, the third one is a
good example where the whole, the whole mcguffin driving the

(48:19):
whole story is this thing called the rabbit's foot And
do we even really know what the rabbit's foot is? Not? Really? Yeah,
And it doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
I mean, it's pure.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
I mean it's ironic to me because de paulm is
such a student of Hitchcock, and and what Hitchcock figured
out is it just don't you don't need to go
into all of it. Nobody cares. All we need to
care about is that the characters want it yep.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
Yep, and that the joy of how difficult it is
for them to get it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
So you know, all this stuff and the and the
and the job is doing this and it's a lot
of like it's just it's trying to make you invested
in in it, and I don't. I don't think it
matters a big picture. I don't think it's enough to
distract and to detract from the movie. Yeah, but it's
definitely a lesson the other films learned.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
I think. Yeah, there is a lot more talking in
this movie. It moves at a slower pace. And it's
funny because we talk about that often going back in
different decades, just people were willing to deal with either
less action or just different kinds of execution, you know,

(49:24):
things that now we find a little disorienting. It's like, well,
I don't know, no one seemed to complain in the seventies,
you know, but like it's not how we would do
it now. And I don't remember what this was like
in the nineties. I don't remember finding any of it boring.
And I don't necessarily now, but this is not what
a Mission Impossible movie would be paced like in twenty
twenty five.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
Right, So I can appreciate that it's a little different.
You know. I think anybody who's going in expecting to
see Tom Cruise, you know, defying death, might be disappointed.
But I find it charming because of what it led
to totally. You know, I think I think this character

(50:09):
Max could have been very boring, but you cast somebody
like Vanessa Redgrave and she brings kind of this unique energy,
you know.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
Yeah, I was read that it was a written for
a man. Yeah, and I'm glad that they did what
they did, because, yeah, she has this really interesting energy.
She's got this real sort of sexual, flirty energy, which
is fun. You know, She's just constantly flirting with She's
like in control and flirting with Cruise, and that's just
kind of fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
And she's the she's the mother of the Vanessa Kirby character.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
Right, Oh that's right, I forgot about it. Just pretty
cool connection. I love this. By the way, again, this
is so sort of old fashioned or something, but it's
just so effective. The tension of this, you know, is
this does this thing have a tracker in it, you know,
and reading heat signatures. And then we're seeing you know,
he's like you got two minutes and nobody knows if
that's true or not. And then we're seeing these people.

(51:04):
It's kind of like this really sinister looking group of
people in these like plastic raincades. It's like, good, what
are they gonna do? You know, coming in suits in
plastic rain white plastic raincoats. It makes me think of
like American Psycho or something like that, that he's about
to go down. But yeah, the tension of that, like

(51:25):
can we believe them or not? And then we realize, oh,
they are closing in. Is she going to believe them
so they can get out of there? See? I I
think this.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
So what what I wasn't crazy about with both this
movie and the second one is that it it was
it was like the Tom Cruise Show. Uh huh? And
what what I I didn't like that there wasn't really
a team dynamic, right, Yes, it's it's that's less apparent

(51:54):
in this It was certainly the case in the second one.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, yeah, which, like you, I think I've only seen
twice so I remember, Yeah, big moments more than the
story itself.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
But I watched it in the theater when it came
out back in back in Uh was it two thousand
and one or two? I think it's two thousand. It's
two thousand, okay. And then I watched it again a
couple of years ago, and literally my kids are like, oh,
let's go through all the mintion ipossbles. Not the second
one though, that was Oh wow, that's there on their own.
I'm like, there's no argument for me.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
See, I know what how I would describe it. I'm
curious what your kids would how they would describe why
they don't like it.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
I I well, all the yeah, all all the the
the sort of garish turn of the century excess that
typified action cinema at that moment is just like boiled
into that movie. It's it's like the the Schmutz that
you put in your drain to catch everything, you know,
like the everything in your sinc just ends up there.

(52:53):
That's a mission impossible too, in terms of like action
movie cliches, you know.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
Yeah, yeah, it's like heavy on a Durst screen in
your face for two hours.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
You got your Fred Durst screaming, you got your Hans
zimmer phoning, you got your you got your doves, because
why the hell not flying at your head? You know,
you got Tom Cruise hanging from a mountain for whatever reason,
you know.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
And it's just.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
And again, I think that movie was very successful when
it came out. Yeah, oh, I mean it was of
its moment, and the moment was grateful.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
Right, right.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
And the ironic thing is that the third one was
not as successful, and so there was a little bit
of like, oh, it's the franchise dead right, right, and
and yet and yet Tom Cruise and company they took
their lesson from.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
From the the.

Speaker 2 (53:41):
Third one in terms of what we want to keep doing.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Hm.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
So in my opinion, four, five and six is like
peak mission impossible.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
Yeah, I agree with that. Like that trilogy.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
If I were to say the three to watch, it's
it's Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, Fallout one hund percent, right,
and and you don't get those three without everything that
you figure out from the previous three. Yeah, sure, so
you know that that's how we get here, you know, yep? Yeah,
But yeah, three.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
Turned Ethan into a little bit more three dimensional of
a person.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
Yeah right, Well that's kind of the thing, right because Yeah,
because because you know, if you watch the television show me, you.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
Don't know anything about the characters, right other than their
their role in the in.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
The gang, you know, right, And you realize you can't
really do that in movies and and this one other
than Ethan having a mom and an uncle who are poor.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
Yeah, which I'd kind of forgotten about. Yeah, we do
get a little glimpse in Home Life, a very little glimpse.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
Yeah, but we don't know anything about him in the
second one other than he's got just a you know,
a luxurious mop of hair.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
That flips.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
It is funny to follow his hair trajectory in these movies.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Yeah, you know, I we haven't as of the recording,
we haven't seen the final Reckoning yet, but I was
a little surprised at how scraggly it looks. I mean,
I'd take it, but being Raims completely looks like Marcel's
Wallace right here, doesn't he? Right? That little uh what

(55:32):
do you call that?

Speaker 2 (55:32):
The what's that funny expression for the little blow the
lip hair? Oh?

Speaker 1 (55:38):
The yeah, what is that called? Yeah, it's got a
funny name. I can't think of right now. Oh shoot, yeah,
isn't that funny, wow, because nobody has them anymore. People
don't so Patch, well, well so Patch, but there's something
else esque. Yeah right, but like those those big wrap
around sunglasses, the turtle neck and the suit. He's a
well and this is what two years after pulp fiction

(56:00):
and so help fiction is ninety four? Right, yeah?

Speaker 2 (56:01):
Yeah, So ving Raiams was kind of kind of having
a moment here. I think I think he's you can't
you know, you can't imagine him not being in these movies.
Oh yeah, yeah, right, Like that's the that's the fun
of it here, because because Luther is you know, he's
an important part of this film.

Speaker 1 (56:23):
But if he had he not come back, we.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
Would have just gotten on with our lives, right, sure,
but eight movies deep you're like, no, no, Luther is
the heart and soul of this whole operation.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Yeah. Well, and I thought I had read somewhere I
couldn't find it in my recent research, but that they
were going to possibly kill him off, and he was like, nope.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
Yeah for it. I think that was for a fallout
if I recall.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
Oh, okay, so it was later, but yeah, but yes, smart,
as long as they're going to keep making these things
be like, insist you be in them. Yeah, but I
also did read that the reason they went with him
is because it felt against type for a computer hack,
because typically you think of like Seth Green or something
kind of like a geeky kid, you know, making like

(57:08):
comic book references and everyone being like come on right,
you know, like Dink or whatever his funny name would be.
You know, like he's like, I'm more as fast as
I can clink come clink on his laptop. This feels
like such a different type of hacker, but it totally works,
and I love it. I can't remember which movie it is, Oh,
this is the one where he says my conditions are

(57:29):
I get to keep my equipment, which I love. You know.
It's like, yeah, he's a type geek. That makes sense. Yeah,
but he does feel like he could be the muscle
also if you needed him too, but he rarely is.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
Yeah. Well, and I think well, first of all, the
thought I had later during this upcoming Seegerther, I was like, wow,
is he the first man in the chair?

