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The very conversation that needed a 2nd part, Greg & Joe’s discussion of the 7th Mission:Impossible film might be considered treason. Nothing could be more exciting than a new Mission:Impossible movie coming out this week, so it was time to do a deep dive on the previous film, Dead Reckoning Part 1.
Joe’s Back of the Box
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back and facing his most challenging foe yet a sentient AI called the Entity. Now in a race to keep the only means of stopping the Entity out of the hands of those who want to control it for their own gain, Ethan and his gang of misfits and thieves must do the impossible yet again. Heros will fall, blood will be spilled, villains will change, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance. The mission, should you choose to accept it, is no less than saving human kind…
The REAL Back of the Box
Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle without a helmet, runs very fast over a long distance, and almost cries so that you can see tears welling in his eyes. Now that that is out of the way we can talk about Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, which is basically the plot of Fast 7. It’s almost like they said, we can do that, but better. And they are mostly right. Like all movies setting up a grand finale, it leaves the viewers stuck in the liminal space of Mission Impossible movies. That said the three main set pieces which include an airport, the streets of Venice, and a train are spectacular. It might not reach the heights of action that Mission Impossible Fallout does, it is not far behind in what is proving to be one, if not, the greatest action film series’ ever.
Note: This transcript has been auto-generated, so… You know… It’s not our fault.
Greg: Welcome, everybody. This is the second part of our Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning, part one from Great Pad Movies. We left off talking about, how I had been pulled over by a cop because they thought I had been drinking, but really, I had just watched six hours of Bruce Willis movies. Honest mistake any cop could make. I don’t hit on any cop for assuming that.
Greg: All right, let’s dive back in this mission impossible. Dead reckoning, part one, part two.
Joe: The sportswear and this movie is on point. I’m someone who, like, while you wouldn’t know it if you saw me by day to day in a hoodie and sweatpants. Yeah, I do love a good suit. And there’s some really great scenes in there in this movie with, like, people looking really good in a good suit. So I appreciated that in the act.
Joe: Well, especially in the final scene on the train is in a really perfectly fitted suit.
Greg: Is she kind of in the same suit from here on out? Yeah, it’s like an Italian three piece without the coat on. But she has the vest. She looks like she could be in the Untouchables.
Joe: Yeah. Suit faculty. I think it’s to show the difference between her and Vanessa Kirby’s character, who she really is. Yeah, that’s the story that they were telling. I thought with, the costume design in this. So we don’t talk about costume design a lot on this.
Greg: We don’t. And you said sportswear.
Joe: Yeah. Classic sportswear is like suits and ties. Oh, really?
Greg: Yeah. I’ve never heard it call that.
Joe: Well, yeah. Okay. Anyway you’re welcome everyone. So I’m sure that those suits are like 4 to $5000 each.
Greg: Yeah. Yeah, totally. We should say that the Fiat does go down famous stairs in Rome. Is that at the Catholic Church?
Joe: I can’t remember, but it’s also in one of the Fast and Furious movies. But this one, I think they rebuilt.
Greg: But they roll the car down. That and then suddenly they switch from driver’s seat to passenger seat and passenger seat to driver’s seat.
Joe: I loved it.
Greg: It’s amazing. And she just goes wait what? I laughed so hard I don’t know why that made me laugh so hard. I don’t know what they did but it was just like I love this. Whatever’s happening here I’m on board again.
Joe: It it really felt like a 40s or 50 that a movie that I grew up on. You know, I grew up in outside of Santa Rosa. We had, channel 50. Yeah. And basically all they played were old movies from like the 30s, 40s and 50s, then Cheers and Mash reruns. That was it.
Greg: I was getting more like old school Pink Panther movie vibes.
Joe: Yeah. So like, yeah, even 60s. So like some of those like detective movie comedy drama. Leaned in with the comedy. But also was telling like a good story as well. I can see the Pink Panther totally in this. Yeah. Yeah I like that better. Let’s go with that.
Greg: Okay. So we’re past the Fiat. He’s with the team and he’s with Ilsa. And we have kind of the romantic night out with the sun setting in Venice. Yeah, and everything’s right in the world because Elsa’s in the movie. Yeah. And they’re kind of progressing their relationship forward. Seemingly. They’re like holding hands and kind of snuggling a little bit.
Greg: And then they go to a party where some shenanigans are going to go down. I don’t remember what plot point got us to the party.
Joe: So this was in the questioning, of Hayley Atwell character Grace. Yeah. She says once she gets the, her half of the key, she’s supposed to meet someone that midnight.
Greg: Oh. Right, right, right, right.
Joe: That’s how we get to that party. So they know where they’re going to meet.
Greg: Okay.
Joe: And so everyone is there. Vanessa Kirby’s there, Gabriel is there. Or is I. Morales to me, that scene straight out of John Wick. Totally. Totally.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: If you put the John Wick themed music to it, it’s the same party.
Greg: Common should have walked into this scene.
Joe: Why wasn’t the last movie I know, absolutely. That’s the crossover we need. Yeah, totally.
Greg: I have a reaction whenever we enter a party scene like this where it’s like rave music and lights everywhere and people are are dressed like weirdos.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: I just go, this is stupid.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: We sort of had this in the sixth movie as well. They jump out of the plane and they land in Paris, and they go to that big party.
Joe: Yeah, it’s like the trope of a big party where you gotta show scantily clad people up in, like, cages and dancing platform, right? You know, it’s the same thing in the Fast and Furious movies, when they have the street races and they have like the low camera and girls with, like, wearing nothing and it’s not needed. And it sets the scene, I know, but also I get a little tired of it.
Joe: Like, is this really the best place to have this meeting? Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Greg: And then I don’t know if this is true, but I felt like all of the scene was in front of a green screen, and the party was placed in the back.
Joe: I had moments where I felt like that as well, because I think it, it it had to have been. Yeah. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, the film shows like I watch really terrible procedural dramas. There’s a show called Watson. I don’t know if you’ve seen that or know of it. You know, it’s like a modern take on Sherlock Holmes.
Joe: So it’s Doctor Watson. And anyway, it is filmed like 90% in front of green screens. And it’s very evident, especially if I watched it on my phone where the quality is not as good. And there’s just something different about that experience, especially on the on when you don’t have good graphics to back it up, where it just feels cartoonish to me.
Joe: Yeah. And so that scene, I agree, I think it’s 100% film like the the conversational scenes are done. Yeah. In front of a green screen.
Greg: I think you can safely say in just about every scene in this movie, one shot is green screened, where they were like, oh, we’re missing the moment where somebody looks from the left to the right, or they need to insert this plot point. As they’re making these movies, they’re constantly fixing them too. So in the commentary, they were like, oh yeah, that was an inserted shot that we filmed later, and then a different set and placed that background in the back.
Greg: So, anyways, they all kind of break off from there with like, knives and swords.
Joe: Yeah. Can we just have, like, Vanessa Kirby is a national treasure in this role.
Greg: How awesome is it when she walks up to Tom cruise and, like, places her hand on his chest and does something that makes him, like, almost blush, like he’s clearly trying not to laugh?
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: I loved it. She just freaks him out.
