Ep. 22 - Missions Impossibles! Part 4

This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] J.J.: Boy, do I have a tale for you. Okay. Also, good morning. It's morning for me anyway, and we don't usually record in the morning.

[0:12] Olaf: No, so hopefully our voices are warmed up because, well now I've been up, it's like 12:15 in the afternoon for me, so I've been up for a couple hours already.

[0:22] J.J.: So you have a tale.

[0:23] Olaf: Yes, I have a story to tell. On a previous episode, it was our very first Guilty Pleasures episode. One of the Guilty Pleasure movies that I brought up was Congo.

[0:36] J.J.: Yes, I remember.

[0:37] Olaf: Yeah, great movie. In that episode, and not just for the episode, but just me in general, in my heart, Ernie Hudson, best character in the movie. Hands down. And I always said that if I had ever run into him, if I'd ever had the chance to ask him a question, I would have not asked him about Ghostbusters.

[0:52] J.J.: Everybody asks him about Ghostbusters. Why not?

[1:05] Olaf: It's Ghostbusters. It's amazing. And he's probably like, I get it. Do I want to answer the same questions over and over and over about Ghostbusters? No, but I appreciate the fans. Side note, the actor who played Biff Tannen in Back to the Future, he got so tired of all of the same questions that he wrote his own song about it.

[1:20] J.J.: Yeah, I've seen that. It's hilarious. It's very funny. So if you get a chance, check that out. It's on YouTube. It's easy to find. But anyway, back to Ernie Hudson. I have always just known in my heart that he would appreciate being asked about Congo.

[1:42] Olaf: Well, he would definitely be surprised because I don't know if anybody would ever ask him about that movie, except why do you do it?

[1:55] J.J.: Exactly. That would be a dream of mine.

[2:02] Olaf: Oh, I think I know where this is going. I'm really going to be excited. I'll be really disappointed if it's not where I think it's going. So cut to now and I'm at work and a good friend of mine. She's a big nerd. She's into movies and all of that. She is like, well, I'm taking a few days off next week to go to this Comic-Con in Salt Lake City.

[2:27] J.J.: I'm like, oh, cool.

[2:30] Olaf: She's like, yeah, so-and-so is going to be here. I'm going to meet with this person. I'm going to meet with this person. And I'm also going to be in a panel with Ernie Hudson and the actress who plays Egon's granddaughter from the new movies.

[2:36] J.J.: Oh, yeah. McKenna Grace.

[2:42] Olaf: And I'm like, Ernie Hudson? And she goes, yeah, yeah. I was going to see if I could ask a question. Is there a question you would ask? And I go, let me tell you something. I've got a whole list and it has nothing to do with Ghostbusters.

[3:01] J.J.: So I explain my story of I would just ask about Congo.

[3:07] Olaf: OK, so just for the sake of nobody can see the excitement on your face like I can. But let me just say, OK, so you're at the Comic-Con and they go, OK, you in the back, the bald gentleman, you have a question for Mr. Hudson. What's that question?

[3:14] J.J.: Yes, you go ahead.

[3:15] Olaf: I would stand up, look him dead in the eye. Congo, you're the best character in that movie. You made that movie. You were so fun to watch. Why was there not a follow-up spin-off just with your character and his adventures? That's what I would. My follow-up would be. And if they decided to do it, would you be interested in doing it now and see what he would say? Because that'd be interesting to see if he would still want to.

[3:46] J.J.: I mean, I don't think he would if the script were good. I think he's at an age where he's like, I'm not going through the jungle.

[3:50] Olaf: It doesn't have to be the jungle. Maybe he's in the desert in Egypt or it could be very Indiana Jones-esque, but not, you know, it'd be a very second, third tier type of adventure. You don't have to be in the jungle. Maybe he's doing a national treasure type thing in the city somewhere.

[4:06] J.J.: Well, my friend was like, OK, OK, I'll try to ask it just like that. Whatever, whatever. Try to get a video. Why don't you?

[4:18] Olaf: Sure. And that was that. And then this week comes. She's not at work. So I'm like, oh, yeah, she went to her. So there's so when is this thing? Is this like now? Is it like today?

[4:30] J.J.: Yes. It's happening. I think this is the third day or so.

[4:37] Olaf: OK. I suddenly get a text message at work with a video attachment and she goes, did I do OK? Yes. And I watched the video and she's standing up at a microphone and I think she had a quick little pleasantry or something. And then she goes, Congo.

[4:56] J.J.: Yes. Your character was fantastic. It made the movie. Was there ever consideration? Did anyone ever consider doing a spinoff of your character from the movie because you were so good at it?

