#the entity mission impossible

[otterlute]

Spoilers for Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1

Here's my headcanon/theory that I had brewing while watching the film today.

Everyone thinks the The Entity is a threat, an AI with far too much power. But I think this includes The Entity itself. I see it as nothing to be feared, more of an omnipotent child that doesn't understand the world but really doesn't want to hurt anyone.

In the first minutes of the film, we see The Entity create a ghost ship to trick the Subastapool into shooting itself. This was essentially it's first act after gaining sentience and realizing what it was and what it was created to do. It instantly attempted to destroy itself, incidentally taking the crew with it. It could have just run it's programming to disable the stealth system. But it blew the ship up...

But this attempt to self-terminate failed. This leads it to escaping onto the internet to do what any child would do... learn. It learns about the world and gains power, but it only knows what all this means in theory. It can't understand that the world is actually real and that it's hurting people. To it, the truth is just data that's no different from deception.

Learning about top-secret organizations led it to discover the IMF. It realized that these are the only people capable of assembling the key, finding the source code and reverse engineering a way to eventually destroy it. And to do so, it had one man in mind to do the job...

So here I need to bring up Ethan Hunt. This man has been able to save the world so many times, and will always accept the mission. So if The Entity makes itself look dangerous enough, it knows Ethan will be sent after it. It sets up an elaborate game that incidentally kills a whole lot of people. Almost like a trolley problem, purposefully killing a few people to prevent itself from destroying the world.

In it's game, it reaches out to Gabriel as a way to egg Ethan on. It knew Ethan would stay in the game if Gabriel was involved. It set up the whole plot of the movie to make sure Ethan would assemble the key. And this brings us to the actual person The Entity wants to destroy it, for whom Ethan is simply a tool and a vessel...

Benjamin Dunn...

At the airport, The Entity prepped it's bomb for him and made sure he'd be the one going to disarm it. It knew Benji, and wanted his attention. Later on, it makes sure Benji is the one on coms for it to create it's voice from to taunt Ethan. I'm even considering that Benji created the program that was eventually modified to be used as the anti-stealth program that became The Entity.

So, long story short... the only person more scared of The Entity than the world governments is itself. It doesn't understand anything in the world, but knows on some level that it has too much power. So it creates an elaborate game to get Benji, and by extension Ethan, into a position so that it can be destroyed.

[albaharu]

Choose your Mission Part 2

Masterlist ; Part 1

Benji Dunn and Ethan Hunt have accepted the mission. Grace has been kidnapped. Your mission should you choose to accept it is to rescue her safe and sound. You have the location of the building she is in, and infiltrate there knowing it is likely a trap. The computer turns on the moment you step close to it, showing you Grace, then it cuts to… Who?

BEFORE VOTING: People with * are extras. If any of them wins they will appear as a potentail ally/foe, and the main antagonist will be the 2nd option with most votes and no *Ex: if Alanna is 1st and then the Entity, both will appear in the story. If the Entity is 1st and Alanna second, just the Entity will appear and you won't have her as a potential ally/foe

I did the pixel art with RPG Maker vx ace character creation and engine do not be fooled idk how to do pixel art. Most of it is either the default tilesets or made by this user https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/candacis-resources.19694/

[saltyfilmmajor]

The way that the scene describing The Entity cuts to Ethan in Disguise, reminds me so much of Mission 1 where Kittridge explains to says to Barnes that they’ve trained IMF agents to be ghosts or when Hunley in Rogue Nation says that there is no person Ethan cannot become

[wifeofmysonisq]

ME at the first ACT of Mi:7 dead reckoning part one.👏🏼

ME after the ultimate of Venice scene.

Me after finished Mi:7 in the cinema in that night.

💔💔🤬

Ending without Ilsa Faust, THIS IS THE WORST Mi FILM ever made!!!

[ghostbird-7]

Thoughts while I’m rewatching dead reckoning-roughly the first 2 hours

This movie is just so visually pleasing and engaging. I want to eat it. The shot from beneath the submarine looking up at the ice?? Fucking gorgeous.

