Mission: Impossibleisn’t supposed to be the most realistic Hollywood franchise, but one movie earned a particularly harsh review from an expert. As the franchise has progressed over the years, theMission: Impossiblemovieshave taken on more elements of science fiction, which adds to the way that the huge stunts already push the limits of believability.
Like other spy movies, theMission: Impossiblefranchise often uses advanced technology as a plot device, which helps to explain away some of the logical leaps of the narrative. It also adds a touch of glamor and mystery to the series, as Ethan and his IMF team are faced with complex tasks that require both physical prowess and technological know-how.
In a video withInsider,AI expert Sasha Luccioni was asked to break down the realism of several Hollywood movies that feature AI in some way. When it came to analyzingMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning,she admitted that she laughed out loud at the portrayal of the Entity, the super-intelligent, all-powerful algorithm that serves as the movie’s main villain.
One scene in particular proved to be too far-fetched for Luccioni. When Benji first recognizes that the Entity is interfering with his communications with Ethan in Venice, he and Luther decide that the only course of action is to smash their equipment so that the Entity has no way of contacting Ethan.
“I definitely laughed really hard when they started smashing all their equipment because the vast majority of AI models nowadays don’t actually run on your device, your laptop, your phones.” - Sasha Luccioni on Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning
Luccioni was more generous when assessing other elements ofDead Reckoning’s portrayal of artificial intelligence, commenting on the voice-cloning technology as a realistic positive. However, these positives were overshadowed by the key issue, which is thatDead Reckoningassigns the Entity a certain amount of agency.
Luccioni explains that artificial intelligence is simply a tool, but that it needs a human to command it in order to do things like hack communication systems, clone Benji’s voice and shut down satellites.AlthoughDead Reckoning’s portrayal of AI isn’t realistic, it does resonate with contemporary anxieties about the technology.
Mission: Impossible Isn’t Known For Realism, But Benji Is Meant To Be A Tech Expert
It’s easy to forgiveMission: Impossiblefor its lack of realism with AI, because it’s meant to be a fanciful action thriller, not an educational document. It also makes sense ifDead Reckoningis seen as a worst-case scenario about the future of AI. The rapid development of this technology represents a new frontier, which creates a lot of questions.
The problem withDead Reckoning’s lack of realism is that it undermines Benji’s role as Ethan’s tech expert. Seeing him smash his laptop to slow down the Entity is like seeing him throw his phone away because he received a harmful text message. It doesn’t affect the problem in any way, and it makes him seem foolish.
Benji was a late addition to theMission: Impossiblefranchise, but he soon became a vital member of Ethan’s team, especially as technology and spy-fi gadgets took center stage. WhileMission: Impossible’s Entitydoesn’t quite operate like real-life AI, the franchise still could have avoided such obvious pitfalls, at least for Benji’s sake.