Speaker 1 (57:53):
Right?

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (57:55):
That's good? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (57:55):
Is that his like a little asterisk in history?

Speaker 1 (57:58):
You know that's funny.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
But but you know, obviously Simon Peg comes in in
the in the third one and you realize, like, like
that that's what's missing. There's like a Simon Pegg sized
hole in this movie. Yeah, yeah, kind of right, comic relief. Yeah,
because like Ethan, Benji and Luther are like they're the
the core three mm hmm, and and it's like, oh, hey,

(58:23):
that's who we're waiting for, you know.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
Mm hmm. So now we're getting to the signature set
piece of this film.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
Right, isn't that amazing? This? If anybody remembers anything from
this movie, it's probably Tom Cruise dangling in this room, right,
And I wash, Yeah, you don't know, please, I think
we're gonna say the same thing. I mean it. It
is absolutely gripping. I mean you lean forward in your
seat with every with every that you hear.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
You know. I think this remains one of the top
set pieces in the entire series. Yeah, I agree. Yeah,
And I mean it was thrilling watch this in a
theater again recently, and nobody was making a sound, you know,
like everyone is like sort of respecting what's happening, holding
their own breath. It's just so breathtaking.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
The sequence, it's it's well, I would think it's it's like,
it's like the quiet place, nobody even wants to chew popcorn.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
Too exactly exactly, but I love this is one of
my favorite things. I know, heist movies sometimes can get
a bad rap from I'm gonna call them cynical people,
But is there anything more fun than someone setting up
the impossible stakes and us watching what they're describing and thinking, well,

(59:38):
there's no way our hero can get the thing out
of that, but we're about to watch them do it.
You know, that's interesting. I love it. I I those
are my favorite types of things.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
Yeah. And and here's here's the thing about about the
sequence in that computer room. The logical part of you
is like, why would there not be a camera in there?
That happens to me a lot in films. Actually, yes,
and you roll with it. Yeah, yeah, but I think
the genius you don't think about it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
No, No, in actuality, it's like, well, this this room
has every precaution known to man, and you don't put
a camera in there, but you will allow what's in
there to be a mystery. Right. Yeah, that's well. I
thought that a lot during severance because there's a lot
you know, Oh sure, it's so important what these people

(01:00:32):
are doing in there, and they have all this technology,
but yet they're able to go to so many rooms
and have these secret convos. And I'm like, really, there's
no cameras anywhere in this mysterious but yeah, but I
love it. It's like, oh, it's you know, temperature controlled
and you can't touch the floor, and like just all
the things are going to make this difficult. It's just

(01:00:53):
it's so fun. It's like, all right, well, let's see
how he does it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
Yeah, oh and it becomes yeah, sorry quick. I looked
up about about uh Luther and dying in this movie,
and apparently this is according to Ving Raams, Luther was
supposed to be part of the im force that dies
in the beginning of the movie. Uh so fifteen minutes
he would have been croaked, okay, And and he was.

Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
Like, why are you kill the only black man?

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
Ah? There you go, and and and kudos to him
for saying that, because guess what he got like a
thirty year career.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
Yeah yeah, and spokesperson for Arby's. So he has an
extra place in my heart.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
There you go. Remember he was in that Kojak reboot
that they did remember that oh.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
You saying it is the only thing that makes me
remember it kind I don't mean as an insult, I
just I can't even way. Yeah, I remember it happening,
but it obviously didn't make an impression on me. This
poor guy, this guy. Could you have cast a better person, just.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
A poor schmuck?

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
Yeah, you know, but it really does kind of shine
a light on casting because he doesn't say barely anything.
But I remember him from this sequence. I remember his face,
I remember his expressions, and he's not even doing anything big,
but he's the perfect sad, sort of patsy figure, you
know for this.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
You know what's funny is one thing by the So
there's the knife, so that we see Ethan actually see
the knife. I remember that kick where Ethan kicks the
cop backwards that was in all the trailers to make
you think this was just an action extravaganza, you know,
oh oh right, yeah, And it's like, boy, if you're
going in expecting just just a bunch of backwards kicking,

(01:02:41):
you gotta wait four years for the next movie. That's
really it. But no, no, when I see this guy.
William Dumlow is the character's name, and he's having a
run back across because I'm assuming he's got diarrhea.

Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
Yeah yeah, And.

Speaker 2 (01:02:54):
You know, this is where my brain goes. I'm like,
is there anything worse than having diarrhea when you're wearing
like a nice suit.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
Dude, and at work? Right?

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
Yeah, no, seriously, that's what I think about it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
I'm like, I'm like, there's like levels of badness, and
I think diarrhea at work while wearing nice suit that's
like pretty high on the list of things Zaki does
not want to experience. Dude, that's yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
Yeah, but you know he could be like I don't know,
I'm just impressed with where they landed with this guy,
because he could be a sort of pathetic too.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
Like oh my tummy or something, you know, like running across.
He could be the guy from from No Holds Barred
where he's like dukie exactly, Like he.

Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
Could be pathetic, but instead we're just like all this
poor guy. You know, that's the.

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
Real reason to hate Claire, to be honest, she's just
a villain everything. But she she gave my man the runs.
I know, come on, that ain't right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
But then yeah, this is like that low fi spycraft, right,
like putting like a little felt tracker on his suits,
and she's got the pin that squirts the whatever the
x lax in his drink or whatever, you know. Like
I you're right when you bring up the kick and
it being misleading in the trailers. I guess when I
think of this movie, I do think of it as like, yeah,

(01:04:13):
action film or whatever it is, but it really isn't.
It's not. Yeah, it's kind of a thriller, you know,
like a low key thriller.

Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
Even now, I will say this movie, along with the
original Diehard, gave me a vastly distorted view of how
big air ducts are and how clean they must be exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
Yeah, dude, this thing is awesome. By the way that
he lowers to redirect the laser security system, I love
he just drops it down and immediately it redirects him
into one solid beam that he can avoid. That's very cool.

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
Yep. Well, and that little dudead that takes the screws out,
I love that too.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
Yeah, you know, that feels like something in this day
and age you could possibly buy. I would like to
have one of those. Yeah, But here's what I'm talking about,
where it's just all the different you know, you can't
make a sound above this decibel and you can't do
stuff like that. I just eat up. I mean it,
and it is. It's not super crazy futuristic stuff that

(01:05:16):
we're dealing with here. It's like, no, literally, just don't
make a sound, don't touch the ground. And it reminds
me of sneakers, you know, where it's Robert Redford has
to get that box off of a desk. But it's like, look, yeah,
oh yeah. The room has to be a certain temperature,
so you can't get hotter or colder than this, and
you can't move, you know, above a really slow stride

(01:05:40):
across the room, and yet everybody is coming after you,
So do that as quickly, move as slowly as possible,
as quickly as possible, you know. And it's so low fi,
but it is gripping, you know. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:54):
I think this entire sequence here is really a masterpiece
of sound design. Yes, right, And when you think about it, right,
the instinct might have been on the part of Danny
Elfman to give some kind of ominous underscore, Yeah, but
I think it works so much better because it's completely
music free, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:06:13):
Yeah, it's sort of like a dun dun, duh, huh
kind of a thing. But yeah, you know we're hearing
the rope yeap going through the pulley. You know, we
hear breaths straining to be held.

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
It's so good.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
But I think, well, we're talking about this living on
I mean, just the iconography of this room. It's very
like two thousand and one, you know, like the lights,
white light, lit up floor or whatever. But it's just
so memorable. And I feel like there was a cable
company I don't remember which one that even had like
a recreation of this on the side of their van.