[5:11] Olaf: And the camera pans over and Ernie's like, wow, yeah, it was considered by me. Yeah. And he just kind of goes on and says, I had so much fun making that movie and playing that character. And thank you so much for asking that question. I really appreciate it. And it's just it's a short little video, but you can tell that he's just completely like kind of taken off guard by it and pleasantly so.

[5:43] J.J.: And I think it made his night.

[5:52] Olaf: It's such the pride slash satisfaction on your face that.

[5:58] J.J.: Oh, no.

[5:59] Olaf: Oh, so ask this question. This is huge.

[6:03] J.J.: Yeah. So I text her back and I'm like, wow, I can't believe you that you were able to do it. Thank you. I really appreciate it. The fact that you probably sacrificed your own question just to ask this one for me. I owe you one. That's amazing.

[6:09] Olaf: And she writes back and says she was like the second to last question.

[6:16] J.J.: Oh, and she was like, you were right. They were pretty much all Ghostbuster questions.

[6:21] Olaf: Of course.

[6:22] J.J.: And it kind of seemed like he was over it.

[6:29] Olaf: Yeah. Near the end. And I asked my question and it was incredible. And I have felt like Henry Jones senior being told by Indy that he saw the night's tomb and Alex Andretta was correct.

[6:42] J.J.: And he's only dancing around.

[6:50] Olaf: Yeah. I just know you go around knowing something deep in your heart is true when you don't have the proof or the opportunity or the opportunity to like really someone gives you that proof.

[7:01] J.J.: Well, you know, I would think that Ernie Hudson probably gets Ghostbusters and probably a distant, distant second would be the crow.

[7:08] Olaf: So, yeah, I have no doubt that that made his day and he'll carry that one for a while.

[7:17] J.J.: I only wish that you would have had an opportunity to ask him that.

[7:22] Olaf: Yeah. My only regret was that I couldn't have been there to ask the question, but it was asked on my behalf.

[7:28] J.J.: Yeah, I think that's great. And there was I have the video to prove it. And when we air this episode, we will post that video on our Instagram for sure.

[7:36] Olaf: No, I think that's fantastic because I know we could talk about this for a while, but I don't want to get too sidetracked off of what we're actually here to talk about.

[7:45] J.J.: All right. So, we're here for a purpose. We're excited to top off our current Mission Impossible topic. So, having said all that, let's go back to the movie theater.

[8:03] Olaf: So, let's focus on Fallout because this movie is the best one.

[8:20] J.J.: Yes, it is the best in the franchise up to this point and after. It's not just that it's the best Mission Impossible movie, it's just such a solid movie.

[8:35] Olaf: Yeah, I agree. It's so well constructed. It's got everything. I mean, they were like, we're going to put everything into this. We're not going to be clunky about it.

[8:48] J.J.: Right. So, I was being very critical about Rogue Nation because Rogue Nation is still a very solid movie that up to that point could arguably be considered the best one. They just, for me, with Fallout, polished all the rough edges of Rogue Nation and really made this movie the best one.

[9:05] Olaf: My question for you, as a viewer of these movies, as you're going into six and you're watching six, had you like getting spoiled with the stunts? Meaning, are you becoming desensitized to them where you forget that you're watching something insane because we're like used to it now?

[9:21] J.J.: We're used to Tom doing something off the wall and outlandish and completely nonsensical, but in a grounded way, do you feel like, eh? Are we just talking about in general now, present time, or are we talking about at this point in the franchise?

[9:36] Olaf: At this point in the franchise, watching six, because we've already done Burj Khalifa.

[9:41] J.J.: Right.

[9:41] Olaf: We've already done the stuff in the first three movies, but then five, they took it up a notch and they just really went to another level.

[9:45] J.J.: If I really think about it, I think I'm used to and desensitized to just expecting him to do something like that, but I'm still completely edge of my seat, blown away by what I am watching.

[10:01] Olaf: With Fallout, I knew he was going to do something. They promote stuff in the trailers as it's coming out, but watching the movie, the whole movie is just like, oh my gosh, heart pounding, and we get to those big stunts, and he had completely topped himself.

[10:22] J.J.: And the best part, and we'll get to it later, there's something that he accomplished in this movie that I didn't even realize he'd accomplished when I saw the movie. I learned about it when it came out and I was watching the special features, so I had an extra mind-blowing moment with this movie well after it had been in theaters.

[10:41] Olaf: So yeah, that's my answer is I've come to expect those things from him, but I'm still completely blown away by them because they're so just nuts.

[10:55] J.J.: We've got MI6. We didn't have to wait as long for this movie to come out as we've had to wait for previous MI movies. This one came out in 2018.

[11:02] Olaf: It's also, if I'm correct, the longest to date, or at least at this point in the franchise.

[11:11] J.J.: Which it does not feel like at all.

[11:16] Olaf: No, and it also is the first time we have a director returning.

