Mission: Impossible III / Suntory Toki

0:00 In 2006 director, JJ Abrams and star, Tom Cruise gave the world, a stunning return to the world's greatest action franchise in 2022, we take a return trip to Japan to try one of its most popular Whiskey's. The film is Mission Impossible, 3. The whiskey is suntory Toki and we'll review them. Both, this is the film and whiskey podcast. Welcome to the filament whiskey podcast. Where each week, we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey.

0:49 I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G. And this week we are looking at Mission Impossible 3, Brad. When I saw this on your list I was freaking pumped. Because this was the first mission impossible movie that really got me into Mission Impossible. You know what I mean? Like, the original came out in 96. Brian De Palma directed that movie is a freegan banger, but I hadn't seen it growing up. I remember renting Mission Impossible 2 which was a really cool sequel in that, they went out and hired John. Woo, who was like, you know, kind of blowing up at the time, really? Famous Hong Kong director, but that movie Just is, is kind of a failure all around, not, not a good movie.

1:29 It's not good at all. And then they took a number of years off before they kind of re kick-started the franchise with Mission Impossible 3 and I was 15, 16 years old. This was like I was Target demographic for this movie and I went and saw it in the theater and man I was just blown away and I think that in the 15 16 years since this movie has come out, a lot of what this movie did has been kind of copied and mimicked and I think that this movie copied and me A lot of other things, too. But for the most part, you could probably release this movie in 2022, and it would still play almost perfectly where I think the original 96:1 like it.

2:12 It has kind of some of those 90s action movie relics. It's still really fun and it totally works. But I don't know if you could get away with like the pacing and the cinematography of the 90s, one, the way you could get away with this one. I don't know, man. Tom Cruise's haircut. And the first one is like, Like impeccable. Most the most perfect 90s action star haircut. It's when you could really still get away with rocking like legit sideburns. Yep. Like he, you know, and they weren't like mutton chops, but there's something about The Sideburns that like we've shown our side burns down farther as the years have gone on. Bob, I am with you though. On Mission Impossible 3. I will say though, this is one of the most traumatic movie-going experiences I ever had as a as a young person as a teenager Traumatic traumatic.

3:01 Wow. Okay, so there's a very specific scene that I will never forget. Do you remember when Ethan in Mission Impossible? 3 is making the mixed drinks and he's reading the lips of the the party of his wife and they're talking about the lake and he tells him what lake it is. I sure do so. So I'm watching the movie. We're in theaters. Me and my best friend, Mike, and his dad. We go out to see the new Mission Impossible, super pumped and the camera Cuts back to Tom Tom Cruise behind that little like glass window thing, making the drinks, and it stops, and the lights come on and they straight up in EMS. Team comes down.

3:43 Oh my God and rescue. Somebody who's having a heart attack in the front a sheeter. Did they defibrillate them? Because I just have to say, like if they did what an immersive Movie experience is it would have been no, they did not defibrillate, they put him on a stretcher. Sure and took him out and the manager of the movie theater, came to the front and and apologized told them that they were praying for the person who was just taken out by EMS and they would resume the movie in 15 minutes. If anybody wanted a free ticket to another movie. If they wanted to leave, they could leave. Wow. So me and my best friend and his dad looks at each other. We're like, I don't know if I'm in the mood for a movie anymore, especially a movie where, like, you know, stopping someone's heart is such a huge.

4:29 It's like this in Casino Royale would be like, the tea thing you really want to avoid. Yeah, well, and the thing is, we had no idea that point what was, what was coming for us because it was the most on ideal version of foreshadowing that I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, man. Wow, what did you say? That was one of the wildest? Movie-going experience is in my life. So I mentioned Casino Royale and I guess we were probably going to bring it up at some point. But this movie comes out the same year as Casino Royale comes out, and We're kind of kick-starting the bond franchise again from scratch and we're kind of doing the same thing here with Mission Impossible and Brad. You know, like I saw someone refer to the Mission Impossible series as like the best action series of all time the other day and it was a Critic and so like it wasn't just a flippant thing. They said and I think movie for movie even including the low point, that is to, this might be the most consistently, good action franchise, and it's one that keeps improving on itself with each success.

5:29 Civ entry. It just really interesting to me to think about this movie and Casino Royale coming out in the same year because both of them went the quote-unquote like gritty route in a way that we hadn't with Bond or with mission impossible to this point. There's a lot of overlap in terms of like the story lines and I just found it really interesting that there were two movies that were so similar released in theaters within a few months of each other. Yeah, it is amazing how like the tides of Cinema can move? Move in the same direction, 's even with completely different Crews, doing completely different things. And I think with Mission Impossible 3, what you really have is Tom Cruise in my mind, taking more direct control of the franchise and like, pushing it in the directions that he is interested in going in. And the, the results in my opinion is absolutely spectacular.

6:26 Well, as we get into talking about it, Brad we're going to segue into Brad explains, which is our favorite segment of the show. But before we get there, we do want to encourage you. Whether this is your first time listening or you're a longtime listener. Check us out on patreon, you can find us on patreon.com film whiskey where you can sponsor us at three different tiers, a three dollar, a five dollar and a seven dollar a month, tear at the highest tier, you get completely unique episodes Brad and I sit down after each and every regular episode. And we record a conversation based on a discussion question on the movie that's just for our $7 subscribers. But at any level, you get a ton of bonus perks, including access to our Discord server, which we plug at the end of every episode. We'd love to have you join the community. So please find us on patreon Brad, it's time for Brad explains.

7:16 I think it's going to be a pretty, pretty easy one. Like this movie doesn't have a ton of plot going on, you know what I mean? Like it's just a good old-fashioned. Here's a Thing. Here's a MacGuffin. Go find the MacGuffin movie did this. This movie has the greatest like, expose of the MacGuffin of any movie. Yeah, it just straight up. At the end of the movie is like, hey, what's this thing we've been chasing? Who knows? Nobody cares. He's basically like, hey, what's what's the MacGuffin? And the guys like it's a MacGuffin. The Ted Cruz is like that. I see what you did there. Laurence Fishburne and his perfect voice. You MacGuffin to me All right man.

