Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) - Brad Bird | Houselights #141

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Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) - Brad Bird | Houselights #141 · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

0:03
Welcome to the nerd party. Good evening, mister Renault. Your mission,
0:09
if you choose to accept it, is to discuss the twenty eleven film Mission
0:13
Impossible Ghost Protocol. New intelligence suggests that this film was directed by one Brad
0:18
Bird. At the same time, we've chosen your team for you, agents
0:22
Moser and Mills. As always, should you or any member of your team
0:27
be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.
0:31
This message will self destruct in five seconds. Good luctrins. Oh just we
0:49
had to have that intro for discussing ghost Protocol, and I hope you all
0:54
are as jazz to talk about this entry into the Birdhouse. The birdhouse is
1:00
back. We're all back, We're all here. Maybe some of us will
1:03
die. Who knows. It's unpredictable in these kinds of movies. Who's wearing
1:07
a mask? Who's not? Well? Yeah? Oh, I love It's
1:11
like I want to do a mask but no alas Yeah, man, Ghost
1:15
Protocol. I've been looking forward to talking about this movie. It is one
1:19
of my favorite mission Impostle move movies, and I think we can collectively agree
1:23
it kind of started the modern era of Mission Impossible. Like one, two
1:29
and three are kind of on their own, and they're kind of like seeing
1:33
what sticks as they throw it against the wall. Sometimes it's doves, sometimes
1:37
it's you know, philis Steve Varhoffman in that order. You know, you
1:42
never know. But yeah, this one though, was like kind of a
1:47
like a reset almost like a partial reset of what these were going to be.
1:52
Very born, very you know, action, like a huge set piece
1:57
kind of sequence. I mean, not that the first way didn't have it,
2:00
but but yeah, but let's get into it. This is a more
2:02
modern film twenty eleven, only twelve years ago. Many they've put out a
2:07
lot in those intervening twelve years. But John, let's start with you.
2:14
UM, don't don't have any typos here, but where where where does this
2:17
kind of rank in your Mission Impossible? For you? You a big Mission
2:23
Impossible fan? Or is it not your cup of tea? Do you think
2:27
Nolan did it better? Or you know what? How how is that going?
2:30
Oh gosh, I mean Mission Impossible? I like the whole series,
2:34
um, except for two, because it's so funny how many of these long
2:38
running series, the second one is always one where even the die hard fans
2:40
so like you can kind of skip the second one, fast and Furious mission
2:44
possible. They're like a whole lot of them where it's like, hey,
2:46
you know, I can kind of go over to they weren't quite sure what
2:49
they were empires trying to do here, bosh nothing, yeah, star Shrek
2:53
two. What a week entry. But it's um. I had cooled on
3:00
the franchise by this point. I liked the first one. I saw the
3:05
first one a couple of times in the theater. I actually thought it really
3:07
good movie. Did not care for the second one. Third one. I
3:12
don't remember quite when I saw it, but I was like, oh,
3:15
that was good. That was different. But it very much has the jj
3:19
abrams shaky cam television feel to the mystery box stuff going on and everything,
3:23
and it's like, Okay, this is this is better, this this this
3:27
works. There's some good work here, almost quite literally a mystery box yes,
3:31
yeah, and like yeah, but then we come to the fourth one
3:38
and they get me back into the theater because this was shot with Imax cameras
3:42
and they had a little three D Imax, but they had a little prologue
3:46
that they were attaching. If you went to an actual real Imax theater,
3:51
which living in the DC metro area, I could get to one that would
3:53
show massive release movies, and so I went to see this in the theater
3:58
just to see the Dark Knight Rises prolog. That was why they got me
4:00
in. I was like, I gotta see this, and I went in
4:03
and I saw it, and I was like, oh lord, oh right,
4:08
there's a mission like the I paid the money for the prologue, and
4:12
then I was like, oh and there's a movie too cool. It happened
4:14
to keep you in the seat. But I'll tell you this was one hell
4:18
of a way to do what you're saying, which is like that soft reboot.
4:21
I think every expectation of what a Mission Impossible movie is gets reset with
4:28
this one. And yes, it all pivots around that that Burge Dubai Hotel
4:32
sequence where he's up there. I remember seeing that on the big six story
4:36
tall screen and everything at the Science Center. I am afraid of heights and
4:41
I had like sweaty palms and panic breathing during that sequence. So yeah,
4:46
this is where Spectacle really became the calling card of the series. Oh yeah,
4:50
okay, well we'll get to the burgh Khalifa's it's a couple of scenes
4:54
in But Tristan, what about you? Where is this a reboot? Are
4:59
you a die hard? I'd eat the hunt fan? Do you have a
5:00
gum collection for red Light? Green Light? How? How does this rank
5:04
with you? I've been a huge Mission Impossible fan ever since ninety six.
5:14
My dad and I would want rewatch the first one over and over and over
5:18
again. We love the Brian DePalma you know, you know, I can't
5:24
say Eric because it was only one film, but we love like the Brian
5:27
DePalma version of Mission Impossible. Like, to me, that's still my favorite
5:31
one of the entire series. And I know that I'm looking back on it
5:35
through nostalgia glasses. I know that, you know, like I have a
5:39
connection to it because of my father and you know, watching it in our
5:42
basement and everything like that. But it's just such a great thriller. Like
5:47
by today's standard, this has been a long running series. By today's Mission
5:53
Impossible standards, it's could be considered quaint, but right, you know,
5:59
back then, it's such a great thriller. Loppy disks and cameras and glasses,
6:03
oh my gosh, like people smoking on planes, like that's how that's
6:09
how old Mission Possible is the series? And the first one, people like
6:13
John Voight was smoking on a plane, like that's how old this series is,
6:17
um John? Like, like you, I there's no Internet, Like
6:20
the Internet is barely a thing in the first movie. It's a thing that
6:25
only super nerds are spending their time doing computer labs and types Bible versus to
6:30
contact Like it's yep, because that's what the net was. That's what the
6:34
yeah, speaking of the net. But um John, like you, the
6:39
second one, I pretend it does not exist. I think I rewatched it
6:45
a couple of years ago, doing a hardcore rewatch of all the Mission Impossibles,
6:47
just to say, like, I haven't watched this for ten years.
6:49
I wonder if it's aged any better. Nope, aged worse. It's so
6:54
god awful. And it was funny because I bought all of them on UM
6:59
iTunes, so I get the four K upgrades, and my mother in law
7:02
has access to my iTunes and she is she she called me up. She's
7:06
like, hey, I was rewatching all of the Mission Impossibles in preparation for
7:12
UM for the new one coming out, but I couldn't find two anywhere,
7:15
Like not on any of your services, not even on your personal plex.
7:18
I'm like, yeah, no, I refuse to spend money on them.