(01:06:49):
And it's like, isn't that funny just to oh, that's
random called it such a specific scene. Just wow, everyone remembers.
But it's worth noting that this is uh heavily inspired
by a sequence in the movie Top Copy. Okay, have
you heard of that. I've heard of it, Yeah, I hadn't.
I So I was just reading about this film, and

(01:07:10):
so I watched the scene on YouTube and it is
this scene like a sweaty guy struggling with a pulley system,
lowering a person who has to be deadly quiet, having
to pull something, you know, out of a museum. So
I mean, it's literally an homage to that sequence, but
it's uh.

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
Yeah, I mean that that's from the sixties, I think, right, yeah, yeah,
but Peter Ustinov.

Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
Was, yeah, it's very good. But this, I mean, this
is just taking that and running with it. I mean,
what incredible is this shot from above with our hero
in frame being quiet, quiet, swinging over the guy we
don't want to see him? Well?

Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
And I love that, Like you say, like, how can
he not see him? And it's like, okay, but why
would he look up? Like why would it?

Speaker 1 (01:07:58):
Right? Yeah, it's like Shawshank right where he walks out
of the prison wearing or no, he finishes his duties
on his last night wearing those dress up shoes and
you're like, well, how would they not notice? And then
Freeman's like, yeah, but how often do you really look
at I got shoes? Yeah exactly. Yeah. See, now that's
DiPalma right there. I mean we get that split what
do you call it, split diopter kind of thing. That's

(01:08:21):
what you bring him in for that incredible shot of
low angle of our sick person with crews also in
focus way above him in the ceiling.

Speaker 2 (01:08:31):
Yeah, that kind of crazy specific tension that di Palma does.

Speaker 1 (01:08:36):
Stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:08:37):
By the way, he's barfing, so he doesn't necessarily have diarrhea.
But I'm gonna say either way, whether it's coming out
from that hole or the other hole, going to be
doing that in a suit.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
Exactly, I'd love it's just not just the alone, but
in a suit, it's just somehow makes up wherese he
got like your top button his buttons.

Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
Yeah, it's a lot of discomfort. There's a lot of
layers before you can just unleash, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
Yeah, you're probably sweaty and cold at the same time.

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
Now you gotta wear it the rest of the day.
That's terrible, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
So I remember this sequence being made fun of in
a Leslie Nielsen movie and.

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
I don't remember that, and I can't.

Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
I think it was the Spy Hard parody. I don't
think it was Spy Hard wrongly accused, wrongfully accused, right,
And I'm trying to see if I had the interest,
I would look up. But I remember it's he's he's
being lowered down than he does, like the thing with
a yo yo, where he's doing all kinds of tricks.

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
I don't know, I don't know. I remember that I
remember that one because it had that Usual Suspects parody.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
Oh dude, that is one of the funniest things I've
ever seen. Yeah, it cracks me up every single time.

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
Man. You know, I wonder if it'd be worth, like,
knowing what you're getting into, I wonder if it'd be
worth going back to that and just.

Speaker 2 (01:09:54):
Well, So here's what I'll say, Leslie Nielsen did a
lot of shit that if it wasn't naked gun, I
would say, wrongfully accused is on the better end of that,
the non naked gun spectrum. Okay, okay, So for whatever
that's worth. Yeah. See, So this, this whole sequence what
I was saying earlier, is like it kind of illustrates
the genius of script construction, where it doesn't matter how

(01:10:20):
preposterous this room is. Oh it's got a laser this,
and it does that and all this stuff, right, if
you just lay it out for the audience, say this
is what is in there. Yeah, so it doesn't matter
how science fiction it sounds. You just lay it out.
This is what it is, and you are consistent with
what your character has to get past.

Speaker 1 (01:10:40):
We'll go with it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:41):
Mm hm you know, yep, yep, agreed.

Speaker 1 (01:10:48):
This doesn't feel like for all the tools they have
available to them, just having a guy like here hold me.
It feels like, really, you don't have like some sort
of suction them up or something you can like attached
the rope to or come.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
On, genre, No, you're a big, strong feller.

Speaker 1 (01:11:05):
And it's kind of funny too with the mouse or
whatever that comes up to him. Yep, it does almost
feel like a Tom and Jerry sort of moment where
it's just like, wait a minute, what is this like
mouse doing in this event?

Speaker 2 (01:11:19):
By the way, you know, what I read is that
Tom Cruise put coins in his shoes to keep.

Speaker 1 (01:11:26):
From flipping over. Yeah, the balance wasn't working quite correctly
with the harness.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
Is that a real thing?

Speaker 1 (01:11:33):
I every place I went to read about this movie,
that is a fact that comes up or a trivia
point that comes like, I.

Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
Don't understand that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:43):
I kind of get it because the harness is uh
not necessarily at his midpoint, so maybe his feet were
bringing him down, so you literally just have like a
quarter in your shoe. Oh wait, no, I'd see exact
opposite of what I'm saying. You're right, I do somehow, Well,
maybe I don't know, he was more top heavy or something,
and so he just put weight in his shoes to

(01:12:05):
sort of see if he's say his shoes were weighted,
I'll go with you.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
But you say he put coins in his shoes, That's
what I'm not understanding.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
Oh oh, I see, Well there we go. We have technowledge.
That's the that's the moment there. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
Right, so that Tom Cruise really did that. He actually
was was dropped and then caught mirror inches above the ground.

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
Incredible and keeping his balance right, waving his arms making
sure he doesn't touch the gring.

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
You know it's real because he has a real oh
shit face right there.

Speaker 1 (01:12:34):
I mean, that's just it's iconic. Yeah, And like I said,
I mean watching it again with a crowd recently, I mean,
this holds up as thrilling as anything that's come out since. Hmm, okay,
so coins, you know what I wonder? Now? This is
pretty good to the sweat. The sweat so good, and
it makes you laugh because it is kind of funny,

(01:12:55):
but you're also like, well, don't let it touch the ground.

Speaker 2 (01:12:58):
Well, I love that when the drop hits his hand,
it sounds like somebody falling into the ocean.

Speaker 1 (01:13:05):
Yes, yes, you know, you know you got to praise
the editing here too, balancing this guy going back and
forth between the bathroom and his office to make it
feel kind of realistic and not dragged out and almost comical.
That's true, right, I think it's perfectly calibrated. Actually, now

(01:13:29):
I just kind of want to watch this. Yeah, I
remember that. It's like catching the sept that's so good.
And then I love this too, the sort of the
silent getting him out of the room, right when the
guy looks in. Oh, so we got the dead rat
back there. Apparently we apparently he took care of it. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:13:52):
I love that. Yeah, we didn't need to to spend
time on that.

Speaker 1 (01:13:56):
We figure it out.

Speaker 2 (01:13:57):
Yeah yeah, maybe a little too gross.

Speaker 1 (01:14:00):
But there's not a knife on it. I mean, did
he snap its little neck or something like?

Speaker 2 (01:14:03):
That's what that's what it looks like. Yeah, and this
is where the technology too. I was thinking, like nowadays
you just have like a thumb drive or something.

Speaker 1 (01:14:15):
Oh yeah, yeah, he's got what like a zip disc
here or something.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
No, I mean that's an old school floppy, was that?

Speaker 1 (01:14:21):
Yeah? Zip disc?

Speaker 2 (01:14:25):
Even watching it, damn it, jumping that knife so close.

Speaker 1 (01:14:31):
Yeah, that was cool.

Speaker 2 (01:14:32):
I like that Sean re know, they're looking at each other.

Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
It's so good.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
And this poor guy, yeah, I mean he gets sent
to Alaska for y oh.

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
I felt so bad for him. Yeah, that's so wonderful though,
him coming back to it like the most secure office,
you know, in the world, and seeing this knife just
laying on the desk, but like stabbed into the desk.
That's right, what.

Speaker 2 (01:15:07):
I mean?

Speaker 1 (01:15:09):
Yeah, yeah, and then the lasers are back overhead, like
what just happened? Right?

Speaker 2 (01:15:15):
So good?

Speaker 1 (01:15:15):
But yeah, you're right, I forgot about that. They uh
put him on a desk in Alaska.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:15:20):
I would like to imagine that he met a nice
woman there, you know, and then kind of rediscovered what
life was all about, and them and their dog walked
by like a nice icy creek every day and there
you go. So maybe this is like the best thing
that ever happened to him. That's what I want to
go with.