7:57 You have 60 seconds on the clock to explain the plot of this movie. Can you do it? Ethan Hunt is getting married but he's also a secret IMF trainer who sends people into the field, one of his field agents gets captured. So they go to rescue her and Germany they fail, they go to chase the guy who killed her and Italy and they capture him, and then he gets recaptured on this epic Bridge fight. And then, let's see what happens after that bridge. And then, They go to 0 and then Ethan gets captured by the IMF because he's a bad guy now, and he escapes with the help of his Handler and he goes to China, and he gets the rabbit, the rabbits MacGuffin. And he gives it back to the bad guy and the bad guy kills his wife, but that it's not his wife and and he runs a lot and he shoots the bad guys. Then he kills himself to stop himself from dying, but it's freaking epic.

8:52 It's the coolest thing in the world. That's, yeah, this movie owns, dude. This is Such a good movie. And I went into this movie like remembering, how much this movie got me, excited for the series. Moving forward. This was like a formative action movie for me, and Philip Seymour, Hoffman's performance. As you know, one of the main villains. I remember being completely terrifying and how he had just come off of an Oscar win and he was like I'm doing it baby. I'm going to make my summer action Blockbuster and and just completely owning the screen in a way that when I went to see The Dark Knight Years later I uh, I kind of pointed back to Casino Royale and to this movie as, you know, yes, the Joker was something we had never really seen done before.

9:36 And that tone of movie, for a superhero was something we'd never seen done. But I have to give JJ Abrams a ton of credit in that, you know, the the Shanghai sequence in this movie is, you know, almost copied in the dark night in that Hong Kong seen wins. And how the villain here felt so much more threatening than Most screen villains I'd ever seen. And, you know, so when you get to the Joker it's like all right, I got a throwback and give Philip Seymour Hoffman, some credit and JJ Abrams for allowing that performance to kind of take over. Yeah, the way Hoffman takes this character and runs with it. It really does have that essence of like, I don't even know who you are.

10:17 Don't even really care who you are. I'm just going to destroy you because you are in my way, and that's kinda it kind of feels like a Baseline. Foundation for with Heath Ledger could build upon the Joker. I think that the the scene that really got me with with Philip Seymour Hoffman because he doesn't really feature prominently in the film until about like 40 or 50 minutes in, like halfway through the movie, it's after Tom Cruise has taken him in this airplane and he shoves him. And he the dude like hanging out of the airplane and Tom's about to kill him, and his team members are shouting at him like Ethan, what? Are you doing any?

10:57 They pull him back up into the plane and he looks at Tom Cruise and he says Ethan and the way he says it, you can tell that he is nonplussed. He's not bothered by what just happened, and he now knows who just tortured him and he's gonna make him pay, and it's just the way he says that in such a cold cold way. Just, oh, kiss me the chills man. Well, since we're already diving into performances, let's kind of finish out our conversation on Philip Seymour Hoffman. Before we To the rest of the cast. I have to say if there's a nitpick I have with this movie, it is that it kind of does the, The Dark Knight Rises thing where the main villain isn't really the main villain. And you find that out, like towards the end of the movie. And I hate when they do that, I hate the fake outs because you build up one villain.

11:44 And it's like, oh, this is an imposing person and then it's like, no, that's just Darth Vader. Here's the emperor, you know? And it's like, oh, I gotta get concerned about another villain now and it didn't totally, Ali. Why life is so difficult. I know. I mean like it just didn't totally work for me, but in addition to that, I was really shocked at how little Philip Seymour. Hoffman is actually in the movie, like I remembered him being a much more dominating presence and he definitely does like, when he's there, but he's only really in like, I want four scenes of the movie, I'm curious. What do you mean by? Like the bait and switch with the villains. So, like at the end of the movie, you know, again this this podcast gets into spoilers. So if you haven't, Seen Mission Impossible, 3. Go watch it, it's a fun ride and then come back and listen to me, reveal that the real villain is Billy crudup. Scare actor.

12:35 Who is Ethan, hunts boss at the IMF and that he has been coordinating. This thing the whole time. There's a huge reveal at the end of the movie and you find out that he's basically just using Philip Seymour Hoffman. And his underworld cronies like a puppet. It's kind of like the Vader vs. The emperor thing where yes, I guess the emperor is more powerful but we're more concerned with the battle between Vader and Luke. And in this movie, it's like, oh okay. So like am I supposed to care about the whole Billy crudup like subplot or because I'm over here with Philip Seymour Hoffman and I want to see him get his comeuppance. And so it kind of pulled me into directions where I couldn't really tell like, who's the baddest bad guy who's the final boss, here is the final boss. See, I didn't take it that way at all, to me. It felt like Billy crudup was more of just Gay and IMF agent who was disenchanted with the system and like, was kind of, like, I'm still going to get the bad guys, but I'm going to use the bad guys to help get the bad guy. Yeah.

13:38 And so I didn't really take him as like, the final boss, like Philip Seymour, Hoffman is the one who gets the cool death like, like Billy crudup. Just gets shot like a dog. Bye-bye, Michelle Monaghan Michelle Monaghan. I was about to say, Julie amount of hand, which is her her character. Cheers baby. Julia. Yeah, Michelle. Monaghan shoots him at the end and it's not even like really epic or interesting. It's pretty anticlimactic from him, would, you know, kind of fits his character. So I guess I didn't really have any issues with like, who's the bad guy? Like Philip Seymour? Hoffman, is the bad guy in this move? Sure. Did you think that we could have used more of him? Because that was my second Point. Like the, he just wasn't enough for me. Hmm, I don't know, man.