Joe: Yeah, she gives these, like, little looks and like, facial expressions throughout this movie, and I don’t know how much of it is in the script and how much of it is just her, but. Right. She is perfect in this. Yeah. Just provides enough like, you kind of like her, but you kind of despise her. And that’s a fine line to walk in this character.
Joe: But I love her. And this where I want to go from here is we have the best part of the movie for me is post Elsa being killed by Gabriel. Which single tier. But now knowing that Rebecca Ferguson didn’t really want to continue on. Okay, I’ll allow it. We finally have them and the team just being straight with Grace, right?
Joe: And just saying, this is your moment. Yeah. No more complaining, no more running. You’re either in or you’re out.
Greg: Let’s hear it.
Joe: I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you one off. I’ll help you find the key. And your friends wipe my slate clean. You name a little walking around money.
Clip: You’ll be dead without a team. Your life won’t be measured in years or even months. It’ll be measured in hours.
Joe: But if I stay, I’ll be safe. You’ll protect me. Is that it?
Clip: Yes. No.
Clip: I can’t promise you that. One of us can.
Clip: I swear.
Clip: Your life always matters more to me than my own. You don’t even know me.
Clip: What difference does that make?
Greg: I feel like that’s the heart of the movie right there. That was the oath that he said at the beginning.
Joe: Yeah. What difference does it make? Yeah. That scene, that moment is. So it is a movie. Yeah.
Greg: But this is the really mellow scene that we’re having right after Elise has died.
Greg: Did you believe that she was dead?
Joe: It’s one of those universes where if they brought her back, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Greg: Sure.
Joe: Yeah. They can do that at well in any of these kinds of movies. Sure, but I did. I felt like that scene holds the weight of it. After that, her death is kind of an afterthought. I think in that moment I believe that she’s dead. Now, if we get to the eighth one and she pops up, will I be shocked.
Joe: Yeah. No, no not at all. Yeah.
Greg: They show Tom cruise on that same like veranda overlooking Venice. And it’s cloudy now and he’s sad. And then they show. Benji kind of wiped the tears from his face and snap back into, oh, right, we’re still we still have a mission to do. And I heard the editor talking about that part of the movie, and he said, you know, there’s a scene when the Death Star kills, like more people than had ever been killed on screen, like they blow up an entire planet in Star Wars, and then they have to keep going with the adventure.
Greg: Yeah, it’s like 87 seconds or something that we mourn that entire planet, and then we’re back off to the adventure. And he said, so we tried to make this like the Death Star. We’ve just killed one of people’s favorite characters. We need to give it a minute, but we also need to get going. And so this scene is kind of where they turn that.
Greg: And it’s kind of interesting that they let. Yeah. He says like she died so that you could be alive. And Grace has to like accept that you know. Oh. And then they offer the choice. Saying there’s a choice you can make. You know and that’s, that’s what they were kind of selling her on there.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: Christopher McQuarrie said that these two movies are all about choice and acceptance. That’s the main theme of these two movies. So that’s interesting. I don’t know if we saw a lot of acceptance except in this scene a little bit with Ilsa dying and Rey saying, okay, she died so that I could be alive. What does that mean for the rest of my life?
Joe: Right? Yeah, I like this scene, as you do, kind of feel the weight of it, and I try to remember how they’re how I said, but, you know. Grace asks Ving Rhames character that he love her. Did you love her? And he goes in our way. So it’s, you know, it’s like acknowledging that they kind of live in this crazy world.
Joe: Yeah, they have these crazy roles. And so the normal what you expect from your life or choices is different. You know? It isn’t all love. Get married and have the picket fence. That’s not the life they chose, right? But within it, these are the people that are your family or your friends or that sort of thing. So yeah, I did appreciate that.
Greg: That’s a pretty solid theme for a seventh movie in a series. Yeah, I’m glad that Kittridge was brought on. So they had to look to the past and realize, you know, why is Ethan even here? You know, how did he get here? And that’s kind of what brought the whole choice. Plot point. It’s pretty solid, a grade. It’s hard to root a movie in the seventh movie.
Greg: And they did it.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: And they allude to how he and, Gabriel had met long ago and Gabriel had killed Maria, I think is something. We see her once in the movie. Apparently she’s in the eighth movie. Anyways. We see, like, young Esai Morales. It makes me wonder if in eight we’re going to see, like de-aged scenes like that.
Joe: I’m sure I’ll get over my de-aging. Oh yeah.
Greg: Okay. So they make a whole plan that they’re going to go to the train and she isn’t super excited about it. Yeah.
Joe: They walk through the plan and they kind of think it’s what’s going to happen. But what if the plan just goes without any problems happening? Yeah. And then we get the switcheroo that it hasn’t happened, and then their software has been probably breached by the entity, and they can’t make the second mask for Tom cruise to be the brother right, of the White Widow.
Joe: And they’ve got to figure out a different way to get him onto the train and race has got to go under the train by herself, and then Tom cruise will join her, which is where you get probably the biggest stunt in the movie.
Greg: Yeah, it’s the stunt that they marketed this movie with. It’s on the poster of this movie he’s going to, and we saw it a ton before the movie came out. You know, where he was going to jump off this huge cliff on a motorcycle and then drop the motorcycle and use a parachute. And it was a big white ramp when they filmed it, and then they CGI it in mossy rock and, the mossy rock looks super fake.
Greg: It’s so distracting.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: I kind of feel like I wish I hadn’t seen the making a grade, and it was so late in the movie. They did this with the fifth movie where they showed the crazy stunt where he’s holding on the side of a of an airplane. And that was the very beginning of the movie, and it was kind of detached really from the rest of the movie.
Greg: Yeah. They say like, oh, you know that uranium you got, we tracked it to a blah blah blah. And they connected to the rest of the story. But it’s like a one line fix, right?
Joe: Yeah, I loved that.
Greg: It was the beginning, and I feel like it was a mistake that they put this at the end because the whole time you’re like, where’s the big stunt?
Joe: What’s what’s happening here?
Greg: And then when it happens, it’s so sweaty to get him up there.
Joe: I agree, it feels like shoehorned in. Yeah. Yeah I know we’re going to do this stunt. Yeah.
Greg: Day one of filming.
Joe: How do we do it. And again this is how I watch trailers. I’m waiting for that scene now right throughout the movie. So there’s no there’s no stakes until that point because I know everything is fine until that point. Essentially.
Greg: Yeah. One way they did raise the ante on this though, is he does actually deliver a line while he’s freefalling.
Greg: To Benji he’s like I’m trying to get away from these rocks or something like that. Tom Cruise is falling 200 miles an hour as he delivers that line. Unbelievable. Like the real like waves on his face you know from the air and the forces. Unbelievable. So they did raise the stakes on this one a little bit. And they raised the bar.
Joe: It’s a great stunt. The movie is probably better for it. Yeah. And they use the classic trope that we get to use of. Grace is about to be shot because she’s been captured, and right before the person is about to pull the trigger, Tom cruise, like, flies through the window and knocks him out the other side of the window, and it’s awesome.
Greg: It’s so fun.
Joe: So I appreciate all of it. I’m not mad that they did it.
Greg: Yep.
