Get the latest tech news

I am an audience, first and foremost

Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Tom

According to the cinematographer Robert Elswit, for more than half of production the ending planned by the studio included Cruise's character moving into a senior role, handing the franchise over to a younger squad likely helmed by pre-app Jeremy Renner. As maligned as John Woo’s second Mission: Impossible film is, and by no means “the smartest movie possible,” it remains an exciting display of a visionary taking a big swing, and Cruise’s highly-marketed free solo climb can’t be ignored in the lineage of M:I stuntwork. Rogue Nation ’s major contribution to M:I is certainly the introduction of Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa, a woman of the same character class and XP level as Tom’s Ethan, but relieved of standard sexual tension as McQuarrie smuggles the will-they-won’t-they dynamic into espionage terms of allegience and blackmail, wherein we find ourselves rooting for them to be great coworkers more than anything else.

Get the Android app