This sequence is really about a heist of a nasty virus called Chimera and its antidote, Bellerophon. Dr. Nekhorvich injects himself with Chimera and needs to go to Atlanta. He takes the antidote in his briefcase. He has 20 hours to reach his destination for “After you’ve been infected with Chimera, for 20 hours, nothing can save you. Not even Bellerophon.” His partner in the development ended up getting the virus and died just as they figured out the antidote. This happens before the film starts.

On the plane, he is sitting next to Ethan Hunt who he is calling Dmitry. The plane experiences “cabin pressure” problems and they tell the passengers to put on their oxygen masks. There must be something in the “oxygen” as all who put on their mask pass out. A team of bad guys, including the pilot don’t put on their masks and are unaffected. The pilot sets the plane on a course to crash into a mountain. “Dmitry” hits the doctor and stands up, pulls off a mask and is really the villain, Sean Ambrose. The team grabs the briefcase and parachutes out of the plane which then crashes into a mountain.

We’ve seen multiple movies with bad guys jumping out of planes, crashing planes, etc. This just follows the same formula, except this time you initially think it is Ethan Hunt on the plane.

The title sequence shows Ethan Hunt rock climbing at Dead Horse Point in Utah. It is a visually stunning scene with the red rock formations with a person climbing them alone. While the shots are real shots, no one would really climb this formation like Cruise is doing it.

Once Ethan gets to the top, a helicopter appears and shoots something at Ethan’s feet. This ends up being the mission “tape” displayed on a pair of sunglasses that have HoloLens-type augmented reality built-in. Ethan looks over the canyon and the mission tape plays in the lens. He can see both. Ethan gets his mission, Mission “Chimera”. This mission involves the recovery of a stolen item designated Chimera. He can pick any 2 team members he wants, but the third team members must be Nyah Nordoff-Hall. She is a professional thief and not part of the agency.

The “your mission, should you choose to accept it” and “as always if any member of your IM Force is caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow all knowledge of your actions”. The “tape” self-destructing is handled by Ethan throwing the glasses and they explode. This lights the fuse and away we go. The Lalo Shiffrin soundtrack underscores this scene making an old Mission: Impossible fan quite happy. The television show would switch out what device played the mission so this was an updated way to deliver it that looked great.

One of the best things about the of the Mission: Impossible series is that Tom Cruise performs many of his own stunts, you just don’t get to see the cables. This avoids clumsy camera angles or, even worse, CGI face-replacements (ala some of the latest James Bonds). As in Mission: Impossible 1 (MI 1), there is always a slip. In the vault in MI 1, the rope slips and Ethan almost hits the floor. In this movie, he almost slips off the rock. The only place they used his stunt double, Keith Campbell, is when he has the slip. Notice you don’t see his face then.

It will be interesting to see stunts are handled when Cruise finally just can’t deliver on the stunts as he ages. However, in this film, he’s in great shape and pulls this off well. Ron Kauk is the climbing stunt double who teaches Tom Cruise how to do most of the stunts. The top of the cliff is about 600 feet to the talus slope and another 2000 feet to the river. One other interesting note: Ethan hangs in a crucifix position near the top of the rock. Supposedly the director, John Woo, has a crucifix position in every film. This article explains how they shot this scene.

While at a party in Seville, Spain, a troupe of flamenco dancers puts on a show. Ethan Hunt sees Nyah, they look at each other and are moving around the stage area. A dancer spins and Nyah disappears. She’s headed upstairs to steal a Bulgari necklace.

The dance scene itself was influenced by the dance at the gym in “West Side Story”. Director John Woo put it this way: “The idea came from West Side Story. I want to make a very sexy love-at-first-sight moment”.

Here is the scene from “West Side Story”

The isolation of Tony and Maria is much more dramatic than what Woo did with Ethan and Nyah, but there is definitely a similar feel.

As part of the heist, Ethan and Nyah end up in a bathtub lying in it to hide. The dialogue here is rather cheeky. Nyah asks Ethan “Do you mind if I’m on top”. This scene feels more like a scene from a Pierce Brosnan James Bond film than most Mission: Impossible scenes. Nyah comes off like a Bond girl. In the first film, there really isn’t a female role like this. Maybe you can say Claire, but that was a totally different feel. In the bathtub, there is an innocent, yet teasing conversation between Ethan and Nyah. When the guards come, Ethan passes the lock picking kit she used to Nyah behind his back. The banter, sexual overtones and overall cheekiness of this scene really feel like Bond interacting with a Bond girl. It is a very different feel than the first film but feels more in place if you are a Bond fan.

Ethan chases after her in a Porsche and calls her mobile phone. “Where did you get this number? I don’t even have it she says.” There is a car chase where they talk between the two convertibles. Ethan tells her he needs her help and she realizes he is a spy. I don’t know how they could talk at that speed and car noise, but they do. Nyah crashes and hangs over a cliff. Ethan pulls her back into the car and they “connect.”  She agrees to help him out as they end up in bed.

Again, this really feels like a Bond movie up through this point. The tone changes later, but it starts out with a very strong Bondian feel.

In this scene, Ethan parachutes out of the building. It is interesting as there is a continuation of the score right before he jumps. The score stops when the parachute opens and doesn’t come back until after Ethan says “Unless we dose her with Bellerophon, Nyah will kill herself. So, first things first”. Two short scenes and 1 ½ minutes later, the score starts up again.

This scene is right out of another movie I can’t find. I believe in the other movie, someone has a hood covering their face and they get killed. I need help finding this movie!

If you know what scene I’m thinking of, please email Tom@spymovienavigator.com or Dan@spymovienavigator.com.  We need to solve this as a community!

In this motorcycle chase, there is a point when Sean Ambrose and Ethan Hunt jump off their motorcycles and smash into each other.

Disney anyone? In this motorcycle chase, there is a point when Sean Ambrose and Ethan Hunt jump off their motorcycles and smash into each other. When I say this, my mind was instantly brought to the fight scene between Scar and Simba in Disney’s “Lion King”