This is the Drivein Podcast. Take one but a big but a boom. Welcome to Episode 245 of the Drivein Podcast. On today's episode, we have our throwback review of Mission Impossible Fallout, along with our preview for Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part one to use the bathroom. Now grab that popcorn and enjoy episode 245 of the Drivein Podcast. Howdy Doody, Welcome to episode 245 of TDI.
This is Doctorow on the horn to start, per usual, and as always, I'm joined by my cohost, my best friend and Mission Impossible aficionado, Ricky Flicks. Great to see you, my friend. Great to hear from you. Are you prepared to discuss our Lord and Savior Tom Cruise? I am the storm. Yes, I am very much ready to go here, buckled up, ready to go, ready to fly a helicopter, rid of the Halo, jump out of a plane, ready to whatever whatever the big stunt is.
I am ready for this review. This is one of the best movies in the in the 20 tens, one of the easily one of the best, if not the best action movie. We'll probably get to that. This is my this has been the franchise I've been saying is better than James Bond. This is like my reputation. I've been saying this since Ghost Protocol, Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation. So excited to talk about this one. That kind of confirmed my take a little bit I would say. And looking forward to dead
reckoning, of course. It's interesting you bring up like James Bond because like Americans were looking for what is the next James Bond? What is our James Bond? And a lot of people point to. Like Matt Damon is Jason Bourne and like, whoever's going to be the next Jason Bourne. And I don't know how many years. I don't even know if we're ever
going to get that. And then people also talk about Mission Impossible and what a strong back half of the franchise this has become and how like it's kind of moved from what it was in the late 90s, early 2000s. And like, it's kind of rode this new wave action filmmaking and globally taking the world by storm. And it's like it obviously sports.
The greatest action star in the world for decades now, Tom Cruise. And I'm not willing to say this is like our James Bond, because I think it just belongs in a totally different category. You know, where it's like you can have the longevity of 30 years and you can have five James Bonds. But what makes Mission Impossible so special is you could have 30 years and you can have one guy playing the role and actually.
Without doing the stunts in each and every movie to such an impressive state, you know, So that's why. Like, he's not the next James Bond. He's not our James Bond, but he's our Ethan Hunt baby. And I can't wait to talk about the pinnacle, the franchise thus far with Fallout on the eve of Dead reckoning Part One. He's the most realistic superhero we have. He's not like he's no superpowers. And he's not a billionaire with gadgets. You know, Like, he doesn't gadgets.
But you know what I mean? Like, he's a government, government operative. He's the most realist, like superhero without superpowers that we have. Like, it's just like, that's how I look at Ethan Hunt. And like, James Bond is different. Like that's one guy. And MI6, yeah, it's similar to I MF, but like, that's not as much about, like, the stunts.
And the excitement, that's more like get knee deep into the character study Ethan Hunt. Like they they dabble in that, but it's more like, no. Like I'm going to learn for six months how to fly a helicopter and make sure that's in the movie and there's no CGI. And it's all about what's the next stunt, what's the next big thing that we're going to do. They're going to Space Dead Reckoning Part 2. Yeah, it's all about. I don't think they're doing that. I'm pretty sure that Tom Cruise.
Is going to space to make a movie, but I don't think it's for Mission Impossible. OK, take. Take my word for it, I am the doctor on the checkup. OK, I'll take your word for it, but you get what I'm saying though, they try to one up everything stunt wise and entertainment excitement wise versus like a James Bond where they want to get deeper into the character, you know, it's like kind of and different ends of the spectrum. So Mission Impossible is more like.
Again, this is not the respective mission possible on the biggest mission possible fan. It's more like Fast and Furious where they one up every time versus like getting deeper into the character. Whereas James Bond or Jason Bourne.
It's like Jason Bourne is trying to learn who he is, his identity and like his life, his history, every movie and and like I mentioned, James Bond. And you you bring up like 1 upping like what is going to be the big moment like from the film and like you can go back to like. So hanging off a helicopter, it's like, you see that in a trailer, you're like, Oh my God, or you're hanging off an airplane. You know, we talked about was that rogue nation, I believe, when he's hanging off.
And you're like, I can't wait to see that moment. And then you go to, like, fallout and you see, you hear all you hear is Tom Cruise learn how to fly a helicopter. And you're waiting for the helicopter scene. And now it's like, we see the trailer for dead reckoning.
And we're like, I can't wait to see Tom Cruise drive a motorcycle off a Cliff. You know it's just like they tease it and like Tom Cruise, you know practically he wants to he wants to actually do it and provide like your ticket is going to be worth the price of admission every time you go see admission impossible movie. And I think we, I wanted to do end preparation for dead reckoning A checklist. This is like what you need to see or you are expect to see.
Out of a Mission Impossible movie, it's like similar like James Bond. You know he's going to like order a certain drink. You know he's going to drive a certain car. You know he's going to be interacting and like having relations with like ladies And now we have expectations for a Mission Impossible and Ethan Hunt. So Ricky flick let's make a checklist what do we know we're going to see in some type of form or fashion in dead reckoning I'm going to I think
we should go one for one. Right. Because I think we can just list these on the top of our head, things that can like literally you can go back to 1996 and you can like rally all the way to 2023 and say this connects all of these films and makes them distinct. I'm going to start with one of my favorite things in this espionage franchise. It's the self destructing dissolving tape that is so sweet. And I think that's very distinct too. Mission Impossible, right? When he has that dissolved
beginning of fallout. We're going to talk about really like it says we're on to the next mission, baby. When that happens, you know Ethan hunts on to the next next mission. Yeah, that's iconic and kind of going off of that. It's also the intro credits, you know, with the the, the, the match. You like the like the match and then it's. And then keep it says, and it says usually first and foremost
a Tom Cruise production. It usually does ever since Ghost Protocol. So I think to go along just kind of chronologically speaking or time sequence speaking, that's another like mission possible staple boom. 100% and such an iconic theme. And I think it's totally hijacked like the 60s TV show and it's totally made itself its own. And it's like you hear that you associate Tom Cruise just doing something that is going to have his life on the line. I'm going to also say staple
masks and staged sets. That is always going to happen one time in a Mission Impossible movie. The mask probably multiple times, but having that set up for one of the like the lesser known villains. And then Tom Cruise just going go and then taking down the sets. That's how you know you're in a
Mission Impossible movie. But yeah, the mass looks so much better in these movies and like the Fallout stage era, the 456 and now 7. Mission impossibles then, like 1996 is Mission Impossible. It is so clearly Tom Cruise wearing an old man suit in 1996 and they just figured it out. It's just this is what I'm talking about. Like these movies are getting they look better with age.
It's hard to watch 1996 and say like this is the same franchise in a lot of different ways, but the way the mask is pulled off now, I love it. And a lot of times it's now associated with Simon Pegg's character rather than Tom Cruise. Yeah, and it's funny because Simon Pegg. I think it was Ghost Protocol. He was like, why don't I get to wear a mask? And then now in Fallout, he was like, why am I always the one that has to wear the mask? It kind of flipped on his head
at the inside franchise joke. So that's a good one. But another one, there's always a woman introduced or something like that. That is never like deep enough development between Tom Cruise and her, the relationship. But it's like, enough to like, get you going in an action movie, you know? If you think back to Mission Impossible, the first one, it's Claire Two, It's the girl from Westworld 3. It's his wife, Mission.