14:24 I think that it's one of those. Cases of like there's just enough of him to. He is very potent in this movie. You only need a few drops of him and he infiltrates the entire film. Yeah. So I don't know, I think I'm okay with the amount of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Well then let's let's kind of transition to I want to finish talking about Billy crudup now to and I'm pretty sure that's how he pronounces his last name. I've heard crude oil. I've heard credit, but I think it's crudup. We haven't talked about him since Almost Famous. I was really happy to see him here. I just, I really like him. He's a good actor and he does a lot of Theater. Now I just kind of wish that the man had gotten the career he deserved in film because he's just so good.

15:06 And he came on to realize like that he's made millions of dollars being a supporting character. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. But like, you know, and he probably just doesn't want to do, like, huge franchises. I'm sure he's been offered stuff. He was dr. Manhattan, in the Watchmen movie, so like he's been in superhero stuff, but I, yeah, I just wish that we Talked about him in the same breath as some of like the big, big actors in Hollywood because he definitely has the talent for it like that. He almost brought out the 20s gangster in you. Like you literally just said yeah man, come and get me Kappa. Alright, so Billy crudup in this movie he comes on screen and I'm like yes crudup here and then I'm like, why isn't he in more of these deemed? Does he get killed by?

15:50 Someone, like what happens? And then I'm like halfway through the movie and I'm like, man, it's so good. Good. That they're not leaning into the fact that he can play kind of a dick really well. And I'm like, yeah, I love it when they just like, leave him as a nice guy and then the ending happened and I was like, come on, you can't hang a man play against type. So yeah, good performance. Ultimately, I'm bummed about where they went with his character. I would have liked to have seen him in at least one more Mission Impossible movie, I thought he was really good, I thought he was fine. I think that like you get different handlers for, for Ethan, and I think All six movies, pretty much everything. So Handler is like, I'm actually a bad guy. Yeah.

16:34 Hey man, there's a lot of play with their own tropes. Sure. I guess for me crudup didn't add a lot to the movie like he like he was fine. I think that his best scene is when he's talking to Ethan after Ethan's been captured by the IMF and he's like talking about how disappointed he is in him. But all the while he's He's you know, mouthing to him like where he needs to go and handing him a knife so that he can escape like, I really enjoyed him in that scene. But I think if we're talking about people from the IMF that had really just great performances, I would lean towards Laurence Fishburne. Yeah. Because he's the person that you think is the bad guy for most of the movie and you don't really find out that that's false until the very end.

17:19 He's really good and they play up that uncertainty really well. Laurence Fishburne's, good and everything. Like I mean, it's just you get him in your movie, it's like a home run. He just has such an incredible voice and I think it's the way he carries himself that like, he's one of those people that can immediately fill a room with like with his presence. And so when he's, when he's interrogating them at the end of the Germany Mission and you know, accusing them of mishandling things and authorizing operations that shouldn't have been authorized. Like you can feel the Conviction and belief behind his, his words and his actions. And he just contains so much Menace within his figure that I just he's just phenomenal and it almost makes his character even better to find out at the end that he really is a good guy. Like like to know that he really believed what he was saying at the start of this, like he wants things to be done, well, rather than impulsively.

18:22 And so he while coming across as the bad guy because of Information. He genuinely is a foil for Ethan Hunt and I think that's what I like about. His character is like Ethan really is impetuous and crazy and will do anything to win and Laurence Fishburne is set up as an antagonist to that as this controlled. Calm. Cool headed. Like I'm going to win through bureaucracy, Laurence Fishburne is one of those actors that can take dialogue. That is like objectively, not good and deliver It so well. And so convincingly that you come out of the scene saying, like that was really clever dialogue, like the scene where he's interrogating them at the, beginning of the movie, and he's making all these like references and just establishing himself as like a no-nonsense guy, he makes a passing comment about like the Invisible Man, and then he like looks at Ethan and he's like, and by the way that's Wells not Ellison.

19:18 In case you thought about being smart of again and it's like it's not a very good line and it doesn't really give you that much more. Right into the character other than I'm annoyed and he delivers it so well that you're like, ah, this guy. He's really not messing around. So like he had there certain actors that just have a talent for elevating dialogue to the point where you like. It casts a positive light on the screenwriter, like it's just a gift. Well, yeah, I fish bird is just amazing in this. I think my goal at this point is to talk about every person in the movie. Other than Tom? Yes, that was actually kind of gearing us towards that. So let's do it, right? I mean, I and then let's jump over to Michelle Monaghan because we just talked about her a couple weeks ago with Gone Baby Gone talked about how her character was, kind of just the supportive girlfriend and how we wished.

20:07 She had a little more to do and Brad. We fired up this bad boy and found out that she is the supportive wife and doesn't have that much to do. Hey, man, she she hits his chest a few times. She sure doesn't magically start this his heart. There's also like this is one of those movies where there were a couple moments in this movie. Like Ethan gets has to drink that potion, that knocks him out, and he's dizzy. There's just like a random overlay of Michelle Monaghan like stripping and like to demonstrate, like I'm thinking about my wife, but it's also like this was completely unnecessary. You could have inserted just an image of her face like I don't need to see her bare body at all. So like man, you know, he's he wants that honeymoon. He's yeah, he's recalling fonder time clearly. But yeah.

20:56 Like I did feel kind of bad for her. That not only, does she not have very much to do, but they were also like, alright also. Take your pants off. Yeah, yeah. I'm with you dude. I think that Michelle Monaghan, I like her more in this than I liked her in Gone Baby Gone. I think that she actually shows a little bit of tenacity and I think that in her small moment of Glory, when she kills Tom Cruise and you know, he teaches her how to use a gun really quick like she like she, you see Her in the midst of fear in the midst of, like, I don't know what to do, but you like, I don't know, the way she controls her face, like she controls her breathing.

21:36 She thinks she uses the the mirror, a lot Jurassic Park to figure out where the bad guy is, she knows how to reload the gun. Like I just liked her in that scene. She showed some tenacity and and bravado and I was like, okay, come on Michelle. Let's go look like you're actually doing something here. So I really liked her in that part. I will also say, you know, the people talk about the John Wicks, movie being accurate and you know, there's only so many bullets in the gun. He tells her that there's 15 Duelists. Yep and she shoots 15 times and after to reload I was like I counted this time I was like all right come on Tom Cruise. Yes go. Okay so let's talk about the minor IMF people. So out in the field with him is Ving Rhames as Luther. Who is just fantastic?

