Has there ever been an A-list film star quite like Tom Cruise? His career would suggest no and the phenomenally successful Mission Impossible franchise continued to cemented that reputation as it draws to what would seem to be a close after almost 30 years with the release of Mission Impossible Final Reckoning DVD, Blu-ray & 4KUHD.
Ethan Hunt and the IMF team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity – which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe – with the world’s governments and a mysterious ghost from Ethan’s past on their trail. Joined by new allies and armed with the means to shut the Entity down for good, Hunt is in a race against time to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever.
Filmed alongside Dead Reckoning aka Mission Impossible 7, the films hit production problems out of their control when the pandemic hit and closed down every Hollywood film shoot and in the case of Mission Impossible it was at a huge cost and for Final Reckoning costs were further exacerbated by the one of the films major set pieces set inside a sunken submarine was beset by technical problems that further increased the productions already burgeoning costs. But this was to be the franchises swansong drawing in elements and characters from previous films stretching right back to the first film in 1996 in a bid to tie it all together. And it largely worked in an epic film that lasted almost three hours and included two massive set pieces – the aforementioned sunken submarine (that becomes claustrophobically suffocating as it progresses) and the climatic biplane set piece that, when seen on an IMAX screen, was stomach churning as Cruise clings onto the wings as the pilot tries to shake him off.
These and more are covered in the Mission Impossible Final Reckoning DVD, Blu-ray & 4KUHD in an extensive load of bonus features that include:
- Commentary by Director Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise
- Deleted Shots Montage
- Taking Flight – Filming the Biplane Sequence
- To the Depths – Inside the Underwater Stunt
- To the North – On Location in Svalbard
- Additional Commentaries
- Isolated Score Track
McQuarrie (referred to as McQ by production) and Cruise’s commentary track is especially good with the pair only too keen to share the problems they faced and how they overcame them and the justification for many of the scene and shot choices. And as good as McQ is, so involved is Cruise at every level of the film that it’s a wonder that at 61 years of age and having worked with so many major directors including Spielberg, Scorsese and Kubrick, that he has not directed a film himself yet.
The featurettes covering each set piece are something of a must not just for film fans but also for anyone wanting to become an action film director as star and director push and explore what they can do even to the extent that at one point McQ himself going up on the wing of a biplane himself to test out the physics of what they might be able to do. Equally there’s a look at the enormous purpose built structure that housed the sunken submarine that moved around on a 1000 tonne gimbel (that would break at the cost of millions in terms of repair and production hold up). But it’s the unforeseen problems too that includes the water currents created by the moving set that Cruise would have to navigate as he swan amongst toppling torpedoes.
It’s just one of several injury if not life threatening scenarios Cruise puts himself in which must make any insurance underwriter wince as further peaks behind the scenes reveal, most notably a scene in the film where Ethan Hunt’s parachute catches fire – a shot that Cruise did 16 times to get the footage needed as he plummeted to earth with a flaming chute and each take is covered here.
The Mission Impossible discs as whole gives a fascinating insight into the making of such a massive and often dangerous film to have shot and even the deleted scenes have McQ’s voiceover explaining why they were dropped or even reshot – a scene of Cruise leaving a lift was reshot so as to dramatically change the lighting .
For fans of the franchise this release is something of a must for franchise completists and despite not being the film that would best the best in the franchise ( 2018’s ‘Fallout) it’s still better than many other big budget action films and much of that is due to Cruise an actor who audiences often forget has several terrific dramatic performances under his belt– his turn as the male empowerment guru is astonishing – and are matched by his willingness to perform stunts that might have even the most experienced of stunt performers thinking twice. All this and his consummate commitment to his films may explain why, after over 40 years he is the only man who has attained and remains the only actor working today to have maintained A-list status for almost his entire career.
related feature : The Story behind the shot – Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning
related feature : Mission Impossible Final Reckoning – Tom Cruise takes us behind the scenes
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