7:21
It's the right call. It's really the right call. So anyway, it's
7:26
self destructed after five seconds. I'm sorry, Oh my god, I can
7:29
do about it. And like in me, I'm even a completest in a
7:31
lot of senses, but not in this one. That's how much I hate
7:33
the second one. But the third one I saw in the theater and I
7:39
was like, holy crap, this is good. Like I love p Seymour.
7:44
Hoffman was pulling out the stops. He really delicious bad guy. And
7:48
even though it was a mystery box where the where the audience literally had no
7:54
idea what the rabbit's foot was, I think it worked. And I was
7:59
actually Darren. I was actually thinking as I was watching rewatching Ghost Protocol today,
8:03
I was like, is three the beginning of the modern era? And
8:07
Ghost Protocol defined good question. It's been a while since I've watched three,
8:11
so it's hard for me to say. I think John might be right though,
8:16
because there's so much shaky cam, there's so many lens flares, it's
8:20
so j J. Yeah, I think three might have been a course correction.
8:24
I mean, but I think is indeed the beginning of the modern era.
8:28
It's the new template. Well, and even just the titling the whole
8:33
Mission Possible colon title, like we're not doing numbers anymore. We're we're like,
8:37
it's kind of title and no title, like those are the eras,
8:41
damn it. Yeah, yeah, I know it's aus to get a little
8:45
weird. Um. Well, so for me, I remember seeing you know,
8:50
Mission If Possible early on, and then yeah, the second one was
8:54
we won't we won't talk anymore about the second one. We've given enough airtime.
8:58
Um. But then my wife and I we love the TV show.
9:03
We have watched every episode of the nineteen sixties Mission Impossible show. We own
9:09
it all on DVD. And it's because it's thrilling, but it's kind of
9:15
chill, like you're not actually like sweating or anything. As you're you know,
9:18
you're kind of like, okay, are they gonna get in trouble or
9:20
are they gonna get caught? But at the it's sixties TV, it's it's
9:24
really too And then all of a sudden, let her Nimore shows up in
9:26
like season four, You're like, oh my gosh, here you go,
9:30
because that's where he went right after a Star Trek. So we love that
9:33
film, we we love that series. We love these characters. And then
9:39
unfortunately, when I introduced my wife to Mission Impossible to movies, I started
9:43
with the first one, which has Jim spoiler Jim Phelps, the same Jim
9:48
Phelps from the show as the bad guy. So that's like your hero character
9:54
becoming the jaded bad guy of the movie and it and she hated it,
9:58
like it really turned her off to the series. I think that's why many
10:05
of the original care actors were actually going to either reprise their roles in like
10:09
a minor way, or they were literally going to cameo in that opening sequence
10:15
from the show. But then when they read the script, they're like,
10:16
no, this is stupid, Like this would never It's like Luke Iwicker going
10:22
to the dark side, Like you wouldn't have this. So so she really
10:26
got turned off to that. But then we I kind of like brought her
10:28
back into two Ghost Protocol because again it was kind of that refresh restart,
10:33
and she's really enjoyed those going forward. I think it's you know, I
10:37
don't think it's fully washed that bad taste out of her mouth, but she's
10:41
said that she has enjoyed that. And I love Ghost Protocol it. I
10:45
mean, I love all the all the other films in different ways, but
10:50
I would almost say, again, maybe I need to rewatch to figure it
10:52
all out, but I would almost say Ghost Protocol is my favorite so far,
10:56
Like it is just such a good overall film. I think the other
11:00
ones do kind of take it up a notch, but I still love Ghost
11:03
Protocol. I I don't know if it's dethroned it yet. I'll have to
11:05
do my was it like four or five six rewatch to to prep for Fallout.
11:11
Well, I'm glad you mentioned like the four or five six because Christopher
11:15
mcquarie enters the chat with this film too, and Christopher mcquarie basically then got
11:22
into the business of making mission impossible films and like, so this becomes mcquarie
11:26
series here, even though this is a Brad Bird directed film, and I
11:31
think that that plays a very large sort of thing because we know that Bird
11:35
can come in and manage a project we talked about with Ratatuila last week where
11:41
it's like he wasn't even really in the pre production stuff that they were like,
11:43
this is kind of getting out of hand, Brad, we need you
11:46
to come in and take it. There's where he sort of proves, Okay,
11:48
I can manage a large project. I can I can hold the reins.
11:52
And then he goes into this. I mean, what a leap from
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animation to live action to go to this this right, Like talk about my
12:01
way in. But I'm gonna start with the fourth movie of a Missions Possible
12:05
series, and not just the fourth movie, but the movie that has and
12:09
I know I'm probably gonna screw up and call it a Birge to Buy Again.
12:11
I always thought that was the name of it. But the Bird Khalif
12:13
at the Hotel. Imagine how perfect though Brad Bird was for this because of
12:18
the meticulous planning that goes into animation. You need a meticulous planner to get
12:24
these shots right. You need if you don't have yeah, if you don't
12:28
have if you do not have a project manager who knows how to give the
12:33
correct direction and setups and have everything planned in the tea because everything that can
12:39
go wrong with that shoot. I think it makes Bird a very logical choice
12:41
for this. I think that's really astute to mention that because that's something that
12:46
we've we've praised Bird in this house and everything. But what's crazy, and
12:54
this is totally JJ's fault, is what's what's absolutely insane to me is that
13:03
I think if it wasn't for Bradbird, I think if they got any other
13:07
director, I think JJ Abrams would have tanked this. Yeah, and I'm
13:11
not saying this out of hate for JJ Abrams. I'm not some sort of
13:15
anti fanboy because of Star Wars and everything like that, or Star Wars Star
13:20
Trek. But apparently, like they went through so many versions of the script
13:26
that when they hired Bradbird, JJ didn't really want to show him the script
13:31
because he's like, hey, it's not really done. We got a lot
13:33
of ideas. You can you know, you can come in with it,
13:35
like you can bring your own ideas if you want. And then Bradbird said,
13:39
he's like, please just send me something. And so even while they
13:43
were in production friggin production, not pre production production, they still didn't have
13:50
certain plot points nailed down. Well, that's insane to me on a movie
13:54
of this scale, But if you don't have someone like Bradbird, it's it's
13:58
not going to fly well, we're talking about, Well, yeah, you're
14:01
talking about mcquarie. And I've read this quote on where was it. It
14:07
was on one of those sites that tells you things about movies. Where it
14:11
comes from it doesn't matter, but it's talking about how mcquarie during Ghost Protocol
14:18
was brought in and this is his quote on Ghost Protocol. I came in
14:22
on the middle of the shoot to do a rewrite of the screenplay. So
14:26
during production, though they had already started the movie, I had to communicate
14:31
with the entire staff to determine what I could and couldn't change, what sets
14:35
had been built or struck, what scenes I could or couldn't reshoot. And
14:39
I learned so much about production being right there. The script had these fantastic
14:43
sequence in it, but it was still a mystery was over very it was
14:46
very, very complicated. What I did about it was adding clarity. The
14:50
mystery had to be made simpler. It's like reaching into, you know,
14:54
a sock and pulling it inside out. It's still a sock. It's still
14:58
all the same pieces, but all put together in a different order. So,
15:01
I mean, this is one of those movies that could have like fallen
15:05
apart in production. And you, And I'm not doing this to be to
15:11
give like a cheap compliment to Bird. But a good director who secure in
15:16
him or herself is the person that can bring on a Christopher Macquarie and say
15:22
I trust you, this isn't work. You to make this work and not
15:26
be dictatorial about it and not say I'm bringing you in because I need you
15:28
to do this. Is bringing that person in to say I need somebody that
15:33
can get me there. Macquarie also did like a basically a day by day,
15:37
page one rewrite of Edge of Tomorrow as well, and so also a
15:41
very complex film that like you could easily see that going off the rails right
15:46
and you and I would say that you need, especially with time time director,
15:50
a director who's going to work with that writer and get that result out
15:54
of it, but also a director who's going to keep the crew from panicking,
15:58
because the crew can panic very easily if you're in a situation like that.