Joe: I do wish I was a little earlier in the film. Yeah. That’s all. But again, if at some point we’re going to have a six hour cut of this movie with a three hour train sequence, sure. I’m in, I’m in. I’m sorry, I’m in.
Greg: Here’s what I love about it, though. It almost like serves up a bit of a letdown, like, oh, okay. So I had seen that. That was great. I mean, it was great. That was amazing. But, should we just leave?
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: And they have cooked up the greatest ending. It had shades of the Last World, actually, the second Jurassic Park movie, when they’re, like, dangling off the like, Winnebago is dangling off the cliff. Anyways, we’ll get to that. But yeah, I liked that this was a little bit of a letdown because it it was saved by the action scene at the end where I was like, well, how can you dislike anything that led up to this moment?
Greg: This is so good.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: Okay. So they’re on the train and it’s basically like murder on the Orient Express, and they’re going through all the different train cars.
Greg: And everybody’s on the train.
Joe: Everybody makes it to the train.
Greg: We got carry always. We got Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis. We have Esai Morales. We’ve got Kittridge is on this plane. The White Widow is on this plane. And I guess Rebecca Ferguson said she couldn’t make it.
Joe: Yeah, she couldn’t make it.
Greg: Being Rhames and Simon Pegg right there. Simon Pegg is like self driving a car out there somewhere.
Joe: Yeah, he’s helping get him onto the train. Bing Rhames is finding whatever biker in the world to, like, figure out how to crack the code on this. Right?
Greg: He was like, I’m out in the third act.
Joe: Yeah, good luck. Amazing. Back on the film. Yeah. Once I figured out how to beat the entity.
Greg: Right. Ving Rhames is the only person who’s been in every Mission Impossible movie with Tom cruise.
Greg: He’s like Luther Stickle is also one of the greatest names in history.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: And he’s like the heart I want to say yeah.
Greg: He whispers every line in this movie. We had that one, that scene in the sixth movie where he was almost crying which was a bit too far and they pull it back. You’re at an eight, we need you a seven finger. But let’s talk about Benji for a second. Simon Pegg has been in every movie since the third.
Greg: What’s your take on Benji?
Joe: I like Benji, yeah, he’s a little silly. I am in the tank for Simon Pegg just because in my personal life, the Jillian and on my first date was to Shaun of the dead.
Greg: Oh, that’s amazing.
Joe: So he will be forever. Shaun. I love him dearly and I’m happy for him that he’s like, found this work. Yeah. As an actor. And I think the chemistry that the three of them have, the Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Tom cruise when they’re all together is great. And especially, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg. I feel like, yeah, you need them to kind of bring some, I don’t know, humanity or just kind of take the crazy action sequences down a little bit and like, yeah, grounded in and characters that you like and you know, I really like it.
Joe: What are you what’s your take on on them?
Greg: I really like him. Well, I really like both of them. But Benji I think is such a needed part to these movies. Total comic relief. He is like the absolute counterpoint to Tom Cruise’s character.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: Christopher McQuarrie said that he is funny with occasionally genuine drama. And Ethan Hunt is all drama with the occasional genuine humor. Yeah. And so they really kind of match each other in those ways.
Joe: I can see.
Greg: That. I think it’s great. They are a little bit like Ludacris and Tyrese in the Fast and Furious movies.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: Movies that nobody cares about. So I don’t know why I’m talking about them right now. You know they just great rapport. The two of them, the two of them could be in a van all the time, and, I need them in the van.
Joe: Absolutely.
Greg: But I don’t know that we could. Could you explain what happens with the entity on the train.
Joe: While we learn from Esai Morales? Basically from the rave, is that the entity can predict the future. It’s like, like a 98% or something like that. Ability to predict the future with a few different changes. So basically, it knows that it can get everybody on the train at the same time and that the key, the cruciform key, will magically land at his feet.
Joe: And he just trusts this. Yeah. And it happens exactly as the entity would have predicted, right up to the point where he gets the key and they do land. It does land at his feet. So the entity is able to predict that and then Tom cruise is able to through their fight. And then we have the conversation of there are two key things that can happen on the train.
Joe: Either Ethan Hunt gets killed by Ethan Morales, or Ethan Hunt kills Gabriel. Either way, they serve the entity’s purpose. But the outcome that happens is that Tom cruise is able to replace the key with the lighter, which plays a kind of a role throughout the film. So that is what the entity can do. And so basically, you think that the entity has put everyone together on this train to get the outcome that it wants, which is Gabriel having the key, which is the only way to stop it.
Joe: And since Gabriel has his acolytes or the entities acolyte, it won’t he will destroy the key. And then so that’s my synopsis of what the entity can do. Did I miss anything in there?
Greg: No, I think that’s right. And he can also tap into, like we said. And I played half of the cell. The bad guy at the beginning can hack into anything.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: Coerce anyone to do anything, it seems like.
Joe: Yeah. And so basically what it sees as a threat is Ethan. And then Carry Away’s character as well. Who does a classic blunder in these movies where Esai Morales and Carrie outweighs meet him. And then he just tells them everything he knows this terrible bad guy person.
Greg: But what cracked me up about that scene is when he’s saying plot points to Esai Morales, he’s talking about the entity, and he’s basically talking to the entity.
Greg: And he’s saying Morales is responding to what he’s saying, like he’s never heard it before.
Greg: And it’s clearly like we got to tell them the plot one more time before we get out of here. Let’s check this out.
Clip: The air agent star once weaponized, could be transmitted anywhere in the world via satellite, can penetrate any network security performance assigned task invisibly. And then self-destruct, leaving no trace. A perfect covert operation. We were able to transmit an early copy of the AI to Russia’s newest submarine, the top secret crew of us. They called to this Sebastopol. The mission was merely to sabotage the Sebastopol Stealth capability so we could secretly detect her.
Clip: The eyes. Objective Lane, the submarine sonar sphere at the heart of its defense system.
Clip: For reasons we don’t fully understand, the AI went rogue and.
Clip: Over delivered the frozen bodies of the crew of recovered the following spring. Adrift in the bad guys. The two halves of the key mysteriously vanished. The first of all was lost. No one’s quite sure where. I know precisely where it is. I’ve ensured I’m the only man on earth who does.
Joe: Do you hear them whispering?
Greg: The whole movie is whispering.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: Anyways. Yeah. So they have this meeting, they pretend like they’re going to team up for a second. And then Esai Morales seemingly hurts him quite a bit like cut some somehow his neck maybe slices.
Joe: Yeah. Like just like a knife out of nowhere.
Greg: Right.
Joe: Cuts his neck open and and he dies right there.
Greg: Does he die right there?
Joe: Yeah. He’s dead at least in this movie. If they bring him back in the and the eighth, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Greg: But we kind of don’t see him again. Right? He falls to the ground and we don’t see him again.
Joe: Yeah, we see like the blood. Yeah. Coming out. And then that’s when he attacks palm. Right. Because Tom cruise has spared her life and because of that, she will betray him. Because the entity says that’s right. He will betray the entity or. Gabriel. Yeah, she gets stabbed, although she does not die.