Ghost Protocol. It's the New Girl that had his her, her boyfriend killed in the beginning of the film. And then Rogue Nation, it was Rebecca Ferguson. Like in this one, It looks like it's going to be for dead reckoning. It looks like it's going to be Peggy Carter. Like you always. Yeah. Yeah. It's always like someone that's like not like they're not going to go too deep into it, but there's always some sexual
attention there a little bit. But, you know, Vanessa Kirby, a little kiss in this movie, you know, like only two scenes or three scenes with Cruz. That's it. Like, not too much development, but we have a random kiss scene, You know, we just have this random relationship with Tom Cruise, Ethan Hahn and woman. And that's the thing. Like James Bond. Like they'll show him taking a girl to bed. And Ethan Hunt? He'll never have sex in one of these movies. Never. There will never be a Mission
Impossible sex scene. He's too. Tired from jumping out of airplanes? Like, I think we learned not to do anymore. Like Tom Cruise sex scenes after Top Gun Maverick. We're like, we can't do this anymore. Like it. Just take my breath away and it's. It just doesn't always have the great like chemistry with like the female lead or supporting actress That's gonna that is the love interest And it's more about, it's all about the mission and that's like, oh, Tom
Cruise approaches these movies. Yo, it's not about the romance. We are here to watch. Cool. And that's what I'm here to accomplish and give to the audiences. So I couldn't agree more. There'll be some love interest that he won't like dive deep into, but you'll feel that tension a little bit, 100%. That's a good one you're going to get. How about obtaining missions through secret passwords? And you, you teased what Fallout was and I think it's such an
awesome way to start this film. Guy knocks on the door. Whispers to the Warrior Storm is coming and the warrior whispers back. I am the storm. It is. When you have that, it's the same thing with the lighting of the match song goes on, OK, yeah, we're rolling right in that time. When he has that type of line, it's just, yeah, let's go get this thing going. And it's such an electric, electric way to kickstart these movies.
So electric and another electric thing that's always in these movies, Tom Cruise absolutely sprinting for at least 20 seconds in a in a scene. And this one has like the the big like a London Sprint run trying to get Henry Cavill, Walker, John Lark always running. And you got to respect the stamina and the running scenes because he's not like he's 60 years old now. He was 57 while filming this. You just got to respect Tom Cruise going all out for us. He could easily just, like,
steal a car, you know? He can just like, jump on a motorcycle, rip someone off of it and like, track it. But it's like, no, you want to see Tom Cruise run? Tom Cruise knows. We want to see him run, and it's a staple of the franchise. We're going to see him run for 10 minutes of the goddamn movie with ultimate stamina. We're going to see him break his leg. He's going to hobble around just like almost like a John Wick and
then keep going, you know. And then obviously you could say, like we talked about the big event, the big stunt that's coming, that's also in the checklist here, a double cross. You're going to get a double cross every single movie. Especially this is where it's like where you have like these big name actors that join late in the franchise. You're just assuming they're going to turn bad. Just like Henry Cavill when he was cast in Fallout.
We're like, well, we got our new villain and then it's like here, Haley Haley Atwell, she's on watch. She's on watch as a double crosser. Pom Clementif also on watch. But I think she's actually going to be like, she's really dressed super weird in the trailers and she's wearing like a mask and she's really exotic looking. I think she's actually going to be an ally, if I had to make a prediction here for Tom Cruise. Vanessa Kirby is still like a
mysterious type of character. You don't really know where her loyalties lie and if she's going to be on cruises side or not, but you know you're going to get a double cross, and that is ingrained in the DNA of this franchise. A good double cross always works in these spy thrillers. Always it does. And you see it coming and you knew. And I'll talk about this with Cavil later on. Like it's a grape I have with this movie. Like it's you see it coming.
But I I it does work, it just always works. Usually, Usually stunted, like usually you find out through the through through the face mask reveal. That's like usually how you figure out the double cross like, oh, we got them again. They'll never learn. Yeah, I forget what the Simon Pegg line is, but it was like playing off of what he just said, like, oh, it's just the job. It's just the job, like you said. But something that's kind of on the, like going with that is the plot.
The plot is always just like, oh, we got, we got well, the apostles from the syndicate with three plutonium balls that we could just throw around. And then we always have. And then with the team, it's always the team first, the team first like, even though they say like in the message like. Like, oh, if you die or whatever, like we will, the government and the president will not say who you are. Like will basically say we don't know you if you get caught shit
like stuff like that. Here it's like, oh, we have a crazy plot that you might not totally follow one for 1:00, but you get the premise end of the world type stuff. It's a Mission Impossible movie and usually it involves also a little trick where it's like, oh, Ving Rhames. Like we kind of have to sacrifice him and that's the expectation, but we don't do it because Ethan Hahn doesn't sacrifice people even though the I MF that's their whole thing.
That's the difference between like the CIA is that they're more ruthless, they're crazier, they do the bigger stunts they are. End of the world type of jobs. That's the I MF. But it's just like, wait, Ethan Hunt's different. He's not. He is the I MF. But wait, he doesn't follow all the I M F's like core rules. It's just so weird. That's just another thing there. Just a weird.
Plot. And that's always established, like from the get go that, like he goes against the grain compared to the rest of IMF meeting in Ethan Hunt. And like, yeah, he'll throw some, he'll throw some bad guys out of a helicopter door. But he ain't killing cops. He'll never kill cops. You know, he has a moral standard. And that's why it's like, good when we talk about fallout. Why I think Henry Cowell actually worked really well against Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt.
I was going to bring up something else very quickly, but I think it's escaping my mind. Oh, I think when you talk about the plots that are explained, it's you have to understand the Mission Impossible franchise where it's like, you're like, if someone's never seen one of these movies, they're going to be focusing so hard trying to follow all those different, like, topics that you're talking about, your subjects with the apostles and like, whatever CIA plutonium, all this crap.
But like, it's OK to zone out during that time. Like, who cares? Like, it's. Just like it is OK. Let's just watch Tom Cruise intently stare at this screen with like a map that has 8 red spots on it and then him say got it, like that's all we need. And then we're off and running. We're going to get past this. You just got to like suck it up for like a minute and a half, two minutes and then we're off and running. That's what I got for the checklist.
It's a pretty good list. I think yeah, there's other small ones like I need. I need an evacuation code 8. 87911 code bravo like random ass words and it's like got it like the other person's like got it be there in 2 minutes or something like that. It is a secured line right? Like that, little stuff like that. And as we like continue to like Preview Reckoning, Dead Reckoning. Is there anything like moving on from the checklist that you are really anticipating or you like?
We are. We obviously know like we're jacked up to see Dead Reckoning, we're reviewing fallout right now. But is there anything like you want to see differently from this franchise and you want to just see it like keep having them play the hits?
So something I'm so happy you brought this question up, because this is if you have my biggest gripe with Mission Impossible is it's almost the same every single movie where it's either Ethan. Is getting framed for something or it's he has to save someone on the team Okay while saving the world. Right.
And this one, that reckoning looks like it's going to be the same thing because he was saying we don't make those choices where you like sacrifice one of the members of the team because we don't make those sacrifices and stuff like that. It's in the trailer. So I'm like crap, don't just rerun fallout. Like don't just like.
