With Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One in theaters, the Mission: Impossible franchise is now seven films strong. While many Impossible Mission Force characters have come and gone in the past two decades, Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt has remained—and undoubtedly will remain—the face of the franchise. Would Mission: Impossible work without Cruise’s unnerving star power? Or his death-defying dedication to stunt work? It’s doubtful. But Cruise himself isn’t the only reason these movies have been so successful for so long.
I would argue that Ethan Hunt’s characterization is just as important. Does Hunt tirelessly dedicate himself to his work? Yes. Does he defy the odds at every turn, surviving when he probably shouldn’t? Yes. Does he look cool during a motorcycle chase, flirting with Thandiwe Newton or Michelle Monaghan, and while dangling off a helicopter? Of course. Hunt has all the attributes of a typical blockbuster action hero, but there is another level to this character that sets him apart from the rest.
Above all else, Ethan Hunt is sincere. He is sincere in his hope to save the world and he is sincere in his unending optimism and drive. But most of all, he is sincere towards his friends. Unlike his contemporaries, Ethan Hunt has genuine friendships. When was the last time you saw James Bond, Jason Bourne, or John Wick pal around with some mates during a mission? When was the last time you saw them confide in someone who didn’t have an ulterior motive, wasn’t keeping secrets, or wasn’t a love interest? Most of them are lone wolves.
The Mission: Impossible movies work so well not just because of their exhilarating action sequences, tight plots, and the occasional well-timed joke, but because Ethan Hunt feels like a person living an actual life beyond what we see on the screen. And his friends are the reason why.
Spoilers ahead for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One!
The Mary Sue‘s own Rachel Leishman wrote about how Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) represents the heart of the Mission: Impossible franchise. Benji loves his friends deeply and openly, to the point where a malicious AI uses that knowledge just to torture him. He is willing to do anything to help and protect them. But Benji’s love for Ethan especially would feel hollow if Ethan didn’t return that friendship in equal measure. And it’s not just Benji—Luther (Ving Rhames), Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), and now Grace (Hayley Atwell) are all on the receiving end of Ethan’s intense warmth and dedication. As he has reiterated again and again, his friends’ lives mean more to him than his own, even at the expense of the mission.
They aren’t props for Ethan to use and discard whenever the need arises. He respects their skills and appreciates their help, certainly, but if he can, he’d rather keep his friends out of the field than bring them with him as he embarks on another dangerous mission. Yet, despite his desperation to keep his friends safe, Ethan recognizes their ability to choose. Nowhere is this exemplified better than in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (my personal favorite), after a tumultuous night at the Vienna State Opera, as Benji challenges Ethan’s plans to send him away.
They are equals. All of them. Ethan may be the one to climb the Burj Khalifa, skydive over Paris during a lightning storm, or jump off a cliff on a motorcycle, but he is less effective and efficient without his friends. He is not their boss, their leader, or a representative of the state. Their loyalty to him is because he has proven himself worthy of their loyalty, in more ways than one.
One of my favorite moments in Dead Reckoning—which unfortunately precedes one of my least favorite moments in the franchise—is when Ilsa and Ethan are on a rooftop in Venice together, just before setting out on yet another clandestine mission. They share a moment as they bask in the beauty of Venice, a city that neither of them had ever seen before, hugging each other like two people who know each other, have missed each other, and trust each other. It’s a simple scene, but it adds so much weight and depth to two characters who could otherwise easily be written off as typical action movie archetypes.
While I deeply appreciate the Mission: Impossible franchise’s dedication to making Ethan Hunt feel less like an untouchable god and more like an actual person, his attachments and sincerity do create one issue. Narratively speaking, the easiest way to test Ethan’s character and personal resolve is to harm, or even kill, one of his friends. This is sadly what happens to Ilsa Faust in Dead Reckoning. Ethan’s ex-wife Julia managed to avoid this fate, but many characters (most of whom are, unfortunately, women) have been sacrificed to tell Ethan Hunt’s story. Considering his line of work, some deaths are inevitable, and though Ilsa lasted much longer than most, I hope that the same doesn’t happen in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two.
We know how deeply Ethan cares, how he worries, and how he loves. It no longer needs to be proven through massive, life-altering plot points. For me, at least, and for however long this franchise continues, it will be enough to see this all-important side of Ethan come out simply by being around his friends and caring for them as best he can.
(featured image: Paramount Pictures)