Greg: Right? Right, right, right. There’s a great scene where Hayley Atwell has a Vanessa Kirby mask on and Hayley Atwell has brown eyes. Vanessa Kirby has blue eyes. So now Vanessa Kirby has brown eyes with her mask on. And this fools me every time I watch these movies, because all the actors in these movies are so incredible. Like Philip Seymour Hoffman in the third one is Tom cruise with the Philip Seymour Hoffman mask on and just plays Tom cruise, and he’s incredible, like the whole time I’m like, well, that’s just Tom cruise with the Philip Seymour face time.
Greg: Same thing happens here where she is just totally doing everything that Hayley Atwell has done throughout the movie. Like blowing your hair out of her face with with her mouth like it’s unbelievable. And I always have to remind myself, oh, that’s not actually Hayley Atwell. That’s Vanessa Kirby doing that.
Greg: These people are unbelievable.
Joe: Yeah. My favorite moment is she’s coming out. It’s supposed to be Hayley Atwell as Vanessa Kirby and her brother. It’s like you’ve changed her clothes. Yeah yeah. Like it’s like when she switches into the character and then it’s like and you never will. And just someone was such a perfect moment of like, a silly line that shows that she’s in the character and in the moment.
Joe: But it was so funny every single time.
Greg: And, you know, I’d love it if he was just like, do you expect my eye color to change?
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: So then she goes and meets with Kittredge and they’re doing some kind of deal. And she is the daughter of Max who was the bad guy in the first movie, Vanessa Redgrave. And so he knew Max in the first movie. So he’s like, I can’t believe it’s you. I haven’t seen you since you were a little girl, because of course they go way back anyways.
Greg: They do the thing where, they’re transferring some money to her and then.
Joe: Downloading under pressure.
Greg: It’s decrypting the blockchain is what it’s doing.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: I especially loved when she is putting in her, her account numbers. She uses one of her hands to, like, block so he can’t.
Joe: See her account number.
Joe: Oh my gosh.
Greg: So great. And then there’s like, the fight on top of the train. And it’s kind of like the first movie, but without the helicopter. Although if Tony Scott had his way, I’m sure there would have been three helicopters. And then Esai Morales knows exactly when to drop off of the train and lands in the bed of a truck and then is driven away and discovers that Ethan Hunt is stealing the cruciform key from him.
Joe: My favorite part about that for Easy Morales drops off the train. He’s got a thing on his watch that just tells him when I’m. So I’m in on this movie and all of these sorts of things. Oh. He has such a small window and like, margin for error, he’s not falling in love like, how does he know where he is on the train in relation to where the truck is?
Joe: Right. And all of those sorts of questions come into my mind. Yeah, but this is a movie where, again, Hobbs and Shaw logic. I’ve told him to drop off the train. He jumps off the train, he lands perfectly on the pad in the back of the truck and everything is fine. But if I’m Gabriel, that’s a lot of trust in the entity to drop off.
Joe: Speeding train that you have made, go as fast as possible and and reduced any way possible for it to stop. So I’m just saying that’s a lot of trust to have in I.
Greg: There should be like a Valentine’s Day video that comes out in February about Gabriel and the end date. And then the train is a runaway train. It can’t stop. Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell have to figure out how to stop it. And these are real grown ups that are not stunt people, but I guess kind of stunt people now because they are climbing on the outside of a train going like, I don’t know, 70 miles an hour.
Joe: Or something like that.
Greg: 50 miles an hour. I think it’s like 50 miles an hour. And they are just really doing it. They’re really climbing.
Greg: Around on top of this train. It’s it’s something that I take for granted by the end of this movie, that this is the thing that’s really happening. They are able to disconnect the front train, the steam engine, from the rest of the train, and once they disconnected, the brakes enable on the rest of the train. So all the people are going to be saved and the engine heads towards this bridge that Esai Morales then blows up.
Joe: Right.
Greg: And a real train engine goes over.
Joe: A.
Greg: Cliff. It’s unbelievable.
Joe: Yeah. I appreciated every time they had a real stunt like that. Yeah, and a real explosion.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: Because that could have easily been your CGI explosion train going off. But now the. They really did it.
Greg: They built that train, actually.
Joe: That’s awesome.
Greg: It’s a 70 ton train that they built themselves and they’re like, turns out you can’t no one’s going to sell you a train to crash.
Joe: Yeah. And then you have just such a great scene as the train is like, stopping. Yeah. And the cars are going over and they’re climbing over the cars. Yeah. Running up the top aisle. Seven. You think it’s just going to be one? Like I remember when we were watching it in the theater, I was like, oh, just going to be one is oh, fast seven.
Joe: We’ve seen this. Sure. Okay. Fast seven once, but there are like three more cars to come right. The kitchen car. It still bothers me that there’s no one gets burned on the grease that is spilling everywhere, right?
Greg: Right. The sound effects guy in the movie said this was the most fun he’s ever had. Was the sound in that scene just all the splashing and the, the things falling in the feed on the oily ground and then pots banging everywhere.
Joe: Yeah. And then you have, like, dangling and like a grand piano. And. Yeah. So good. It’s so fun.
Greg: It’s so great. And they jump when they jump out of it. So they’ve been in all these cars in these scenes, and now these cars are slowly going off this cliff very slowly.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: So they get out of the kitchen of course the gas main in the kitchen gets loose. And, you know, sprays the flames somewhere and becomes like a whole, like, gas bomb.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: And blows their backs as they’re jumping into the next one. And it’s right as they jump into the next one that I realize I started smiling like, this is now I’m having the time of my life. This is the beginning of something unbelievable. And it just. Yeah. And then so they keep going through all these different kinds of cars.
Greg: Yeah, yeah.
Joe: Yeah. And then you have them dangling and then can they make it and then palm. Yeah. Just palm saves the day and helps them even though she’s been stabbed.
Greg: Right. It’s perfect. It’s a great.
Joe: Scene. Yeah.
Greg: The editor and the director in the commentary said that they had cut that a little bit too short and taken all the air out of it because they were trying to find ways to make the movie shorter. And when they put the air back in, they realized, we’ve earned the air in this scene. You know, there’s lots of like, slow moments of people.
Greg: And Christopher McQuarrie said that when he was directing that scene, it was over zoom because he had been contact traced again and zoom was low resolution and he couldn’t see that Palm Clements was actually crying. He didn’t see the tears. And so, like months later, when he’s watching the footage in the edit and he saw that he had no idea that that’s what they had gotten on the day.
Greg: He was pretty stoked. Yeah. But in that scene, it’s like, well, she needs to be in every movie. She’s the new shot, right?
Joe: Absolutely.
Greg: She needs to be in everything.
Joe: I worry that they’re going to kill her off in the eighth, to give her the arc. And this is in our trope of her death will signify her total redemption in the arc of the movie. Okay, so that’s my worry with her character, but we’ll see.
Greg: You know how, Greg Tarzan Davis runs up and says, I’ve got a pulse. At the end, like, while they’re filming this, they have them say every different type of line they could possibly say, in case they need that for how the plot entirely changes. So in 1 in 1 take, they said, run up and say, I’m not getting a pulse.