Don't redo this like we we can do a little more like I said in the off the top, like I know it's not James Bond character study even though they do kind of like, you know they brought back Michelle Monahan like the last movie, his wife or exwife I should say. You know she'll probably in this one somehow they still try to do a little bit of development for the Ethan Hawn even though we don't need it, we really don't. So what I want them to do, which I don't think they'll do, is
kind of veer away from. What they've already done, like the major flop points, you know what I mean? Like, I think it's kind of repetitive. Yeah, they definitely like, we understand as an audience we don't have to know the ins and outs of everything about Ethan Hunt. We don't have to like have this like psychological study of Ethan Hunt and or a case study of him. We just want to see him do cool shit. That's why we're here and that's
what we're going to talk. We're going to talk about Fallout like they try and have a little bit of emotional depth. But I think ultimately it does fall short. And ultimately it's like, why did you have this in here in the 1st place? And like, it really feels like, wow, like first scene and scene you have Michelle Monaghan. You're like, wow, was this supposed to be like a huge part of like the motivations of anything on in this movie?
Because she wasn't brought up for literally two hours of the film. But yeah, I'm excited for this. I can't wait. I can't wait for Haley Atwell. I can't wait for palm Clementif. He's going back at it. Kittredge also back for dead reckoning. Part of the. Early Mission Impossible. Kit, yes, and sort of like, he's almost like an antagonist. But then obviously it's like switching sides constantly in
like Mission Impossible movies. He's back on the side of a. Ethan Hunt, I can't wait to just see the one-on-one interaction from that, just because it's been forever since we've seen him in this franchise. But it also goes what you're saying. They can't let go. Like, like they'll bring up something from like Mission Impossible Two and like bring it back to like these last few movies just because they want to show you.
Those movies still matter. They're still a part of this lore, even though you could just show somebody 456 and they'd be like, we get it. Exactly, yeah. And I think here. Breaking up Dead Reckoning 2 parts because again, that wasn't like the first thing. It was supposed to be just Dead Reckoning. They're like no, no, let's make 2 movies out of this.
It's going to be interesting to see how it's going to evolve into a part till is it going to end on a cliffhanger with Simon Pegg getting kidnapped or a death like? That's like, I think it's going to end literally with Tom Cruise hanging on a Cliff. Or. I hate that to be. Honest.
A literal cliffhanger, I. I think another possibility is like they lose like a smallpox outbreak does happen in India, China, Pakistan, and now they're like have to avoid the next one, or like World War Three or something. I could see that. And that'll be a good twist. I would like that they actually lose. That's pretty interesting. That's that. I mean, if we've wanted anything from part ones and major blockbuster franchises like it's going to end. Not in favor of like the protagonist.
Like, come on, have we been paying attention last couple of years? Right, right. With that being said, I think it's time we talk about arguably the greatest action movie of the past decade, Ricky Flicks. And that goes before seeing Mission Impossible dead reckoning part one. Who knows what our reactions are going to be coming up on Wednesday's pod. We're getting early Screener for that, Ricky Monday we're going to be watching Mission Impossible. But let's talk about Fallout Ricky flicks.
Is this the best action film of the last decade? I think so. I I I love John Wick, OKI do all of them, all four of them. But there's something about Mission Impossible that's just different. Where it had its first run, I would say one through three was successful, but the highs and lows were very far apart. But this is a Renaissance trilogy and they gave us a Fallout movie that you know, mission goes. Protocol and Rogue Nation were great, but they just up.
They just upped it even more so than we ever could have imagined. That's what makes it different. Where John Wick. Yes, they continue upping it, more deaths, more gung Foo fight scenes and etcetera, etcetera. But I just think. Overall, as a franchise like this is just different. It's on a different level and that's why I think for like the we're talking about the plots like we can kind of zone out when they're talking about the apostles and the syndicate and the plutonium a little bit.
That's what's also makes it great. Because you don't need it. Like usually you would like nitpick that stuff. And I think that is a nitpick that I'll have. But I think end of the day, what makes it great is that it could be so great in all these other facets that you kind of forget about it and you know just enough to get you through the whole movie.
So it makes sense. It's so rare that you have the best movie in one of the best action franchises where like the lead leading man is in his mid to late 50s. And you could say it's his best performance and that you could see him continuing with this role for the foreseeable future.
And what fallout did. It entered Tom Cruise into the next stage of his like superstardom, where he like he was just like the Mission Impossible guy and sometimes like Edge of Tomorrow. And some of these were like Oblivion, these random action movies every once in a while.
But now? After Fallout, then going into Top Gun Maverick and then going into Dead Reckoning, Part One, which is clocking in it like a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, he's once again on Top of the World and it's I guess he never left. But it seems like his popularity now is what it was in the in the mid 2000s. It's crazy his longevity and the fallout really starts that run, but in terms of like other
action movies that rival this. Honestly, I put Top Gun Maverick in last 10 years like Best Action Movies. It it's it's there too. And then John Wick you brought up, I put John Wick Chapter 4 also and that's Keanu and Tom Cruise taking up for the five slots. And then I had Mad Max Fury Rd. which is nominated for Best Picture, which is like such an anomaly for that type of fail to be nominated. Then like Top Gun Maverick getting nominated is kind of like reminiscent of that.
But yeah, I think those are the five that come to mind. Any other ones that the kind of rival fallout or in that conversation for the best last decade? Yeah, non superhero like pure action scenes or action movies. I think we nailed them there. I think Mad Max 3 Rd. and I think that might take the cake, but this is up there like this might be it. I think it's 1A1B and it's different because ones like in a pocket like a. Apocalyptic type of like setting and really artistic and the
landscapes are so extravagant. And then Fallout is just like the pinnacle of American filmmaking of action films. So Ricky Flecks like you seen this movie how many times? Oh God. At least five. Probably a lot more than that. I don't want to say 10. Five times, like sitting down, start to finish, You know, like sometimes when you like, like, OK, I'll fall asleep watching the Watching fallout, which is a weird move, but I've done it
numerous times. Or it's like on TV and you're like want to catch a couple glimpses but like watching it through, I want to say I've seen at least five times as well. Is there anything that stuck out on your rewatch this next? Viewing where you want that you wanted to bring up here where it's like something that maybe Oh, really? I didn't recognize that last time. What do you got? I I think the plot, when we talk about the plot, that really stuck out to me.
I was like, Oh my God, like I feel like I have to bring out a notepad and kind of like make a like a tree chart. There was Charlie Day on the. Yeah, like kind of figure it out. So that stuck out to me. And another thing that stuck out to me. That I've always thought, but even more so now is before, actually, before I say this, Henry Cavill in, like, I'm talking about the actor Henry Cavill in real life is like super smart. Like he builds computers.
Like this guy is really, really smart, human. But on screen. I just don't buy him as a man of like someone that wrote a manifesto that kind of, you know, rallied the troops up. He needed to be saved by Tom Cruise multiple times in this movie. I just don't think I don't buy him as being that smart at all. This is the biggest flaw of the movie for me because I actually think Henry Cavill is good in the movie, but for him he comes off as such a freaking idiot in the 1st 10 minutes he's on
screen like this is the guy. He's an assassin. He's supposed to keep Ethan Hunt in check. And like, he looks the part when Angela Bassett introduces him, it's like, Oh my God, we got to watch out for John Walker, like he's going to be a threat here. And you think of the trailer and like, pumping the guns to like the Imagine Dragons song. I'm like, wow, this guy's going to be a force. And what happens in the 1st 10 minutes? Let's just, I made a list of everything that he did wrong.