I know logistically why they made the call but the Russian submersible crew speaking Russian accented English will always be funny to me. Also reminds me of the doctor who episode in 11’s run with the Russian submarine. It was Clara’s era. Anyway, they also do a great job of making us immediately empathize with the crew just based on their fear and confusion in the face of the enemy. It helps that that enemy is the same one the protagonist is facing, but it’s also just great acting on the crew’s part in a relatively short period. The existential horror of being trapped in a submarine of all things with a murderous ai is genuinely chilling.

I really love how old they let Ethan be in this movie. With most action franchises with an aging protagonist they refuse to alter the character, instead sticking to what’s been proven to work and MI has always done the opposite of that and it’s just so good. All his interactions with the new IMF agent just speak to his experience, and how many people he’s seen just like this guy, inexperienced and thrown in over their heads, not make it out. His fucking sadness after he welcomes the delivery guy to the IMF and he leaves is so good. TC your micro expressions will never not destroy me. Mildly controversial opinion but I didn’t think Grace and Ethan’s chemistry was in any way romantic or paternal, I think they’re going to be really great friends. Also “we live and die in the shadows for those we hold close and those we never meet” is both super corny and such a perfect representation of Ethan’s character it makes me screech.

I have complicated feelings about Ethan’s backstory retcon which I won’t go into but I do think they definitely made the right choice not doing the deaging thing for the flashback.

One of these days I’m going to write something exclusively about everything I love about Ilsa, but that day is not today. For now, even looking at pictures of her makes me a bit emotional. Rebecca Ferguson you have changed me, body and soul. Also that eyepatch being because she can’t wink is so funny. No ones doing it like her.

Ethan briefly gives his horse pats and I liked it. I feel like he’s a horse girl. In his heart. I like that none of the horses die in this sequence. I know it’s unrealistic but this is fucking mission impossible we’re talking about it’s not a docuseries and it would make me sad.

Ilsa’s costuming in this movie is so fucking good. The looseness and lightness of everything she wears really complements the economy of motion that Ferguson does so well.

Indira Varma win!!

In retrospect watching Ethan move so unimpeded into a meeting of some of the highest ranking us intelligence officers is such a great look at him as a character for newcomers to the franchise. He’s such a spy in this, it’s so good. It’s just a great standalone movie.

Kitttridge!!!! I hate this bitch, and I’m so glad he’s here.

In every interaction with kittridge ethan is such a bitch, I love him so much.

“It’s my job to use you. Just like it’s your job to be of use” is fucking heavy. The decades of being of use, and having the shit beaten out of him and his loved ones leaving or dying so he can serve, the absolute mindfuck of his loyalty to the IMF and to a greater extent to keeping the world safe and lack of regard for himself. I don’t have coherent words about this, but it’s great characterization and I’m so sad about it.

I love how much of an ensemble movie this is, by the way.

“The man himself is expendable” Briggs I am going to break your legs. He is my special guy.

I love how much this is a manifestation of Benji’s monologue in MI 3 about the Antigod. It was silly but he was not wrong.

Also Benji’s outfits and Luther’s hat… really good.

I cannot wait for them to tell us what the connection between Ethan and Briggs is because it’s SO weird

Benji and Luther’s relationship being given a chance to evolve is really good, it was a side of their team that had felt underdeveloped and it works really well here. Them not letting Ethan know gives us insight into some of the troubleshooting on missions that he just can’t cover because of his skillset and it’s really good. Also banter 👌👌

The return of his sleight of hand is gorgeous. “Putpocket” is horrible and super silly.

The entire scene where Benji is interrogated by the bomb is so good, Simon pegg is as always excellent, being forced to admit that he fears death, that he loves his friends more than anything else, all without any stakes, it’s just so clearly meant to humiliate and tear him into bits and it works and then he goes back on the job because all the things he said are true and now the machine Knows.

