Say what you will about Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, but there’s no denying that Tom Cruise is in his element here; not only is the stunt-happy film star hitting his daredevil peak this time around, but the critical success of the franchise’s seventh entry is indicative of Cruise’s ambition to breathe life into everything he touches (for obvious reasons, we don’t talk about The Mummy).
For those of you unfamiliar with the saga as a whole, it may come as a surprise that it wasn’t always firing on all cylinders. In fact, as far as the first film is concerned, not a single cylinder was firing, and as for the second? Well, there weren’t even any cylinders at all.
Indeed, between its wet fart of a plot, forced romantic tension, and a general lack of cohesion overall, Mission: Impossible II is widely agreed to be the weakest link in the franchise; in other words, it makes the perfect target for a fan theory so delightfully unhinged that I’m almost willing to back it as fact.
In a post on r/FanTheories, it was argued that Mission: Impossible II never actually happened in-universe, but is instead an urban legend told throughout the fictitious intelligence community. It would certainly explain the uncanny heightened reality that would have allowed for such outlandish action stunts and that off-putting romance subplot; someone may have embellished a detail for the sake of a good story, or perhaps the ins-and-outs got mangled in the grapevine, as it were.
All I can say is; bravo for dreaming this one up. I’d hedge my bets that it absolutely wasn’t what director John Woo was going for, but as someone who’s more keen on enjoying things than hating on them, this is one theory I might just allow myself to accept as canon if it means I can view Mission: Impossible 2 in a much better light.
That said, if you want an Ethan Hunt adventure that doesn’t rely on far-out imagination to be good, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is now playing in theaters.
Published: Jul 18, 2023 02:16 am