16:04
And Bird obviously is a strong leader because the crew never panics. The
16:10
cast, we never hear stories about somebody complaining about working on this set or
16:14
anything like that. It is a crew that delivers an incredible film. And
16:19
he even has you know, aiding him and abetting him. He's working with
16:25
Paul Hirsch, one of the most legendary editors in cinema history, is working
16:30
on this film with him, and he's got to communicate with the writers and
16:34
the cast and the crew and the editor to put something together like this.
16:38
Now, I would offer back that they didn't resolve everything quite as well as
16:44
they could have in terms of the script and the overall flow of everything.
16:49
Yeah, there are a couple of things. I think in the very beginning
16:52
you can still feel a bit of that abrams Ish nest to it, where
16:57
you have that that flip back to the you know, you flash back to
17:03
what you just saw from a different angle, and it's it's building this intimate
17:07
story between the two characters, sort of thing that feels unnecessarily complicated to everything,
17:12
but at the same time it gives motivation for why they kill Lisa do
17:18
later. Okay, but did we need that? No, No, exactly,
17:23
we didn't need that pseudo revenge thing where she's just she's flying off the
17:27
handle and because she's not unfessional. Yeah, I always felt that that rang
17:33
hollow because in that moment where um is her name, Cooper could starts with
17:40
a Crter Carter, Carter, Carter, Yeah, because of Agent Carter.
17:44
So there you go, right because of Agent Carter. Right. Um.
17:47
When Carter is fighting the French goddess known as Lisa do Um, like like
17:53
Renter comes in and says Carter now and kicks her out the window. But
18:00
then in the very next scene he's screaming at her say why I thought now
18:07
he said Carter. No. I think he said no, like makes much
18:12
more sense. Yeah, yeah, that makes so much more sense because you
18:15
trist he did, you did honestly because I thought in that moment he was
18:19
like telling her, Oh, now's the time to take your shot. That
18:22
totally makes more sense. Yeah, yeah, I who know. It's like
18:26
we don't know the order of production, but I could totally see this being
18:29
kind of like a solo, a Star Wars issue, where like they had
18:33
shot the entire first piece. They had shot all of the that opening train
18:37
station sequence, you know, and and so that's not changing, like that's
18:41
in the can. They can't go back and redo. But I don't know,
18:45
I don't know if that was shot later, especially with this rewrite happening.
18:48
But that's that's another thing that I like that you that you you take
18:52
us too there, because while I was on this rewatch, that's one of
18:55
the things that sort of sticks with me about this movie that I think is
18:59
a little clunky. For my money, I would have just started it in
19:03
the Moscow prison and not even opened with the action sequence. That opening action
19:07
sequence again, feels a very Abrams sort of thing. I mean, for
19:10
God's sake, you have a sawyer from most episode of the show is what
19:15
it does. It feels exactly like one. But what a great intro scene
19:18
for Ethan Hunt Like it feels like the movie sort of begins twice. Yeah,
19:22
it's such a great reveal for him. I would argue that it's much
19:26
better if you just cut that train sequence and you just rely on it and
19:32
flashback and you just start with Ethan in the Russian prison, because that sequence
19:37
is so I remember being so delighted because again, like I said, I
19:41
went for the Dark Knight Rises prologue and I go in and I'm like,
19:42
oh, look, it's a mission ipossible movies. It starts off, I'm
19:45
like, yeah, that's okay. I'm having a good time. And then
19:47
it got to the Russian prison sequence. I was like, this is really
19:48
I'm enjoying this now, and that's what you remember, you do when you
19:52
think about this movie, you remember the prison sequence, Like when you think
19:56
about the beginning, you don't think about the Sawyer part. The meat of
20:00
that. It's later. Although I will say I feel I can see why
20:04
they did put that beginning sequence in because it is establishing the other characters,
20:11
and that's kind of one of the things this movie does that's a little different
20:14
than the other previous mission Impossible, is it's more of a team. Like
20:19
Tom Cruise is obviously the lead, but you're having a strong pull in from
20:26
Jeremy Rayner, and it's almost like they're kind of like is you know,
20:32
they're not to say that he's usurping Tom, Like Tom has definitely still like
20:37
eating, He's still the old he was. Heught it specifically for that reason
20:41
though, Like Renner was the insurance policy for Cruise if if he died or
20:45
you know, doing a stunt or yeah, if he if he fell off
20:48
story hotel, Yes, so they could pivot the franchise. So there,
20:52
so they're introducing Brenner, they're introducing or sorry, Brandt. I combined Renner
20:57
and Brenner. But so, yeah, they're introducing Simon Peg, they're introducing
21:00
all these other characters. But I totally get what you're saying. I agree.
21:03
It's it's a there's two intros, and really the beginning is the and
21:10
oh man, well it actually is the intro because right after it we get
21:14
that awesome light the match title sequence, and that's just like the show.
21:19
The show always had them lighting the match or the fuse, and they would
21:25
show shots from the episode you're about to watch, and that's what they do
21:29
in this intro. You actually see clips from later in the actual movie,
21:33
not quite giving the plot away, but like enticing you to be like,
21:37
oh, it's going to be a wild ride. So and again not to
21:41
give too much credit to Bird, but we are talking about him as a
21:45
director. I say that with this specific fuse lighting, you see the whimsie
21:53
of an animator at playing with the fact that it's not just the fuse going
21:57
and then cutting back as a whole title itself. Yeah, it's it's like
22:02
looping around, it's going in funny places, is taking you through unexpected views
22:06
and stuff like that. I think you see. I would say that in
22:08
that title sequence, you can see the influence of the director of Ratatui because
22:12
of all the perspective shifts with it that you go tiny and big and fast
22:17
and slow and all of those sorts of things. But even deeper than that.
