I like to think I'm a man who knows my trinkets from my doodads. Recently, I ranked every Mission: Impossible film over at Halftone, and before I published it, I had written a small list of the best gadgets from each film, and where better than to throw the equivalent of a b-side writing idea than my blog that no one reads? The gadgetry and spycraft of the M:I series is one of my favorite parts of it, and the films that feature the most of that stuff tend to be the ones I enjoy most. Each entry is different, though, and has a unique ratio of classic spy storytelling and Tom Cruise trying to kill himself. For this list, I'll go in release order and discuss the best gadget from each one.
Mission: Impossible — 1996
The first M:I film has a "big three" of gadgets: the mask, the camera glasses, and the exploding chewing gum. First up, we can't discount the classic mask. In nearly every film, the mask is the cornerstone of the series' trademark brand of spycraft. It doesn't matter how many times I see it, a mask reveal will always get me hyped.
The camera glasses are another aesthetic tenant of this film for me. Its the kind of tech that would impress people in the late 1990's (I assume) and that period specificity is what endears me. Honestly, with the advent of Google Glass and other AI tech, its impressive to somebody (me) in the 2020's. There's something about the simple nature of it that makes it a true spy hall-of-famer. Camera glasses, while being devilishly simple, just doesn't hold up to the sheer creativity of the thee of the best words put together: explosive. Chewing. Gum. It helps that this gadget gets two times to shine in the movie while the camera glasses are more of a tool to show how the IMF works. For being part of the amazing fish tank stunt, as well as blowing up John Voight, the explosive chewing gum gets the crown.
Mission: Impossible II
Being the most action-focussed entry, M:I 2 doesn't have many gadgets—however, it does have one of the best mask reveals in the series. Sure, its basically a participation trophy, but as we just discussed, the mask is ole reliable, and some movies take it for granted, and despite my problems with this film, it will never be guilty of being wasteful with its opportunities. It deepens the mask as a gadget by implementing the voice changing sticker, seemingly upgrading it from the previous film's depiction. It answers how the mask might help and agent blend in sonically as well as audibly.
Ethan using a mask of his own face to disguise his enemy's gay henchman into killing him is a masterful gambit we'd expect out of the more wisened agent we'd see in the later films, but this is spring chicken Ethan pulling out these moves. Seeing him slow-motion run out of the island compound, tearing another man's face off his face, and feeling the realization come over you, is one of the high points of M:I 2 for me. The mask has a low floor in terms of execution, but this proves that it also has a high ceiling.
Mission: Impossible III
Perhaps an asterisk is needed here, but I nominate the mask-making machine for this movie. With the most spycraft since the first film, M:I 3 has some nice gadgets. Luther's Microchip van, tricked out with trackball-operated miniguns, is a treat, and there's some metal-melting foam employed by the bad guys, but the mask-maker is the centerpiece of the film's Vatican infiltration, one of the best spy sequences of the series.
What gives it such weight to me is, for one, we finally get to see how a mask is made; two, we see how the voice is trained off the real person having to recite a tongue-twister; and three, the whole sequence is well done across the board. The writing, editing, pacing, and plotting are all on point as the whole sequence is able to move quickly, execute on tense scenes, and include good dialogue between the characters. Sometimes its not about making a splash, but being an important player in the operation, and that's what the mask-maker is to me.
Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol
This one was tough, as its really between two of the series' best gadgets: the reflective projector as used in the Kremlin infiltration, and the adhesion gloves as worn by Ethan as he scaled the Burj Khalifa. Pondering it, I settled on the assertion that the gloves were part of the better scene, but the reflective projector was the better gadget. At this point in the series, we start going in a more sci-fi direction, and that can be seen here, since this is straight up future tech. Sure, it can be explained away with contemporary science, but it ain't no camera in a pair of glasses, that's for sure.