Greg: And so he runs up to her and he says, I’m not getting a pulse in her eyes. Open up. She goes.
Joe: What’s.
Joe: Come was pissed.
Greg: So that it means.
Joe: That that’s awesome.
Greg: Yeah. And in that scene, Tom cruise is doing minute things with his face to convey emotion. Like with his eyes, every once in a while or whatever, it’s. He has complete control of his eye muscles.
Greg: I mean it’s, you know, one of the reasons he’s been in movies forever, but it’s pretty unbelievable that scene he jumps out with his Speed Wing and Shea Whigham is like shaking his gun pointed at him but never shoots him.
Joe: Why didn’t he shoot Joe? I don’t know because he knows that he is actually good. There’s some conversation that he has with his partner around, you know, maybe he’s just always on the right side. Shea Whigham doesn’t necessarily believe it, but can’t bring himself to shoot. Yeah, the Speed wing. And they make a really big deal about the fact that they’re packing two parachutes just in case.
Joe: Yeah. You are worried that they weren’t going to use both. You know, they packed the speed wing and I have the regular one. And then they mentioned it like I feel like ten more times is probably just like one more time. But yeah, they really want you to know they’re using two parachutes in this movie.
Greg: So there’s just one of the thing I wanted to say that is one of my biggest pet peeves in movies, and this might have been why I had a slightly bad attitude about this one, in the fact that it’s a part one in service of a part two, and that is, I really dislike when you sit through like a two hour and 45 minute movie, and at the end they say this is just the beginning.
Greg: I feel like you can’t tell me where at the beginning. They did this at the end of Dune two and Dune was great. Don’t tell me this is just the beginning.
Joe: Yeah a key.
Greg: Was just the beginning.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: Well Joe, there’s a chance that some people have listened to this and have had no clue what we’re talking about. They have never been to a digital video store where they’re walking around trying to rent a movie. Let’s pretend like they’re in Blockbuster Video. They are walking down the aisles, picking up boxes off the shelves when they pick up Mission Impossible seven and read the back of the box.
Greg: What do you think that would say? That’s right. It’s time for the back of the box.
Joe: It’s the back of the box. Ethan Hunt Tom Cruise is back and facing his most challenging foe yet, a sentient AI called The Entity. Now, in a race to keep the only means of stopping the entity out of the hands of those who want to control it for their own gain, Ethan and this gang of misfits and thieves must do the impossible yet again.
Joe: Heroes will fall, blood will be spilled, villains will change, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance. The mission, should you choose to accept it, is no less than saving humankind.
Greg: Wow, this movie’s got stakes.
Joe: Yeah, that’s right, it does.
Greg: And it is down to one man. Yeah, whether the everybody on the planet knows it or not. That’s what they say at the end.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: Okay. Well, that.
Joe: Is.
Greg: The great marketing Jack in the box.
Greg: But let’s get honest here. Yeah. What is the real Joe Skywalker. Back in the box of this movie.
Joe: Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle without a helmet, runs very fast over a long distance and almost cries so that you can see tears welling in his eye in. Now that that is out of the way, we can talk about Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning, which is basically the plot of Fast seven. It’s almost like they said, can we do better?
Joe: But did and they are mostly right. Like all movies setting up a grand finale, it leaves the viewers stuck in the liminal space of Mission Impossible movies. That said, the three main set pieces, which include an airport, the streets of Venice and a train, are spectacular. It might not reach the heights of action that Mission Impossible Fallout does, but it is not far behind in what is proving to be one of, if not the greatest action film series ever.
Greg: Amazing. All right, Joe, should we get into what the box office and reviews of this movie were?
Joe: Let’s do it.
Greg: All right, well, this movie had the highest budget in Paramount Pictures history. Well, its budget was $291 million. Covid definitely made the budget go up. Mission impossible six had a budget of 178 million. So, this was the most expensive Paramount picture ever made. That means it’s got to make like 600, 700 million to break even. And it made five, 71 million worldwide.
Greg: So 172 in America, 3.98 international. So hopefully the next movie will do better. I was bizarrely, personally invested in how much this movie made when it came out. I was like checking box office Mojo every day. I don’t know why. Sometimes that just happens where it’s like, I need to be checking box office numbers all the time.
Greg: Joe, let’s talk about the reviews of this movie. What do you think the critics score on Rotten Tomatoes is?
Joe: It feels like a 70 because it’s our movie. I feel like it’s probably like a 75.
Greg: This is a 96%.
Joe: Really.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: That feels really high.
Greg: This was the movie after Top Gun. You know Top Gun was the year before. And I think people were just ready for another Tom cruise movie. What do you think the popcorn meter the audience score is for this movie?
Joe: I’m going to go 9094.
Greg: Okay. This is a really high rated movie on Rotten Peanuts. Let’s start with our hometown paper, the Seattle Times. Moira macdonald says the result mostly works, but it feels like a franchise that’s winding down. Here’s hoping to a few thrills that have been saved for part two. And actually, Moira MacDonald just wrote a book. It’s coming out next week.
Greg: It’s called Storybook Ending. So, you can check that out. She’s also at like Seattle Libraries and bookstores coming up. So if you want to see her speak in person, you can do that. Amy Nicholson wrote like a motorcycle leaping off a mountain. This movie has very high highs and very low lows. But as soon as the action started, especially the last action set pieces, I could have rolled right into the sequel immediately.
Joe: Agreed.
Greg: That’s a really good synopsis for this movie. I feel like, Adam Kempner from the the podcast Film Spotting, which was my very first favorite podcast actually. And I use the Pale Pacific songs on there. Sometimes the stunts are enough to make it a good time. They’re not enough to make it a great movie or even a great Mission Impossible movie like it’s I.
Greg: Villain reckoning may have become too self-aware three out of five stars.
Joe: I feel like that’s a little.
Greg: Harsh, a little harsh. Bring it down, Kempner. Okay. Odie Henderson from The Boston Globe says Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part one ends one mission, but leaves us at the beginning of the next one. To my surprise, I found myself choosing to accept it.
Joe: All right. Oh.
Greg: All right. David’s here at rolling Stone says dead reckoning never rises to Fallout’s level, though McQuarrie concocts set pieces, and the cast carves out standalone moments that stick with you past the credit roll.
Joe: I agree with that. I mean, I think, I think you saw the best of the beginning of this. It’s like we can’t really evaluate this one until I see the last one. Yeah. Whereas fallout is still the high watermark to me in terms of like, yeah, an action movie accomplishment. Totally.
Greg: Let’s see. Slant magazine says the action consistently snaps the film into focus, but it further illustrates how badly the decision to split the narrative into two parts throws off its delicate rhythm.
Joe: Agreed.
Greg: CBC radio says brings back some of the magic of De Palma’s original, which is still the best Mission impossible. But now, with the unrelenting action and scale of the latter movies.
Joe: I agree with that.
Greg: I had not really considered the connections to De Palma’s movie, and kind of in its themes. Until I read that, I was like, I really want to go back and watch that first one again.
Joe: You know, I want to watch the last train sequence of the first one to see how much. Yeah, if there are little Easter eggs within it or not.