22:26 Every single time and they're still wheel in my guy out, he's got to be like, almost 70 years old by now. But even in fall out there like, hey, you may not be able to run anymore, but you can defuse a bomb and he's like, yes I can. It's just an in this movie. I feel like it is where you really get the, the depth of the relationship. And this is where his I really do. See the series kind of take a step in the right direction because they make it a point to flesh out Ethan's backs, not backstory, but like life away from the IMF. If and when they share that moment on the roof in Shanghai, right before Tom Cruise, you know, swings across, its really heartfelt and touching and Tom Cruise tells him like, thank you for doing this for me, man. You know, and I don't know, like, I think when this moment there, when this movie takes a moment of respite, it always uses it to its Advantage.

23:16 Always uses it to remind you that these people are at least in theory, real human beings who have real emotions. And I think Ving Rhames does such a good job. Good job of building that camaraderie with Tom Cruise that has carried through to the other movies. I have two thoughts on Ving Rhames in this movie. First off, the fact that Ving Rhames still comes across as just such a badass after his role in Pulp Fiction is a testament. To the just immensity of his acting like like as all. I'm going to say about that.

23:56 Secondly, that scene where he's talking to Ethan about Carrie Russell's character, Lindsey Farris in the movie, and he just flat out ask her like, hey, man, like, was there something going on there? Like, were you guys sleeping together? And Tom Cruise goes, she was like my little sister and then he just flat out. Ask you to ask him were you sleeping with your little sister? Yeah. And and he did and you know Ethan Hunt just looks at him and Ving Rhames goes, hey, man, Everybody needs somebody to ask them. Those questions that moment I'm going to philosophize about humid, like the nature of humanity. That might be one of my favorite lines in any movie ever like, like I know it might sound dumb, but in that moment, it just hit me at the core of my being of, like, yes, like everybody does need to have someone who is willing to ask you, the hard questions, who's willing to go into the places and say, hey, man, Like I know that humans are messed up. We do dumb stuff.

24:58 So I'm going to ask you, did you do the dumb thing? You shouldn't have done, and that could be on very small levels and it can be on very deep levels. And like, the fact that Ethan has somebody like that in his life, makes him in, like inordinately better of a character than James Bond and I think that it gives Ethan a depth and in and just a believability. T that somebody cares about him enough to be involved in his life and ask him the hard questions, like, Luther in my opinion, makes the entire Mission Impossible, franchise believable, and interesting, and better and better.

25:41 Yeah, so yeah, dude, I am 100% in if there's anybody in the mission impossible franchise, that's a 10 out of 10 outside of Tom Cruise, it's Ving Rhames. All right, very briefly, I think this is the first time we see Simon Pegg Show up as Benji in the mission impossible films. Very clear at this point that they had not figured out his character yet. Like, yeah, he just doesn't really seem to fit the movie very well, not really his fault, but they've definitely used him to Greater effect in other movies. Well, I think, at this point Simon was still a little bit on the lower end of the movie star totem pole. If you will, you know, I like I'm trying to think he had. He done Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz at this point, or was he kind of in the middle of all those?

26:25 He had Done Shaun of the Dead, I don't think. Yeah. Hot Fuzz didn't come out till the year after this. Okay. Yeah. So like he's still in the process of being discovered. And I will say, I think that the mission impossible franchise is one of the reason he is discovered as like a really solid actor, and I like him in this the, the whole scene he has talking about the anti. God doesn't really fit with the movie very well. No. But it should take a long time to just like, let him tell that story like the A movie Tom Cruise is like I'm in a I'm in a hurry and then Simon pegg's like to tell you a story about this professor I had and I mean it goes on for like seven and a half minutes and they're just feels like him. It feels like nor McDonald's moth joke like it like he just keeps going on and on and on and at the end of it they're like what the hell was that right?

27:15 Because, you know, it's just something I think about what I think of the end of the world. Okay, the other two people that are out in the field with him are Maggie Q as Jen and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Declan, who are both really good. And then never get asked to rejoin the franchise again. Yeah. And I was thinking like maybe they get killed. No, they just Tom Cruise is like I'm sitting here. Yeah, I was kind of surprised. I really likes them both. I was so disappointed. This is like, probably one of my favorite Mission Impossible teams, you know, because they change pretty much every movie. Which once again, I'm like, okay with that. I like that, they switch it up, but I really liked, Jonathan, Rhys Meyers and Maggie Q like the the roles that they were asked to play. Which is, you know, like, let's just say if you had each actor makeup, you know, certain percentage of the importance of this movie.

28:08 So, like Ethan Hunt is like 70% importance and everybody else has 30% to make up. Jonathan, Rhys Meyers and Maggie Q combined, make up about three or four percent importance of the movie. She but they freaking rock it. Mmm. And I thought that they were spectacular, the scene, when Ethan, and Declan are arguing as Italian delivery men like Jonathan, Rhys Meyers is spectacular. He's Charming, he's funny, he's believable. I, I just, I really love them so so much. All right, finally, before we go to break the most important person in this whole movie bread, Keri Russell. So, Kerri Russell shows up for did you like that? She shows I say about it, 32 seconds in this movie and she's like, just a big enough star that you could probably be like, hey, you know, people still recognize you but you're not doing much right now.

29:02 Do you want to come be in my movie and be the fake-out death? And she's like, sure, I got us a really good. Like I wish I had had more Keri Russell in this franchise. When they kill her, spoiler alert like 10 minutes Into the movie. When the when the explosive inside her head goes off. The face that they have my girl make with the, with the eyes go in each direction is the funny the most unintentionally funny thing I've ever seen. And like, when it first happens and they cut away real fast. It's like very gruesome. But then there's probably like six or seven shots where they are. Just like, you know what, we need to see again. We need to see Carrie Russell's Dead face and they keep cutting back. And then they like, they cut to a new scene and she's in a body bag and they unzip it and they just dwell on it again. And it's like after you look at it for a couple seconds, it's This is hilarious.