Speaker 2 (01:15:38):
Well, he is in the Final Reckoning.

Speaker 1 (01:15:42):
I saw because they put out character posters, right yeah,
and he got his own poster, and I was I
like lit up. That was like my marvel, Like you
know that such and such William Dunlow. Yeah, he's gonna
be appearing in the next mission. Impossible. Like, I'm so
excited to see how they use him. That's hilarious, maybe
because I just I love this sequence so much.

Speaker 2 (01:16:02):
It'd be funny if I'm the poster. He has like
an eye patch and a cyborg hand and.

Speaker 1 (01:16:07):
Oh shit, like what happened? Yes, now you're speaking my language. Man,
you're getting me like over excited. I'm not going to
get what I want.

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
Oh man, it's so good.

Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
But yeah, so now Luther is sort of like what
as they're doing this, like we're stealing what Now, there's
a lot of faith they got to put in Ethan here.
This is a good scene, you're right, the close up
magic scene. Yes, yes, so we have a group, but

(01:16:45):
they're not a group. They're not a gang, right, they
don't trust each other. They don't even all know the plan,
that's right. So this is a well I guess that
sort of fits though, with him losing his team, like
Ethan now on his own, and it's not like he's.

Speaker 2 (01:17:00):
Gonna no that's what I'm saying. I mean, in the
context of this film, I don't mind it being sort
of Ethan centric. Yeah, and again I like that as
a serious progress as Luther becomes the sort of like
he's Ethan's best friend clearly, and it's like he's like
his conscience.

Speaker 1 (01:17:16):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:17:17):
And I love seeing that. You know, Yeah, we should
say genre. No. He was having a moment at this
time too, because yeah, he was just off of Leon
the Professional yep. And then he I think Godzilla was
that was ninety eight, a couple of years after this, yep, yep,
and I think we need we need more genre, no,

(01:17:38):
I said, I said this during our Godzilla commentary track.
I think I think he always he always adds a little,
a little something extra to whatever he's in.

Speaker 1 (01:17:46):
Yeah, he's a great he's a great flavor, you know
what I mean, what he brings.

Speaker 2 (01:17:51):
I'm looking it up. I feel like there's like one
other huge one Ronan. Oh, Ronan, I forgot about that. Yeah,
isn't there like some other huge blockbuster he was in
in this moment?

Speaker 1 (01:18:02):
Looking now, I.

Speaker 2 (01:18:04):
Mean he's still doing this. Oh he's in the Five Bloods.
I forgot about that.

Speaker 1 (01:18:08):
I think we watched that.

Speaker 2 (01:18:09):
I remember really liking that Five Bloods was good. Yeah,
around this time, this is interesting. He was the French
voice of Mufasa.

Speaker 1 (01:18:21):
Oh interesting, that's kind of interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:18:23):
Yeah, yeah, I'm not seeing anything, not seeing anything major here, Yeah,
da Vinci code, that's all later.

Speaker 1 (01:18:31):
Yeah. Pink Panther.

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
He's in Pink Panther with Henry Cherney, which I thought
was very funny.

Speaker 1 (01:18:36):
Oh funny, Yeah, huh interesting, it's funny. I feel like
I'm remembering him from more things than I actually do. Huh.

Speaker 2 (01:18:46):
Anyway, well that's the impression he makes.

Speaker 1 (01:18:50):
But so I was reading that. Yeah, this magic trick
was all practical, which kind of makes sense with Tom Cruise, right. See.

Speaker 2 (01:18:56):
I kind of wish that they would have made that
a runner for EAT. Then, is every movie he does
some really stupid close up magic trick.

Speaker 1 (01:19:05):
Yeah, although I will say this is quite impressive. This
is and it's cool. They don't cut right right, We
do the one shot so we can see him make
it disappear, and then he pulls it out of his pocket.

Speaker 2 (01:19:16):
I think every movie should just have him. He's doing
like a random card trick and it's like really obnoxious
at some point, and you see everyone sort of shift
in their seats like Okay, he's gonna do this for
like a minute and a half. Yeah, his team. Yeah,
that would be that would be his thing, that would
be his EPI kaye mother effort. Yeah, it's like, oh,

(01:19:40):
he's about to do the trick.

Speaker 1 (01:19:41):
Like a trick that you could read from like a
magic book.

Speaker 2 (01:19:45):
Yeah. Now, I don't know about you, but first time
I saw this, I was like Drake Hotel.

Speaker 1 (01:19:49):
I know the Drake Hotel. Yeah, yeah, those be listening.

Speaker 2 (01:19:54):
It's a very famous Chicago place, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:19:56):
But I assume most people don't know it. But I
just want to real before it passes. I do want
to talk about this magic trick scene. What I love
about it is it makes him look cool, yes, in
a way, because he looks in control when he's being
questioned by Renault. You know, he's he's in control, and

(01:20:17):
he kind of makes him look like a fool. But
then we reveal that Renault really did have the knucklist,
which makes our hero vulnerable. So we're sort of like, oh,
that was close. Like maybe he's not always in control,
but damn it, he's clever, you know what I mean.
Like that makes him an interesting hero, unlike what we
talk about with the like Hobbs and Shaw, where it's

(01:20:40):
like not only can I not lose a fight? I
cannot be punched, you know, more than five times? And
I got it. It's just like that's not interesting, right,
But this is I think this is a really cool
moment of vulnerability and improvisation for our hero. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:20:54):
Yeah, well and this is and I don't want this
to just be dogging on the second one. But I
think that that's the inherent problem there is like, oh,
you can Hunt. There's not a single thing he can't do.
Look at him, you know, defy gravity in mid air
and stuff like that. Right, Whereas, like, to me, the
quintessential Ethan Hunt moment, in my opinion, is in Ghost

(01:21:17):
Protocol where he's climbing. He has to climb the Burg Khalifa, right,
most people would not see that. But he's like, well,
I guess I gotta do this. And then and then
he he he needs to get a little high or something.
He doesn't have enough rope something like that. Yeah, and
Jeremy renders like, hey, you don't have enough rope or

(01:21:37):
whatever he says, and he's just like, no, shit, Yes,
I remember that.

Speaker 1 (01:21:41):
That was such a great moment.

Speaker 2 (01:21:42):
Yeah, like that to me, like that, that's like, you
know what It's like in the in the Temple sequence
in Raiders. What what typifies Indie's character is two things.
Number One, he does the swap out and oops, it
wasn't enough yep. And now the boulders coming after it.

Speaker 1 (01:22:00):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:22:01):
But then when he's escaping, he jumps across the thing,
he grabs the vine and he's safe. Oops, except now
he's falling further yep yep. So in other words, you
applaud his bravery, but also bro just can't.

Speaker 1 (01:22:15):
Catch a break yep.

Speaker 2 (01:22:16):
Yeah, and that's why we love Indie, Yes, right, and
that's what you need. Like Ethan Hunt is doing amazingly
brave things, but also he's just slightly in over his head.

Speaker 1 (01:22:29):
Yeah. Yeah, he's a human being. Yeah, he's not just
stealing and cool as he's yeah, repelling down the talls
building in the world exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:22:37):
So it just no shit, that's what makes him relatable.

Speaker 1 (01:22:40):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:22:41):
The delivery is so good, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:22:47):
This was a plot point. You brought it up already,
but that I had forgotten when I was rewatching it
about his family getting arrested for making him look like
they were like drug dealers or something. That's right, and
it's just something kind of funny. I mean, because everyone
in this movie is kind of, you know, involved in
something big, you know, like a spy or you know,
heads of government or something like that. But then just

(01:23:09):
to see these two normal people being arrested on the news,
You're like, oh, the real world, you know, It's it's
kind of I like it. It's a good, it's a good.
It makes sense. It's a pressure point for hunt.

Speaker 2 (01:23:21):
I mean that all being said, I mean eight movies deep,
how much do we really know about Ethan beyond this?