First off on the plane. He doesn't have oxygen. Right, Tom Cruise says like you need oxygen for this. What are you doing, you idiot? Look at the elevation that we're at right now. So he doesn't do it, right? Tom Cruise has to do it for him. And then also after that, Tom Cruise says there's a big storm going on right now. We have to wait to jump. And then John Walker, being an idiot, says get out of my way. I don't wait for anybody. Jumps out of the plane, he obviously Tom Cruise has to
chase after him. And what happens? They get struck by lightning right afterwards, gets struck by lightning, passes out. Tom Cruise has to save his ass again. Then they finally land, and then they get in this huge fight in the bathroom and then John John Walker gets his ass kicked and I'm just like, what is this guy supposed? To be doing computer. Oh, and he smashes the face scanner on the dude and they can't scan the face. That's five things he screws up
in the 1st 15 minutes. On screen, it's. Crazy man. And I do love the scene later on where like out ball wins like you know they're faking like saying like. Like, I can't protect you, Ethan. Like this. You've gone too far. You're you're John Laurick or whatever. And then he he goes like, why do you think he's here? He's going to stop this. Yeah, Baldwin. Just like. A little over the top, but on purpose, but I kind of love it.
Alec Baldwin is so, like, it's funny to me when he speaks in these movies because like, he's in and out of there. You could tell, like, he's not putting everything into this role. Him dying also, which is like kind of like, wow, like that was kind of a weak that scene. Yeah. And but I wanted to say like what? Angela Bassett introduces Walker. She the first thing Alec Baldwin says is like, your reputation precedes you. And then he goes out to have like the worst introduction in
the franchise. For a character. And, like, it's crazy because, like because, like, they try to add, like, they try to prepare you for his death a little bit. I guess another thing I could tell because he said a couple lines that were like, Oh my God, yeah, And this does make sense. He's going to die. And like, one of them is like, they try to make it like buddy, buddy with Ethan Hunt when they're at the Germany air base. And he's like, I came here from
the CIAA lateral move. Some would, some would say a downgrade. Or whatever so. Yeah, but I believe in you, Ethan. I believe in you. Yeah, do me proud or something. I just, I just hear the Trump impersonation a little bit, like when he's speaking, you know, Yes, some might say lateral moves, some might say it down. Great. I'm like, dude, would you put that on your LinkedIn? Like what's going on right here. You know what? I. Mean like again like. There are other things I did like.
Like one of them, they hinted at it when they introduced to Walker's character. When he's. When Tom Cruise is like, yeah, I wouldn't have lost the plutonium if you didn't shoot the only guy that had eyes on John Lark. And I was like, oh, that's good. I caught that one this time around. And a couple other things like that, that like kind of like say like, Oh yeah, you already knew Henry Cowell was going to turn. But holy crap, it's so obvious.
He's John Lark. Also you kept saying John Walker. Do you know his name in this? Like not John Lark, but uh, something Walker. And it's not John. Oh, I I keep saying John Walker like, like winners. Like, um, Captain America, The Winter Soldier. Yeah, right. I'm combining John Lark and Something. Wrong. Yeah, it's August. His name is August Walker. I just came off like an idiot the last 10 minutes. Thank you for finally saying it, Ricky. Yeah, how many times did they
say August? Did they ever was on? The IMTB? It's August. Wow, that is crazy. I will say though, I think it was a good decision. I don't like how they treated him necessarily with like the dumb decision at the beginning of his, like his debut and his franchise. But it was kind of, I think, genius to have like him as this, like ruthless assassin. Get things done at all costs.
Willing to kill anyone that gets in his way and goes with like the character that we've come to know with Ethan Hunt that we talked about previously, the one who is going to do whatever it takes to save someone on his team. He'll go against the IMF himself, right, in order to do what he thinks is morally right and just.
And in that regard, I think it was brilliant the way those characters were written, you know, And that's to have an action star like Henry Cavill at the time, like, who's like coming off Justice League. We have to talk about the whole mustache situation today. Like, I don't feel like getting into all that but this. Podcast would erupt if we'll get to DC heavy. It was.
It was such a. I mean massive move at the time to take Superman and put him alongside Tom Cruise and some might say a lateral move or maybe even a step down. Pray for him to do so. But it was like, hey, we're
doing something different. With Henry Cavill, I love the decision to do it and then like him going full on Bond villain in that final act and like to see him on the helicopter, the hair bloofing him with the hit, the machine gun going crazy shooting at Tom Cruise and then him getting the oil, getting his face the the gas and the oil in his face getting his face to formed Harvey Dent style. I'm like, yeah, this is like this is the closest fellow to James Bond but also keeping like
the identity of a yes. No, that final showdown was like in the helicopters and then they're in like the mountains, like that was so James Bond. I love that part. Oh, I was also just to say too, when he gets hit, like after the gasoline and he gets hit by the hook, I'm like, all right, he's never coming back again. Like, this isn't horrible. He will be gone. He will not be another villain. He is officially. Gonzo, right? He's not coming back for dead reckoning.
I was watching very closely this time around because I knew this conversation was gonna end up going towards is August walk gonna be coming back to this franchise, and if it was like fast and furious, he'd be back. You know, they figure out a way, a marvel, but like to see him fall, not only fall like into a pit of fire, but just get absolutely his head that's bashed in by that, like that hook. It's like he's dead. And he see.
The flood, like the blood off the rock where he bounces off of it, He's done. He is not coming back. If he comes back, I will look down on the franchise a little bit. Then it would. Go fast like furious route and I don't like that. Because. Because like Mission Impossible,
it's like, hey. We know, like some of this is obviously unrealistic, but they do have some type of grounded practicality to what they're doing, you know, and that's like how what this franchise hangs their hat on, like Tom Cruise is actually doing these things and we know he's like a superhero
bionic man. Not to the point of like a Keanu Reeves and John Wick, you know, it's like the opposite of like, well, it's you see the growth since like the first Mission Impossible where he's like you see the him hanging off the train. But then you got John Reno in the helicopter, in the tunnel. It's like we're past those days. Those days are behind us, but we're different now. You know what I mean? Right.
And then one last thing I saw on this rewatch that I wanted to mention here, and I will get into it more when we do the rankings on the next Pod with the Reckoning review, when we rerank all the Mission Impossible movies. But I just want to stay on this rewatch. I was really looking at the comedy, the comedic, you know, pitch those, you know? Pots here, you know buckets and you do Simon Peggs like the guy, right.
And this second iteration, the second trilogy that we've had of Mission Impossible, it's like Simon Peggs, he was in Mission Impossible 3, but only for a few scenes and he was in the lab, right. So like, yeah, he was funny in that but they really capitalized and Simon Pegg post cuz I think it was 04. So they really capitalized on his rise, right. And he's now he's a part of the team, a part of the family, if you want to say that so.
That's great, but there's a lot of subtle comedy that is so much better in this second iteration of the troll of of the franchise versus the 1st 3 movies where like Brian De Palma, they'd be him and Tom Cruise and Millie Lester to be joking around, kicking each other's up the butt at a dinner table, just laughing at Jon Voight staying at the Drake Hotel. And we were supposed to laugh at that. Like, no. It just feels like a different character than, like here. It's like the second.
Iteration is just so much better where in Fallout? Like Tom Cruise saying, right, Are you sure? And like, Tom faces like, no, I had it flipped. It's left. But then he goes and he's in the office building and he has to Chuck the chair out and he has to jump out the window and everyone's looking at him like, yeah, so funny. But we're not trying to, like be funny, like with jokes, Like we're just suddenly doing it. That's how you should do it in these spy thrillers.
