Why Mission Impossible Rogue Nation has one the best if not the best film opening ever.

Christopher McQuarrie enters the franchise with a the greatest start imaginable.

The Mission Impossible franchise is considered by many (including me) to be some of the absolute best big-budget filmmaking that we have left in this kind of dire space for blockbuster films we currently live in. In 2015, the Tom Cruise-led series of films was about to enter its 5th entry with Rogue Nation. After coming off its long-awaited return with the Brad Bird-directed Ghost Protocol, (Also an Awesome entry!) it was clear that McQuarrie’s team wanted to break the barriers of this franchise in ways that have never been seen before specifically, by starting with a bang. 

“We knew we needed some sort of a stunt, some sort of spectacle,” McQuarrie stated in the Rogue Nation Cruising Altitude featurette, “It has become a rite of passage for a mission impossible film.” The idea for the big hanging off the plane stunt that opens the film came from Jim Bissell (the film’s production designer) who created a model of an A400 plane for the film and the thought came to McQuarrie of having Cruise potentially be hanging from the side of the A400 and that’s where the idea of this legendary stunt first started. It’s widely regarded as one of the most dangerous stunts in the entire franchise with a lot of discussions that happened between crew members wondering if it would be actually possible to accomplish, sure enough in the words of Doctor Malcom from Jurassic Park “Life finds a way.”

Now, the titular stunt is basically the crux of this entire scene yes but what pushes it even further to how great it truly is. First of all, the entire scene doesn’t even start out with the stunt itself, but with the comedic relief and one of the main tech experts of the franchise Benji Dunn (played perfectly as always by Simon Pegg), discussing with his partners Luther (played by Ving Rames), and William Brandt (played by Jeremy Renner) how they are going to stop the A400 from taking off with the package they need. The reason why this start is so good isn’t necessarily because of the setup itself but more from its execution in every area. The pairing of quick and snappy editing to each character, paired up with Joe Kaemer’s pulse-pounding score mixed with the original theme all manage to create a mood that immediately pulls you into the action only after a few minutes getting you to feel the pure tension of the scene despite knowing barely anything about what’s happening. All of this build of intensity leads to Ethan Hunt’s (Tom Cruise) entrance with the first few DUN-DUN-DUNDUN of the mission impossible theme accompanying him as he tries to salvage the mission by hanging off the plane while in the air waiting for Benji to open the door. I also just love how this scene (and the franchise in general) is able to still fit in comedic moments even in the tightest of sequences, Ethan’s “THAT’S THE WRONG DOOR!!!” after Benji opens the cargo door of the plane instead of the one to the side of it always gets me every time. Even the very end of the scene where Ethan manages to get inside and gives a well, sucks to be you look to the guy that goes to check if the cargo is alright before he launches himself out of the plane with a parachute and the package intact, simply perfection really.

So really, it truly is incredible to me how much McQuarrie is able to so expertly nail the entire tone and vibe of this franchise only in the first 5 minutes of the film is truly remarkable and while I don’t think Rogue Nation is the absolute best of what these films have to offer, it surprises me how its seemingly not as loved as much as other entries like Fallout, Ghost Protocol, or even the latest entry as of now Dead Reckoning. I felt like writing and revisiting this moment since the trailer for Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning just dropped recently (looks so good!!) and since it seems from the looks of it it could be this franchise’s last stand, revisiting one of my favorite parts of the series only feels right. Thank you for reading! Hope you find this interesting!

Watch the opening scene for yourself here!

Also watch the behind the scenes "Cruising Altitude" here!