22:21
Brad Bird is such a fan of old TV shows and older movies.
22:26
I could see him watching like The Whole Sea Season before making this movie,
22:30
because it's fingerprints are all over this. This feels much more like someone who
22:37
grew up. Not that he did, but it's like someone who has that
22:40
reverence for the source of the show put it into this movie way more than
22:45
the other two the other three movies, you know, just real quick,
22:48
because you know, we're talking about Bird and everything obviously, but I so
22:52
long as we're talking about that that opening sequence, you know, with the
22:56
Russian prison breakout thing, I think that the Ushi in prison breakout. There
23:00
are a couple of different moments where this is true as well, but that
23:03
is really I think a director knowing how to play the Tom Cruise's strengths as
23:11
an actor. Cruise has a very well not just his physicality but his facial
23:18
expressions, in specific when he is getting annoyed with Benji and doing the spinning
23:25
finger thing that like say, opened the door and everything. Like he's it's
23:30
a gifted actor who can communicate non verbally on screen with absolutely no dialogue or
23:37
whatever, you know what he's saying in his head. What's funny that that
23:41
makes me think of an interesting story with Jay Moore. It's kind of like
23:45
the opposite of what you're just saying. No, it's in agreement. Yeah,
23:49
where Tom Cruise has so much control over his face and his body as
23:56
an actor that he can even do the opposite. So like apparently during Jerry
23:59
McGuire when Jay Moore is sharing a scene with him, you know as as
24:03
Sugar, he uh like, Apparently like Moore was like leaning a little bit
24:08
too far to the left and was blocking the camera a little bit with his
24:11
shoulder, but crews didn't want to ruin the take, and so under the
24:15
table he's violently shaking his arm to point him to move out of the camera's
24:23
way, But his face and upper body did not change position in the slightest.
24:29
He didn't stop emoting or changing his expression whatsoever. But yet was able
24:33
to communicate to Jay not to ruin the take, even though it would have
24:36
been fine just to to stop and say move a little bit. And if
24:41
an actor can do that, then you're you know, they can absolutely do
24:45
what you're talking about, which is one hundred percent true. Like you you
24:47
can see it on his face, especially like when he leans back and he's
24:49
just like, I'm not looking all day, you know, all day.
24:53
Yeah, the most beautiful moment is when he is when he leans back and
24:57
he looks at the guards in the roo him and he's just like his hands
25:00
just go He's like, what are you gonna do? Yeah, It's like
25:03
it's like this guy, you know, it's got such I remember it got
25:07
such a big laugh in the theater when he did that where he's like what
25:11
are you gonna do? And everybody, like the whole theater just busted out
25:15
laughing. So but you know, also again those poor prison guards speaking of
25:19
yeah, they're having we're supposed to we're supposed to laugh it off. But
25:23
those guys are dead, you know. But they're bad prison guards. They're
25:30
bad people, Okay, right, they're the bad type of prison guards.
25:33
You're supposed to be okay with that happening. That's although you do have to
25:37
give again Cruise and UH and company credit especially actually, i'd say Simon Peg
25:42
credit when he mounts sorry to the card that gets jumped by the guys.
25:47
He's like, oh sorry, But that's another thing where I'll give Bird a
25:52
lot of credit because Peg is a gifted comic actor and he uses him to
25:56
his fullest, and that's that is the mark of a great director is somebody
26:02
who doesn't let Peg go too far, who knows when to rein him in,
26:07
and say, I would point specifically to the to the moment where he
26:11
says, oh, I thought you said we were going to the Kremlin.
26:15
I thought, and he gets back in wait, wait you did you did
26:21
see go? But he does. He doesn't keep talking past it. His
26:26
face changes and he quietly accepts, Oh, that's what we're doing. Whereas
26:30
I would say, you put Abrams in that director's chair and you have a
26:33
slightly more over the top Simon Pig doesn't shut up, and he keeps talking
26:37
and it's like that moment has gone. You should have stopped talking, right
26:41
Whereas I think it's one of the best comic moments in the entire film,
26:45
So you know, along with their they're moving hallway bit when his face gets
26:52
in the uh in the camera. Okay, yeah, let's I mean we
26:56
can kind of string through the main sequences, because like that's really a Mission
27:00
Impossible movie is these amazing missions like strung together. Of course, we get
27:06
introduced by the telephone booth exploding when that was Brad Byrd as the voice of
27:11
the recording the mister hunt you must choose your mission. And it's already kind
27:18
of showing like you know, IMF doesn't really have the full budget right now,
27:22
like things are getting a little rusty and a little this is the Russian
27:26
budget. That's what I take it as. Yeah, this phone's been here
27:30
since nineteen sixty two. We're lucky it's still working. It's been blown up
27:34
a few too many times. But I love the KREMNSTI. I love the
27:40
hallway sequence. It is such and that's the best thing I think about Mission
27:45
Impossible movies in general, from the show to the movies or anything. Anytime
27:49
you just ride that edge of technology where you're like, I know this doesn't
27:56
exist, but I could see someone inventing it, like and it's like just
28:00
there and and you're like, okay, it's a camera and a computer program
28:06
that does parallax and it and it films the screen and it puts it on
28:10
a short throw kind of like you know, microreld whatever projector like we obviously
28:15
don't have that technology, but it's almost there, like you buy that the
28:18
IMF has it. It's almost like the volume in the Mandalorian where it's like
28:23
a more advanced in the pocket kind of version but like and fabric yeah yeah,
28:33
but yeah and just and again just that scene, it's like there's tension,
28:37
like they're they're quiet, they can't make a sound and um, and
28:41
then you start to get the curveballs of the other you know team there,
28:45
which made me think of the first movie where there was the other IMF team
28:51
that he recognizes, you know that, where he's like the other IMF team.
28:55
So, so, okay, you speaking of someone else going something else
28:59
going on. I want to I want to mention this real quick. Okay.
29:03
So in the first one, like Ethan Hunt is on the run after
29:07
the first set piece, full time okay. So in the second one,
29:11
he's a full fledged agent, you know, not a rogue whatsoever, ghost
29:15
protocol you know, he don't they don't have IMF backup. He's on the
29:18
run, So rogue nation again, IMF is is out and they're on the
29:23
run, and then you have fallout and um, like they're being watched but
29:27
they see I A and if he goes crazy, then um, he'll be
29:32
taken out. So is there a time like is tuned normally like his movie
29:41
Too, the only time when Ethan Hunt is not on the run from his
29:45
own company. And I think they figured out that that's why Too had problems.