And it's so good in Fallout, and I really appreciate it. Versus like Mission Possible 2, which is an abysmal attempt at comedy John Woo or whatever, just terrible. And I just looked back on this one and this rewatch fondly of that. Yeah, the first half of Fallout. There's minimal laughs. Like they're like almost, I want to say 0 laughs. And maybe you want you might laugh at some of the things happening with Walker just because it's like unintentionally funny.
Like we were laughing during this pot about it, but it's that second-half of the movie into like mainly the third act where you have like the crew back together with Ving Rhames and Assignment Peg and then bouncing off each other and then you're talking about it. It's like, they are. There's a meta. Like, aspect to him. Like when he throws the chair out the window and then he's hanging out the window, he's like, I'm about to jump out of a window and the people are staring at him.
Like, is he really about to do this? That's like us watching the movie, Like, that's them recognizing how ridiculous some of these stunts are, but like, we're doing it, you know, we're going for it. That's the type of comedy they should be aiming for. Hopefully we get more of that in dead reckoning. But something I realized on the rewatch here, Ricky Flex, that I don't know if they did it in all Mission Impossible movies, but. The credits are just like spoiling the action sequences
for later in the movie. Yes. Oh my God. I saw this too. I'm so glad you brought up. I almost forgot about this. I was watching this and I was just like, wow, they're showing him in the helicopter literally like 5 minutes into the movie, they're showing Rebecca Ferguson tied up with her with a mouth gag. They're showing Tom Cruise running and jumping off buildings.
I'm like. This is like it feels like I'm watching like a fifth trailer for the film I've already seen 4 trailers for and I know I'm about to see this. Like, why are you telling me this already? I kind of want to be a little bit more surprised here. I didn't notice it until this watch. I'm so glad you brought that up. That was a big, like, problem for me. I'm like rewatching it and like, I've always noticed it. But like, you know, you're just like you're you're excited to see the movie.
They literally spoil like a bunch of the twists. Like, yeah, it's crazy. It's it's crazy. Yeah. No, it's it's it's just something I never recognized. Do they do that in like Rogue Nation and Ghost Protocol? Did they do?
Yes. Yes. But not now, but but on this rewatch, it wasn't as bad as Fallout Fallout. It was bad, like on Ghost Protocol, you know, like they show the Kremlin blowing up and before we knew that and like a couple other big things, but like relatively the first act of the movie they showed here, they showed the final showdown. Yeah, crazy. That's nuts. And I I don't want to be watching. Dead reckoning tomorrow and then seeing like him on the train like I saw on the trailers.
I don't want to see that. I don't want to see anything I like I that that might spoil something that's gonna happen. The future of the movie and I'm gonna be. I'm watching the title like the the opening credits and be thinking like whoa like what is that like then what's the context there? Like that's the only thing missing, the context. But you know it's all gonna happen. You just shut her eyes in the opening credits. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Like maybe just like hey buddy,
tap me when it's over. Yeah, you still listen. You're still listening to the to yes, get you in the mode when it. Goes done, then, yeah, in your eyes, yeah. Bad idea. So anything else stick out on your rewatch? Before we get to like the performances here? I kind of wanted to bring up Tom Cruise and how he actually performed here. Yeah, I would say Tom Cruise stuck out to me a little more here too, like in a positive
way. Because there is a certain type of. Acting you have to do for these action films where he takes it so seriously every single moment of this film. Like he like we talked about how like he was like kind of fun nature young and almost like just joyful in the first Mission Impossible movie. But now he's become like this hardened Ethan Hunt and it's more it's all about the mission and like.
It just goes into like, when you think about Tom Cruise, his mentality to the movie, when he knows he's going to be doing these impossible stunts, he brings that to the actual role that he's playing. And that's what I freaking love about Tom Cruise. He's not going to half ass anything. He'll be staring at that screen we're talking about where it's explaining the mission and he'll act like like he has. He's like taking the SAT. Like like he is like his taste. Going harder than ever.
He's the I just think every single thing he does that he has no time for Love, interest, romance. Anything like that, right? He just, it has time for his team and the mission and it really just shines through with his performance and he, it does the action star acting, which is different than regular acting, right? You can't, you can't get like man, like I don't know who won best actors. So Brendan Fraser like you, can't you. He's a great actor.
But can he do what Tom Cruise does in the Mission Impossible type of acting? Like stunts aside, no. I don't think he can. Like, it takes a very specific type, and I don't even think of people like Fast and Furious have nailed it yet. Like Vin Diesel sort of knows how to do it based on his character, but no one does it better than Tom Cruise. Yeah, nobody whatsoever.
And I I just think fallout. Sorry I was just thinking of this other thing with the Rebecca Ferguson when he learns, when she learns from Ving Rhames Luther about like his he he was married and saying Ving Rhames like I only known Ethan. To like, only two women were special in his life. I'm like Rebecca Ferguson and I'm like, we're a thing for 30 minutes, not even. And like, they didn't really confirm that they were a thing. And then she was gone off the
grid while he was still working. Like I was just that that was in my mind. Had to say it. That was her in this movie. Like it was the me, like the worst. Like the part where like, OK, I'm gonna go take a piss real quick is where it's like they have. It was after the motorcycle
chase scene, I believe. And like, she's standing in this beautiful walkway with the trees that like, are basically concealing this like, tunnel for them, and they just stare at each other and walk slowly towards each other for 30 seconds. I'm like, am I supposed to be feeling something right now? But like, the reason I bring that up to the Tom Cruise is that he's still like trying really hard to sell it, you know, and I don't think he's bad. I just, I don't believe any of
these woman relationships. I just don't and. It's like going back to that conversation with Luther and her when he's like, yeah, Ethan and Michelle Monahan's character, Julia, that's her name. Julia. Like they decided, like Ethan needed to be there for the world. You know, like you need to be like to save the world so it. Came to Cruise, to movie theaters. There's yeah, that aspect thing going on. He's like, I have no time for anything else but making an incredible action movie, that's
my job. That is my purpose. Yeah, it's exactly who Tom Cruise is to us. You know, he's like, you know, Tom Brady hanging on and continue to play. Like he doesn't have to keep playing, but he's addicted to it, like. He feels like he has to like, yeah, only like for everyone too. It's like, hey, like they need me. Yeah.
And like, Tom Cruise is like yelling on set, saying how important dead reckoning is, you know, and he's doing these crazy stunts that, you know what, one of these times he could die, he's going to space. You could die up there. Like he's doing it for us, really, you know, and showing like, yeah, even at 6061, he's still the guy in Hollywood. In terms of like the sentimentality of these movies,
I think. Like we talked about not having a love connection, but rather I think they did something smart here. And it's like, hey, how do we dive into the psyche just a little bit? It's having him feel guilt, right? For like bringing people like Michelle Monaghan's character like into his life and then having consequences happen. And then like having that dream of Sean Harris's character. What's his name here again? Solomon Harris. Solomon when Solomon Harris is like is not, is not.
Oman Lane, it's Shawn Harris. Shawn Lane, sorry. We're getting our ducks in a row here. So Solomon, I'm just gonna say Sally when the he is like like basically ordaining their wedding and like, what the hell is happening in this first scene? And then it's saying like, she's gonna die, it's all your fault. And then at the end it's like, wow.
