Rebecca Ferguson’s Mission: Impossible Exit Comments Expose A Bigger Problem With Dead Reckoning

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning has a pacing problem that impacted some of the franchise’s most enduring characters — and Rebecca Ferguson explained a major source of the problem. For three films, Ferguson’s Ilsa was one of the more compelling side characters in the Mission: Impossible franchise. While the series remained largely focused on Ethan Hunt, the series had steadily developed a strong stable of supporting Mission: Impossible characters.

However, the perpetually growing scale of the films left established characters off to the side while Dead Reckoning introduced new faces and massive challenges. The result was one of the film’s underlying flaws. Even while it remained entertaining throughout thanks to great stunts, fight scenes, and solid comedic beats, Dead Reckoning felt relatively rudderless in its character work. With Dead Reckoning 2 on the horizon, there’s some hope that the film could course-correct by embracing a very direct plotline that could push Ethan Hunt’s supporting cast back into the spotlight.

Rebecca Ferguson Highlights Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning’s Character Problem

How Filming A Massive Action Movie Could Turn Out To Be Boring

Rebecca Ferguson’s comments about the death of Ilsa in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 highlights an underlying problem with the latest entry in the blockbuster action franchise. As Ferguson explained during an episode of WrapWomen’s UnWrapped Podcast, the sheer scale of the Mission: Impossible films makes it a uniquely massive undertaking, especially for actors. While Ferguson enjoyed playing Ilsa, the actor recounted how she’d spend days waiting in her trailer for the filming to feature her. Ferguson also noted that her time on screen became limited due to the introduction of new characters, who needed additional room to be established.

This speaks to an underlying problem with Mission: Impossible, which tends to lose the focused characterization of previous films when introducing new faces. That can be felt in Dead Reckoning, which did a good job of establishing Hayley Atwell as Grace and Pom Klementieff as Paris, but didn’t have room for Simon Pegg’s Benji, Ving Rhames’ Luther, or Vanessa Kirby’s Alanna outside their already cemented traits. The sheer reality of the situation is that something needs to be cut to keep the film moving at a good pace, and in Dead Reckoning that was character beats for people like Ilsa.

Did Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Really Sideline Its Existing Characters?

How Ethan Hunt’s Allies Became Afterthoughts

Most of the best sequences in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One relied on Tom Cruise finding a rueful balance of excitement and comedy alongside Grace. Coupled with a cool characterization of Paris as a genuinely dangerous threat to the veteran super spy, the film had fun with its new characters. However, this left characters like Ilsa in the cold. She got a handful of scenes but little direct characterization, with her final fight scene ending in her inglorious death. While Ferguson may love the character, she’s got a point that Ilsa didn’t have much to do in Dead Reckoning.

Benji and Luther were also reduced in importance, getting to provide brief moments of support and comic relief without the deeper characterizations present in previous films. To keep the movie moving and introduce new faces, Dead Reckoning had to simplify much of its central cast and their roles in the film. The movie quickly moves past Ilsa’s death so that the film can have more action set-pieces. To accommodate new faces and bigger spectacles, Dead Reckoning ultimately pushed some of the franchise’s most enduring characters to the sidelines.

How Dead Reckoning Part 2 Can Do Justice To Mission: Impossible’s Characters

A Focused Mission Means More Room For Specific Characterization

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 2 might have a better chance to maintain a singular focus. After Dead Reckoning Part 1‘s ending set up the dangerous potential of the Entity, the ending of Dead Reckoning Part 1 teased the next film would be about reaching it and destroying it. It’s a straightforward idea and will hopefully allow Dead Reckoning 2 to focus on that single mission. That could help prevent the film from feeling as loose as the prior film. If the film remains focused on the mission to reach the Entity, characters like Benji and Luther likely won’t be pushed to the sidelines.

The film could utilize those characters as they were intended, providing direct and specific support for an otherwise impossible mission. It’s a shame that Ilsa couldn’t survive long enough to get that kind of extended focus, as a film dedicated to a singular mission (instead of sending Hunt across the world on the hunt for a small flash drive that took several turns) could have been a great showcase for the character. Hopefully, the next film in the series will learn from Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 and keep the focus tighter on the established characters in the process.