29:51
Is you need to have the you need to have the hero have limitations
29:53
placed on him, and and that is that is this movie. That's one
29:59
thing really appreciated about Ghost Protocol is that like there are struggles every single is
30:04
it? Yeah, Like there struggles every single step of the way. Like
30:10
it would have been so easy, just like for him and Brenner again you
30:15
made me do it, Darren, for Brandt to go to the train and
30:18
then just do the retinal scan and then go into the secret hideout. But
30:22
no, like the train was running and they were about to get hit by
30:26
the pillars or whatever, and then they had to get in like like the
30:29
hand thing climbing up the windows one didn't quite work. Like it adds to
30:33
the drama, It adds to the tension, and they don't have backup and
30:37
say they can't get different stuff. This movie sets that apart. It's kind
30:41
of like the falcon not working an empire strikes back. It adds to the
30:45
story. Yes, and because we've mentioned Brandt a couple of times, that's
30:51
one of those things where I think bird, I don't think anybody could have
30:53
really made this work quite right. But the one scene that I think really
31:00
doesn't work that very much, plays like a freshman monologue class, is when
31:07
Renner is giving his history of yeah he is and what happened in the past.
31:11
I skipped that every time I press forward that scene every single time.
31:15
That whole part of the story of like tying back into the previous movies,
31:19
like that didn't need to be there. If that had been if they had
31:22
rewritten from the get go, I don't think they would have had any of
31:26
that. We didn't need this other sidebar of him feeling like he is responsible
31:32
for Hunt's wife's death for ninety percent of the movie. We didn't need that.
31:34
Yeah, and McQuary tried to rework that apparently like that was one of
31:41
those things that was in there and he couldn't take it out. But he
31:45
was the one who was responsible for not having his wife be dead at the
31:49
end like he was. I mean, that was a great like they pull
31:53
it off, but it like like you said, it's a it's a freshman
31:57
monologue. It's it's I mean, that's the only thing that works about it
32:01
though, is the twist, which thankfully you know McCoy was responsible for.
32:07
But that whole storyline, that whole way to put there, they just have
32:10
wrinter cup in, Like he doesn't need to have that connection to Hunt,
32:15
just have him come in. It's awkward, it's weird, and also the
32:17
first time I watched it, I didn't understand it, Like I felt like
32:22
an idiot because I'm just like, wait, what was he doing again?
32:23
Like he was they didn't have him for them because they were merry. I
32:29
don't know, it was weird. I feel like J if JJ had been
32:31
directing this, that we would have seen black and white flashbacks from the previous
32:37
movie of Hunt and his wife, Like would have seen that inner cut as
32:43
he's talking about it, Like did we not see that? I can't remember
32:45
that that wasn't in this movie, right, Okay, But I feel like
32:50
that's something that he would have done, Like maybe at a slightly off frame
32:52
rate or something like that, like just to make it clear that this guy
32:57
has a connection. And it's like yelling that Tom Cruise yo, nah yeah,
33:01
but I again gets you know, we keep saying this, but like
33:07
it gets back to bird. He's got to have such a bulletproof reputation when
33:13
he ushers this through and turns it into a massive hit, and he's coming
33:17
off a ratitui where he did the same thing and the Incredibles he's known for,
33:22
Like, this is one heck of a calling card to have on your
33:27
resume. And I think that most everybody walks out of this thinking, boy,
33:31
that was a really good movie. I really enjoyed it. But what's
33:36
so fascinating to me about it is the fact that he doesn't get tapped after
33:40
this, so like I would like, yeah, I was watching it this
33:45
time, Like, so why wouldn't you bring this guy back? He has
33:50
he has helped, you know. JJ Abrams arguably saves the franchise with three
33:55
by making it a respectable entry. The people enjoy their pleasantly surprised after two.
34:01
Now, movies didn't always make a billion dollars per release, kids,
34:06
so this movie budget one hundred forty five million makes almost seven hundred million.
34:12
That's a great return on an investment. So and he inherits basically a troubled
34:16
production and turns it into that hit where do you see? Like I'm sitting
34:23
here watching it, I'm like, where do I see the shortcomings? Where
34:25
do I see why they don't bring him back for the next one? This
34:32
one? Where see it? Quite land? So I just looked it up
34:37
timeline wise. So the next movie was twenty fifteen, so that's four years
34:40
later. And the next film that brad Bird did was Tomorrowland, which also
34:45
came out in twenty fifteen, So that's what he was doing instead of this.
34:49
And I mean, I know we'll get to it more next week,
34:52
but I Tomorrowland feels like the here's a blank check, you've done so well,
35:00
do whatever you want, and this is the passion project that Brad Bird
35:04
wants to do. Now. I don't true if that's true, but that's
35:07
what that feels like. And maybe that's why he didn't continue on Mission Impossible,
35:12
because he's like, I had three bangers in a row and my blank
35:15
check, so I'm going to do a Disney Tomorrowland movie Like I could see
35:21
him saying that one thing that didn't happen during an interview, like way back
35:25
when this movie was released, or I should say after it was released and
35:30
its success and they were, you know, like it was clear that they
35:31
were going to do a fifth one. A lot of people asked him,
35:34
like, are you going to come back? And like he just kind of
35:37
kept it simple and he said he's like He's like, eh, you know,
35:40
I think it's pretty cool. I'm paraphrasing. I think it's pretty cool
35:44
that they bring it in a different director for each one, you know.
35:46
So it was essentially him. It was essentially him saying I had my run,
35:52
I had my time. Now I'm going to go do different things.
35:53
And he's a mission except for Incredibles too, He's not a sequel guy.
35:59
He's he does something new every single time that he's that he's coming to bat
36:04
Yeah, and I know that. Christopher macquarie when he heard that in the
36:07
interview, he said, Jack Pott, yes, because you know, he
36:14
definitely takes over the whole franchise from this point forward and even works with Cruise
36:16
on Top gutt in Everick. So he's in the Tom Cruise business. If
36:22
anything Muy did Maverick, he was. He was a writer and producer on
36:28
it. I'm pretty sure, Oh he was. Okay, writer and producer.
36:30
You're right, because I could have sworn that the director. He didn't
36:32
direct it. You're right. No, No, it was directed by Kazinski.
36:36
But I'm pretty sure that he was a writer producer on it. Um.
36:39
Yeah, so he was. Yes, he was a writer producer for
36:43
Maverick. And he's the director, writer and producer for the next two Dead
36:47
reckonings. So yes, yeah, so's he's definitely. Well, once you're
36:52
in the Tom Cruise business, if Tom Cruise likes you, you you work
36:57
for a while, you got he makes sure that he takes care you.
37:00
Yeah, takes care of his friends. You gotta respect that about the guy.