It's all it's like it's gonna happen and just like having that type of emotion, I think that's more well suited for the Ethan Hunt character than actually having that love interest. I think that's that was kind of a good direction to go if you're gonna put any type of emotion in the film. Yeah, they keep doing these dream sequences, like when he kills the cop, you know? That was weird to me. I also thought I just like you could throw that out. Yeah, that's just a time filler. You really.
Didn't mean that it sets up later in the movie though, when he saves the French cop, You know, right? I get it. At the end of the day. I would have felt the same exact way even without that first dreams. This the top dream sequence. We just, I think you know what I was thinking like we have to find a way, a reason for Tom Cruise to go. To the Middle East, to fly helicopters. We have to find a reason or no. Go to Kashmir, right? We have to find a reason for him to go here to fly this
helicopter. 10 people like above the ground. And OK, let's just connect to Michelle Monaghan. Let's throw these two scenes in really quick and boom, we have a beautiful setting top of a mountain. Henry Cavill, first Tom Cruise on helicopters. But we got it. Genius. But I also just want to mention this since it's before we shift off of cruise here is this is a theory, you know, I've been working here for a long time. A since Fallout.
Mission Impossible. You know, the first one that's like Jerry Maguire. You know, he's looking sharp. He's young, shorthair, you know, serious movie Brian De Palma. You know, still quirky a little bit, but still good movie Mission Impossible too. He has long hair post Magnolia, right? Post, eyes wide shut, right. It was right after Magnolia, and it's right when he's about to make that action turn on a permanent basis. So it's like all right long hair you know mission possible. 3JJ
Abrams, he's back to short hair. You know he's got to change up Ethan Hunt get more serious. Philip Seymour Hoffman as the villain. You got to go head to head with them. Back to short hair goes protocol and rogue nation. Long hair kind of like this outlaw. You know I'm back. I was in a Moscow prison. I'm back. But all out it's like in his performance is a lot deeper. A lot more sentimental or serious, mature. So go back to short hair. Got to keep the short hair.
Now he cannot go back to long hair again. I think for any role he ever does again I. Don't know. I think he's physically can go to long hair. You're just being a little disrespectful. He's getting older. I don't know. He has long hair right now. Does he? Oh, yeah, he kind of does, yeah. Yeah, that's why. You know that's. Because he's trying to wheel Shakira, he's got to have a little bit. More hair. That's why I'm a little nervous. He's probably filming something
soon. He's gotta cut it. Yeah, you're right. Now he has to, like, have an iconic look, like the James Bond with the suit. We need Tom Cruise, black outfit, short, tight haircut. That's Ethan Hahn. Like, we need to have that look down pat, you know? I want to talk about other performances here because obviously like Tom Cruise is the standout because and then Henry Cavill I think does a solid job. But I think Rebecca Ferguson actually is amazing in this
movie. But she's just so overqualified. It's like like based on like what they her character calls for in like her connection to Ethan Han. Yeah, it's good to see like they have the connection from movie to movie. But like and it's interesting when they throw another wrench into like the plot, it's you don't like, it's getting a little more complicated, but like who cares? We like to see Rebecca Ferguson. It's just amazing that. Like she gets to play like this.
10 minutes of screen time type of role in Mission if possible. Like we're privileged to be able to get that from Rebecca Ferguson. Yeah, I'm. I'm not really a big Rebecca Ferguson guy, as in looks wise, I never thought her to be very attractive. Another thing, but but another thing that stuck out in this rewatch. I found her attractive in this movie. And she was doing the action sequencing, too. When she does the Black Widow with the leg across the guy's neck and chokes him out, I'm
like, damn. I was like, wow, Rebecca Ferguson like pretty, pretty good. Pretty good. Like, I was impressed. So. That's another thing. In this rewatch, I was like Rebecca Ferguson, much better performance than I originally remembered, and also looked really good. Low key Rocket. And Speaking of rockets, Vanessa Kirby introduction into the franchise here and we're getting her again in dead reckoning. Like do we at like the carryover from movie to movie.
And then we got like Palm Clementif and Haley Atwell coming. They're really embracing like like female action stars to go alongside a Ethan hunt. I think she's not really an action star in this at all, but like she's Internet, she's playing playing an integral role hopefully. Had that one scene when she stabbed that guy in the nightclub, yeah. Dude, don't know. She is the nice the nice knife spin. Like when she pulled it out of her leggings, I was like, OK, she has potential here.
Like we could. That could be a tease for something we're seeing in Dead Reckoning Part one. I would like to see her cut it up. Maybe it was. Yeah, maybe we'll audition for the MCU, potentially next to Storm. Check out the castings from the Drivein podcast if you haven't listened to it already. I just real quick with her. Yeah, they gotta explain this kiss like from Fallout. I, I dude, this is the 10th. This is like I just the draw of Ethan Hunt. Like dude, this guy is just, I
gotta kiss you like. You're a superhero. Like, just like. I'm just impressed by you and just kisses them like it's like. I didn't even really understand the reason for it but like. Tom Cruise is like almost 30 years older than Vanessa Kirby. Yeah, it could be a sign of trust. A sign of trust potentially, for him, her to, like, kiss him like that, maybe.
Other than that, I think it's just like, dude, that's that's Tom Cruise. And Rebecca Ferguson was watching, and the camera went to hurt right after the kiss. I was like. He's like, you bitch. And they just talk about like literally taking her, like, like, like like literally kidnapping like Rebecca Ferguson's character, which makes it even funnier. Yeah, the way that, like, Tom Cruise, like, accepted that kiss
in the moment. And he didn't kiss her at all and maybe think like, maybe she went off script and she just kissed him and like, like, let's just give this to give us a shot. I gotta make a name for myself. This is the big movie for me, for Vanessa Kirby. She's like, I'm just gonna kiss Tom Cruise and see what happens.
Other guys here, like, I think Bing Rames, it's interesting that he has lasted this long in the franchise aside from Tom Cruise, like the longest tenured member of the Mission Impossible franchise going back to 1996. And I was thinking about it, Ricky with Bing Rames playing Luther.
When he was cast it was probably a big deal for Mission Impossible like Pulp Fiction 1994 and Marcellus Wallace only two years later him getting cast alongside John Reno who also in 1994 is coming off Leon the Professional. Having those guys like inserted into it. I would I would like to John jump into the into the DeLorean, go back to 1996 and see the hype and promotion of this movie if those guys were mentioned much because.
Like, obviously. Like, you could just find him very disposable for these movies. Like, I wouldn't be if I had to make predictions for dead reckoning, I'd be like like we could see the we could see Bing Rams bite the dust. No, no. But she will never kill him. But if you want, if you're looking to draw some type of emotion and one character is going to die, it might be like it could be him or Simon Pegg, just because he wants to be in the field more often, things
like that. I think it'll be Simon Pegg over him if we had to make a decision between the two. Yeah, I'm just saying, like, it's kind of impressive that he stayed in this franchise this long without being that integral of a piece, you know? It is impressive and like you said, like I have to Pulp Fiction. And going back to Mission Impossible, like when you said John Leno, like, that was just so weird. Looking back on it, it's a Oh my God, the Mission Impossible.
Because like he's coming off like being like, you know, the John Wick, you know, the pros pro best. But then he's kind of like dumb in that, Like that's dumb but not, not clearly, not the best. Like in Mission Impossible? Yeah, yeah, He's just, yeah, he's like he. You don't believe like in Leon the professional you believe that like. Somehow in that world that he is like this John Wick, right? But here you don't believe him to go like even take on remotely.