29:53 I don't know if I mean, it's probably just me. I just thought it was really funny and and one of the big glaring flaws with this movie Bob. I'm going to get, I'm going to give you something here that you need to know. It's not funny at all. It's not very gruesome and grotesque, it's gruesome. But it's also like it just looks corny after a while. You texted me that and I was like, you texted me that like five minutes before I got to that part of the movie. And I was like, really. I was like, I don't know. Remember it, I remember being pretty like, terrifying, like when it happens, like, abnormal and strange and weird, and then I got to and I was like, oh yeah. No, that's that's not funny at all. Bob is as a Dark Dark Soul. Yeah, yep.

30:35 You know who they almost had to play this role but it got messed up. Who's that? My girl scarjo really that Scarlett Johansson was was cast in that role and then with production delays and issues that they had, they she had to do Something else had to go work on another project and they got Keri Russell. Interesting I had no idea. Yeah. Huh. Well which is like interesting because I feel like I don't really know anything about Keri Russell. She was on a TV show. That was really really popular for a long time and then you know is one of those things where like the TV show ended and she she's done movies. Like she's been consistently working since then but it was it was the peak of her career to do that TV show. Yeah.

31:17 Okay. I think it was. It Felicity? Is that the show? No. I Literally. Yeah, so the show Felicity, fun fact, the show went downhill because in like the, I don't know, whatever the third or fourth season, they gave her like a really dramatic haircut, and it was like the anti Rachel from Friends where, like, you know, everyone wanted the Rachel, they cut felicity's hair and it like ended the show legitimately like the ratings. Went down so much that they just were like, we're done after this season because they cut her hair. I feel like that would be like an episode of community. Like they just completely like change and he's hair and it causes the entire school to fall apart something.

31:59 All right man, we're going to press pause here. We're going to come back and talk about the two men at the center of this movie, Tom Cruise and JJ Abrams. But before we get there, let's try this suntory Toki. What do you say? Let's get to it. Alright, today, we are checking out, suntory Toki. This is probably the most popular Japanese whisky from the suntory line in America. It's relatively inexpensive. It's a blend of two single malts that suntory makes called the yamazaki and the Haku shoe. And then they blend it with a single grain whisky called the cheetah, and you can get all three of those, but they're significantly pricier.

32:39 So they just blend them here and they release it as a nonage stated thing, and it's way cheaper. So, This is a lot of people's introduction to Japanese whiskey Brad. I believe we've only had three Japanese whiskeys on the show up to this point. So this is a realm that we're still relatively new to, but we've had enough Scotch and the the production, the process of making Japanese whisky is so similar that, I feel like we can still give some some pretty accurate notes on Japanese whisky. But I always am excited to try another one. My-my question is, does this bottle come with a replica? Mirai on top, it does not. So we're going to deduct at least four points for that easily easily four points off for the chin, seest bottling.

33:24 That's pretty cool. Yeah, it's that I've ever seen that bottling so frustrating because it is like, it's such a gimmick but it's so well constructed. Like it's made out of metal. It's really nice. And I just think about like if we were going to export American, whiskey to Japan and do the same thing like what we just like Build a porcelain like fat guy with a trucker hat and I put it on top of here. Jack Daniel's bottle. I feel like it'd be like Paul Bunyan on top of the bottle. Which is a big Lumberjack with an axe. I love it. All right, we're not even talking about this whiskey. Let's get back to this whiskey, Brad, what are you picking up on the nose here?

34:05 Oh man, it's a pleasant knows Bob. It's got some honey going on. A little bit of peach. There's a little bit of floral stuff going on. On there and it's a little bit okey at the end. So that like, it's nice. It's not overpowering. It's very delicate. I'll give it a seven and a half. Yeah, there is something underlying it though that it keeps kind of like, undercutting it where every time I'm thinking like, oh, this is really Pleasant. There's some nice like peachy notes on this and I could really get into this. Is has a lots of lemon zest. And then underneath all that is like the brine from a jar of green olives, and I can't shake it. Like there's just something heavily green Olive about this and that's something that we've gotten on on Scotch before especially peated Scotch like it happened with one of the Ardbeg is just a few weeks ago, but here it's really fighting against the super bright fruit notes.

34:56 And it doesn't seem like they are in harmony with each other so I think I am going to deduct a few points because of that. I'm only going to give this a six and a half on the nose and then we get into our taste for me. It's very thin. It's a very soft palate. That honey really comes through Through and then for me it kind of moves into more earthy like grass and floral notes. Hmm. That's like interesting but not necessarily my favorite. I'm going to come down a little bit. I'm gonna give it a six out of ten. Yeah this this is really Pleasant up front. It has just a bit of tingle and then it hits like the mid palate and it's just gone. Like, it's just water at that point.

35:36 And yeah, it's really watered down. This is bottled at 43% ABV. So 86 proof. So it's not the The lowest proof that it could be but it really does seem to have affected something here. I'm not really a huge fan of this Brad, I like it and it's a pleasant. Like I could drink this the way that I would drink a beer after mowing the lawn, you know what I mean? Like it is. Yeah it is something that's like refreshing but it doesn't linger at all. So I'm only going to give it now. I'll call it a 6 on the taste and then we have our finish, it's short, it's okey. And you still have a little bit of that honey lingering. I'm going to stay at a 6 out of 10. Yeah, I think a little bit of The Malt comes through on the Finish, but it's just such a small amount and it fades really quickly. There's not much finished to speak of here Brad. I think this might be like one of our shortest reviews ever because there's just not a lot to pinpoint here. I'm going to get a five and a half on the Finish. Yeah, it really is kind of like the light beer of the whiskey world.