37:04
Well, let's let's jump to the big set piece, I mean,
37:07
the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, and you're going outside
37:13
it. This sequence was man and so I'm trying to think so, so
37:17
John, you said you saw the Dark Night treat teaser for right before?
37:22
Okay, so the last the third one, so that came out after Because
37:25
I'm trying to think of other like spectacle movies, around this time, and
37:30
like, I feel like this kind of just took the ball and went home.
37:34
It really did. I mean, he's he's because of Tom's physicality and
37:38
just the obviously there's you know, support wires and safety and all of that,
37:43
of course, but he is literally on the outside of this building.
37:45
It is not like I don't a set in the backyard of some place.
37:50
I don't care what stunt wires you're putting on me or anything like that.
37:54
You get me up on that building and you're like, so, we're gonna
37:58
do this with all these stunt wires. I'm gonna look at you and say,
38:00
no, we're gonna do this with green screen, and you're gonna get
38:05
helicopters you shoot really good plates. I'm not walking out the outside of this
38:08
building. You're insane, because good Lord, the height that you are is
38:15
it like I've done the curvature of the earth high, Like it is so
38:17
high. I've done the thing in the Sears Tower or whatever it's called.
38:22
Now It'll always be the Sears Tower to me. Where you walk out,
38:24
yeah, Sears Tower, and you walk out there and you're in that little
38:29
plexiglass thing and you look down and it's nothing underneath you. And I got
38:34
vertigo. Like I looked down and I was like, oh my god,
38:36
I'm gonna die, and like I had to get out of the clinching,
38:38
didn't it. Yes were recently in in Vegas and we went on the Stratosphere,
38:45
which is crazy high it is. We were on the hundred and eighth
38:50
story like, and we looked down and I'm like, oh, that that
38:53
was the mall we went to yesterday and it looks like a toy, like
38:57
it is so so high. Uh yeah, I'm trying to it's it's taller
39:01
than the space Needle. It's taller than It's one thousand, one hundred forty
39:07
nine feet tall. It's it's crazy how tall that building is. So yeah
39:09
yeah, So now if they is, but it's even taller if they strapped
39:14
stunt wires on, you would you we walk around the outside of it.
39:15
No, I don't think so. No, you can. You can skydive
39:19
off it, but I would never do I would, Oh my god,
39:22
yeah I would. I would think. I would like if they had that
39:24
many wires and protections everything like that, I would do it. I would
39:29
have to be so And it's not just the climbing, because there's the climbing
39:32
scene, but then there's the part where he like John McClane's himself on the
39:37
you know, with the hose down and he's like, my live's too short,
39:44
and then he does the jump spin and and I'm just like no,
39:47
no, no, no, but and it gets me every single time,
39:52
even though I know it's coming, It gets me every single time. And
39:54
this, again, I think is the mark of a good good director and
39:58
and and and writer and everything like that, of not quite making it and
40:04
hitting the upper part of the window frame and going every single time, I
40:09
jump out at my seat going, oh, like, it's so effectively done,
40:15
it's so well cut, it's so perfectly sounded. Everything it's it comes
40:20
together so incredibly perfectly that like that that is. And the thing is it
40:25
gets you to buy in to the insane things that he's doing. It's the
40:31
diehard principle where if you if you put dirt on his shirt and he gets
40:36
a cut on his arm, you're like, oh, well, yeah,
40:37
okay, it's realism. It's realism. Yeah, he's not when it's like
40:44
somebody cracks his knee, he hits the top, and then it's like no,
40:47
what he should have done has been like pop and then he's gone.
40:51
He's he's up. But yeah, it's just like when his knee gets snapped
40:59
side way and he's like, oh, I'm limping, I'm limping. I'm
41:01
like, you know, you're not moving anymore, You're not You're stream down.
41:06
They're screaming. Yeah. So during that sequence, um, apparently you
41:10
know, they of course practiced it for months and they did it in like
41:15
an airplane hanger and did the whole swing around and everything like that. So
41:20
you know, like Brad Bird's up there the you know, some producers up
41:23
some producers are up there and everything like that, and you know Tom Cruise
41:28
is getting ready to do the jump, you know where he swings out,
41:31
you know where he does the die hard thing and swing out and everything like
41:34
that, and they're all like super nervous of course, and they're all you
41:37
know, wearing helmets and whatnot. And then Tom Cruise does the first time
41:42
he does it, he wangs his head right into the into the window and
41:46
they all look at each other like, we are horrible filmmakers. This was
41:51
a horrible decision. What are we doing? Why are we doing this?
41:53
This is stupid, and then you know, Tom Cruise shakes it off because
41:59
he Tom friggin Cruise and then does it a second time and does it perfectly,
42:05
and they're like and they all look at each other going like, yep,
42:07
that's because he's Tom Cruise and we're not. You know, like there's
42:14
honestly, and I know that people have different problems, you know, blah
42:17
blah blah blah, but like Tom Cruise, he has only ever existed in
42:22
this film reality for basically the entire time I've been alive. And it's one
42:29
of those things where his reputation is well learned because he does not understand reality
42:37
the way that the three of us do or anybody listening to this does.
42:40
He Like, there's one of those things where I almost think like he's like
42:44
Pinocchio, where if you turn him into a real boy, he would freak
42:47
out and be like, huh, how does the world work? Like there's
42:52
some sort of like bubble he lives in that is all about Marx and production
42:59
and writing and everything like that that I think that like a normal person wangs
43:02
their head on the window and they're like, oh my, I gotta go
43:06
to the hospital. I gotta do all of those sorts of things. But
43:07
he's so programmed as I missed a mark must redo that. I think there's
43:13
like almost like a part of his brain that's like, you didn't feel anything,
43:16
you have to get the next take you didn't And I think what's gonna
43:20
happen is after they rap on Dead Wreckoning part two, his brain's gonna say,
43:24
oh, you're done. We got decades to catch up on bro,
43:29
and he's gonna like wind up in a hospital bed somewhere, like even in
43:32
rogue nation. In the next one, like he does a huge jump,
43:37
like a huge jump and then misses the ledge just by a little bit and
43:43
shatters his ankle, but he kept on running and they were able to use
43:51
the take, yes, because he had to get the take. And then
43:55
he collapses and it's like, okay, now you can tend to my ankle.
43:59
And then in the next one he's like, oh, well, the
44:01
only way I can do this is if I learned how to fly a helicopter.
44:05
So I'm going to learn how to fly a helicopter. But going back
44:07
to to ghost protocol, like speaking of that stunt, he like the insurance
44:13
company said, we're not going to ensure you for the stunt, and so
44:15
with Tom Cruise thinking, he said, okay, we'll fire the insurance company.
