Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

[Anyong Bluth]

I didn't see a thread for it, and it opens Friday.

I really enjoyed 4. I thought they did a nice job of retooling things to keep it entertaining with some good laughs and a pretty good plot that had very good set action pieces.

Anyway, I just saw this. You'll see in the trailer a part where Cruise is holding onto the side of a plane taking off.

You figure it is just a green screen effect done in post production. Nope.

I'll hand it to Cruise on this one. It takes balls to hang onto the side of an airplane taking off as it climbs and is going 185+ mph.



https://youtu.be/gOW_azQbOjw

https://youtu.be/F-qBD17wwrQ

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/25/entert...ise/index.html

Wade Eastwood's mission was to dangle megastar Tom Cruise from the outside of an aircraft in midflight -- dressed in a business suit.
Even for the veteran stunt coordinator, it sounded over-the-top.

"It's one of those conversations where everyone looks at each other and goes 'oh f**k,'" Eastwood said. "And Tom smiles and says 'it's going to be fun.'"

Two months later, Cruise would be running atop the wing of an Airbus A400M, clutching its side as it rose into the sky above the Wittering airbase in Northern England.

But the scene, which has become the signature of "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" and viewed by millions on YouTube before the film's Friday release, almost never happened. Airbus rejected the ambitious proposal, Eastwood says, because the aircraft used in the scene is new and was still being tested.

Their counteroffer, according to Eastwood: "Maybe when it's stopped on the ground you can look out the window."

Cruise wasn't flashing that signature grin.

After brainstorming other options for the plane, Cruise told Eastwood "I just want to be on the outside of that plane, go back and pitch them again."

Tom Cruise: 'Most dangerous thing I've ever done'
Tom Cruise: 'Most dangerous thing I've ever done' 02:03
This time, Eastwood — a pilot himself — drew up plans that would ensure Cruise would face as little danger as possible. They included a plan for getting the star inside the aircraft in an emergency, which involved a safety harness worn under his suit and a special rig just inside the plane's door.
"We did a lot of tests with dummies and everything went according to plan," Eastwood said. "The next thing was the plane landed in England and they [Airbus] literally threw the keys at us and said, 'OK.'"
But all wasn't OK — yet. Cruise still had to act while braving 185-mph winds, turning even small particles into dangerous debris.
The actor was opposed to wearing goggles, which would prevent the fear in his face from coming through on screen. Instead, the crew put a protective coating over his eye balls, similar to thick contact lenses, keeping his eyes safe from small debris and allowing them to stay open through the punishing wind.
The next problem was Cruise's safety harness. Though it was keeping him alive, its constricting nature was preventing him from using his body to act.
"I feel like a puppet," Eastwood recalls Cruise saying. "I won't be able to sell the fear."
The crew added slack to the line, meaning that if Cruise lost his grip on the side of the plane he actually would have fallen several feet before the harness saved him.
"[In the scene] his feet slip off the plane and he really is holding on for his life," Eastwood said. The handles Cruise clutches are actually panels used to cut down on turbulence as paratroopers exit the military aircraft.
Confident that the stunt was as safe as possible, Eastwood says there was only one thing that still scared him: birds. No safety measure could stop a bird strike, but they minimized the risk by dispersing birds from around the airport and putting a spotter in the cockpit.
Then came the take-off, which posed another threat to Cruise. To get the shot the plane had to rise at an angle more akin to an airshow take off.
"The shot was far more effective seeing the runway shrink," Eastwood said. "This meant a high G-load on Tom," he added, referring to the gravitational force that adds weight and makes it harder to maintain balance.
Cruise and his crew repeated the stunt eight times to get the shots that made it into the film. No one was hurt, and Eastwood calls it one of his "all time greats."
But there was little time to celebrate. There were more stunts to come, like one that requires Cruise to hold his breath under water for six minutes.
"Time to start panicking about the next one," Eastwood said.

[Anyong Bluth]

Rumor has it Doug Liman is at the top of the list for 6.

He and Cruise have a great working relationship on projects.

After the success of this one- the 3rd largest opening weekend for a Tom Cruise film ever - my guess is this gets bumped up to shoot 6 next summer. The sequel to Edge of Tomorrow was / is planned for filming then.

What is pretty cool is that Cruise stood by Edge even though it wasn't a box office smash, and is fronting a major part of the money to make the sequel.
It's poetic justice that Edge has built a cult following since it's home release, and the follow-up will have a ton of people anticipating to see it.

Only in America does a movie that cost $200 million to make and subsequently reviewed very highly but panned as a flop because it only made $100 million more than it cost to make domestically. Then subsequently gain renewed interest and cult status after it hit blu ray and the premium cable channels.