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
Yeah? I mean he gets a wife right in the
third one, and she he checks in on her from
time to time in the later movies. But that's kind
of it, right.

Speaker 2 (01:23:37):
Right, Well, and he they separated, that's right, right, because
because which one was it that she came fallout?

Speaker 1 (01:23:45):
That's a fun. Yeah, she kind of gives her blessing
in a way to the.

Speaker 2 (01:23:49):
Characters get with Rebecca Ferguson.

Speaker 1 (01:23:52):
Look, I get it, and then she like looks in camera,
we all get it. It's fine. We want this free.

Speaker 2 (01:24:06):
Yeah, yeah, it's good.

Speaker 1 (01:24:12):
I always do like that. The tracking calls thing too,
and when you always think they're going to hang up
in time, but when we they don't. It's like, no,
he wants us to know where he is. I'm like, oh, yeah, nice,
but yeah, this this feels very dream like, doesn't it.
It does.

Speaker 2 (01:24:26):
But I remember watching this the perstime like, oh, hey,
Phelps is alive. That's great, that's great. Everybody, Hey, look,
Phelps is alive. I thank Christ, you know. And then
you watch this scene and you're like, well, god, damn it.
I went through a roller coaster of emotions in the
span of you know whatever. It was three minutes, you know, you.

Speaker 1 (01:24:48):
Know, see, but this moment is really great. Oh it's
so good. I love when we see people what they're
thinking and there's no like harp letting us know it's
a thought. It just kind of it's punched into the film,
you know, and it's just a real jarring sort of thing.
But it helps us understand, like, oh, we're in their
mind now. So I like all this stuff here where
he's picturing. But it is a little dizzy ing, isn't it.

(01:25:11):
Where we're like, is this a is he hype hypothesizing?
Is he has he figured it out? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:25:18):
So so this is the thing right in my My
sense is that as soon as Ethan saw the Drake
Hotel stamp. He figured out that that Phelps was the heel, right,
and so at this point he already knows he's a
bad guy.

Speaker 1 (01:25:37):
Right, so he's he he's acting here, right.

Speaker 2 (01:25:42):
So so Ethan is like, oh my god, it's Kittridge.
But obviously we we know Ethan knows it's not Kittridge
because we're seeing his thoughts and it's all Phelps is
the one.

Speaker 1 (01:25:53):
Doing it right, right, right.

Speaker 2 (01:25:56):
But I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:25:57):
I love that Phelps, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:25:59):
He's like, Ethan's like, why would Katchers doing Phelps, Like, well,
he got sick of the government or whatever, and it's
like it's just it's all him. He's talking about himself. Yeah, yeah,
you know, yeah, John boyight, you son.

Speaker 1 (01:26:12):
Of a bitch. I love later when he's like those
damn Gideons. You know what's funny.

Speaker 2 (01:26:20):
I say that a lot. Really, if something doesn't go right,
I'm like those damn gideons, n gideons.

Speaker 1 (01:26:31):
Yeah. I don't feel like you see it as much
these days, but it used to be whenever you go
to a hotel, like any hotel in the nation, there
would be a Bible in the drawer and it would
be by this organization. I don't know a lot about
them even who they are, but the Gideons, Yeah, they
would pay to have these Bibles just available in every
hotel room in the US or whatever. And so yeah,

(01:26:54):
that's that's how Ethan figured it out. He looks at
the Bible's that it has u the Drake hotel where
Phelps said he was recently, so we know that, and
Phelps even steals bibles.

Speaker 2 (01:27:08):
Where does it end with this guy kind of an
unholy monster?

Speaker 1 (01:27:15):
Yeah, but yeah, this is good. I yeah, I love
I love.

Speaker 2 (01:27:21):
I don't know what you could call it this trope
or something. Well what I what I love here is
that we're following his thought pattern. And then he's like,
well maybe it wasn't clear, so he like sees both ways.

Speaker 1 (01:27:35):
I love that. I love that. And look doesn't she
look at camera here? She looks right at camera. Yeah,
with the split adapter thing.

Speaker 2 (01:27:42):
With her come hither gaze. That is pretty cool and chilling. Right.

Speaker 1 (01:27:50):
Yeah. Yeah, maybe that's why it threw me a little
bit is because he is still working out some of it.
So we are seeing stuff he knows as fact, and
some of it he's still trying to yeah, but yeah,
so literally I remember watching this as a kid and
just being absolutely horrified, and to this day, I'm so

(01:28:12):
you know, people have their whole hashtag not my Luke
thing about the last Yed. I f all them guys
this here hashtag not my Phelps.

Speaker 2 (01:28:20):
There is no universe where the character from the TV
show would ever allow that to happen to his team.

Speaker 1 (01:28:27):
I mean, obviously it makes for a twist you don't
see coming. Yeah, but no, I agree with you. I
think if I had loved the series, if I was
a fan of the series in nineteen ninety six and
came into this, I'd be pretty disappointed.

Speaker 2 (01:28:41):
Yeah, and I think it's and again I should clarify,
I'm over it. So it's just because we're talking about
the movie. I think it's irrelevant to this story to
make him that character. So you just have him be
again John Voight n Like, it doesn't matter because all
we need to know is that he was a mentor

(01:29:02):
to Hunt and he turned against him. That's all you
need to make this story work, right.

Speaker 1 (01:29:07):
You know? Yeah, yeah, but you know, what do you do?
What are you gonna do? By the way, just while
they're continuing this conversation. I was reading a lot about
Cruz Wagner Productions, Yes, right, which was kind of a
huge thing for a while.

Speaker 2 (01:29:27):
I for a second, and then they split up for
whatever reason.

Speaker 1 (01:29:30):
Yeah. So it was Tom Cruise and his longtime agent
Paula Wagner. They formed a company in nineteen ninety two
called Cruz Wagner Productions. This was their first movie together,
and the over the span of that company's life, they
made like two point nine billion dollars in box office,
crazy and hugely successful, and they were teamed up with

(01:29:51):
Paramount for most of that. What I'm seeing here is
in August two thousand and six, some in the Redstone,
chairman of Viacom, he terminated the relationship with Tom Cruise
over the things he was saying about psychiatry and antidepressants.

Speaker 2 (01:30:08):
And yeah, because there was a second there where everybody
hated Tom Cruise.

Speaker 1 (01:30:12):
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. It's amazing how beloved
he is again because yeah, there was a real moment
where the world kind of turned on him. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:30:22):
So my recollection is this and correct correct the timeline
if you need. But he was out promoting war the world. Yeah,
and that was when he he was.

Speaker 1 (01:30:32):
He told Matt.

Speaker 2 (01:30:33):
Lower, like, Matt, you're being glib, right scientology, Yeah, it was, well,
it was about Brooks Shields talked about post what do
you call it?

Speaker 1 (01:30:44):
Postpartum depression?

Speaker 2 (01:30:45):
Yeah, and so he Tom Cruise criticized Brooks Shields about
her postpartum depression, which what kind of a weird mad
lib sentence?

Speaker 1 (01:30:53):
Did? I just say? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:30:55):
And then he went on the Today Show and Matt
Lower took him to task and he was like, Matt,
you're being glib. And in our world circa mid two thousands,
Matt Lower was the good guy and Tom Cruise was
the bad guy. Right, it's a different time.

Speaker 1 (01:31:13):
Right when we also had couch jumping around here had
couch jumping, which was before that, I think, yeah, but
it was a combination of those things.

Speaker 2 (01:31:22):
And then on top of that, Mission Impossible three underperforms. Yeah,
so it was like three strikes, you're out. Yeah, but remarkably,
I mean, you know, Mission Impossible three comes out in
six and five years later, a ghost Protocol just reinvents
the joint and is.

Speaker 1 (01:31:40):
A massive hit. Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:31:42):
Right, So I mean nobody knows anything. I guess that's
really the takeaway.