44:19
Then right, I'll answer myself yeah, and then got another insurance company
44:22
that would say, yes, I don't know, I don't know. It's
44:29
it's it's so crazy. I mean, when you think about though, the
44:34
fact that this series becomes known from Ghost Protocol forward as the crazy stunt series
44:42
right right the spectacle, there's a reason that, for instance, a lot
44:46
of people draw, not just me, draw comparisons between like Fast and Furious
44:51
Emission Impossible. They're they're both running about the same time. They're both doing
44:55
the same sort of like crazy over the top stunts. But Fast and Furious
45:00
does exactly what I would do, which is, yeah, you can do
45:01
that with computers, right, whereas Mission Impossible is a much more revered franchise
45:08
because it's well known and I mean, I gotta put the question out there
45:14
as much as possible. He's doing everything, But is it really I mean
45:17
I think yes, it is in fact that noticeable that it's not fake,
45:22
because like when the Kremlin blows up, you're like, you look at it,
45:24
You're like, eh, yeah, it looks like CG. Yeah,
45:28
that's a panoramic CG. Yeah yeah, and uh but well, I mean,
45:31
why didn't they go through the effort of blowing up the actual kremlin,
45:35
you know, like it's just like, don't half fast things, guys.
45:37
Yeah, I know, right, like go in for a penny, in
45:39
for a pound, let's go all the way here. But it's, um,
45:43
it is something to be said. I mean, I'm I'm a big
45:45
defender of using CG. I don't mind it. I like it, and
45:49
when it's done well, it's terrific. But this really is a testament to
45:52
the fact that audiences appreciate it when the real stunts happen. Yeah, you
45:58
know your your brain that you know it or not. Your brain recognizes the
46:01
difference, and we can go on and it's just like how your mind can
46:06
recognize a CG character. Still there's like those million tiny micro movements in the
46:10
face that we pick up on as real or not. And it's the same
46:15
I think for visual effects that you know, even if they're painting out a
46:19
safety wire or whatever, like we can tell like this is this is real,
46:23
like and it's it's a it's thrilling, it's really thrilling. Um,
46:29
all right, as we as we're round in a third in this movie.
46:32
Yeah, the the end like it does kind of get away from itself.
46:37
The plot is very much like, well, okay, we have to get
46:39
the code and we have to stop the satellite, but we have to do
46:43
that. Like there's a lot that happens in that third act, like it
46:45
is like go boom boom, boom, boom boom and um. And then
46:50
you have the parking lot or the parking garage scene, which I still think
46:53
it's hilarious where he's like, well, fastest way to get to the bottom,
46:59
buckle up and trust the airbags. I'm like, not world, that
47:04
was the safest option. Yeah, is like this is the guy who read
47:07
light green lights a fish tank to get away, Like this is this is
47:10
exactly what he does as somebody who recently went through a you know, getting
47:16
rear ended. Um, I can tell you that. Just the way he
47:22
gets out of that car, I'm kind of like, uh, I don't
47:23
know, does it seems like he's been kicked out? Remember yeah, it's
47:29
still yeah. And then in the final scene he's just walked around. He's
47:32
like, oh, yeah, he's had time to heal I'm like no,
47:35
no, no, no, no, you're in traction for a long time,
47:37
bro, Like you're like hospital, there's a lot happening. Yeah,
47:42
do you guys, I mean slight sidebar, do you guys feel the French
47:45
Inspector Like did was that a lot of convoluting because like I got why it
47:50
was there, but kind of thinking about it, like it's a lot to
47:53
put in this side character that he didn't really need someone who is also chasing
47:59
him down, like the bad Rusian Inspector. That's why I'm at the Russian
48:02
Inspector. Yeah, I was fine with it. I don't think wasn't terrible,
48:07
but it's just one more thing. Yeah, it was one more thing
48:10
that didn't need to be there. But at the same time, I don't
48:14
think it detracted from anything. I guess the other fact of he's really passive,
48:20
Like nothing he does. I mean, I know he like handcuffs him
48:22
in the hospital, but really nothing the Inspector does impacts Hunt at all.
48:27
I mean, I think that he's a useful plot device, and I don't
48:31
have a problem with that per se. I think that he's a useful plot
48:36
device in the sense that he shows up at the right times to complicate a
48:39
situation so that Ethan can you know, get out of this. They're yeah,
48:45
yeah, that's true. Um yeah, and then you know, Benji's
48:49
really good at rewiring stuff and h yeah. And again, the end of
48:55
this movie is on a railroad train just going. It's like Benji's doing this
49:01
and he's doing that, and we're seeing a missile literally come into reentry and
49:07
we're kind of, you know, hit the button. Mission accomplished, which
49:10
is just hilarious. Like I love that they they like fourth wall break,
49:14
like you actually said that, Like it's because they know it's crazy. I
49:21
do love that that happened, because like it's so crazy that he said that,
49:23
and it's so jokey. It's so jokey. Us the Mission Impossible theme
49:29
right at that moment, and it's just yeah. But the thing is,
49:31
though, is that Mission Impossible movies don't know how to end. They don't
49:37
know how to end. This is probably one of the worst offenders. I
49:42
know. I take that back. I take that back. Mission Impossible three
49:45
is the worst offender of not knowing how to end, because like ving Rahim's
49:49
like, you know, air guns in the sky and like they just show
49:52
his fiance, I am. They kind of don't know how to end,
49:57
You're right, and like ghost protocol, everybody's there and they're just like fake
50:00
laughing, Like wasn't that a crazy time? We just add these died.
50:07
They totally could have died. It's like, yeah, yeah, we know,
50:09
we know, we watch yeah except for Zard Yeah, Like this is
50:15
a common thing in Mission Possible films, Like even in the first one,
50:19
like they end it with Ving rhimes on, like in him having a beer
50:22
at a table. You know, Like this feels weird, and I mean
50:27
the part where he goes into the smoke and disappears as cool, But it
50:30
doesn't mean that you didn't have that lead up scene of you know, Fisherman's
50:34
wharf like debrief, which is so weird. Yeah, it's you know,
50:39
I don't mind the debrief so much as I think that the ending is an
50:45
animated movie ending of the hero walking into the cloud and literally disappearing felt a
50:53
little a little more animated than Lie. The Mission Possible does that a lot
50:59
though, Like in the first one, you know, the very end is
51:00
him on the plane and gets the new mission, you know, and he's
51:05
watching the new tape, you know, like that's usually how they really have
51:08
the end piece where the next mission is always coming. Um. Yeah,
51:14
I'm trying to think how the show's ended. I think they literally just this
51:17
is like the era of like the freeze frame, you know, like the
51:22
oh everybody, I really expected them to like all high five and freeze frame,
51:27
and then the credits were going to roll. Oh man uh and then
51:30
we kick into the the one saving grace of the earlier movies with the rock
51:37
version of Mission Impossible, you know, playing you know. Speaking of the
51:44
score, I'm I'm going to go out on a limb here. I'm gonna
51:45
say that that I don't think that Giacchino did a particularly exceptional job with the
51:52
score on this. I think he does fine, but I don't. I
51:55
don't enjoy his interpretation of the Mission Possible theme as much as some other conductors
52:00
or I'm sorry composers and conductors, but like its just something about it is
52:06
good but not great. And I mean, did you guys fall into that
52:09
same camp? I would say I kind of have the same feeling. It
52:15
feels. Honestly, if I just did a still down Mission Impossible ghost protocol.
