Criticism of Tom Cruise’s ‘problematic’ ‘Mission: Impossible’ age gaps don’t hold a drop of water

Tom Cruise is no stranger to controversy. He has the Scientology connection, the Oprah interview, and the fallout regarding his marriage to Katie Holmes. One place the actor manages to avoid controversy, however, is on the big screen. Cruise is such a professional, both as an actor and producer, that it’s rare to see make the same mistake twice. He wants to provide a safe, mass appeal experience at the movies. 

This is what makes the criticism lobbied at the new Mission: Impossible so confusing. A handful of outlets have criticized Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One for the age gap between Cruise and his female co-stars. Some have even gone as far as to call the age gap “problematic” and suggest that Cruise, 61, is far too old to be romancing women younger than him.

There are two reasons the criticism doesn’t hold up. One, the ages of the actresses in question. Rebecca Ferguson, who plays Ilsa Faust, is 39. Hayley Atwell, who plays newcomer Grace, is 41. Yes, they are both younger than Cruise, but not to the point where it is alarming or visually distracting, especially when you take into consideration that Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, is not romantically involved with either of them; he merely works alongside them to save the world.

Ethan has a close friendship with Ilsa and some flirtatious banter with Grace, but neither dynamic has led to anything serious over the course of the franchise. The last time Ethan was actively pursuing a love life was Mission: Impossible III (2006), when he got married to Julia (Michelle Monaghan). It was his intense commitment to the IMF that led to their divorce sometime between Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation.

Simon Pegg, who’s played hacker Benji since Mission: Impossible III, talked about the franchise’s desire to avoid romantic cliches. He pointed to a scene in Dead Reckoning Part One in which Ethan and Ilsa kiss as a perfect example. It was not done out of desire, but a necessity, given the dangerous circumstances the characters are put in.

“I think you could easily have had a scene with Benji and Ethan on the balcony cuddling,” Pegg told Insider. “I think it would kind of undermine it if it suddenly became like a classic romance. Because that’s very conventional and we’re, if anything, not conventional.” Rebecca Ferguson, who joined the franchise in Rogue Nation and has become a fan favorite, was similarly dismissive of the romance rumors. “I think we’re professionals. We love each other. We save each other,” she told the outlet, adding that characters who become couples are “boring.”

It would be one thing if Mission: Impossible was a romantically-driven spy franchise in the vein of James Bond, but romance stopped being a driving factor after the third installment. The last decade has been about Ethan Hunt building friendships and protecting those friendships from evildoers, and that sounds like the opposite of “problematic” to us.