And Ethan Hunt, you're just like, yeah, this guy's not qualified, this guy should be disposed of. And then I will never get the image of him in the helicopter, in the tunnel out of my head ever again. It was just. One of the worst shot action scenes I've ever seen. It was The technology was not
there. If this 2023 Tom Cruise is in the helicopter in a tunnel doing it himself, it's just like amazing how these movies have aged and they really like like it's amazing cuz like they there's no practicality to that scene whatsoever. But now they'd be like, we're doing that. OK, any other performances you want to talk about? Everyone does their job. We talked about Alec Bawin already. Angela Bassett was like, kind of like sprinkled in here and there. She was OK, She does.
She's a great actress. He didn't have a lot to do, she said. Her lines. And she did well, like stuff like that, you know, Just a lot of smaller roles. People did their part. I will just give a shout out. Don't know the guy's name. I get to check out on the IMDb here. Liang Liang Yang. The John Lark bathroom. Good fighter. Didn't get enough of it, but he's good. I would love like Donnie yen or something to be. That would have been, I felt the
same thing if it was Donnie yen. Like, holy crap, probably. If the if all it was made this year or next year, that's probably Donnie yen. I had some buddies over the house today and they hadn't seen John Wickforce. I was just pulling up John Wickforce scenes on YouTube and I was showing like Donnie yen just taking on Keanu Reeves. I'm just like, God damn like we need him. Like in more mainstream blockbusters, you know? And how. Weird. Was it? W Bentley is Yellowstone.
It's just in this movie. Yeah, and it just I can't. Every time I see him in something, I'm like, what? Could have been because you think it's weird Interstellar. Yeah, just like Interstellar. You see him like damn, like he like cuz people respect him. You could tell like he's in like movies with notable actors and like they're like. We know he's. Good. But he just never got it. Just never happened for him. And never, he never put it together.
Yeah, and like after American Beauty, his stock had never been higher, you know? But I think he just got typecast as a really creepy dude. So it's hard to get other parts. That's what I'm starting to do though. It's that's bad. OK, let's get to the juicy part here. Let's talk about action scenes and Ricky flicks. I don't even know. Maybe we should rank the action scenes because there's so many
good ones here. Number one, we already talked about it. For me at least, this the helicopter scene at the end and you people might say the bathroom sequence. I would push against that because of the difficulty that the helicopter scene was. Like to pull that off and look so real and then have like the one-on-one fights and you talk about like the bond type of feel that it has. I think for me that's number one clear and easy. That's the best action sequence
in the movie. That's the best the level of difficulty, the being the third act, like the final showdown. Cruz, Cavill, The things that Cruz had to do, like get his helicopter license over six months. You know, prove it to Airbus so they can get the actual helicopter, you know, that's that all plays a part of it. But that's not my favorite. My favorite has got to be in London when they're running, when he's running and then he does the jump, he does the jump, breaks his ankle and then he
limps afterwards. And they kept it in the movie. He gets into the office like we talked about, they go to the tape modern. Love that scene. That's my favorite, but I acknowledge it's not the. Best, There's also a meta joke in there where he is in the middle of the church or during us. Yeah. And then he goes like, who's after you? So he's like CIA apostles. It doesn't really matter. And that's where it's like understanding like your audience like that.
We're all thinking that like it doesn't matter. We're just about, we're about to watch Tom Cruise fricking run, dude. Like that's what we care about right now. He's in the middle of the funeral and it's like eyes wide shut a little bit, that's. Oh yeah, yeah, that's it is a little call back. And like, I would say my second favorite night. Like again, helicopters. The best. But not that's from my third favorite second favorites in Paris. I was going to say jumping out
of the plane. Jumping out of the place because of the lightning bolt that goes through both of them and then them flying and they look like they're flying like they have the the the astronaut suits on. They look so futuristic it looks and they have the same type like he has the same type of suit on in Top Gun Maverick. I thought that was cool to see that but I I don't think you could pick like the you can't you just have to make a top five because I it's hard to rank
these but which one in Paris are you talking about? I had. It was a bunch, right? I personally like, I like. So the extraction's good. You know, they push them in the water, right? They go off script. And that initial chase is great. But I love the second Chase. When Cruz is by himself, he's on
the motorcycle, right? He has to go through the Park de Triumph or the Arc de Triumph and the story behind that, like, they had to basically, like rent out the Arc de Triumph, like one of those popular spots, embarrassed but like. And they only got like 45 minutes to do that. And they had to pay millions upon millions of dollars for that location, but they had to do it on on location.
They had to do it there. They they hired like 70 plus stunt drivers and basically they just tell them go in circles and don't hit Tom Cruise. And again, they're like and again, we only have 45 minutes and nobody messed this up. And then at the end of it, it crashes and you're like crap. Everyone's closing in on them. But wait, it's Mission Impossible. Where's the extraction point? There's always a plan. So as is altogether, love that
scene. Yeah, so the extraction into the motorcycle scene also, it's just like it's something you're gonna see in every mission possible is a motorcycle chase and Tom Cruise. People always talk about him running, but him as a motorcycle motorcyclist also is. Fucking amazing. Like seeing him. Absolutely. Just flying with the black suit on him, diverting, going through traffic. It's just like, damn, who's meant to do this? He just looks so cool and so smooth doing it.
Yeah, we're gonna say. And I love the Halo jump. I love it. But we see those in a lot of movies that are similar. You know. Yeah, but not like that. I was going to say like you might see a motorcycle chase, but nothing is like Tom Cruise being chased. Right. Jump with the one, take no cut until he gets hung up on the building of the of the gala that he's about to go. Really good. Really good. He's in the top five for sure, and I would say if we're only
doing action sequences. That's kind of.
The bathroom most iconic like that's the one people think of with this film you know and that's the one where you have Henry Cavill with the fist pump like that moment that the with the rolling up the sleeve or whatever you that is the that is the fight scene and then breaking through like the like the glass and then having them like in the stalls and then trying to scan the face the dude's knocking on the door the guy wakes up they start banging and says are hitting the stalls
back and forth and. I think that is probably the most iconic. Iconic. Yeah. Iconic. Not best, not favorite. Iconic, I think. It's hand to hand combat too, as opposed to like what we're talking about with a Halo jump to a helicopter or a motorcycle. The variety of action scenes here, that's what makes Mission Impossible So sick as well. Yeah, so I think, yeah, I love that. I love these action sequences. We picked out non action sequences.
Or like obviously those are my favorite scenes but non action the Wolf Blitzer, that's just classic Mission Impossible. But they went up to getting Wolf Blitzer and and they went all in like on the CNN broadcast, you know they really went through the acting Luther and Ethan saying like basically saying like oh not this time like I'm going to kill him for real this time. You can tell he was like because like Tom Cruise is a good actor, but you could tell he's act.
He's acting as Ethan Hunt, but he's acting at the same time like he's acting, acting. Top of it. And you could tell like, hey, you knew at that moment when like you have being ranged somehow holding back Tom Cruise, you're just like okay. This is a setup situation you just knew from once that happened, no way in your life. Right. And the other one would be the other Mission Impossible trope with the mask when.
John Lark is revealed and he's not actually talking to Solomon Lane. He's talking to that was a great scene and like Al Baldwin is right around the corner and he's like, you get that and talking to Angela Bassett, like that whole scene that is Mission Impossible. Like, I love these two scenes because of how Mission Impossible they are, but in this respect, like the end fallout specifically, they just feel like it was so ramped up. Like it was just upped them. So much intensity.