Greg: Totally. Kyle Smith of the Wall Street Journal says the chases and stunts are robust. The European locations glamorous, and there is an occasional slapstick undertone reminiscent of the Roger Moore James Bond movies.
Joe: I can totally see it.
Greg: It’s pretty good.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: This is the last one. David Sims of the Atlantic. He is the co-host of one of my favorite podcasts. No blank check. This is a worthy entry in America’s Best ongoing franchise, one where sincerity and absurdity walk hand in hand with vital, triumphant conviction.
Joe: That might be the best description of Mission Impossible movies.
Greg: Yeah. David Sims unbelievable. Unbelievable sentence there. All right, yo, should we get two drinking games?
Joe: We have to. I don’t usually do this, but I reference exactly when in the movie. As close as I could. Great when these happened, because within the first 58 minutes of this movie, we hit every stock drinking game we have. So silent helicopter, not a silent helicopter, but low flying helicopter flying in to the airport scene. Yeah, where we have cell the good guy happening.
Greg: It’s like a helicopter plane.
Joe: Helicopter plane. It’s it’s pretty wild pushing and then hand. So we have the entity slash God’s eye. If you’re following a line from the Fast and Furious verse. Sure. That does massive facial recognition through the first half of this movie just all over the place in this movie. But really the first within ten minutes of this movie, you have a push in and then hands.
Joe: Yeah. When two people share a slow motion look in the middle of chaos. So in the airport, the FBI agent who I never remember his name and have just given up on.
Greg: Shea Whigham.
Joe: Shea Whigham, Briggs Briggs, and Ethan Hunt share a look. And then they also have one that happens when they have kind of guns pointed at each other. Yep. After a car crash.
Greg: Amazing.
Joe: We have, explosion or silent suffering and ringing in the ears after a car crash. After Hayley Atwell has stolen the car from the police station. Classic moment is so awesome. This movie basically. And TV show invented the opening credits scene with the locking into place for this. I mean, the Mission Impossible theme with the fuze that’s been lit like I can see it in my head.
Joe: So yeah, yeah, it’s again though, 28 minutes into the film. We get that. Does it flashback to dialog two minutes ago. It does flashback quite a bit. It got some flashbacks to Ethan’s making the choice, and then a couple flashbacks within that to kind of what has happened already. So you get that there’s some moments with the CGI, with the sandstorm.
Joe: That’s the one, the main one there. A couple other moments later in the film, but like the big one, like they’re chasing Ethan, he’s on a horse, and then they’re like 20 people on a horse behind them. It is very clearly a CGI sandstorm. To me.
Greg: The most obvious CGI that actually had CGI close calls, as if it was like a 2009 movie with Nicolas Cage. That happened quite a bit in the train cars, when they were kind of like going 90 degrees towards the ground and stuff was falling past them.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: But they were still kind of elegant and amazing, but they were so clearly. Yeah, CGI close calls. But I was just like you know what? It’s been a while in a modern movie since we saw a CGI close call. I’m gonna accept.
Joe: It. Yeah, I’ll allow it. Inexplicably wet streets. Absolutely. Oh, during the car chase in Italy. Yeah. So good. We have a give us the room when he’s the attorney.
Greg: Yep.
Joe: And Gabriel says I’m with Interpol to the police Lieutenant. Yeah. In Italy. And those are every single stock drinking game that we have. So you’re welcome. This movie.
Greg: Bats a thousand.
Joe: Bats a thousand. So I will turn it over to you. Greg. Final. What is your first drinking? Him? I don’t have as many as I usually do or have had in the last, but I also I will freely admit, I got into the movie, and wasn’t paying attention as much a drinking game as I should have been.
Joe: Totally, totally.
Greg: Any time they say entity.
Joe: Oh oh, that’s so good to know I have that. No, I don’t have that. I have every time their shots of the keys take a drink.
Greg: Perfect. Yeah. Any time they say mission.
Joe: Oh, nice. I have every time they say the choice or reference the choice, I’m sure you have that one as well.
Greg: I put any time they say oath or choice.
Joe: Nice.
Greg: Let’s see any time you hear the train whistle. We didn’t talk about the train whistle.
Joe: We didn’t talk about that. That’s such a good one.
Greg: The train whistle was like the most adorable little train whistle you’ve ever heard in the movie. Let me play it for you.
Joe: Until you realize that he has tied a dead body that he has killed to the whistle.
Greg: This is going to make it.
Joe: Yeah. So sorry, everyone I have. Every time they say Sebastopol. Oh, take a drink.
Greg: That’s amazing. I literally my next one is anytime they show the submarine. So that’s two different games for two different people in the room. One person gets when they see the submarine, one person gets when they say, Sebastiao, I have.
Joe: Every time they dramatically pull their face off to reveal sure that they are a different person, take a drink.
Greg: How many times did you wish it was John Travolta or Nicolas Cage? When I.
Joe: Did that? Every single time. Every single time? Yeah.
Greg: Any time you hear the entity, I think.
Joe: Oh, I have that one too. Yeah, yeah. The rattling sound of the entity. Yeah, I have every time Kittridge is doing breath acting. Take a drink.
Greg: Is he breathing a lot or is he just whispering?
Joe: There was a scene at the end of the movie where he was kind of doing like, it was whispering, but it was a little bit different. And so I put it into the breath acting category.
Greg: So he learned that from Marky Mark?
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: Every time you.
Joe: See the entity there. Oh, that’s a good one. Yeah, I have any time. There’s sleight of hand. Take a drink.
Greg: Oh, that’s a great one. Any time they say Kittridge and if they say Eugene Kittridge, his full name, you’re taking two drinks.
Joe: That’s a great one. The way they pronounce his name, it’s like they had, like, notes on. We’ve got to be really precise. And the diction. Yeah. How to say Kittridge?
Greg: It’s worth bringing him back. Just say it’s.
Joe: Agreed.
Greg: That’s incredible. That’s my last one.
Joe: Oh, I have a couple more. I have Tom cruise running. Take a drink.
Greg: Amazing. If there’s candles. Extra points.
Joe: Exactly. Vanessa Kirby being snarky. So kind of making those little faces. I feel like that’s her, like, secret sauce. Yeah, yeah. And then my last one and I notice this. There’s a lot of use of mirrors when Grace or when Hayley Atwell is on screen. As she becomes or makes the choice. So she’s shown in a lot of mirrors that are either broken or cloudy.
Joe: And then by the end she’s looking in a clean mirror of herself. So mirrors and grace as she finds her center. Take a drink.
Greg: That’s incredible. It’s time for Jo’s trope Lightning Round aka signs. You might be watching a great bad movie.
Joe: All right. Person is about to be shot and then is saved. We have Tom cruise flying through the window and knocking the person out of the window. Yeah, Tom cruise is the best at something. We have revenge as the driver of the protagonist, especially after Ilsa Foust is killed. We do have a charismatic antagonist. I give kind of the entity and Gabriel kind of the bat space.
Joe: We also have the henchmen who are allowed to hurt the good guy or who are allowed to hurt Ethan Hunt in this and inflict any kind of damage. We have not really a car chase, but we do have a conversation as they’re flying in and the helicopter as they’re selling the good guy, so I gave that as a trope.
