#esai morales

[scenesandscreens]

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Director - Christopher McQuarrie, Cinematography - Fraser Taggert

"We live and die in the shadows, for those we hold close, and for those we never meet."

[agentfaust]

ETHAN HUNT + textposts (pt. 2)

pt. 1 / pt. 3 / pt. 4 / pt. 5

[filmbook21]

[imfmi6]

Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning part one team

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

Master Gardener (Paul Schrader, 2022)  

[hardylow]

Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One Cast Interview (gif)

[huntmavs]

the underrated dilfs of the mission impossible franchise

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

Rebecca Ferguson and Esai Morales - Mission:Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One premiere in London, UK | June 22, 2023

[doodlerdoodle]

#Repost @missionimpossible

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Next stop on the #MissionWorldTour: London. Check out all the intel from our latest #MissionImpossible - Dead Reckoning Part One premiere by @misanharriman!

[itsalwaystomcruise]

Thank you to everyone who came out to the New York premiere! It was great to celebrate Mission: Impossible with the fans and so much of our amazing cast.

— Tom Cruise on social media, July 11, 2023

[shewholovestoread]

Mission Impossible 7: Dead Reckoning Impressions

I’ve been a fan of the Mission Impossible franchise, especially fourth film onwards. This is not a review per se, it’s more a list of what was okay in the film, what was great and what was downright awful. So let’s get into it.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

THE MEH:

- The villain - on the surface, having an AI entity called The Entity sounds like a good idea. Especially given the current climate, the discourse surrounding AI and the way it’s being used. The problem is that, it lacks the human component that makes a villain engaging. One of the most fascinating aspects of a villain done right is their motivation and their drive. Aspects that perhaps the audience can relate to. All of that is missing with a digital villain.

- Gabriel - Again, the fact that he’s following orders from an AI just seems dumb and takes away from his being an engaging villain in his own right. Yes, he’s menacing and clearly dangerous but all of that is undercut because he’s not the big bad, a machine is. His history with Ethan is rife with untapped potential and I hope that the eighth film digs deeper into that.

- Alana Mitsopolis - So much potential and she does next to nothing in the film.

Also, this was mind-boggling, when Grace is pretending to be Alana, her eye colour is so obviously different from the real Alana that I’m kinda shocked that the brother didn’t pick that up. It was so glaring that it immediately took me out of the film. It made no sense.

THE GOOD:

- Paris - Pom Klementieff stole the show. She was so good and I’m so excited to see her in the next installment. Also, the scene of her chasing Ethan and Grace in the huge-ass military truck... pure chef’s kiss. You know that scene in the animated 101 Dalmations when Cruella is driving her car like a lunatic, Paris had that energy down pat.

- Grace - I liked her character though there are some problems that I’ll get to later. But well written and another character who doesn’t immediately fall head over heels in love with Ethan. I liked that she was smart and didn’t trust people just because they asked her to. She had reason to be wary and I appreciated that.

- The stunts - This is a given. The stunts get bigger and more outrageous with every progressing Mission Impossible film and this one was no different. The bike-jumping-off-the-cliff is the one that they’ve pushed the most in their marketing, but there’s one more near the end that’s probably way more stressful.

THE BAD:

- The stunts - The stunts in the film overpowered the plot. There is such a thing as 'too much of a good thing’ and the stunts in this film definitely fall into that category. There was something new happening every few scenes and some of the stunts scenes also just went on for a little too long.

- The Death of Ilsa Faust - This one just drove me mad with rage. She is canonically as good as Ethan, his equal in every way and was set-up as a foil to him, often a little more ruthless than him and willing to make tough decisions even if that meant going against Ethan and his team, people she clearly cares about.

It’s not just that she died, but the way she died. She gets stabbed by Gabriel and actually died alone, by the time Ethan finds her, she’s already gone. She died alone on a fucking bridge and that’s just a damn shame.

To add insult to injury, the way they’ve set-up Grace as an immediate replacement for Ilsa, to the extent that in the very next scene, she’s part of the team as if she had always been there. It’s like the film is telling you that female characters are of little consequence and replaceable. This was also so damn blatant that yet again, it pulled me out of the film. I couldn’t believe that it was handled in such ham-handed way. It also made me dislike Grace on principle.

Her death also stings because Benji and Luther were right there and they’ve been there since the third (fourth?) film and are still alive and kicking. If we were meant to have a meaningful loss for Ethan, why couldn’t it either of the 2 dudes? Also, it is possible to have more than 1 woman on the team. There’s no rule that states that the addition of the new female character must be facilitated by the death of the previous woman on the team. There are SOOOO many films guilty of this (looking at you Pacific Rim 2, which killed off Mako Mori and then replaced her with Liwen Shao)

THE THING THAT GIVES ME PAUSE:

The only thing that gives me pause is the way Ilsa’s death was handled. It’s so badly done that it almost feels like a different film. My theory is that Ilsa is actually alive and will return in the next film. The whole thing was badly handled on purpose.

Now hear me out, early on in the film, Ethan and Ilsa fake her death to get the American intelligence agencies off her back. From the way it’s shot, it’s immediately apparent that she’s not dead. And they reveal very quickly that she’s still alive.

When she reunites with the team, the whole lot of them get into an argument about acceptable losses and that the mission is more important than any member of the team (very subtle-R-us) and then to no one’s surprise, it is Ilsa who goes and talks to Ethan and they have a very awkward hug. Ilsa and Ethan’s romance, thus far, was played with great subtlety. they’re not very touchy-feely with each other. They show their love in how far they’re willing to go for each other. It’s the sexual tension that is the real draw for these two. It’s a strange kind of intimacy which is very different from all of his previous romantic partners.

So we got that awkward scene and by then it is glaringly obvious who’s gonna die. Ilsa has a sword fight with Gabriel, she gets stabbed and then dies. But here’s the thing, every thing I said earlier about how it was handled just doesn’t feel right. McQuarrie is a better writer and director and I expect him do better because he has consistently done better in the last two films.

We are constantly told that The Entity can already see ALL of the possible approaches that Ethan can think of. It can see 10 steps ahead of everyone on the team. So how do you beat a machine that has already seen all of your upcoming moves and put in counter-attacks? You do something it can’t predict. If both Gabriel, Grace and pretty much everyone concerned thinks Ilsa is dead, it gives her the perfect opportunity to blindside The Entity. She’s the piece of the puzzle that The Entity can’t see coming.

Repetition: Gabriel already killed Ethan’s past love interest, it is so damn lazy of the filmmakers to make him kill the current love interest (although Ilsa is so much more than a mere love interest) Not to mention, Gabriel stabs Paris in almost the exact same place as he did Ilsa and she managed to live and even saved Ethan and Grace’s lives.

If however, this is the end of the road for Ilsa Faust, it was a damn shame for such an amazing character to get such an anti-climactic end. It was a disappointing end for a character that had very quickly become one of the best parts of the series.

[abs0luteb4stard]

MISSION: W A T C H I N G

[the-invisible-queer]

Disclaimer: This is list of fictional men I have fixated on this year. This is specific to me an my blog but anyone is welcome to vote and reblog.

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WATCHLIST 2023: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

[imfmi6]

Cary Elwes, Henry Czerny, Esai Morales, Greg Tarzan Davis, Simon Pegg, Frederick Schmidt, Shea Whigham, Mariela Garriga, Rebecca Ferguson, Hayley Atwell, Christopher McQuarrie, Tom Cruise, Pom Klementieff and Vanessa Kirby  on the Spanish Steps ahead of the premiere of "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" movie in Rome, on June 19, 2023.

[ghost-of-diogenes]

I loved Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning for the plot, 100%.