[11:22] J.J.: Correct. It's been a different director every time, and we've had directors who've wanted to come back but just couldn't because of schedules or other movies weren't invited.

[11:27] Olaf: Well, like Brad Bird was asked to do Tomorrowland instead.

[11:35] J.J.: Yeah, regrets.

[11:36] Olaf: So Christopher McQuarrie, he had directed Rogue Nation. Spoiler, he has taken over. He has been the director since. But it's a testament to the connection that Cruise and McHugh have because Tom Cruise was always very adamant about having a different director and a different vision for each movie.

[12:01] J.J.: But at this point in their career, this is like their ninth or tenth collaboration.

[12:07] Olaf: Something like that. They'd collaborated, whether McHugh's in the director's chair or just as a writer, they have collaborated quite a bit on other projects. So they've really developed a great working relationship. So it makes sense and they're firing on all cylinders.

[12:21] J.J.: Oh, completely. This movie is just, we've got new characters and just like what Rogue Nation did when they brought in new characters, they brought in great characters. I mean, solid. You just like, wow, you don't want them to not be in other films because they're so good.

[12:36] Olaf: We get the addition of Angela Bassett, who is now running the CIA because we've got Alec Baldwin's character now in charge of the IMF. He's the secretary now.

[12:51] J.J.: We've got wonderful Michelle Monaghan coming back in a small role. We've got a brand new character, the daughter of Max, the beautiful Vanessa Kirby.

[13:07] Olaf: Just like the previous film, when Rebecca Ferguson shows up, I'm like, who is this? I'm in love.

[13:13] J.J.: And then the amazing Henry Cavill with his shotgun arms and that mustache.

[13:23] Olaf: The mustache that created a controversy.

[13:31] J.J.: Yes. Not his own fault.

[13:32] Olaf: Nope. Not at all. That's a whole different podcast episode.

[13:37] J.J.: No, you're right. They did a really good job of introducing fresh blood to the franchise again, and then marrying that with even more people coming back that have been in, like Alec Baldwin is now, this is his second movie.

[13:50] Olaf: I did miss Jeremy Renner, but this movie was so good on its own. I don't know what he would have been able to contribute anyway.

[13:56] J.J.: Well, that's what he might have gotten lost. And he was almost lost in the fifth one, but because of how they structured the last film, it gave him something to do in this movie.

[14:06] Olaf: It's very firmly established that it's Ethan, Benji and Luther, and it's a good trio. It's like this triangle of a team is perfect because they do a callback to mission one and two with the fake setup of the hospital to get the information out of the bomb maker.

[14:19] J.J.: They sure do, yeah.

[14:23] Olaf: It didn't feel like a recycled bit, because at the time you didn't know, like maybe the bombs did go off and maybe this is-

[14:38] J.J.: And Benji get to actually wear a mask! And it's Wolf Blitzer! Yeah, we got Wolf Blitzer making the big leagues, I'm a movie star now, and yeah, that's fantastic. And that was right before they light the fuse, I mean, all of that happens before the credits even roll, and you're already, we don't have Henry Cavill yet, we don't have Angela Bassett yet, we just have this mission gone wrong, it's like a 20-minute intro, and then we get the credits, and then we're introduced to these new players. The opening scene before lighting the fuse is so big that, in hindsight, it really is foreshadowing just what you're in for, like this movie is going to be huge.

[15:09] Olaf: Oh yeah, absolutely. Okay, so, answer me this question, because riddle me this! It kind of, as a viewer, I'm like, come on guys, why is there always someone in the CIA who doesn't think the IMF is necessary, and this one falls on the shoulders of Angela Bassett's character this time, because has she not been around, has she been, clearly the IMF is, what else do they have to do to prove that they are? Rewatching all of the movies recently, you're right, it's like every movie, someone's like, why do you guys exist, we want to shut you down, every time, and then by the end of it, they're like, oh, okay, I guess we do need you guys.

[16:20] J.J.: And maybe that's why these people never come back, because they've been fired from their job for doubting the IMF, like, you're either with us or against us, Alec Baldwin, you're either going to lose your job, or you're going to be, and he, yeah. It's one of those things where it's like, if I really sit down and try to defend the fact that this keeps happening, I would say that the IMF is just so good at their job that these other government departments don't know what's going on, so they just see reckless spending, and so they're like, we gotta nip the bud in the bud.

[16:52] Olaf: Yeah, that's sprinkled in in the next one, because they do sort of mention them. Yeah, I will say that if I had to complain about something in this movie, the only complaint that I would have is that that trope is getting tired.

[17:06] J.J.: Well, and it's unfortunate, because that lack of trust that the CIA and Angela Bassett's character have for the IMF is a detriment to the IMF, and then us as viewers, because we lose certain characters we should have never lost, you know, without jumping ahead, but it's like, what exactly does the IMF have to do to get some respect around here, because this country and this world that you live in would not exist without them in this world, but I get it.