[Deberg_1990]

Id like to see more Jack Reacher. I truly enjoyed that film.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Id like to see more Jack Reacher. I truly enjoyed that film.

Jack Reacher 2 is in pre-production. I've still never seen it.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Anyong Bluth

It's poetic justice that Edge has built a cult following since it's home release, and the follow-up will have a ton of people anticipating to see it.

I caught Edge of Tomorrow on HBO earlier this year and have watched it a couple of times since. I enjoyed it very much, despite the fact that it was a blatant ripoff of Ground Hog Day, albeit, in a different setting.

That said, the film's title and marketing was very confusing, which led to lower box office receipts. It's pretty obvious that the ticket buying public has no issue with Tom Cruise, as his films consistently perform well, despite what people think about his private life.

I know that Cruise has indicated that he has an idea for a sequel but it's unlikely the studio will provide a budget much over $125 million, so it'll definitely need to be much smaller in scale, which might defeat the purpose.

[Deberg_1990]

I know Cruise has said that he'd be open to a Top Gun 2

I'm just not sure if that would work? That films appeal is its cornball machoism. It's such a product of its time and era.

But why knows? Honestly Michael Bay would be perfect for it.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

I know Cruise has said that he'd be open to a Top Gun 2

I'm just not sure if that would work? That films appeal is its cornball machoism. It's such a product of its time and era.

But why knows? Honestly Michael Bay would be perfect for it.

Top Gun 2 is in pre-production as well. It hasn't been greenlit but the process has begun.

I'm not sure how it will work conceptually but I'm sure there will be plenty of people lining up to see it.

I think it's more likely that a Christopher McQuarry or Doug Liman is more suited to direct than Michael Bay.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Jack Reacher 2 is in pre-production. I've still never seen it.

Jack Reacher was a surprise movie. Very enjoyable, and Cruise did a great job as the do-gooder hero, and the storyline was smart. For me, Reacher was kind of the 180 degree reflection of the character he played in Collateral - same guy, only one was very bad and the other very good. I think you'll enjoy this movie very much.

Plus Rosamund Pike adds tasty eye candy.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Plus Rosamund Pike adds tasty eye candy.

She is indeed a hottie. I'll definitely catch Jack Reacher at some point.

[RobBlake]

i give it to cruise.. he's played a lot of action heroes and each one is unique

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I caught Edge of Tomorrow on HBO earlier this year and have watched it a couple of times since. I enjoyed it very much, despite the fact that it was a blatant ripoff of Ground Hog Day, albeit, in a different setting.

That said, the film's title and marketing was very confusing, which led to lower box office receipts. It's pretty obvious that the ticket buying public has no issue with Tom Cruise, as his films consistently perform well, despite what people think about his private life.

I know that Cruise has indicated that he has an idea for a sequel but it's unlikely the studio will provide a budget much over $125 million, so it'll definitely need to be much smaller in scale, which might defeat the purpose.

If the sequel just explains the last 90 seconds of that movie for me, then it's money well spent.

I've watched that ending several times over now and for the life of me cannot figure out WTF just happened and why. There's a serious continuity issue there.

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

If the sequel just explains the last 90 seconds of that movie for me, then it's money well spent.

I've watched that ending several times over now and for the life of me cannot figure out WTF just happened and why. There's a serious continuity issue there.

Agree to disagree. One of the reasons why the movie holds up is it doesn't get sloppy with the time shift paradigm. Perfect? No, but we're already dealing with a situation where it's far easier to screw up than make a clever story line without a snag in the premise.


Another movie I think that got understold was Oblivion. I can see it not being for everyone because it can be slower in some parts of the story, but I enjoyed it and it's visually gorgeous.

If The Martian is faithful to the book, a number of people are going to complain it drags in parts, too.

I think audiences today are sometimes too inpatient. I am fully in agreement with understanding the fine nuance of a scene going long and in need of an edit. I am talking about complaints about textual scenes that aren't vital to the story arc in a central manner. They can provide depth and context to the environment- not everything has to be as lean as possible as if you are being served up just the highlights of the central story.

Take the Watchmen, the graphic novel not the movie. There's tons that make it unique and a generational classic. So much omitted from the film left it lacking in the uniqueness of it's universe. There's plenty to criticize or compliment about that film, but it starts with trying to fit it into a single film.

