After watching Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One for the second time, one thought struck me: Hayley Atwell is a celebrity. Despite her stable work in Black Mirror and Marvel’s Captain America, this gem has by some means remained hidden in obscurity, caught making pointless cameos in foolish superhero adventures and voicing CGI animals.
Fortunately, sport acknowledged sport, and Tom Cruise recruited her for his newest unattainable mission, the place she effortlessly slides in as Ethan Hunt’s newest companion in espionage. In the sixth sequel to 1996’s Mission: Impossible, Atwell portrays Grace, a mysterious but in the end virtuous thief who finds herself in over her head when tasked with stealing a key that unlocks a strong synthetic intelligence program. Eventually, Grace sees the sunshine, joins Ethan’s rogue squadron, and takes half in quite a lot of thrilling stunts and intelligent deceptions to show her value.
Hayley Atwell goes for broke together with her efficiency, showcasing a variety of feelings throughout her substantial display time. What begins as a bewildering interplay with Ethan at Abu Dhabi’s airport shortly evolves into an amusing partnership. Grace loves the hazard, grinning like a schoolgirl throughout Ethan’s fixed pursuits, however doesn’t fairly perceive the implications of her actions. However, when the bullets begin flying, Grace shortly succumbs to strain and should study to navigate this unusual new world of violence, dying, automobile chases, dastardly villains, countless double crosses, and many friggin’ working.
There’s a unbelievable second throughout the massive practice set piece through which Ethan and Grace stand atop a platform with a piano dangling precariously above. Ethan must leap to the opposite facet, however a frightened Grace clings desperately to him. He urges her to let go so he could make the leap, assuring her that every part can be okay. “Do you trust me?” he asks, to which she shakes her head, tears in her eyes, a glance of worry splashed over her face. “I need you to trust me,” he insists. Finally, she nods, and he makes his daring transfer, together with her following on the final second.
It’s a refreshing show of vulnerability from a hero in a contemporary motion movie. Grace doesn’t again down from a combat or miss a simple mark, supplied it serves her greatest pursuits, however she has her limits. She takes on the villain Gabriel, will get her butt kicked, tries to flee in a automobile, smashes every part in sight (unintentionally making it simpler for Ethan to trace her down), and freaks out (as anybody would) when dealing with a collapsing practice. She’s additionally not impervious to errors and miscalculations, failing to understand Ethan’s trustworthiness earlier than it’s too late. Such imperfections make her relatable and endearing, making it simple for audiences to root for her eventual success.
Furthermore, Hayley Atwell brings out the perfect in Cruise, creating essentially the most potent dynamic duo within the franchise since, properly, Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson in Rogue Nation. Hand-in-hand, Ethan and Grace leap from trains, dashing vehicles, and late-night membership events. Sexual stress abounds however is rarely acted upon, which is simply as properly contemplating what occurs to Ilsa.
On that be aware, not every part about Grace works completely. Her presence, sadly, diminishes Rebecca Ferguson’s display time and demotes Ilsa Faust to a secondary character. Whether as a consequence of scheduling conflicts or disinterest from all concerned, Ferguson is oddly left within the mud, fairly actually. One can’t assist however marvel if Grace’s position was initially supposed to be Ilsa, with the plot centering on her official recruitment to the IMF, or possibly Ferguson grew uninterested in taking part in second fiddle to Cruise. Either method, contemplating Ferguson’s pivotal position in revitalizing the collection in Rogue Nation, it feels mistaken to solid her apart so shortly in favor of a more recent mannequin.
(Also, am I the one one who thinks Ilsa remains to be alive? Typically, when a principal character will get the axe, they obtain a funeral or some form of remembrance. Dead Reckoning skips the mourning and jumps straight into the third act. Perhaps we’ll see extra fallout from the character’s dying in Dead Reckoning Part Two, or possibly she’s going to return as a part of Ethan’s plan to destroy the Entity. Regardless, the character deserves a lot extra.)
Personally, I hope Atwell continues to be part of the franchise in the long term. She greater than proves her value in Dead Reckoning and utterly stole the present. For all of the high-wire stunts, combat sequences, complicated face-offs, and shootouts, this newest Mission: Impossible will greatest be remembered for introducing Hayley Atwell into the long-running collection. I’d name that mission completed.
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