[17:36] Olaf: Okay, I get it.

[17:38] J.J.: No, it's true, and it's like, how many more times do we have to prove that you need us, and it would be nice to just have films where that's just not part of the plot, because it's just kind of unnecessary. One thing that this movie could have fallen into a trap with is relying too heavily on the set pieces, the stunts, because there are a lot of them.

[18:00] Olaf: Like there's five major set pieces, stunts that are in this movie that are spread out. Then maybe that's why this movie is two and a half hours, because you also have to have a story, but the first big stunt that we get into is one that took over a year, like he had trained over a year to do this one, right after we introduce Angela Bassett, and then Henry Cavill is Angela Bassett's right-hand guy tasked to join Ethan and the team to recover this plutonium, because the CIA does not trust the IMF.

[18:38] J.J.: So here we go, because they need this plutonium, because they don't have a face with a name. All they have is a name, John Lark, right? They're trying to find out who this John Lark is, because he's trying to buy the plutonium. And here's the interesting thing.

[18:53] Olaf: I've seen this movie so many times that the specifics always seem to get lost on me, but it doesn't seem to matter.

[18:59] J.J.: Yeah, watching it again, I was like, okay, I know that this whole John Lark and the plutonium thing gets a little confusing, so I was definitely going to watch with a more attentive eye just on that, so that I want to feel smarter and understand that part, so let me really pay attention to that.

[19:21] Olaf: And it's made more sense because I just focused on that, but at the same time, I'm like, it still makes not a lot of sense, and it is a bit convoluted, but it's such a minor thing with the overall grand picture and plot that you kind of let it slide, because it all kind of works out in a way.

[19:43] J.J.: Yeah, because once you discover who John Lark is and then what he's doing, then everything that we saw to get to that point, you're just kind of sitting back and enjoying the ride, which starts with the halo jump that they make to get into Paris, because they have to get to this party, and they got to do it under the radar, and so Ethan and Walker, who maybe has some skydiving experience, I mean, he's an agent, but they have to do this incredible...

[20:10] Olaf: He seems to have zero skydiving experience.

[20:14] J.J.: Which is why the stunt is insanely difficult, like just in real life. And this stunt was actually performed, and it was shot to look like a continuous shot, but they have told you in special features, it's actually three long shots stitched together, and they had to do it over a few different flights.

[20:37] Olaf: Yeah, there's CGI weather, so there is this element of fake to it, but the stunts themselves, the falling and the skydiving and the halo part of it, are all real. And Tom Cruise trained for an entire year to perform the halo jump, and when Henry Cavill's character gets knocked unconscious...

[21:05] J.J.: Gets struck by lightning.

[21:09] Olaf: Yeah, loses his oxygen, and he has to go rescue him. Rescuing another person in free fall while skydiving is really hard. That takes a guy like over a thousand jumps to get it right, and it's something like 70% of people who try to qualify at the instructor level fail on trying to attempt that, and apparently Tom Cruise only had like 100 jumps to perfect this, and that's crazy.

[21:36] J.J.: Every time they went to shoot this scene, which was the very last shot of the movie, they saved this until the very end, they only had three minutes each time, like for him to jump off the plane, and then the camera, the guy who's... Because remember, we get so spoiled when we're watching this, we're like, well somebody has to be shooting Tom jumping out of the plane, which means somebody was in front of him jumping out of the plane backwards with a film camera attached to their head.

[22:05] Olaf: Not just any film camera, IMAX.

[22:07] J.J.: Right, and the camera guy is having to focus in on Tom manually, he can't... He's having to like do it with his head. He has no viewfinder, he has no idea what the camera is seeing. They had to meticulously plot all of this out on the ground, distances, and they would rehearse and rehearse and rehearse with measuring tape to say, this is so many feet.

[22:32] Olaf: Tom had to get within three feet, and he would even say, he's like, not two and a half, not three and a half, I had to time my fall at three feet so I would be in focus so we wouldn't lose that shot.

[22:45] J.J.: They also had to specially design a helmet. This had never been done before. This helmet did not exist, and it had to be approved by all safety measures through the National Air Police, whatever, and...

[23:03] Olaf: The NAP.

[23:04] J.J.: The National Air Police.

[23:06] Olaf: Yeah, yeah. They're a real thing.

[23:10] J.J.: And this helmet had to approve all of that stuff, plus supply oxygen, plus light Tom Cruise's face.

[23:15] Olaf: And not fog up.

[23:17] J.J.: So they could see him. So everything about this was insane, and this isn't even the most dangerous stunt that he does in the movie.