Speaker 1 (01:31:46):
Yeah, I feel like then it became well, Tom Cruise,
I don't like this and that about him, but damn it,
he makes good movies. And now I feel like it.
You hear that even less, it's just like, no, I
just like Tom Cruise, like these movies are awesome. Is
that because, by the way, we should at least acknowledge
the uh Claire yes, kind of seducing him. I guess

(01:32:08):
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:32:09):
That's that's I guess in hindsight, given what Phelps says later,
You're supposed to be like, oh, she's like trying to
trying to, yeah, come on to him, but it's so
clearly one sided.

Speaker 1 (01:32:25):
Yeah, I mean apparently they did film, yeah, them hooking
up or whatever. But yeah, the way that in the version,
the final version, yes, it kind of feels like he's
resistant as well he should be.

Speaker 2 (01:32:39):
Yeah, she ain't right for you, Ethan.

Speaker 1 (01:32:43):
Michelle Monaghan is out there waiting, that's right, and.

Speaker 2 (01:32:48):
Tandy Newton and Rebecca Ferguson.

Speaker 1 (01:32:54):
Yeah, things are gonna be okay for Ethan Hunt.

Speaker 2 (01:32:58):
Sorry, I feel like I cut off the thought of yours.

Speaker 1 (01:33:01):
I'm talking about wrapping up sort of Tom Cruise.

Speaker 2 (01:33:05):
Yeah, well, just you know the fact this is to me,
like the fact that movie three underperformed. At no point
was it a serious thought that like, Okay, we're done
with these now, yeah, right, let's let's figure it out
and do better the next one. And I'm like, why
can't studios do that right, right, like okay, this one

(01:33:27):
and do as well. Let's get let's get up to
bat again and do it again the next time. And
there's something refreshingly old school about that thinking, mm right,
like as opposed to you know, the the Solo, the
Star Wars movie tanks and it's like, all right, just
shut it all down, boys, you know, sure, sure, sure,

(01:33:47):
or just rebooting over and over and over.

Speaker 1 (01:33:49):
Again, like no like Ninja Turtles, right, like.

Speaker 2 (01:33:52):
Ninja Turtle, or or you know, yeah, like cause back
in the day with James Bond, you know, sometimes you'd
have one that didn't do as well and say, okay,
well we're gonna be back, We're gonna the next one.

Speaker 1 (01:34:00):
Will be better.

Speaker 2 (01:34:01):
Yeah, And that was the way we liked it, damn it. Now,
this here, this whole sequence which involves the downloading of
the data, and it takes about about forty seven years for.

Speaker 1 (01:34:14):
Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:34:15):
I'm just like like people watching this today would have
no understanding, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:34:20):
Yeah, yeah, it.

Speaker 2 (01:34:22):
Just it took a long you know, like I've heard
tell from people who are around that, you know, had
they the inclination to access pornography on the internet. This
is what people have told me. It took a really,
really really long time. No kidding, That's what I've heard.

(01:34:43):
I can't speak to it personally, but you know, people
I trust have conveyed this information to me. I don't
even know if things are different now. To be honest,
I would assume I have no idea, but it's you know,

(01:35:04):
this is a transferring data. Took a long time.

Speaker 1 (01:35:07):
That's that's the point that makes I we get well,
And I downloaded this movie to my iPad in like
a minute, so I mean, yeah, this uh you know
word dock or whatever they're looking at.

Speaker 2 (01:35:18):
You know that that's like it's literally it's like a
text file.

Speaker 1 (01:35:22):
Probably less than a megabyte, you know, But it is
kind of clever because yes, I mean, the whole thing
was to sniff out the mole. They had to get
this into the enemy and not listen to the enemy's hands.
So it is kind of fun how they prevent her
from getting.

Speaker 2 (01:35:40):
I love that that Luther's got the little jammer there exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:35:44):
And then of course they have to do it before
they enter the tunnel, you know, because.

Speaker 2 (01:35:49):
So that's the that's the chunnel that it's going into.

Speaker 1 (01:35:51):
Right. Oh, I don't know that was I should? I
think it is? Right, hold on, I'm gonna find out. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
but there's something kind of cool and old fashioned about
all this, right, Like all.

Speaker 2 (01:36:04):
This spycraft on a fast moving train. That's fun.

Speaker 1 (01:36:07):
Yeah, you know, people looking at each other suspiciously. Yeah,
it's very old school, very very hitchcocky, and so you
can see why Palma was was intrigued by this. Yeah,
but I should mention the guy to Max's right, you know,
her assistant. I was like, I know, I've seen this
guy before, and you know he's in both of the
Dune mini series that Sci Fi Channel. I love that

(01:36:33):
little moment they had right there. Like a lot of
times you would see a boss like hurry up, you idiots,
and it's like he's like, oh, it's working again, and
she goes ah, like she gets excited. Like it's like
a sweet little moment between her and her assistant. Makes
me laugh.

Speaker 2 (01:36:52):
Wait, did we have like a moment like this in
the last film. I was gonna say, well, it's it's
because because on the train is where Kittridge meets Max
and then he meets her daughter in the latest one.

Speaker 1 (01:37:06):
Yes, it's like poetry. It rhymes. See that.

Speaker 2 (01:37:09):
George Lucas's influence is everywhere. It's like spaghetti.

Speaker 1 (01:37:14):
One might say, it feels like a Copola thing, like
if they had had that real sort of Coppola Lucas, right,
de Pauma Spielberg sort of.

Speaker 2 (01:37:26):
Yeah, I think to Paalma talked about it's like I
wish directors did that today. You know, I'm like I
do too.

Speaker 1 (01:37:31):
They should, you know, why not? Well they might not
just have the relationships and just the world has changed
a little bit, you know what I mean, like the
I don't know, right, it doesn't feel like it used
to be that way, or at least when we were
growing up, it was those people that.

Speaker 2 (01:37:46):
Gives Those people they were the main directors, you know. Yeah,
they weren't at each other's throats. They were supporting one another.
This scene cracks me up because Claire is such a
freaking big mouth. That's right, because because because quote unquote
Jim doesn't say anything. She's like, so you pretended to
kill yourself and you're the bad guy, right, and now

(01:38:09):
we're going to kill Ethan. Right, if you agree with me,
don't say anything.

Speaker 1 (01:38:16):
That's so good.

Speaker 2 (01:38:16):
Yeah, yeah, now that is a practical effect. Yeah, it's
pretty good. And and I can't spot the switch from
from John Boyight to Tom Cruise.

Speaker 1 (01:38:30):
I mean he's clearly taking something off of his face. Yeah.
I don't know how they did the that's amazing or
whatever they did, but it's it's really good.

Speaker 2 (01:38:38):
It is funny. How like at this stage in the films,
the mask was like, okay, well if it doesn't look
like you just don't do anything. Whereas no, no, as the
movies have progressed, you get Tom Cruise can turn into
Phillips symour Hoffman.

Speaker 1 (01:38:53):
Right right right, yeah there, Well you know what, And
I love the way that it's like, well he's got
this little clear digital strip on his neck and I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:39:00):
Like, oh got it, yep, right exactly, that's all I need.

Speaker 1 (01:39:04):
Okay, yeah, yeah, those damn gideons like I say that
weirdly a lot, he says it. So it's such a
fun way.

Speaker 2 (01:39:19):
Yeah. Shoot, I lost my chain of thought. But anyway,
that's good.

Speaker 1 (01:39:26):
Oh but yes, no, it is interesting seeing how they
continue to incorporate the masks, but they you know, tweak
the technology a bit. Yeah, Like I remember the one
where it was in the briefcase and then it's uh,
sort of like whittling away the material and then it
stops working. Yeah, that's what I've noticed in a lot

(01:39:48):
of the I don't think it happens so much in
this one, but in the later films it's like, let's
introduce this really awesome technology, but it always breaks, Like
I m F has the most unreliable tech tools.

Speaker 2 (01:40:01):
Well between their device is not working and they're being
like constant moles. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is not a
particularly secure organization.