Another great example would be trying to adapt King's The Stand into one film. That book has had more start and stop projects in Hollywood over the past couple of decades than you can believe.
They either try to condense it and lose the amazing story from the book, and every time they look at a series or multiple films the production costs estimated scare the shit out of everyone.
It's one of my very favorite books and I'm not an epic King fanatic, but I have always wanted to see a proper adaptation for the screen done, but won't hold my breath. The other 2 King stories that would make interesting films would be 11/22/63, and Joyland.

Back to Cruise's choices for roles. Again, give him credit for his sci-fi choices because his last 2 movies were stories adapted from 2 of the more prolific sci-fi authors of the last few decades.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

If the sequel just explains the last 90 seconds of that movie for me, then it's money well spent.

I've watched that ending several times over now and for the life of me cannot figure out WTF just happened and why. There's a serious continuity issue there.

It's just like Groundhog Day:

The Omega is destroyed, Cruise wakes up in a post-Omega world, everyone treats him with respect because clearly, the events that caused him to end up on the base as a soldier didn't occur the night before. Once he sees Emily Blunt's character, she doesn't recognize him yet he knows everything about her, just like Bill Murray's character in Ground Hog.

The end game wasn't to destroy the Omega, it was to fall in love with the female lead.

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

It's just like Groundhog Day:

The Omega is destroyed, Cruise wakes up in a post-Omega world, everyone treats him with respect because clearly, the events that caused him to end up on the base as a soldier didn't occur the night before. Once he sees Emily Blunt's character, she doesn't recognize him yet he knows everything about her, just like Bill Murray's character in Ground Hog.

The end game wasn't to destroy the Omega, it was to fall in love with the female lead.

I'd be interested in reading the first treatment they adapted to a screenplay before Cruise, Liman, and McQuarrie came aboard. Before then it was a Brad Pitt featured project and titled We Mortals Are.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

It's just like Groundhog Day:

The Omega is destroyed, Cruise wakes up in a post-Omega world, everyone treats him with respect because clearly, the events that caused him to end up on the base as a soldier didn't occur the night before. Once he sees Emily Blunt's character, she doesn't recognize him yet he knows everything about her, just like Bill Murray's character in Ground Hog.

The end game wasn't to destroy the Omega, it was to fall in love with the female lead.

But not ENTIRELY.

Remember, the movie cites an 'event below the Louvre' as being the catalyst which killed all the Mimics - The Louvre is where the Omega was killed during J-Squad's raid so we're to believe that that 'event' still occurred.

That's the problem. It's not that he jumped back to a previous 'stop' point -(though the raid happened AFTER the 'Maggot' scene; so it's still a bit of an oddity that he didn't go back to that spot), it's that not ALL events were re-set. Even if we were to assume that Cruise is alive because he got bled on when he killed the Omega and that's what re-set things...why is J Squad alive? Killing the Omega at a later point in time shouldn't have blinked the Omega out of existence at an EARLIER point...it never did with anything else.

The best I can come up with is that Cruise became the Omega by killing to Omega. And when that happened, his power DID serve to essentially blink the Omega out of existence. And it wasn't J-Squad's raid that killed the Omega, but rather whatever paradox that was created by Cruise going back into a new loop. The Omega was ALWAYS below the Louvre even before the raid so the 'incident' being referred to is that paradox killing the Omega where he stood.

It still felt like they got fast and loose with their own rules to force a 'happy' ending into place. I still really enjoyed it though - very good flick.

[RobBlake]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

But not ENTIRELY.

Remember, the movie cites an 'event below the Louvre' as being the catalyst which killed all the Mimics - The Louvre is where the Omega was killed during J-Squad's raid so we're to believe that that 'event' still occurred.

That's the problem. It's not that he jumped back to a previous 'stop' point -(though the raid happened AFTER the 'Maggot' scene; so it's still a bit of an oddity that he didn't go back to that spot), it's that not ALL events were re-set. Even if we were to assume that Cruise is alive because he got bled on when he killed the Omega and that's what re-set things...why is J Squad alive? Killing the Omega at a later point in time shouldn't have blinked the Omega out of existence at an EARLIER point...it never did with anything else.

The best I can come up with is that Cruise became the Omega by killing to Omega. And when that happened, his power DID serve to essentially blink the Omega out of existence. And it wasn't J-Squad's raid that killed the Omega, but rather whatever paradox that was created by Cruise going back into a new loop. The Omega was ALWAYS below the Louvre even before the raid so the 'incident' being referred to is that paradox killing the Omega where he stood.

It still felt like they got fast and loose with their own rules to force a 'happy' ending into place. I still really enjoyed it though - very good flick.

I agree. I think we will find the answer if everything goes as planned and they make the second one. Tom pulled off his character nicely