[23:26] Olaf: This is what I'm saying. This goes back to my first question. It's like, do we get desensitized to these things or that we forget that we're watching something insane? Because this particular stunt, and you're right, this is one of five, and this is the first one that we see in the film.

[23:40] J.J.: Well, as insane as it is and all the effort that goes into it, I think it kind of suffers the same way in the previous film where he's underwater, slightly suffers. It's still heart-pounding. You're still like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

[24:03] Olaf: But because it's surrounded by CG elements, it loses some of that realism.

[24:07] J.J.: It loses some of that, oh my god, this is so insane. You mentioned that in the previous conversation with Rogue Nation. When I watch the underwater, I never ever got pulled out by CG. Yes, some of it was CGI, but the way it shot and the way it looks, to me, it never felt like everything around him was fake.

[24:24] Olaf: Yes, when he steps out to the edge of the plane in this movie and you see the lightning, you're like, there's no way these guys are jumping into this in real life.

[24:33] J.J.: So I knew the storm was fake, but once he jumps out of the plane, the fact that the storm isn't really there never enters my mind because all I'm watching is Tom Cruise just jumped out of this plane, and now he's doing this insane jump for real, and then he's got to save the other character, and then he's got to pull a shoot, and here we go.

[24:54] Olaf: The CGI elements, for me, don't pull me out of it. They don't drop the stunt in any sort of difficulty or appreciation level for me.

[25:03] J.J.: Well, I mean, it doesn't take me out of it, but I recognize, I'll spot it and be like, not real. Not real.

[25:11] Olaf: If they were doing that with the jump, then I would be like, this jump, they filmed in green.

[25:19] J.J.: And that's Tom's point. I want to do these practical because people will know that it's fake.

[25:24] Olaf: Well, yeah, because that's what people have always latched onto. You go back and you look at some of these older movies, they don't have the technology that we have now, and it's all done practically, and they're so much better, and they stand up so much better than a lot of movies do today because everything's CGI.

[25:45] J.J.: It's like, CGI this, everything's fake, and the audience is smarter than some studios give the audience credit for, and the audience recognizes these things, and I think there's CGI fatigue, and I think there's this sadness for a loss of real.

[26:05] Olaf: So when we get things like Mission Impossibles or Top Gun Maverick or a Christopher Nolan movie where everything's done practically, I think that, I mean, A, they also have an incredible story, which I think studios forget to have.

[26:25] J.J.: Sometimes I think they lose sight of the fact that an audience would appreciate a real story over a spectacle, but you see people gravitate towards these movies that have realism. This is where this franchise excels because, to your point, this movie wouldn't be as strong if we knew these stunts weren't done practically or weren't real because that keeps you there.

[26:48] Olaf: Like I said, this is just the first one. We still have some story to get through, and then we get to the next one, you know?

[26:53] J.J.: So we finally get to see Ilsa, we get the unintentional shotgun arms from Henry Cavill in the bathroom.

[27:00] Olaf: Oh my gosh.

[27:02] J.J.: So he apparently improvised the arm gun reload, which, here's the thing.

[27:09] Olaf: When I watched that, yes, it looks very cool. It's very fast, though. I think most fighters would probably be like, okay, that's a little silly, but it never registered to me as like a natural thing.

[27:22] J.J.: To me, it just seemed like I just got my ass kicked and I needed to warm up, a quick little arm stretch before I go.

[27:31] Olaf: Well, he's also wearing this suit shirt. I mean, we're not making excuses for why he does it.

[27:36] J.J.: Yeah, he's just like, I've got to, like you're saying, I just got it handed to me, and I'm shaking that off, and that's how he illustrates it.

[27:43] Olaf: And like I said-

[27:45] J.J.: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[27:46] Olaf: But it just looks so cool.

[27:46] J.J.: Well, sure, and it happened so fast, and it didn't register to me until someone put the shotgun sound effect to it on the meme, and all of a sudden-

[27:54] Olaf: It really became a thing.

[27:56] J.J.: You hear this every time he does it, and you're like, well, of course, he meant to do that. It's obvious now.

[28:04] Olaf: Yeah, and that action side of me just eats it up.

[28:07] J.J.: Oh, yeah.

[28:08] Olaf: It's perfect.

[28:09] J.J.: Absolutely. And that fight in the bathroom is so brutal and raw, and it's great.

[28:15] Olaf: It's really fun.

[28:16] J.J.: Well, and he does a really great job, like Rebecca Ferguson does in the previous film, where you don't know if you're supposed to like him.

[28:21] Olaf: Because prior to that with the Halo jump, he's really trying to push his weight onto the team and go, this is what needs to happen. I'm not going anywhere. But then you get into that fight where he and Ethan are really working together, and for me, I was like, I'm really liking Walker.