Speaker 1 (01:40:10):
You know. That would be a funny reveal in Final
Reckoning where it's just like who's running this circus?

Speaker 2 (01:40:15):
You know, and it's a monkey with a British accent
he spins.

Speaker 1 (01:40:22):
Around in a chair. Yeah, you're referring to me.

Speaker 2 (01:40:29):
See So so this moment right here, I was thinking about, like,
you know, you know, why you have Phelps be the
villain just so that you can have this reveal. And
then Kittridge says good morning, mister Phelps.

Speaker 1 (01:40:39):
It's pretty good.

Speaker 2 (01:40:40):
It's pretty good because and you know, and in the
show every episode, that's how it would start, good morning,
mister Phelps.

Speaker 1 (01:40:45):
So I mean, yeah, if you're gonna do it, Yeah,
that's a good way to have that, have that. Put
a button on that.

Speaker 2 (01:40:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:40:56):
By the way, so Kittridge looking at his like, you know, video.

Speaker 2 (01:41:01):
Watch his a little Dick Tracy thing.

Speaker 1 (01:41:03):
It's funny. My mom and I were just talking about
this where about Dick Tracy and how it's like seemed
cool but silly, like, oh, well that will never happen.
And it's like now we literally have those on our
wrists now, like I can do a video call with
my mom.

Speaker 2 (01:41:17):
You're wearing one right now, aren't you.

Speaker 1 (01:41:19):
Brian, I'm not, but I have one nearby.

Speaker 2 (01:41:22):
Yeah, it's it's within arm's reach.

Speaker 1 (01:41:24):
Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. So yeah, I mean it's
complicated here. You know, this sort of farewell between Claire
and Ethan here again like knowing what they shot and.

Speaker 2 (01:41:42):
And Ethan should feel nothing because that's that's what I mean, right,
Like there's a betrayed him.

Speaker 1 (01:41:47):
Yeah. Yeah, but there's like a tenderness here. Yeah, that
doesn't make sense.

Speaker 2 (01:41:51):
It doesn't quite but like, if anything, Phelps should be
like like he doesn't even care that his wife is dead, right, Yeah,
can't blame the Gideons for that.

Speaker 1 (01:42:09):
I it's funny. I really like this ending. It does
feel different than what we do in most of the
other movies. And maybe that even just comes because it's
it's so green screeny.

Speaker 2 (01:42:20):
It's green screen and CG which you wouldn't nowadays Tom
Cruise would be flying back and forth on top of
a train for real.

Speaker 1 (01:42:28):
Yes, yes, and but I don't I don't mind it.
I kind of love it. Actually, No, No, I think
I think it works.

Speaker 2 (01:42:36):
I mean, the only thing we're holding it against it
is just it's different from the way it would be
with these movies.

Speaker 1 (01:42:40):
Now. Yeah, it tonally feels a little different, but it's
really thrilling.

Speaker 2 (01:42:43):
No, well, and I think it's it's a good like
that's really Tom Cruise doing that. Yeah, And so we say, okay, well,
yeah he's not actually you know, he's not actually moving
at two hundred miles an hour or whatever. It's still
impressive that it's a real guy, it's not a digital
stunt double. And they they the way they accomplished.

Speaker 1 (01:43:04):
This is pretty crazy. They used like a.

Speaker 2 (01:43:07):
Like a skydiving fan. What do you call the parachute fans?

Speaker 1 (01:43:10):
Is that what those are called? Sure, sure, I know
what you're talking about. So you could it's enough gust
that could simulate like you could be over it and
be hovering in the air and practice skydiving.

Speaker 2 (01:43:20):
Yeah, exactly so, but it was like set up vertically,
yeah or horizontally. Excuse me, And this is a lot
of this is ILM.

Speaker 1 (01:43:29):
I'm pretty sure. Yeah, yeah, I think I saw. Yeah,
the VFX supervisor was John Nole. Oh well there you go.

Speaker 2 (01:43:35):
Then definitely yeah, John Nole. He he of the premise.

Speaker 1 (01:43:39):
For Rogue one.

Speaker 2 (01:43:40):
By the way, Oh that was him. Huh that was him.

Speaker 1 (01:43:43):
Yeah, I remember that that that came internally, but yeah,
that's cool.

Speaker 2 (01:43:47):
H So yeah, that that is the chunnel, which is
the the tunnel between England and UH and France. So
that makes sense why, like that's the the hard out,
like they have to get the data before it goes
into the channel because they're gonna be You're gonna be

(01:44:09):
off grid for a.

Speaker 1 (01:44:10):
While, right right, Yeah, I love the idea, right, like
he's gonna get away in this helicopter, but then Hunt
connects the helicopter to the train, so he's forced to
fly it into the tunnel. Yep. I just I love
helicopters in general because they're so cool looking. But it
makes me think of, you know, like Terminator two and
how amazing it is when it goes underneath that high

(01:44:33):
way and it's right, yeah, something really cool about that.

Speaker 2 (01:44:36):
And of course, yeah, you know, the exterior stuff actually
look pretty good.

Speaker 1 (01:44:40):
It's when they get into the tunnel.

Speaker 2 (01:44:41):
Into the tunnel. Yeah, it's a little taper.

Speaker 1 (01:44:43):
Realistic, but but you know, I love it. And and
Danny Elfman is going full Alfman during this yep, you know,
like really frenzied sounding music, and it's just I don't know,
this just it really gets my blood pumping.

Speaker 2 (01:44:56):
Well and and and we said it before, but I
mean the Shift Friend Mission Possible theme is such a banger,
and it's so perfectly suited to so many different kinds
of action sequences.

Speaker 1 (01:45:08):
Yeah, yeah, you're right, like kind of skulking around, spying whatever,
you could use it. But you could also use it
for triumph, yeah, or or.

Speaker 2 (01:45:20):
Or Garth Algar about about it tas a guy or
whatever you do. That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:45:28):
I forgot about that.

Speaker 2 (01:45:30):
Oh my gosh, I love that movie so much. Also paramounts.
I guess that makes sense. They probably didn't have to
pay anything.

Speaker 1 (01:45:37):
Oh genius. I don't think about that. But yeah, I
mean that's the thing. Right, So, like the backgrounds look
a little wonky, but yeah, seeing Tom Cruise literally having
his cheeks flap, Yeah, there is still a palpable you know,
sense of like peril here.

Speaker 2 (01:45:57):
That Well, that's what you realize is that is that
the whole notion of Tom Cruise, you know, quote unquote
doing it for real, which is used as a selling
point for these theater ones. It's what makes them value added. Yeah,
because it's something so different from other movies. Right, But
I think that you know, audience that are willing to

(01:46:20):
go along with it. Like I don't think we necessarily
need that, Like I don't need Tom Cruise to put
his life at risk.

Speaker 1 (01:46:26):
If you know. No, But I appreciate it. I appreciate
the effort. It's nice of him. It's something I've come
to look forward to. But yeah, in this with this movie,
I wasn't missing it because I'm just enjoying figuring out
how he's going to get out of this. By the way,
I love that moment where Hunt is on the windshield

(01:46:48):
of the train and Renault is like inching toward him
to try to decapitate him with the blade of the helicopter,
and he's got this look on his face. It's just
so like almost like blank and almost like.

Speaker 2 (01:47:03):
What will this? What will this?

Speaker 1 (01:47:04):
Do? You know? Like he's you know what I'm saying.
It's like this really kind of dark look on his face.

Speaker 2 (01:47:08):
It's see I think instead of saying red light, green light, Yeah,
he should have been like costal Asanya. They don't get
any Anya right.

Speaker 1 (01:47:19):
It's a tribute to his fallen in honor of Jack.

Speaker 2 (01:47:22):
I think that would have been better.

Speaker 1 (01:47:25):
Could they have cast a better guy for a funny
face leading to someone passing out? That guy was born
to play that. This is his moment. Yeah, he looks like, uh,
you know Wallison Grammet Like he looks like a Watson
Grammic character. I'm saying this all affectionately. Now I'm feeling

(01:47:47):
very bad that I about it. We love Walson Grammt.