Joe: We have a duffel bag full of guns. We have some amazing recovery time downloading a file under pressure, and someone checking if a gun is loaded so they get a gun and they kind of either pull the chamber out or check.
Greg: Oh yeah.
Joe: So that happens a lot. So those are that is our trope lightning round.
Greg: Amazing. All right Joe, you ready to answer some very important questions.
Joe: Oh you know it.
Greg: Did it hold up then in 2023.
Joe: Absolutely. Yeah yeah.
Greg: And does it hold up now.
Joe: Yeah I don’t feel like it’s dropped off really at all.
Greg: For me I think my estimation of this movie will improve as time goes on.
Joe: Yeah I feel like it’s I appreciate it more. Again, I think these movies like some of the movies that we’re watching with like really great second unit folks. The more you watch it, the more you appreciate the action and the the work that went into it. So I liken it to kind of even like, obviously John Wick, but like the extraction movies where they’re trying to do something different and you really have to watch it a few times to really get all of what they’re doing in a scene.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: I’d love that. You tied into extraction. That’s incredible.
Joe: Obviously we’ve got to bring it back. So I’m that’s.
Greg: A professional podcaster right there.
Joe: Right? Absolutely.
Greg: How hard do they sell the good guy? We’ve kind of already talked about this pretty hard. And this how hard do they sell the bad guy?
Joe: Way harder than they sell the good guy the most.
Greg: Shall we just say the most?
Joe: The most ever?
Greg: Joe, why is there romance in this movie?
Joe: Oh, as beautiful. There is no romance in this movie. There’s a tender scene between Ilsa Foust and Ethan Hunt. But it’s not romance. It’s just colleagues who appreciate each other in the hands of, other filmmakers. It’s totally going to be romance, but it’s not romantic to me.
Greg: I don’t think Tom cruise has had a romantic partner in a movie since the couch jumping incident in, like, 2005. People just don’t want to see him kissing girl, which works for.
Joe: You. Yeah, that works for me. Yeah. But also, what was it? And Maverick, though, he has Jennifer Connelly.
Greg: Oh, sure. Sure, sure. Okay, so just the year before this.
Joe: Yeah, but that one was nominated for Best Picture, so. Well.
Greg: Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah yeah. Did it win I can’t remember.
Joe: It did not. Okay. Should never have been nominated.
Greg: Are we bad people for loving this movie.
Joe: Oh yeah. Yeah, right.
Greg: That doesn’t deserve a sequel.
Joe: It needs a sequel because it.
Greg: Requires a sequel.
Joe: Yeah, but like it. There’s no way around it. If this is where the series ended, I be, I’d be mad.
Greg: They wouldn’t even sell a box set. Yeah, just be a shrug emoji. Where that box was supposed to be. Does it deserve a prequel? No.
Joe: No. We’ve had six prequels. They’ve. If this is your your first entry into this movie averse.
Greg: Joe, should this movie have been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars?
Joe: I would have been happier if this movie were nominated. Then Top Gun Maverick.
Greg: Well, I feel like we should look at what was nominated that year and decide if it should have been in the mix or replace one of these movies because there were ten nominees this year.
Joe: Okay.
Greg: Oppenheimer American fiction, anatomy of a fall, the Holdovers. No, that’s my favorite movie that year. Killers of the Flower Moon, maestro, Past Lives, Poor Things, The Zone of Interest, and Barbie.
Joe: I think Poor Things is the only movie on that list that I’ve actually seen. Yeah.
Greg: And what do you think? Mission impossible seven. Can I replace it?
Joe: It would be hard for me to replace it.
Greg: I think the only movie on this list that is, Mission Impossible level entertainment is Barbie. So would you replace Barbie with Mission Impossible seven?
Joe: I can’t possibly justify that. Okay.
Greg: This movie is box office. Was definitely harmed by Barb and Heimer happening the week after. And Oppenheimer took it out of Imax theaters.
Joe: Okay.
Greg: That won’t happen on it. They’ve reserved a couple weeks. So you’re saying no, I’m going to say you’re right with the no. I agree with you on this one. How can this movie be fixed? AKA who should be in the remake?
Joe: It’s hard for me to find really any fault with this movie. I don’t know that I would change much. We’ve talked about like trimming it down a little bit.
Greg: Yep, yep.
Joe: But again, every time I’ve watched it, I felt like everything was needed. Or at least not. I needed maybe change up a little bit of Hayley Atwell character and kill her off instead. But no, I don’t really have a I don’t have a good answer for this one other than to change it right now would be too hard without knowing what it is.
Greg: Yeah, without knowing what it is, I would say this should have been a standalone movie. If this had been a standalone movie, then I think all my problems would have been gone. Also, you know, there’s some Covid mess in there that I think influenced what the movie became. But maybe next week I will be like, I was an idiot and was the answer to everything.
Greg: Yeah, if they’re going to remake this movie, do you have anything for a remake? That’s a no. You’re not like you’re no.
Joe: No, I don’t have anything.
Greg: Okay, well, I think we are going to need to remake this movie because it drags on a bit. Right. So I think it should be remade into an extra long Pixar shorts.
Joe: Okay.
Greg: So that means this is now like a 20 to 25 minute movie.
Joe: Okay.
Greg: Ethan and Grace are now played by Bunny and Ducky from Toy Story four. And those characters were voiced by Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael key. Okay, Elsa is now Jesse from Toy Story four, voiced by Joan Cusack. Benji is Rex the dinosaur, famously voiced by Wallace Shawn, the inconceivable guy from The Princess Bride. Oh, I should have made the other guy from The Princess Bride in this movie.
Greg: Yeah, voiced by the way.
Joe: Who with Wesley and this movie. Oh. Well, missed opportunity, but that’s okay.
Greg: Okay. Luther is now John Ratzenberger from cheers. The white widow is now played by Annie Potts, who is Little Bo Peep. Gabriel is now played by Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, Kittridge is played by Forky. Tony Hale from Arrested Development Paris is played by Kristen Schaal. I forget what character Kristen Schaal did. Okay, Joe, two more important questions.
Greg: Okay, what album is Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning part one?
Joe: I really struggled with this one because I was trying to figure out how to categorize this because it is a great movie, a great bad movie. It’s also in a series it feels like an older series. I don’t know how to describe it, but like, it feels like it’s echoing back to different times. Yeah, it’s not fast and Furious is not John Wick.
Joe: It’s not in that world.
Greg: But it’s 29 years old.
Joe: Yeah, I went to LED Zeppelin as the band. What album is it within the LED Zeppelin? It’s not their best album, not my favorite, but it’s still a great album. I went with LED Zeppelin three off. Oh then.
Greg: Oh, that’s a good record.
Joe: You know, it’s a it’s a good record. What did you say? It’s their best. No, no, but it’s still really good.
Greg: Yeah. Yeah.
Joe: Within the canon it’s still in the top half. So that was where I landed. What is this album for you? I’m dying to know.
Greg: My gosh, I’m going to listen to that album tomorrow.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: I haven’t listened that album to a long time. Okay. Because this is the first half of a double movie, I’m going to choose just the first disc from a double album.
Joe: Okay.