[28:40] J.J.: I'm really liking his character.

[28:42] Olaf: Maybe he's good.

[28:44] J.J.: Maybe he's on the right side of things.

[28:47] Olaf: They construct these characters so well that whether they're good or bad, I'm in.

[28:52] J.J.: Sure.

[28:53] Olaf: I never really had a doubt that he was going to be a bad guy.

[28:56] J.J.: No.

[28:57] Olaf: So when it happens, I'm not surprised.

[29:01] J.J.: But if it had turned out that that's just how he is and was actually a good guy, I would have probably gone with that as well.

[29:09] Olaf: Right.

[29:10] J.J.: No, but that's what I'm saying. At that point, I liked him more.

[29:12] Olaf: I'm glad that he was a bad guy.

[29:15] J.J.: Yeah.

[29:16] Olaf: Because he was such a good guy.

[29:17] J.J.: Welcome back to the theater! Today, we’re diving into the best Impossible movie yet, "Mission Impossible: Fallout."

[29:47] Olaf: That's right! This episode is packed with action, and we can’t wait to share our thoughts on it.

[30:17] J.J.: So, let’s kick things off with the plot. What did you think about the storyline?

[30:47] Olaf: I thought it was fantastic! The stakes were higher than ever, and the twists kept me on the edge of my seat.

[31:17] J.J.: Absolutely! The way they built on the previous films while introducing new elements was really impressive.

[31:27] Olaf: And can we talk about the action sequences? They were just mind-blowing!

[31:37] J.J.: For sure! The helicopter chase scene was one of the best I’ve ever seen in a movie.

[31:47] Olaf: And the fight choreography was top-notch. Tom Cruise really puts in the work for these films.

[31:57] J.J.: He does! It’s amazing how dedicated he is to performing his own stunts.

[32:07] Olaf: Speaking of stunts, the bathroom fight scene was brutal and so well executed.

[32:17] J.J.: Right? It felt raw and real, which added to the intensity of the film.

[32:27] Olaf: Plus, the cast was incredible. Henry Cavill brought a whole new level of charisma to his role.

[32:37] J.J.: He really did! His character added a great dynamic to the team.

[32:47] Olaf: And Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust was just as captivating as ever.

[32:57] J.J.: I love her character! She’s such a strong presence in the film.

[33:07] Olaf: Definitely! The chemistry between her and Ethan Hunt is electric.

[33:17] J.J.: Let’s not forget about the villain, though. What did you think of him?

[33:27] Olaf: I thought he was menacing and well-developed. It made the conflict feel more personal.

[33:37] J.J.: Agreed! The stakes felt real, and that’s what made the film so engaging.

[33:47] Olaf: Plus, the pacing was spot on. It kept me hooked from start to finish.

[33:57] J.J.: I couldn’t agree more. It’s one of those films that you just can’t look away from.

[34:07] Olaf: So, what would you rate it?

[34:17] J.J.: I’d give it a solid 9 out of 10. It’s definitely one of my favorites in the franchise.

[34:47] Olaf: I’m right there with you! I’d also give it a 9. It’s action-packed and thrilling!

[34:57] J.J.: Great minds think alike!

[35:07] Olaf: Absolutely! Now, let’s move on to some trivia about the film.

[35:17] J.J.: Sounds good! Did you know that Tom Cruise performed a HALO jump for one of the scenes?

[35:27] Olaf: I did! That’s just insane. He really goes above and beyond for his roles.

[35:37] J.J.: It’s a testament to his commitment to the franchise.

[35:47] Olaf: For sure! And the film’s director, Christopher McQuarrie, really knows how to create tension.

[35:57] J.J.: He does! His vision for this film was spot on.

[36:07] Olaf: I can’t wait to see what he does next with the series.

[36:17] J.J.: Same here! It’s going to be exciting to see where they take the story from here.

[36:27] Olaf: Well, that wraps up our discussion on "Mission Impossible: Fallout."

[36:37] J.J.: Thanks for joining us! Be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media.

[36:47] Olaf: And let us know your thoughts on the film! We’d love to hear from you.

[36:57] J.J.: Until next time, keep enjoying the movies!

[43:56] J.J. Gonzalez: I knew that he was an accomplished pilot, but I've never seen or heard of him flying a helicopter.

[44:06] Olaf Atsit: So, I'm watching this, and with all the action going on and the maneuvers happening, I'm like, yeah, he's in the cockpit, he's moving the stick, you know, there's a guy behind him, like, flying it. And it wasn't until I got the movie and I'm watching the special features that I was told he was flying the helicopter. And not only that, he learned to do it in an insanely short amount of time. The guy that trained him said it was roughly two years of having a conversation, sitting down, starting to learn the basics, and they weren't even sure, like, how quickly he'd be able to do it. But he achieved the ability to fly acrobatics in a short amount of time. Like, about a year. Maybe less. Maybe less.