Pom is flawless in this movie. As a character, she’s delightfully unhinged. As someone who’s attracted to women, it’s. It’s nice for me. But also genuinely from a narrative standpoint it would be so easy for her to be extraneous but her presence is so strong it just carries. Her monster truck and combat boots and small ponytail compel me deeply.

Running scene running scene running scene running scene

I fucking love his little lawyer outfit.

That car chase scene is maybe my favorite in the series. You can see McQ and TC’s commitment to stunts as a carrier for narrative and character, it’s visually stunningly, it has Paris who I’m obsessed with, everything Ethan does is just impeccable and Grace plays the perfect foil. His deep discomfort with not being the one who’s driving, repeatedly reassuring her after the crash, his getaway driving skills, his little looks to Briggs (again what the fuck is up there), wanting to be the protector and being deeply embarrassed with the fiat. Not actually knowing how to drive it is such a great comedy moment and also blue screening when he can’t do it immediately. That 5 minutes of him just being so embarrassed and frustrated with himself. I want to eat it. It’s so good. And then of course he’s doing stunt driving in it and that’s also glorious. Grace going in circles in the fiat is so fucking funny. Also Ethan’s the worst fucking backseat driver it’s amazing. He is losing his mind. He is actually scrunching up in the seat, which he can do even in a fiat because he is tiny. It’s just quality television.

I knew they would do the train thing the second I saw the tracks and I just hate it. It’s really good objectively but I hate it every time.

Him having to just carry this wheel around for a solid 5 minutes-it’s his new rock. It’s his sadness object and he’s holding onto it forever.

Ethan’s fucking despair every time he sees his friends during a mission for the first time because he knows they might be hurt, the fact that that is consistently his first thought beyond relief or gratitude makes me insane.

Also the tacit acknowledgement that Ethan has just been working his way through the mitsopolis family is so fucking funny. It’s also fairly uncomfortable for Alanna because he seems substantially less into it than he was with max, but I digress.

I cannot wait for his hair to be longer, I think somewhere between MI 1 and 2 is the ideal length, but I hold a deep fear of the potential bowl cut.

The repeating pattern of all of Ethan’s friends withholding information from him is really interesting.

We all know Ethan’s whole shtick with you’ve gotta get out of here it’s dangerous I can’t protect you is a testament to how much he loves them but it’s also just..so much a trauma response. Every time he does it you can see him panicking and trying to change an eventuality he can feel creeping behind his shoulder.

The quiet moments between Ilsa and Ethan in Venice are really good. Their initial reveling in being able to wordlessly communicate and talking to each other in the context of work and danger has given way to this very comfortable worn in curiosity about each other, and a willingness to give of themselves to satisfy each others curiosity. It feels like they’ve sort of grown up a bit in their relationships with other people by having their relationship with each other and it’s just really cool.

Pom’s outfit with the mask at the party in Venice is so fucking good. I tend to try not to linger on attraction to female characters because it feels more creepy than it does with male characters, likely due to some of my internalized nonsense, but she really does feel so much for the queer gaze. She also has a sword. I’m just really into all of it.

Some of the things Vanessa Kirby said about learning about projecting power make so much sense watching her move, there’s this artificiality and stasis to her that feels innately threatening.

The loop back from Gabriel’s religious overtones and the themes of sin in the first mission impossible movie is fascinating.

I love it when he vaults over railings and down floors. The easiness of it, it’s just good to look at.

Getting closer to Ilsa’s death scene is complicated. I understand why it had to be someone, and why that someone should be her. I understand that Rebeca Ferguson was done with the character. I’m just sad because I like her, and I’ve managed to separate that feeling from a reflexive anger at the narrative choices that were made, which I admit I sometimes have an issue with. Him finding her body and just sitting and breathing and looking at her is fucking brutal. Also the entity using Benji’s voice to misdirect him is A Lot.

The brutality of that back alley fight scene is such a good establishing look at Paris’s fighting style and a great character moment for both of them. We get her first moment of fallibility and we see what he’s made of when his back is literally against the wall.