Yeah, the stakes are higher, even though the stakes are always high mission possible. Like I said, it's always world ending missions, but here it's like individually, like big, like it was so fulfilling to see. And like seeing a Benny, like have that moment as I'm like him, like what's going back to like the earlier movies in the franchise? Like him wanting to be more involved with actual like in the field experience and seeing him
pull that off. You're like, hell yeah, let's go. Awesome stuff. Good for you, Benji. Good for. You, Benji, I think I said. Benny, I'm messing up all the names today, but where else do we go here, Ricky flicks. Those are great moments. I think maybe we should get the scores right now. If you maybe we can talk about some more flaws potentially if you have any or any other things that you want to point out, Let's just go there before we hit the scores. I I think I mentioned them
throughout. The biggest one for me is Cavill, and I think Cavill was great. It's just I just don't believe this guy wrote this. Communist Manifesto type of thing.
I just don't believe it. And all you had to do was make him like like a mole, like, so same character, same exact everything, except make sure like just say like Solomon Lane wrote it and he's like just working for him, you know, That's all you had to do, like his number one guy, like his number one henchman, which he basically is. Anyways, that's all you had to do. And I think they really tried to sell that and it just didn't work, at least for me. It just really didn't.
I agree. I agree. One other thing I had was this movie. I don't want to sound like one of those people that complaints about movie length all the time, but like once you have that twist with Henry Cavill, like is John Lark, a movie has like another 45 minutes. So I'm just like, what happens? I have another 45. Like it's, it's it's in that type of vein where it's like John Wick 4, where I'm like, I'm OK, it's this long just because like, I love being in this world. I love seeing all these
different stunts. It does feel like, wow, like you said, the biggest twist of the movie. And now like it feels like now we have, we're watching a whole nother movie, you know, as a part of it. To me that's just really small one because obviously we like being here. Right, right. I do agree with you. I feel like that final showdown, even though it was amazing, it was really long. Really. It was long, you know, the. 15 minute detonator when they start it.
It's actually 15 minutes if you watch the film. That's great. It's exactly great. I love that that if once when you do that, I'm just like. Christopher Nolan, Tarantino, They always do that. Yeah. No, Yeah. I'm more talking like they're in the like they're getting ready to go the Ving Rhames chat with Rebecca Ferguson. The car, like when they're in the car, there's always a mission possible. They have before they go, like they one of the locations that go to around the world.
There's always one of them. They had to take a car, like an hour 2 hour ride and they have to explain what they're gonna do again to make sure we understand it. That's another like Mission Impossible. Action movie tricks. Yeah, exactly. I just felt long. You. Can cut out some of those conversations, but like, yeah. And then just going back, I I'm sorry, I totally forgot about this. This is like one at the end of
the movie. I was like, Oh my God, they have to talk about this in dead reckoning. So to go back to the beginning of the pod here. The CIA is infiltrated. Oh. Yeah, like you can't trust anybody there besides Angela Bassett, can you? Even so. Where Henry Cavill after like they they turned like they they they're he's surrounded, right. He goes like we have you and he goes like do you and like those guys turn around and they're
shooting everybody like all the. CIA agents are all with the Manifesto, are all with the possibles or the Syndicate or whoever that ain't got to acknowledge that and dead reckoning. Like say like, oh, the CIA is going through a massive shift and we need IMF more than ever or something. Like, I I don't know.
But if they just like kind of forget that and just kind of go business as usual with the CIA, that's like saying with Hydra in Marvel, like, oh, we're not not going to reboot, we're just going to keep having Hydra infiltrate our government. Yeah, we're just going to like, act like it didn't happen. You know, like SHIELD, SHIELD is not infiltrated like anymore. Like we kind of weeded them out. No, you that.
No, don't do that. Yeah, I need the beginning of the mission and dead reckoning to be saying like, hey, like this, the CIA is in a rough state right now, trying to weed out the different apostles or the like. Whatever is happening at that time, there has to be some type of acknowledgement. We need that. Let's get to the scores, Ricky, what do you give a fallout? 95. I-95 as well.
I had 95. I think this is also like, if I just came out of the theater, I probably would have been like, this is a 98. But like after seeing it so many times, like getting those nitpicks, that's what I noticed with these throwback reviews. It's just like, hey, you've had time to rewatch it. It's 567 times and you're like, OK, I do see the flaws because like, I've seen it so many times. That's what that's what happens
with these throwbacks. But I mean still like obviously in my opinion, top two or three action films last decade. It's one of the most rewatchable films, too. Because of these action sequences, because of Tom Cruise, the crew like, it has everything, like almost everything that you could ask for in a movie, really. It's an amazing, rewatchful movie, and it hits every time and you got to respect it. And that's why, yeah, like, after you watched it so many times, you're always going to
see nitpicks. I bet next time I see it, which might be tonight, I might rewatch it again before seeing Dead Reckoning, like you'll probably see more. But at the end of the day, it's Tom Cruise, Ethan Hunt and at their best, this franchise best. And I just don't understand how they're going to top this. I really don't. In dead reckoning, part one, maybe a Part 2, but a part one to top this I really. That that's that's going to be tough. You got to pull out all the
stops. You got to pull out, you got, you get, you just got to do something that's really just going to blow the audience's minds. And I have a feeling like they are going to based on the early reactions to this film. It's been quite something to see when you see the Rotten Tomatoes at a 99 and consistently staying at a 99% going into like the real opening release of the film. So that is our review of Fallout
and. Stay tuned to the Pod this week because we have more content that are good. That's going to focus on Mission Impossible. We're going to have our review dropping Wednesday for Dead Reckoning part one. We're going to have spoilers and spoiler free for if you are able to see the movie early, we'll be able to have those reactions. We aren't able to see it. We can hype you up for the film. We're also going to rank the Mission Impossible movies. All seven of them.
You're going to want to stay tuned to that conversation will anything in. The late 90s and early 2000s somehow cracked the top three or four. You shall see Ricky Flex. Anything else we need to acknowledge? With the check up on Friday, we got some big news regarding Deadpool 3 coming that we're going to be able to talk about some multiverse type of like storylines that are going on in Hollywood right now. Is it a good idea? Bad idea. With Deadpool Three, we're going to get down.
Anything you want to add? No, just again, huge month for the for the movies. Oppenheimer Barbie coming out in a couple weeks. We had Indiana Jones already, but don't forget the bear if you already watched it or you haven't gotten through it yet. We did the bear deep dive last week. Unreal episode again. Great post like right after you watch the season, check out the Bear Deep Dive episode on the In your Feed Awesome episode to listen to. Yeah, highly recommend it.
We were talking about it with friends this weekend and they were saying they were just finishing up Season 2. I'm like, hope. You might want to check out our reactions to it, ranking the top five, the top five episodes of the season, best TV show of the year according to Ricky Flex, and make sure that you're staying dialed in.
Make sure you're also following us on our socials at the Drivein Pod on Twitter and Instagram. If you have YouTube, make sure you subscribe to us at Capital T Capital D, Capital I, then Lower Case Podcast. We also have the top five rankings on there. We did it in chapters if you want to check it out, Three to five videos a week, make sure you're staying locked in. Great content going on there for you. So that's going to do it for episode 245 of the Drive in Podcast.
Until next time, we will.