I mean, it's not so much that. And he's flying in a valley. Yeah, it's not like... Close to the ground. Right, it's not like he's in a desert. No, no, no. There's a lot of different things he's having to avoid. He's flying super close to another helicopter, and then he performed that corkscrew dive in the movie. And to this day, that fact is still the most impressive fact about Tom Cruise and this movie that I've ever heard.

[45:06] J.J. Gonzalez: Well, because he's also... It just blows my mind. Because at this point, they've got, what, four cameras set up. He's directing himself, really, because McHugh isn't directing him at this point. He had no vantage point. He's got nothing. He's directing himself. He's acting. And he's got to fly this thing. And so I would imagine that some of the reactions and things that were filmed are genuine because he's putting himself in these situations, that corkscrew, where he is doing that dive, where the helicopter is yelling at him saying, you got to pull up because you're about to crash. And then he does it because there was one point when he finally levels up. He speaks to McHugh over there. He goes, well, how are you doing over there?

And he was like, you know, because McHugh always thinks this dude's not going to make it. And he goes, yeah, we're not doing good over here. And Tom Cruise goes, well, I guess that's a print. Like, I guess we got it. After I saw that, I was just like, I want... I ate up Top Gun Maverick. And the special features and learning all about that. And the stunts that he does now, I'm just so much more appreciative of because of just that whole thing. You can't learn to fly like that in a helicopter in that amount of time. And he did.

[46:44] Olaf Atsit: Yeah. One of the biggest things I say is like, obviously he wanted to do the stunts practically, like we mentioned before, because he believes the audience will know it's fake if it's done in front of a green screen. OK, I get it. I can totally get behind that. However, now with the technology that is being used on shows like Mandalorian, where they're not in the desert doing... I mean, they've got the big, you know, and I can't remember off the top of my head the technology that it's called, but you're basically in that room where you're getting the whole sort of room screened out to where it feels like you're in. It's very cool. It's amazing. For the most part is fairly seamless. So could they have done that helicopter scene like that?

I don't know. I'm sure. I mean, come on now. I love the scene. I do. But I always feel like he wants to do it because he wants to do it and to say that he did it more than, well, the audience is going to know. I think the idea of being able to push himself, which I can respect completely, is greater than, well, the audience is going to know. I think it's a close second. I'm not saying that Tom doesn't care about the audience. We don't know, because if you ask him, he says it's for the audience.

[47:56] J.J. Gonzalez: Of course. But Tom... I can't look into his mind.

[47:59] Olaf Atsit: No, of course not. And if I did look into his mind, it'd probably be mostly about aliens, aliens, aliens. I'm saying even if we did know, even if we knew it was fake, we would still be on board. We are clearly talking about it, and it clearly makes an impact, much like it's made an impact on you, knowing that he did do it and knowing that he took the time and accomplished it and stuff, for sure.

[48:24] J.J. Gonzalez: But I don't think it would have taken anything away from the stunt or from the story if it had been not done practically, is my...

[48:31] Olaf Atsit: Oh, I think it would have taken a lot away from it, because if you'd shot it in, let's say, that room with all the TV screens and he's just in a shell of a helicopter, we would have known. We've seen enough movies like that to recognize that it's not actually happening. You've got wind machines, blah, blah, blah, blah. But the cameras are there, you see it all, you know it's real. Again, the audience is smart, and the audience never gets enough credit for being smart.

[49:03] J.J. Gonzalez: The other thing that I thought was impressive, too, is Henry Cavill's in the other helicopter.

[49:06] Olaf Atsit: Yeah, but he's just...

[49:07] J.J. Gonzalez: He's in the other one.

[49:08] Olaf Atsit: He just gets to ride along and shoot blanks.

[49:10] J.J. Gonzalez: No, I'm just saying, he's still in there having to follow the other helicopter. It's still pretty... It's such a fun sequence, and finding out later that he had done all of that just amps it up for me and rewatches it.

[49:24] Olaf Atsit: So you're saying of the five stunts that are in this movie, that's number one for you?

[49:29] J.J. Gonzalez: When I found out that he was the one that was flying and what he did to accomplish that, yes.

[49:40] Olaf Atsit: So each one of these stunts have their own elements of difficulty, have their own elements of fun. It's hard for me to look at all five of these. I mean, sure, the rooftop jump is the rooftop jump, and that's, you know.

[49:56] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, and he even says that's the easiest stunt he's ever done.

[49:59] Olaf Atsit: Right, exactly. Even though he shattered his ankle.

[50:02] J.J. Gonzalez: Exactly. And then you have the motorcycle chase through the Arc Triomphe.