Greg: This isn’t my favorite album by this band, but at the same time, you know, if I was on an island and this was the only disc that I had, I think I’d survive. It would be, okay. This movie is disc one of Smashing Pumpkins melancholy and the infinite sadness this one has tonight. Tonight zero.
Joe: And.
Greg: Bullet with Butterfly Wings. There’s a lot of fluff in there that I. I don’t like. Their harder stuff is just annoying to me. But also, I mean, every player in that band is really good. So it’s like, I love that drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, so, you know, but this two has 1979, which is potentially in the running for best song of all time for me.
Joe: Wow. That is a bold statement.
Greg: Well, it’s such a bold song. It’s like, what if we did the same thing all the way through, and somehow it holds my interest and makes me want to listen to it again? I don’t know how they do that. It’s a magic trick of a song, okay? And I like it more than everything on disc one. So hopefully that’s what’s going to happen here too.
Greg: Yeah. All right. So just disc one of that Smashing Pumpkins album.
Joe: I was very close to the Usual illusion won by guns N roses. Yeah, but I didn’t feel quite right, but I was. I also had the thought of the double album.
Greg: Yeah.
Joe: That’s awesome. You know.
Greg: So that one had November Rain.
Joe: I think.
Greg: So it’s like nine minutes long.
Joe: And it’s probably the best song on both albums. And so.
Greg: So you’re saying you do need a Civil War?
Joe: I might I wrong I’m okay. My bad man.
Greg: All right Joe, we’ve already answered this question.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: How do you rate this movie.
Joe: As a great bad movie? It’s great. But I can’t even conceivably make a case that this is anything less than a great bad movie. Yeah. As all a lot of tropes and just the fact that it has every stock drinking game that we have come up with. Independent. I’m thinking about this movie. Yep. In it. It’s a great bad movie.
Greg: How many degrees do you think we need to connect this movie to great bad movies?
Joe: I feel like we’re like 3 or 4 away.
Greg: Wow.
Joe: I feel like we could. Probably pretty.
Greg: Generous.
Joe: Yeah. All right.
Greg: Number one, Rebecca Ferguson was in this movie. Number two, Rebecca Ferguson starred in Doctor Sleep with Bruce Greenwood in 2019. Number three, Bruce Greenwood guest starred on a Canadian TV show called Private Eyes. And in season five, episode seven, and Deer Rouge, our theme song, banned the theme song for that TV show in Canada. Awesome. We needed for Joe.
Joe: That’s right. All right, nailed it. How do we get to Deer Rouge is basically the answer, as is our totally.
Greg: That’s all we needed.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: All right. Well, Joe, I feel like we went a little short on this episode. Yeah.
Greg: But we did it.
Joe: Yeah. Nailed it. Add the conversation that need to be had about what is this movie mission impossible? Something. Reckoning. Dead reckoning. Reckoning part two. Reckoning one I don’t know. Anyway, nobody else needs to talk about this movie.
Greg: Absolutely I forgot, yeah, at the end of this movie it says end part one. I wonder if they’re going to say in part two at the end of Final Reckoning.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: Yeah we’ll see.
Joe: And is there going to be a ninth one. There’s lots of conversation if this is the last ever. Or are they going to pass the torch to someone else. And they’re going to take on the mantle from Tom cruise. So who.
Greg: Knows. There is no torch pass.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: That will not happen. That’s my prediction.
Joe: Okay.
Greg: Weather I don’t think it’s really over, but there’s no torch pass. This isn’t a series without Tom cruise. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, give us a rating on your podcast app. And if you’re listening to this somewhere that isn’t on a podcast app, like on our website, Great Bad movies.com, find us on your favorite podcast app and, follow us there.
Joe: And recommend us to like, 100 of your favorite friends, because we need more listeners so.
Greg: You can find us on Instagram at Great Bad Movies Show, you can send us messages through our website. Great Bed movies.com. We’re also on YouTube. At Great Bad Movies show lots of different ways you can get Ahold of us. Lots of different ways you can share our show with your friends who also love great bad movies. So thank you so much for recommending us to the people that you know.
Greg: All right. Oh my gosh, Joe, I should probably say spoilers for yeah, Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning spoilers.
Joe: This whole episode has been one long. Spoilers, so you’re welcome everyone. If you haven’t seen this movie, I mean, stop it now. Yeah, watch the movie and then come back to this point.
Greg: Absolutely.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: All right. Well, listen, this is this has been great. I don’t want to speak ill of the last seven hours, but, I keep trying to move forward in my life, and all I’m getting are windshield wipers just like that. Fiat. So I should probably go focus on that for a little while and, head out.
Joe: That’s probably for the best. Anyway, I’ve got to go to my fake atomic bomb that asks riddles just got delivered so I can check on that.
Greg: Tell her how you feel.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: Okay. Well, that works for me, because someone keeps destroying all my rental bikes around the city with their massive truck and had to go figure out what’s going on.
Joe: Oh, interesting. I just got a new job as a chef on the Orient Express. I’m hoping to bring some fine dining and some, like, ambiance to that. I sure hope nothing jinxes my first day on the job.
Greg: Totally. I know there’s a lot of deep frying.
Joe: Yeah.
Greg: On that train. Well, actually, that works for me, because I haven’t wanted to say anything about this, but I’ve actually lost contact with this Akula class Russian submarine that I hang out with sometimes the Sebastopol. So I need to go find my Christopher Keyes and see what’s going on.
Joe: Yeah, that. That’s good. I’m meeting someone called the Dark Messiah, I hope. I hope that goes well.
Greg: That’s so weird, because I’m late for the practice with my new band, Dark Messiah.
Joe: Oh, okay. Wow.
Greg: I got to go.
Joe: Anyway, I’m also late for my sleight of hand magic class, so I’ll see you. That around.
Greg: That totally works for me because my train whistle is sounding a bit high and adorable these days. I think I need to adjust it. I’m gonna. Yeah.
Joe: And anyway, what if the entity has determined that you are going to leave, then stay, and then leave through the back door, and then get gas and then brush your teeth, but then wash your face before bed and then go to a meeting. But instead of going to a meeting, you the usual way. You can take an alley.
Joe: And then you forgot that your badges that you have, you can’t get in anywhere without them. And you go to a party, and so you’ll just punch out the doorman because you don’t have your badges. And so what if that happens? Because that’s basically what the entity has told me it’s going to happen.
Greg: It’s super likely. I feel like that’s 100% likely.
Joe: 100% likely, according to the entity.
Greg: And yeah, you just call that Monday.
Joe: Yeah, that’s just my days.
Greg: Okay. Well, that oh, I’m sorry, I think UberEats is at my door with my Thai food and a choice to join a rogue government organization. So I think I need to go both have a delicious dinner and, make a choice.
Joe: Yeah, I think I think you should. Also, I’m going to go try and not get stabbed, even though the entity said I was going to get stabbed after I betray you so and then get stabbed. So anyway, that’s what’s on my ID.
Greg: It’s confusing. Just stay off of bridges.
Joe: Yeah, absolutely.
Greg: Okay, well, that works for me, so I will see you soon.
Joe: There. Soon.