What ranks it high is that it's such a clever, visually captivating piece of tech that steals the scene. That part of the Kremlin infiltration is written around this gadget, and rightly so, since its so memorable. It takes a simple idea but shows you the technological skill on the parts of Ethan and Benji as its operators to make it work. I like the fact that its not sexy. Watching them crouch walk sweatily down a Russian corridor is equal parts charming and awkward, as much spy work ought to be. Not only is it the best gadget in the film, its one of the best in the franchise.
Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation
Rogue Nation might take the crown for most gadgets in an M:I film? (Don't fact check me on that, this is a vibes-based list.) We've got the hologram oxygen meter, the hologram HUD on the wetsuit mask, the updated camera glasses, and what might be the most interesting of the series. At the opera house, Benji uses a projector device—I think?—to make his newspaper into a computer. When I watched the scene, I was flabbergasted, and even now, I still don't get it, but its very cool.
What I'm nominating as best gadget also appears at the opera house: the flute gun. Rogue Nation is an unsung favorite of the series for me, and the opera house action scene is one of the most underrated, as well. While Ethan and Ilsa (my beloved) play their part in this complicated scheme, I appreciate the rock simple premise of turning a flute into a rifle to smuggle it into the opera. Again, simple is best. While the newspaper projector thing is neat, I still don't get it, but a flute gun? A flute that is also a gun? That's classic spy stuff stuff right there.
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning (Part 1, if you're nasty)
Even if this movie wasn't light on the gadgets, there was always going to be one winner here. There isn't a scene in this movie as memorable as the Rome car chase, and the star of that scene is the little yellow Fiat planted there by the IMF. I love it for a few reasons. One, its an IMF planted device, which implies a kind of global presence that feels very akin to how the IMF felt in the first film, what with their safehouses in France and all. Second, it feels like a character in and of itself. Small, a tad difficult to work with, but ultimately clever in a pinch, this is Ethan Hunt as if he were a car. Lastly, its home to one of the funniest jokes in the series. Whatever the scene is going for, Ethan struggling to get the car working is funny on multiple levels. Its amusing to see a seasoned agent get trumped by something so trivial, but also there's sexual innuendo there, too, to stoke Ethan and Grace's chemistry. The car feels like its third wheeling, almost (pun intended, and relished.)
Go, little Fiat, go!
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning
One might argue that there is a severe lack of gadgets in this film, and I would agree with them—however, this is an abundance of doodads, perhaps even gizmos. The words "Sevastopol," "Podkova," and "Poison Pill" rattled around my head for days after watching this, but none of them are the best gadget. If not them, what about the diving suit that Ethan wears in the sub? I thought about that, too, but in the end, its just a tool. It could have been any diving suit, but because of the depth, they have to make a sci-fi suit to withstand the pressure. Its not like it has a laser or something.
You might find this lame, but I actually loved the super-massive hard drive that Benji cooks up to capture the Entity in. Very rarely have any gadgets post M:I 3 felt really futuristic in the sense that they were possible in the next few years, but this captured that feelings. Wall-climbing gloves and holograms HUDs are just too sci-fi to feel tangible, but a hard drive big enough to totally envelope an AI? Sure. I can believe that. Does it make any sense? Probably not, but again, its simple. Like a pair of glasses with a camera in it. I do like the lamp-shading that a device like this is still "only theoretical," a line written to cover their asses, but its nice to see some kind of technological future for this series that isn't the Entity's nuclear holocaust. Its a comforting thought to think of a tomorrow where the next important advancement is a revolution in storage.
The way things are going, we can only hope.
And that's it. I've gone on quite a journey with these movies but have enjoyed myself throughout. Some are better than others, and we all have favorites, but what's important is that we all have interesting, unique reasons for liking the ones we like. Some of us find a direct correlation between the quality of the film and the number of interesting spy hardware they feature. And that's okay. Whoever that person is is totally correct in feeling that way, and correct in general. About most things. Not like I know them or anything, though.