[50:06] Olaf Atsit: Right, the Arc Triomphe. It's cool to watch, and they use like, what, 70 stuntmen cars driving around to avoid him.

[50:14] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, I think it's very cool because that was one of those things where they had a limited time. Paris was very... They were like, and then they finally said, sure.

[50:24] Olaf Atsit: Yeah, and the technical feat of going and accomplishing that stunt in the short amount of time with that many people, anything could go wrong. No helmet, he's not wearing a helmet. He's driving his motorcycle, no helmet, high speeds.

[50:37] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah.

[50:38] Olaf Atsit: And it's very impressive, but that still feels not as big as...

[50:43] J.J. Gonzalez: No, the helicopter...

[50:44] Olaf Atsit: The halo jump.

[50:45] J.J. Gonzalez: The halo in the helicopter scene for me. Falling in the helicopter.

[50:49] Olaf Atsit: And then, of course, he and Henry Cavill have their final fight scene on top of a mountain, and you don't know. We get a slight callback to like, oh yeah, he can rock climb because he's done that before in the second movie, and he's able to survive that. And then at that point, you just, sure, if they're going to wait till cut the wire at one second, then you know he's going to pull, he's going to get there.

[51:13] J.J. Gonzalez: What I found impressive about that last scene, not with Henry Cavill and Tom Cruise, but Rebecca Ferguson was like six or seven months pregnant when she was fighting Solomon Lane in the house.

[51:24] Olaf Atsit: Yeah.

[51:25] J.J. Gonzalez: Which is crazy. And what a fight that was too, like with her and Benji and Lane, it's very raw.

[51:32] Olaf Atsit: Yeah.

[51:33] J.J. Gonzalez: And you can almost feel like the ropes choking Benji or restricting her in the chair until she breaks. And when she gets out, the way she gets out of the chair, it just looks so painful. You know, she backs up into the table.

[51:46] Olaf Atsit: Just slams into it.

[51:47] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah. Oh man. And getting to see Solomon Lane fight and still show that he has skill.

[51:54] Olaf Atsit: Yeah, because he hadn't done anything like that in the fifth one. This is like the first time we see him in some sort of physical, he doesn't fight in the fifth one. He's just chasing Tom Cruise until he gets trapped in the box.

[52:04] J.J. Gonzalez: Oh yeah, that's true.

[52:05] Olaf Atsit: So this is the first time we get to see him do that, which I thought was cool.

[52:09] J.J. Gonzalez: Like fight.

[52:10] Olaf Atsit: Yeah, because he fights. And the whole movie, he's mostly handcuffed and just along for the ride.

[52:15] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah.

[52:16] Olaf Atsit: This movie is the best.

[52:18] J.J. Gonzalez: It's so fun.

[52:19] Olaf Atsit: It's so massive.

[52:21] J.J. Gonzalez: It's a huge undertaking and it was executed perfectly.

[52:26] Olaf Atsit: I agree because it could have fallen into a trap of relying too heavily on the stunts and the set pieces. And they don't. It's this really nice balance. And that's a testament to not only Tom Cruise, but also to Christopher McQuarrie, which helped maybe that he had come back. Like this was his second time behind the camera. I think he also gets a full writing credit on this one. So he is working off of a script, the collaboration between these two. I think if it had been in another person's hands, I don't know. And we don't have to know because it didn't work out that way.

[57:00] J.J. Gonzalez: But no, I agree. This movie is.

[57:02] Olaf Atsit: Yeah.

[57:03] J.J. Gonzalez: So, guys, that brings us to the end of our conversation about Fallout. As you can tell, we love this movie. It's just fantastic. It's the best of the franchise. We even recorded on a special day just so that we could get this one in. These movies are insanely popular, but I know that there's people that have never seen it.

[57:21] Olaf Atsit: See it.

[57:21] J.J. Gonzalez: Do yourself a favor. Hopefully, if we've done anything here in these conversations with these movies is maybe piqued your interest to give these a look, especially if you gave up on the Mission Impossible franchise, maybe after the second one, which if you did, I'm so sorry. Check back in because you've missed a lot.

[57:39] Olaf Atsit: Yeah. Tune in. We'll have another episode that will cover the next two, and we can't wait to do those as well. We've loved diving into these. So with that being said, tune in next time and as always, to be continued.

[57:59] J.J. Gonzalez: Back to the Movie Theater is hosted by J.J. Gonzalez and Olaf Atsit.

[58:04] Olaf Atsit: Produced by me, Johnny Clay, J.J. Gonzalez, and Olaf Atsit.

[58:09] J.J. Gonzalez: Theme song and incidental music by The Dimes.

[58:12] Olaf Atsit: Follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Back to the Movie Theater and find us on YouTube at Back to the Movie Theater with J.J. and Olaf.