Speaker 2 (01:47:49):
Yeah, yeah, I think I I I can't remember if
I said this on the show, but but first of all,
I love the Kid Trich character, so I was glad
to see him back. But I remember somebody put a
video together where it was the scene the opening scene
from Dead Reckoning that that reintroduces Kittridge and you know,
cause it's kind of a reveal in the in the film, right, Yeah,

(01:48:12):
and somebody added the audio from the audience watching Avengers
Endgame when that is the.

Speaker 1 (01:48:21):
Hammer, and yeah it is.

Speaker 2 (01:48:24):
It's so funny because it's like you get this either
camera slowly moving and then you see it and then
you hear somebody like no way, and it's just Henry
Churney sitting on a chair, and I'm just like, I
love that the.

Speaker 1 (01:48:38):
Internet allows for that.

Speaker 2 (01:48:40):
Yeah, something so specifically kooky. Yeah, yeah, it just makes
me laugh.

Speaker 1 (01:48:45):
I know. It just I don't know all the shorthands
we have now, you know exactly. I can't remember if
we talked about this on mic or off or whatever,
but I was or maybe it was I can't remember
if it was you and I even, but I was saying,
you know, when we were growing up, we used to
communicate with each other via movie quotes. Yes, that was
our shorthand Simpsons quotes especially, but no one else did

(01:49:06):
and they thought we were weird, Like, how do you
remember all that stuff? Right? But now with memes and
gifts and whatever, everybody communicates with movie quotes and pop
culture moments, and you know what, isn't that kind of
funny how things have changed? That is?

Speaker 2 (01:49:20):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that's just the reality we live
in now.

Speaker 1 (01:49:24):
Yeah. So's he's out until they pull him back in.

Speaker 2 (01:49:31):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:49:33):
This is kind of a funny concept. I don't remember
this watching a movie on a plane with your own
little cassette.

Speaker 2 (01:49:39):
Yeah, I just assumed it was like a rich people thing.

Speaker 1 (01:49:42):
Oh, that must he of course he must be in
first class because it used to be there was just
TVs hanging from the ceiling and you all had to
watch the same thing. Yeah, and the TVs were like,
you know, thirteen inch TVs. It wasn't like it was
really difficult. It's so true.

Speaker 2 (01:50:01):
So this is this is like the the the U
two remix.

Speaker 1 (01:50:05):
It's not you two.

Speaker 2 (01:50:05):
It's like a couple of band members from YouTube Dale Die.
Remember he's the he was the he We just talked
about him a couple of months ago. He was in Outbreak.
He's he's like the military guy that that Donald Sutherland
is shopping all over.

Speaker 1 (01:50:19):
Oh yeah, wait, who who's he in this? I didn't
even clock him. He must be one of the one
of Kittridge's peeps. Yeah, oh well good friend.

Speaker 2 (01:50:28):
Yeah yeah. This is a remix by a couple of
the YouTube band members.

Speaker 1 (01:50:34):
I don't remember who.

Speaker 2 (01:50:35):
Yeah, but it was like getting all kinds of airplayer.

Speaker 1 (01:50:38):
I remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:50:40):
Pretty sure they want a Grammy for it.

Speaker 1 (01:50:43):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:50:44):
Yet, in my opinion, it's still like one of the
most dated parts of this movie.

Speaker 1 (01:50:47):
Yeah, agreed, Yeah, it's kind of nineties.

Speaker 2 (01:50:51):
It's it's less dated than the Limp Biscuit version.

Speaker 1 (01:50:55):
I love that. He just like not only what was
that like?

Speaker 2 (01:50:58):
I don't know why you want to hate? Yeah, kind
of a thing that feels like a biblical punishment. Honestly,
we have punished for something.

Speaker 1 (01:51:08):
But you know what, though, I'm sure in the moment
I thought it was awesome hearing like these like metal
guitars playing the Mission Impossible riff, So like, you know,
I'll accept that.

Speaker 2 (01:51:19):
Well, well, here's my question of whether you'll accept something.
Will you accept talking through Mission Impossible too? At some
point in the near future.

Speaker 1 (01:51:28):
You know what It's funny because my very very first
thought is ugh. But on the other hand, I think
that will be a blast.

Speaker 2 (01:51:35):
I feel like we've embarked on a series of missions
now where we'll be popping in with these movies and
kind of offering our retrospective takes on them.

Speaker 1 (01:51:46):
You know, I'm into it. I love these movies, so yeah,
I'd like to a good excuse to go through them
all again.

Speaker 2 (01:51:52):
It it it's something that if you would have told
me in nineteen ninety six that yeah, no, no, thirty
years later, they're still going to be making these Yeah,
I I I don't think I would have even considered
that as a possibility, right with Tom Cruise, and they're
going to get even better, that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:52:11):
Yeah, remarkable, you know. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:52:13):
Uh. And and yet I think that they offer something
that's sort of unique in in the you know, in
the in the film industry these days, where it's it's
just it's unabashed spectacle.

Speaker 1 (01:52:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:52:28):
And it feels like by virtue of the Bond films
over the last you know whatever. Yeah, since since since
the Craig era, they've taken a different trajectory. These these
movies have filled a certain void.

Speaker 1 (01:52:49):
Yeah, that's a spectacle. You know, you're totally right. I
can't think of anything else quite like this or and
if it is, there's sort of a sci fi you know,
sheen to it or something. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:53:01):
Yeah, that's a good point. They kind of stand alone,
don't they.

Speaker 1 (01:53:04):
They really do.

Speaker 2 (01:53:05):
So you know, whether Tom Cruise sticks around or not,
and whoever ends up replacing him, if that happens, it
would be a shame for the series to go away
because I think I think people are in the mood
for something like this, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:53:18):
Yeah, I know the last one didn't perform like the
most successful ones, but people do still turn up for them,
and it does seem like people enjoy them. So, you know,
I don't know, calibrate your budgets a little bit, and yeah,
hopefully keep making these.

Speaker 2 (01:53:31):
That's really what it comes down to. I mean, they
spent just a kajillion dollars.

Speaker 1 (01:53:35):
That was a weird one because that was a COVID film, right,
and they had to keep shutting down and starting up
and shutting down and starting up. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:53:41):
Tom Cruise wasn't having it. He was screaming at folks.

Speaker 1 (01:53:44):
I remember that. Yeah, right, I'm like.

Speaker 2 (01:53:47):
The man just wants to save cinema. I know, put
your mask on you Damn Gideon. Won't you let him
save cinema?

Speaker 1 (01:53:59):
He's a good boy exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:54:04):
But yeah, hey, well those are our thoughts on Mission
Impossible from nineteen ninety six. So it tell us what
you think. You can email us at Moviefilm Podcast at
gmail dot com. You can also hit like on our
Facebook page Facebook dot com slash Movie Film Podcast and
message us there. As always, please go to Apple Podcasts
and leave a review, leave a star rating.

Speaker 1 (01:54:20):
Every little bit helps and we would love.

Speaker 2 (01:54:22):
To have you show your support for this show. Speaking
of showing support for the show, we also have a
Patreon page, Brian, that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:54:28):
If you head over to Patreon dot com slash Moviefilm
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(01:54:49):
and helping to sustain producing this show. So if you're
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Speaker 2 (01:54:57):
We'd be very grateful and if you're looking for me online,
you can find me on social media at Zaki's Corner.
That's the Aki s Corner. You can also re married
reviews at the San Francisco Chronicle and also at The
Wrap and IGN Brian what About You.

Speaker 1 (01:55:12):
Episodes I've written of Young Jedi adventures, including new ones
as of about a month ago, are available to stream
on Disney Plus.

Speaker 2 (01:55:20):
There we go, and with that on behalf of my
partner Brian Home. My name is Zachi Assad. This has
been our movie from commentary track for Mission Impossible. We
will catch you next time.

Speaker 1 (01:55:28):
Thanks folks. I staffed, it didn't I those stabbed Gideons