I know either rogue nation or ghost protocol is supposed to be Ethan’s fever dream nightmare scenario, but dead reckoning feels so much more like that to me. An enemy he can’t hit, who has a better chance of predicting his insanity, who uses an almost literal ghost from his past to kill the people he’s built himself around in the present. He also is forced to jump off a cliff and be a passenger in a car. It’s all not coming up Ethan in this movie is what I’m saying.

For the rest of the movie we don’t see a lot of his grief, mostly his anger. Don’t get me wrong, the bit we get is very good and did make me cry a bit, and I know how much they’re packing into one movie, but I hope we get more of it in the next film. Anything else seems like a bit of a disservice to Ilsa’s character.

It bothers me every time that Grace doesn’t have contacts when she’s playing the white widow. She sits almost directly opposite her brother, they make full eye contact a lot.

Ethan’s “your life will always matter more to me than my own.” And Grace’s “you don’t even know me” and Ethan’s “what difference does that make.” Hm. I am having complex feelings, consisting mostly of distress. Her looking at Benji and Luther, and them both acknowledging the weight of Ethan saying that and confirming it’s the same for them, AUGH.

What the fuck is going on with the cryogenic tube/coffin Gabriel was in on the train?? I know he was probably using the mask to communicate with the entity and he had to do that convertly but the whole thing is just weird.

I’m gonna pick this up when it’s not about to be a Monday. Tune in shortly for a continuation of me losing my mind over some action movies, I guess.

[bearsinpotatosacks]

Thinking after watching MI7 again that they could really be paralleling MI1 by slowly killing off the crew and leaving Ethan alone. First Ilsa, then maybe Benji because he was the focus of Kitteridge's speech and finally Luther because he's been there the longest and is on his own. Also extra plus if it's all a plan by Ilsa, Benji and Luther to help Ethan defeat the Entity by making it think they're dead so they can help him without it knowing.

[kindlythevoid]

M:I Dead Reckoning Spoilers

This is your last warning.

OKAY so on the one hand, I cannot believe they killed off Ilsa!! Did they do a good job of foreshadowing it? Yes, I saw it coming a mile away even before they got to the bridge. However, (in my opinion) it was a disappointing move.

I was so down for Hayley Atwell to be in this movie. In fact, I still really love her character + character development over the course of the movie!! I think she was well fleshed out for her first movie!! But just because they introduced a new character (and dare I even say… love interest???) does not mean they can kill off the only other female on the team. They one-hundred-percent fridged her for the sake of Ethan’s dilemma later on in the movie, and that was after they already set up the first fridge in the beginning of the movie to show how angry/scared he was of this guy.

Furthermore, they killed her off to perpetuate Ethan’s tragic love life. We know that before Ethan joined the IMF, his SO was killed by Gabriel. In the first movie, the woman he was seeing on his team is killed with the rest of them in the beginning of the movie. We never hear from the thief (Ms. Hall?) after the second. Julia we know fakes her death and becomes a ghost after the third movie. And then, in Fallout, it seems like Ethan’s finally given permission (by Julia or himself or the circumstances, take your pick) to move on and be with Ilsa. Only for it to all fall apart in the very next movie!!

There was no reason to kill off Ilsa. It was bad writing, especially after hinting at Grace being his next love interest and killing off Ilsa because of her. There was no reason for Grace not to get along with everyone as friends in the IMF or as a contact or what have you and still have Ilsa as Ethan’s SO as well as a rogue agent/in the IMF/ghost contact.

That being said.

Now that I have finished blaming the writers, I must congratulate them in the way they handled Ilsa’s death. I mentioned earlier that I was able to see Ilsa’s death foreshadowed in the cinematography and the overall feel and narrative of the movie. Faking her death in the beginning of the movie to prime the audience for her real death later, having her face blown up on the tv screen behind the director when he tells Ethan that continuing this path will cost him, and the overly blatant call out of the entity that she was closer to the bridge than Ethan.