36:34 Like literally I mean it has the exact same effect on the pallet that light beer has Mmm. Yeah and that's the thing. Like we're getting a balance. I think this is actually She like decently well balanced. There's just nothing like outstanding about it. I'll give it a 7 out of 10. Yeah. I'll come up to a six and a half. Like if we're just talking balance this is actually probably like an 8 out of 10 for a whiskey that is designed to only be like a 6.5. You know what I mean? Like it, consistently delivers what I think they're going for here. It's just like not a great whiskey. So I'm going to give it a 6.5 when we get to Value Brad. What is this selling for in the state of Ohio?

37:14 Well, when I look it up in the state of Ohio, the only thing that comes up for suntory is suntory Toki with highball glass. Hmm. So it's like one of those Christmas time. Like yeah packages they give you oh I know it comes up. If you just if you just type in Toki they've only got it listed as Tokyo Japanese with. So it's the same price though. It's 3699, they don't have it listed under suntory. I was just called Toki Japanese whiskey. Good job, Ohio. AO Toki. Yeah, well that's that's my bad for thinking. I should search the word suntory for this whiskey. Sorry about that phone. Whiskey Nation.

37:54 Yeah. So you said it's $37. It is. Okay. So 37. Yeah, I'll give it a super excited 10. Yep, it's too much but I'll say it's a pleasant experience. It's just not much more than that. It's just kind of like a nice little pleasant experience. If this cost like 2999. I'd be like, yeah, sure great. It's an imported whiskey, you know, 20 30 bucks. Its pleasant, it's fun. And I would honestly, probably keep a bottle, you know, to share with friends be like, hey, this is kind of like a starting point for Japanese whiskey. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. I'm going to give it a 6 on value, it used to be closer to thirty dollars. I think even a year ago is only $34 so it has been slowly increasing in price and I don't think the quality is there to justify that.

38:44 That. So Brad, I'm coming out to a 30.5 out of 50. I appreciate this for what it is. It just doesn't have much going on in the glass. So it's like if you dig Bud Light and you want the whiskey equivalent of that, like that's what this is. And I'm not knocking anybody, who likes that if you want something that's much, softer and goes away quickly, and doesn't linger and isn't going to give you much of a chest burn. Start here Toki is like exactly what you want but compared to some of the more complex and Whiskey's. We've had it just doesn't stack up Brad. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm coming to a 32.5 out of 50. I honestly I don't know if I would encourage you to try this at a bar like yeah I just don't know if it would be worth paying. I don't know.

39:32 Six to nine dollars somewhere around there. I don't think it'd be worth paying that much for a shot of this. I think the way I'd say to go about it is like get a few friends who are interested in trying a Japanese whisky and split the out of a bottle and just drink the whole bottle on a, you know, on a hot summers night on the porch and just shoot the crap and enjoy some decent whiskey. Yeah, I mean, I honestly would recommend buying a bottle before buying a glass of this. Like, I think it's worth, you know, if you're trying to get into Japanese whiskey, this is probably going to be the most available Thing by you and it's a good starting point. Like, there's nothing wrong with having a starting point whiskey. So I would say pick it up and if you like it, keep getting it, you know? So we're coming out to a 60. 3 out of 100 or 31.5 out of 50 on average.

40:19 I'm not going to recommend other than to say, if you're new to Japanese whiskey, this is the best place to start, but I will say, if there's a place to start with the mission impossible franchise, it might be with with Mission Impossible, 3. Well Brad, let's get into talking about it. What do you say? Let's get to it. All right, everybody that was suntory. Toki a whiskey that we are not super bullish on. Is that fair? Oh totally fair. Okay. Yeah, but you know what? I am bullish on. Brad Mission Impossible. 3 to facts in a falsehood. That's what I'm yes, you are the best segment. I don't know. Would you say this is our best segment or is it still Brad explains? I really like this segment to it's fun. It's competitive.

41:06 That's like America's Roots, it is And there's also like the added bonus of, not knowing whether we're going to get fact-checked after the fact. Yeah. After retroactively change scores like it's just it's a complete crap shoot and I love it. It's chaos. It's it's absolute chaos. Bob are you ready for your three facts about Mission? Impossible, 3. All right, let's hear it. All right. Fact. Number one, while he normally does all stunts on his own, a pair of cracked ribs prevented, Tom from performing the majority of stunts in this movie and the the wild thing about this Is that it's set back filming for about a week as they had to find a stunt, double they actually did in the production process in casting, they didn't find a stunt double for him because he normally does every single one of his own stunts.

41:50 Interesting. Okay. Fax number to the role of Benji, was originally given to Ricky Gervais, who had to drop out, due to scheduling conflicts with for your consideration. Huh. Fax number three. While they were filming in Rome, you know, when They were he was climbing up the wall to get into Vatican City. The production crew couldn't do anything like to officially shoo away all of these inquisitive Italians. And so they set up a phony second unit a little further away and they hired several women in bikinis and several older women dressed as nuns and pretended to be filming takes for the movie.

42:32 While the main unit filmed Ethan climbing up over the wall in the Vatican City. You know, I'm just going to I'm not even going to like go in depth on how I think the other the other ones go. I'm just going to say I think twos the falsehood and I have no basis for that. But I just cant see. Ricky Gervais seen this movie? I'm probably wrong, but I'm going to say to the falsehood Bob. Number two is not the false Hill. Wow. Oh man, they made the right choice. Oh, 100% made the right choice. Yeah, well, I mean, like I said earlier, think about it at the time Simon Pegg was not really super Well known and Ricky Gervais had just created the the office. The British version and for whatever reason they wanted him to.

43:15 Wow, but he did not do that role. All right, so what was the falsehood Tom Cruise did not have two cracked ribs. Did he do his own stunts? He did do his own stunts. Interesting. I will say this is one of the few Mission Impossible movies where I can really see some like some green screen going on especially the scene where he's like floating out of the The skyscraper with his parachute. And yeah, and kind of plummeting towards the ground. Yep. It's pretty clearly, obviously, it or not, that's something you can't capture but especially with where the series has gone since then. And like in Fallout where you like follow him jumping out of a plane and it's very tactile and real. Yep, you could kind of tell that they were patching over some areas where he couldn't do a real stunt. Yeah.

