Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

The Russian submarine Sevastopol sinks, the victim of an AI that has gained a will of its own and slipped into the internet: the Entity. Whoever holds the cruciform key, split into two halves, can control it or destroy it. Ethan gets one half from Ilsa, but thief Grace steals it at Abu Dhabi airport. That's where Gabriel shows up, a man from Ethan's past now working for the Entity. After a chase through Rome, the fight moves to the White Widow's party in Venice, where Gabriel kills Ilsa. On the Orient Express, Gabriel gets the key, but Ethan rides a motorcycle off a cliff and parachutes onto the train. He and Grace escape the cars falling off a bridge, and Ethan gets away with the complete key. The mission continues in the next film.

1. ReferenceKittridge, 27 years later

   Henry Czerny reprises Eugene Kittridge for the first time since the 1996 film, now as CIA director.

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2. Behind the scenesThe Norwegian cliff jump

   To prepare for the motorcycle cliff jump in Norway, Cruise did more than 500 skydives and 13,000 motocross jumps. On the day, he did it six times.

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3. Behind the scenesA real train off a cliff

   On August 20, 2021, a mockup locomotive was sent off the edge of a disused quarry in Stoney Middleton, in England's Peak District.

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4. ReferenceBuster Keaton on the Orient Express

   The train disaster references the climactic train wreck in The General (1926), Buster Keaton's silent classic.

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5. Behind the scenesGabriel was almost Nicholas Hoult

   Nicholas Hoult dropped out over scheduling and Esai Morales stepped in. Since Morales and Cruise are close in age, McQuarrie saw a way to tie Gabriel to Ethan's past.

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