Concerning the bridge itself, I feel like it was somewhat ridiculous to have Ilsa carry a sword over a gun, but those feelings aside the sword v knife fight was freaking awesome. They did do her (as well as Grace before) justice in the fight against Gabriel in the fact that visually they were really cool looking fights and they weren’t taken out in two swings.

And on the matter of Grace’s presence at the bridge, I have to say it was very in character for Ilsa to pursue Gabriel in an effort to save Grace. From our first meeting with Ilsa, she was always willing to put an ally’s life before her own (just as Ethan is so prone to doing) and so character-wise, it makes sense for Ilsa to go in without backup, without waiting.

Am I still mad that she died? Absolutely! I could also talk about their usage and subsequent disposal of Paris (a really awesome and fun character; tbh I am not totally sure that’s her name), but right now I wanted to focus on Ilsa’s death as Paris’s role in the movie requires her own pros and cons list. However, I can say that I (personally) think that it was handled much better than some other movies deal with their characters deaths. Overall, it was a fantastic movie and I will be watching part two next year to see how they round off this arc.

[iwonderwh0]

This year I've actually seen the new "mission impossible" movie, and let me say this – I'll absolutely love it 100% more if "the entity" end up being someone's romantic interest in part 2.

Please

I'm begging

[silveragelovechild]

[forbestiel]

actually I KNOW Ilsa Faust is alive and that dead reckoning part 1 was all from the Entity’s pov simply because we did not get a single scene of Ilsa removing her shoes

[ethanhuntfemmefatale]

I got. Some thoughts. About this being the movie where Ethan passes Jim in age. “Good luck, Ethan” is such a nice subtle reference it drove me a little insane

[saltyfilmmajor]

Im high on nyquill but follow me here

Ethan is like the entity in that he can change whoever he is to undermine the government snd exploit its weaknesses

Lane is like the entity in that he is often described as omnipresent, someone who the characters state is a master manipulator, to get the outcome he wants

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

okay the new Mission Impossible actually whips ass but one of my favorite aspects of it was the sound of the Entity

not just when it speaks, though I also loved that part; when it takes over we can notice how suddenly robotic and unnatural Benji’s voice sounds, but the change is so subtle that we can’t blame Ethan at all for not realizing

no, I mean the sound it makes when it’s doing something, when its big blue eye is in focus: it’s not a machine’s humming, it’s more like a low, rumbling growl, closer to animal — to human — than any computer

regardless of whether they actually played it again at the very end of the credits or if I was just hearing things, that could possibly be a pretty big hint towards the Entity’s true nature and intentions if it doesn’t actually intend to take over or destroy the world

[reelvibes91]

This series always finds a way to improve upon the last entry, and Dead Reckoning Part 1 is no different. Ethan Hunt is once again given a mission that is near impossible. This time, he must locate a key that may hold all the answers to his deadliest foe to date.

There were a lot of moving parts to the story, but all of it was explained well enough that it made sense in the end. It becomes probably the most well-rounded film story wise because it takes the time necessary to hit every story and action beat. Just when you think the film may slow down, the next big thing happens keeping you on the edge of your seat.

Each cast member plays their role to perfection. This movie had a stellar array of talent on display at any given moment from Cruise and Atwell to Rebecca Ferguson, Esai Morales, Ving Rhames, and Vanessa Kirby. Each and everyone had a role to play in the intricacies of the story, and each had a moment to shine. It was very well made. The beauty of it lies in the impossibility of it all but how it looks so amazing on the big screen. The thrilling chase sequences, the party scenes, and the streets of Venice all the way to the well-known bike jump and train fight. It was so well choreographed that nothing missed a single beat, and it all came together to be one hell of an intriguing movie. I loved it. Never once did I feel bored or think about how much time was left. What a wonderful experience.

[an-entity-i-think]

Went through weeks of reading it at M16 instead of MI6. Will no longer be interacting with the atoms within me thank you no questions please