44:01 There's definitely I think that if anything, it's that that in-between time When green screen and CGI just wasn't quite up to standards that you start to see with like avatar coming out and 2009 10, 11. So I think that they did the best they could but you are 100%, right? There's a few few issues with the stunt work in this one. But my boy, Tommy Crews, still nailed them all on his own. He sure did man, let's see if Tom Cruise for the very end and let's talk JJ Abrams because if I'm going to nitpick the movie, Oh, I'm going to nitpick JJ Abrams, and it has become very fashionable to nitpick JJ Abrams in light of the Star Wars Fiasco. And the fact that, you know, once he started doing lost and he developed this whole, what's it called? Like the mystery box approach, to, to story writing, you know, he doesn't really do that here.

44:55 Like, there's a MacGuffin at the heart of this movie, but it's a pretty a, to be movie. So I have to give him a lot of credit, and I think that some of these sequences are among the best in the mission impossible. Franchise like They're not done in one long, take the way that many of them are now. But the bridge sequence is one of the best action sequences like just as a set piece of the last 20 years. It's excellent, utterly phenomenal. There's a great there's a great elevator sequence. You know, people always talk about the Captain America, Winter Soldier one. This is a really good elevator fight. I got to give it to him. Yeah, there's something about Anna setting an action scene in An Elevator that like it kind of. It almost reminds me of like when we talked about baseball, All movies and how everybody knows the geography of a baseball movie. Like, everybody knows the geography of an elevator, and that might sound like a dumb statement because you might just be like, well, Brad elevators are tiny. And they're this big empty shaft and I'm like, yes, like that's the point.

45:55 Like when you set an action piece in the middle of an elevator, everybody knows that there's nowhere to go. And that like the action is fast and brutal and heavy and then he just freaking The top off and starts climbing up the that they it's just, it's just such a great set piece. And I think that even beyond the, the action pieces in this movie like the whole Italy gig from the point where they they have their van fake breakdown and they get into that argument, you know, to the point where they're blowing up this beautiful car to make it look like the bad guy. What's-his-name. Davion, I think they make it look like Philip Seymour Hoffman died.

46:38 So, like that whole scene, I think might be the best bit of the whole movie and it's not even the main point. So I think that Abraham's gets a lot of crap for ripping off Spielberg a lot, and it's become very apparent, you know. He made a movie called Super 8. I don't know if I ever saw that movie, not that great. But it really aped. The Spielberg Close Encounters, ET kind of, you know, even some of the movies that Spielberg produced, like, Goonies it had all that. Going on. And he has said for years and years that he wants to be the next Spielberg and that Spielberg's his favorite director. And I think here he shows how to do an homage to Spielberg and to do it well and then to move on because there's a sequence where Tom Cruise is trying to escape out of a building with a parachute and that entire sequence, the way that it's filmed the way that it's cut together. The visual gags total Spielberg like when Tom Cruise lands in the boardroom it crashes through the window and lands on it. Table and then there's just it racks Focus to the back of the room and there's just a janitor standing there staring at him total Spielberg moment and then the wind picks up and Cruz gets sucked.

47:47 Back out the window, total Spielberg moment, it's a chuckle and then when he hits the ground and the rabbit's foot goes rolling down the street total Spielberg mom, like there's just so many in that sequence but he also knows like when to stop doing that and to get serious again, it's really nice to have that bit of playfulness in the movie. I just wish that Abrams. Did a better job of, you know, in general of knowing when to do omage and when to stop, you know what I mean, who went to do and when to do his own thing? Yeah. And I think that's the issue with Abraham's right is that he just doesn't really do his own thing for me. My issue with j.j. in this movie is like I'm just going to ask you a simple question.

48:29 Bob, are you ready? Hey I'm ready. How much shakier could the shaky cam have gotten in this in this shaky cam move? G. Oh my gosh. So here's the thing with me that I was surprised to see him doing was this was Abraham's trying his best to make a Michael Bay movie and it's really apparent towards the beginning of the movie. In that kind of Germany, exfil sequence. Like, it is shot like a Michael Bay movie. They're going for the kind of grittiness they do. The high contrast thing, everything kind of has like a greenish filter on it. All the buildings in this movie are very industrial and they're either like really grimy or they're like, Lee shiny on the inside. It's just it's total, Michael Bay and it makes me kind of Wonder, like, I don't know, a lot about the production history of this movie or what's rumor or what's not.

49:16 I kind of wonder if Cruz had gone into this movie thinking, like we need baby for this movie, or we need something like him because Abrams doesn't really make another movie that looks or feels like this. But Brad, like I sent you a YouTube video to watch that was breaking down Michael Bay's visual style and you can't tell me that Abraham's wasn't just directly Trying to copy him. No 100%. I do know that originally, it was supposed to be David Fincher, who was going to direct Mission Impossible. Interesting. Okay. Which yeah would have been absolutely wild and then replacing Fincher was Joe Carnahan.

49:58 Okay. And he was actually in production for like up to like 15 months but it took so long that he He moved on and just like wasn't down with it and so they finally got JJ Abrams so interesting. There you go. No Michael Bay but I would be curious because the way JJ plays it off, there's just explosions everywhere. And the camera movement feels similar to Bay. I'm with you. Dude. The the movie screams like Michael Bay all over but I will say this. I think it works. Hmm. Like like the opening action scene, man.

50:40 The way they show the guns, the turret swiveling. It kind of has like a Star Wars feel to it or what was the Pearl Harbor. Yeah, that that Michael Bay did like the way the turrets are spinning around and then shooting into it. Like it just has a heavy feel to it and it's just cool. I will say, like there are some moments in this movie that I was really surprised at like, in a Isn't way the needle drop of. We are family coming on that the boom box but Harry it's very strange. It's really funny though because then they cut outside and it like jj-just blasts it, like it's the soundtrack of the movie and they don't do that kind of thing in Mission.

