#skip MI2 and MI3 they are gun heavy

[callmearcturus]

question how much gun stuff is in the mission impossible series as a whole? and how realistic is it? i know does the dog die has trigger warnings but i have a complicated relationship with guns due to a past incident and am curious about the series's handling of it

comparatively to other actions films, I think Mission Impossible is very restrained with guns. Except MI3, which is the Wildly Out Of Character film and one of the many reasons it feels OOC is because there's so much gunplay. The main character of these films, Ethan Hunt, is not a marksman, he's a close quarters combatist.

Like, MI1.

There's a point Ethan pulls a gun on someone but he never fires a single shot in the entire movie and IIRC outside that Specific Scene, he doesn't even hold a gun again.

At the very very very end of the movie, the bad guy holds Ethan up with a gun and shoots another character, but its a tense scene, not a Cool And Fun Shootout.

In Ghost Protocol.... [accesses mental databanks]

An assassin lady uses a handgun in two different scenes, but the team wildly prefers to disarm guns. Hell, in a big fight scene, Brandt's main move is to dismantle an opponent's gun before continuing the fight.

ETA: ethan forces Brandt to show his true colors by pulling a gun on him, fully knowing Brandt will disarm him

The final setpiece has a team member being shot (she survives) and Benji shoots the baddie's second in command. Ethan's entire fight with the central bad guy has no guns.

In Rogue Nation...

the inciting moment of the story is a woman being shot in front of Ethan to purposefully fuck with him.

There's some bad guys shooting at Ethan as he escapes being captured.

[thinks hard]

OH the Opera Setpiece uses guns for subtle comedy; there are three gunmen, and each one has a different disguised gun to sneak into the theatre. One's a flute, one's a metal piece of a railing, one's a nightstick.

RN also ends in a shoot out that quickly devolves into a foot chase bc, again, Ethan doesn't like using guns.

In Fallout.... [dial up tones]

The opening scene has some gunplay, but it's fairly brief. Ethan shoots his friend Luther but Luther's wearing a vest to protect him.

then there's a long long period without any guns...

ETA: I FORGOT ONE, during the elaborate bathroom brawl scene, it ends with ethan nearly being shot but ilsa shows up to one-shot the bad guy instead. this one results in a visible pool of blood.

then a dream sequence in which a lot of people are shot and its unequivocally framed as "this is a nightmare and bad and not happening"

one of the pivotal moments of the movie is a bystander being shot in front of ethan. when the baddies (well, not baddies but they are Bad) move in to finish her, ethan quick-draws and kills them instead

ilsa fires a gun from her motorcycle at ethan, no one is hurt.

....... is that it. come on brain. i'm mentally scrubbing thru footage.

oh there is a gunfight between two helicopters, with the intention of shooting the other helicopter down.

In Dead Reckoning.... i dunno if i have the movie memorized in the same way i do the others, lets see

there is an early scene in a desert in which ethan and ilsa are using guns to fight off incoming attackers.

.........

am i just not remembering the guns or is DR1 just really really low on guns until the train

Grace is held up by a gun on the train but is saved. Briggs and Degas hold Ethan at gunpoint but he talks them down.

........ i think that's it???????? wow that's about as few as MI1, that's impressive.

Okay so one thing I want to point out is that MI wildly prefers intensely choreographed fights to shootouts. Also, when compared to something like John Wick, the gun quotient of MI is staggeringly low, and never really lingers? Guns are not Cool in MI.

Guns have gravity to them in MI and there's never a moment that really glorifies them. Even the inciting incident of Rogue Nation is the Big Bad purposefully murdering a young woman specifically to fuck with Ethan, and there's no.... elaborate effects. There's a sound, and she drops. This restraint is frankly one of the many things I like about MI.

I have no idea what your personal trigger point with guns is, so you'll have to decide for yourself.

#icecreamvi #mission impossible #skip MI2 and MI3 they are gun heavy