The following contains minor spoilers for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
The latest, and as far as we know, last Mission: Impossible movie is finally here, and based on the opening weekend box office of The Final Reckoning, audiences were very excited to see just what crazy things Tom Cruise would do to put his body on the line this time. I certainly wasn’t disappointed, as I think the movie contains one of the most impressive sequences of the entire franchise. It was almost perfect.
I’m not a massive Mission: Impossible fan. I generally prefer John Wick to Ethan Hunt, but that’s exactly why I was really impressed with The Final Reckoning’s submarine sequence. It was exciting and a testament to Tom Cruise’s abilities as a physical performer. I just wish he hadn’t opened his mouth.
Tom Cruise hangs from not one, but two different biplanes in a stunt scene, which, to be fair, is incredibly impressive. However, I don’t think it’s the best part of the movie, as that accolade belongs to the other major sequence, which sees Tom Cruise infiltrate a sunken submarine.
The next several minutes of the film are basically a silent movie. There are no other actors on screen, nobody for Ethan Hunt to speak to, and so he doesn’t. He begins his hunt for what he’s looking for in silence. The only sounds were the submarine shifting and the sound of Tom Cruise breathing.
It’s an incredible scene, which was apparently pulled off using a massive rotating water tank. As a Mission: Impossible stunt, it belongs right up there with hanging off the Burj Khalifa or riding a motorcycle off a cliff, but I love this scene more because, as a piece of storytelling, it does so much more, and does it all in near silence.
It’s rare for any movie, especially an action movie, to let silence do so much. The tension and excitement of the scene are never diminished because the movie’s one character never speaks. Instead, every moment is heightened because the audience is hanging on every movement, not sure what’s going to happen next.
And then the tension is broken as soon as Tom Cruise opens his mouth.
get out of the submarine he’s now trapped inside. He chooses to try and go out via one of the torpedo tubes, and the reason you know he’s going to do this before he does it is that he says “Torpedo tubes” to nobody in particular.
These two words annoyed the hell out of me. They’re simply unnecessary, and the fact that they exist in a scene that is otherwise devoid of dialogue makes them stand out in the worst possible way.
This very much feels like the sort of post-production addition that comes after somebody decides that what’s being shown on screen isn’t clear enough. Maybe people were legitimately confused during test screenings. Maybe there was a studio note from somebody who was simply afraid people might be confused. Either way, it’s annoying because the words simply aren’t needed.
Am I irrationally upset about two words of dialogue? Yes. I don’t care. The words bother me. They make a beautifully crafted scene just that little bit less special. I really wish they weren’t there.