51:24 Impossible movies and so I really like, I kind of liked it. I was like, yeah, screw it. Let's do something fun for the next 10 seconds and then we're back into the action again for me. I just, I think this movie still works Brad. Is it the best Mission Impossible movie? No. Is it like, you know, is the ending maybe a little bit of a letdown for me a little bit, but it's a really good movie and what it all comes back to is Tom Cruise. Like there's not much more we can really say about Tom Cruise that we haven't said in other episodes. I mean, Edge of Tomorrow, we raved about the guy. He's so good. Brad. He is just he is like the platonic ideal of a summer blockbuster actor and he also binge watched the first two seasons. As of Alias and then called JJ Abrams to direct this movie, I can see it right?

52:13 He had foresight dude, Tom just has this impeccable way of being absolutely just Easy about everything, he does like, he makes everything looks so smooth and like, for a series called Mission Impossible. He just has a way of making the impossible. Things look possible, and I think that's why he's so daggone good in these movies is like he's just hyper focused hyper and control of himself as an actor like like Tom Cruise as an actor and Ethan Hunt as a character. Like, there's just no way to explain the mission impossible, franchise without explaining Tom Cruise, as a human being. Like, I don't know if there's been ever a character that is so fully embodied by the actor who plays and it's just spectacular. Brad.

53:11 I think I'm ready to go into final scores. Do you want to go first or you want me to I'll go first? It's my movie. I think that this movie is, is just flat-out. Spectacular, it is. It is crazy, Tom Cruise is running, is spectacular in this movie. I've never seen an actor who can run with better sprinting form than Tom Cruise like he just looks impeccable while he does it. I think that the the the scene where Michelle Monaghan kills him by sending a shock through his body is one of the most like violent shots in movie history and it's spectacular.

53:52 I love this movie. If there are issues with it is, not a perfect mission impossible movie. But the reason I picked it for this frame for this season is just because man, oh man, I just think this is a blast of a movie. It never stops. It never quits. It just moves you from place to place to place. And has action set piece after action set piece of keep you moving. I love this film Bob, I will give it a nine point five out of Tau. That's awesome, man. Yeah, I see, here's the thing about this movie is that, I think, Everything about it works. Like there's nothing about it, that doesn't work. But there are degrees of like this works less than this. Does that make sense like a hundred percent? And for a movie to be a 10/10, I feel like everything has to work in a has to work almost to maximum capability.

54:39 And so for me, the thing that is going to bring it down just a little bit. Is that the ending of the movie is just not as strong as it should be. And for me it's the it's the fact that they really kind of took credit Character and made him the brains of the operation which left Hoffman just as like, big brutish guy that had a grudge and you know, it just kind of devolves into the scene of him like beating up Tom Cruise and being like, didn't I tell you Tony like just punching him you know like Jeff Bridges and and it just that didn't work for me and it's because the plot of the movie, kind of falls apart, if you give it any thought towards the end of the movie, like the thing that's driving Davian. Is that he's pissed off at cruise for the way that Ethan interrogated him.

55:28 Like, you hung me out of a plane, you disrespected me, but even was only doing that even only interrogated him in the first place. Because krupps character sent them to get him and then that really makes you think, like, wait a minute. When you break down Billy crudup scare actors motivation, which is like, we're going to take the rabbit's foot, we're going to let it be sold by Davian to this Middle East buyer. We're going to use that as an incentive to go start a war and Implement a democracy in this Middle Eastern country. It kind of makes the IMF completely Superfluous to the whole thing. Like, why couldn't, why did you ever involve the IMF in, in any way? Like, why couldn't you have just let Davian? Keep the rabbit's foot, sell it to the person, you know, it was getting sold to and then started your War, like, I don't understand the plan at all, because you know what I mean? I think you might have missed one key. I'm Bob because Billy crudup scared, or didn't actually send them to get Philip Seymour Hoffman's character. Because if you remember, Benji finds the that he's going to roam the next day to Vatican City, and Tom Cruise tells him. Don't tell crudup about it because I want him to have deniability.

56:44 So he didn't actually send them to go get him. That's right. So I don't know man. I think Ethan made an enemy all of his own. He's The figure out who the mole is in the IMF. I did forget about that line. You're right. Okay. It makes more sense. I'm going to, I'm still gonna give the movie an 8.5 out of 10. I think it works really really well, but like, if Fallout is a nine and a half the, and the original for me is probably like somewhere between eight and a half and a nine. I think this is just a hair below that, I need to re-watch four and five because 4 is the one where he climbs the Burj Khalifa & 5 is it's awesome. So cool. I was the one where they do the thing at the Emlyn, but I don't remember like anything else that happens in either of those movies. And so they're kind of nebulous like I don't know what my ranking would be but just of the ones I remember like Fallout at the top.

57:35 Number one is underneath that 3 is beneath that and then there's like, you know, 30 feet and then there's two at the bottom. So yeah, I'm going to give it an eight and a half. I think it's a great movie. We're coming out to an average of a 9 out of 10, but we'd like to know what you think. So please let us know if you've seen Mission Impossible 3, where would you rank it? Amongst Mission, Impossible films, what kind of score? Would you give it? You can find us on social media on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at film whiskey or you can jump on our Discord. We are on there every single day talking to the fans of the film whiskey podcast. So get on our Discord it is found at the end of every single one of our show notes. Next week, we are going to wrap up my list with a movie from the director. Barry Jenkins that I think didn't get the love. It deserved.

58:19 It's called if Beale Street could talk very different movie from Mission Impossible, 3. We're going to wrap up my list and then we'll be back for our final episode, Harry Potter, and the Deathly, Hallows Part 2. So that kicks off next week and for the film and whiskey podcast. I'm Bob book, I'm Reggie and we'll see you next time.