52:21
It's the essence of what the show was in story plot, pacing music,
52:28
but on a big movie budget. So really that I mean, that's
52:31
what the theme the score was. You had the main theme, you had
52:35
the little riffs like they had a lot of little riffs like they have in
52:38
the show where they'll kind of have like the secondary music playing. You had
52:45
the you know, the Middle Eastern riff, and you had the Mumbai riff,
52:49
and the you know, the score. I mean again, comparing to
52:52
things like The Incredibles and even Ratatui, it's like it's night and day,
52:58
like it is not his best best work and it's not terrible. It's you
53:04
know, he's He's definitely been paired with bird a lot at this point.
53:07
But that's that's how I feel. It's kind of like TV show plus.
53:13
And maybe that's doing a disservice, but it's it. It kind of has
53:16
that vibe. Overall. Giacchino does great work with scores in general. I
53:22
just didn't think that his style meshed particularly well with with what they're going for
53:29
here. I think what you're saying where it's uh, it's it's a little
53:35
bit television plus. I think that works as a criticism in the sense that
53:39
this feels like a score for uh, you know, like a smaller scale
53:45
Mission Impossible movie. Okay, right, yeah, Like it's not. It
53:50
doesn't like that radios thing moment. Yeah, it's it's kind of playing it
53:55
safe, right, Like I look at what Lauren Bauf did with Mission Impossible
54:00
Fallout, and that's like one of my favorite Mission Impossible scores, and I
54:06
and specifically because I love how he uses the Mission Impossible theme in it,
54:10
and it's one of my favorite treatments of that theme, and so like I
54:14
would look at that, and I would say, if people are trying to
54:15
look for where my criticism is coming from, where the score is fine but
54:21
it's not great, Mission Impossible Fallout I think is a great Mission Impossible score,
54:27
whereas this is good. It does its job, but it's not there's
54:30
nothing particularly outstanding about it, all right, any other things we missed or
54:35
will cover him in final wrap up? Bird I think made the right call
54:40
to follow his passion project after this because I look at Ghost Protocol, and
54:46
while I enjoyed it and while I remembered it, there's nothing. I mean,
54:51
the opening credit sequence is the only one where I can point to it
54:54
and say I see some brad Bird in here. The rest of it very
55:00
very much feels like a an old school movie in the sense that the director
55:05
didn't have a personal style stamp on it. Am I wrong in that?
55:09
Do you see any anything outside of that opening fuselit sequence where you see like
55:15
a brad Bird film, which is hard because his first live action Yeah,
55:21
I mean that that's hard. That might be a little bit of an unfair
55:23
question because this is his live action debut. Like maybe after we see Tomorrowland,
55:30
I would say maybe he handles playfulness. I say, the little moments
55:34
that are playful, like like the fact that the you know, phone booth
55:37
doesn't fully explode and he's got to like whack it like that. Just feel
55:44
that only Bradbird can do playful comedy. Like I'm not saying that, but
55:49
I feel like he Bradbird's also kind of a hard one to nail for,
55:54
Like you said, the overall like look, because honestly, his strongest suit
56:01
is landing the dang plane and juggling all the script rewrites and the casting and
56:07
the crazy stunts and the budget and all of that. Like he's just a
56:13
workhorse director. But I think, but especially what Tristan was saying, it's
56:19
like the first one after an animated career. It's like, how do you
56:24
what is his live action style? Does he even have one? Like?
56:29
You know, that'll be really interesting to compare with Tomorrowland. I agree,
56:32
all right, your missions, you choose to accept it. John, how
56:37
many how many prison rocks do you do? You give? Mission a possible
56:45
ghost producol or any final thoughts? I will give it a four to solid
56:51
four. I enjoy this film. I don't love this film. I think
56:53
it's a little long. I think that the opening and the ending are a
56:57
little clunky, and I think that probably they would not have been if they
57:01
didn't have the aforementioned sort of writing and production difficulties that we talked about.
57:08
So I would go ahead and give it a solid four for the fourth entry
57:14
of the Mission Impossible series. And Tristan, how many Burge Khalifa skydives would
57:21
you give it for the fourth installment of Mission Impossible? I'm with John.
57:27
I'm giving this a solid four. This is a great Mission Impossible film.
57:30
This is the beginning of the modern era. This is we have some great
57:36
moments, some great set pieces. You know, a clunky script here and
57:40
there I don't think. I don't think it's overly long, you know,
57:45
especially not compared to fall Out, which is thirty minutes too long. This
57:50
is out of the six Mission Possible films that I've seen, this is number
57:54
three on my list. Yeah, though, this was a fun discussion because
58:00
we kind of got to touch on this whole franchise in a way which we
58:02
don't rarely get to do unless we're doing something special. Yeah, jumping in
58:07
on this one. Like I said, it's is probably one of my favorite
58:10
Mission Impossible movies. Yes, does it have its flaws. It does.
58:15
Maybe a little bit of it is nostalgia lens is. I'm also going to
58:20
give it a solid four. I kind of initially wanted to give it a
58:22
five just because it's like my favorite, but then the more I kind of
58:25
thought about, like, but there are also some stuff that the next,
58:29
the later ones do even better, Like maybe it was so such a great
58:35
like offering after the first three that we were like, oh my gosh,
58:38
this franchise can be amazing, and look what it can achieve, and then
58:45
it took it even farther. So it definitely has a lot to say for
58:49
it. For ushering in this new era, but it does have Yeah,
58:54
I'm really kind of curious what a completely one Brad from script to screen would
59:01
have been like. If he had brought in Macquarie and they're like, we're
59:06
gonna make a mission impossible. I love the show as a kid, and
59:08
we're gonna do it like that could have been really interesting. Obviously, you
59:12
have Tom Cruise's input and other you know, factors, of course, because
59:15
he is the franchise. But so four us all around for a mission impossible
59:22
ghost protocol. Next week on the bird House, we're going to as we've
59:28
asked for mentioned possibly Bradbird's passion project, his blank check as it was that
59:35
he received after Ghost Protocol. But tune in next week. Mission accomplished,
59:42
Joined the Revolution, Joined the Net Party.