MovieChat Forums > Mission: Impossible II (2000) Discussion > Latex Masks (spoilers)

Latex Masks (spoilers)

posted 16 years ago by befred8
27 replies | jump to latest

I was able to suspend disbelief for most of the chases, fights and other action sequences, but Tom Cruise's last latex mask trick asks a bit too much. For this to succeed we have to assume Cruise was able to plan on facing this bad guy alone and to be able to subdue him. Then, in a matter of seconds, he was able to apply one mask to his foe and don another. How long does it take to make one of those things? Could Cruise have been carrying masks of all the villain's henchmen? Thinking about this is likely to keep me awake all night.

[–] Flaccid_Snake2 16 years ago

Whether he uses it or not, on a mission he probably constructs a mask of every key figure involved with the mission, and Stamp was Amrose's number 2.

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I never miss.

[–] breug 16 years ago

The only thing I really remember was the scene with the badguy wearing 2 masks. This was the biggest rip off I had ever seen. It was directly copied from Darkman.

[–] DeAd_MiKe_187 15 years ago

The bad guy wasn't wearing two masks.

[–] sparetime 16 years ago

I hated this movie. for this scene alone. I haven't seen it since the theatre, but I remember thinking the exact same thing... how did he get the face of "evil henchman #2" between the fight in the hallway, and entering the room?

no effin sense.

it's not even plausible to think that in any way it could happen. And, yes. I realize it's a movie. Not real life. But that scene was just laziness on behalf of the film's creators.

boo, hiss, I say.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Mississippi20 16 years ago

well it MI3 they showed how they made the masks, but it was useing this big bulky object that seemed to make a face in a matter of seconds. etha wasnt carrying one of those things around so...

I think it's very plausible that Ethan came prepared with both masks.

In any event, it is a neat scene.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] heherrera 15 years ago

i hated this part of the movie too... even though it is possible that his backpack was filled with masks of all the guys he was planning to encounter, in mi3 they showed that, to copy a voice, the subject had to repeat that stupid sentence in its totality how did he manage that??

[–] SirJimbo 15 years ago

i'm in no way defending this scene in MI2 but you can't refer to mi3 in this argument because the method of creating the masks in that film is after the fact, and is a creation of different film makers. you can't use the latest film to criticise the idiocy of the previous film

[–] heherrera 15 years ago

sequels are franchises, everything must be the same... you can't change this just as you can't change ethan's last name

[–] andreas-schmidt-pabst 14 years ago

The whole mask thing is nonsense. How could there be masks that look so realistic, including teeth and eyes?

[–] YouveBeenZapped 14 years ago

not to mention facial structure

[–] JHoffmann31 14 years ago

Don't forget how he was able to switch all their clothes and equipment such as vests to make it realistic. And I think it included pants, cause I'm pretty sure Hunt was wearing gray at first, then he was wearing the black pants of the blond guy.

[–] bluesman_jg 14 years ago

Jesuschrist man, its a movie, a spies movie. Gadgets, high tech. That stuff.

Ethan, was on his last mission. He prepared it. He knew where the bad guys were, how many they were, and who would be attending the 'party'.

He had files and documentation from all the henchmen, specially of 'Blonde guy' Ambrose right hand (this is fact from the movie, Nyah gives more information about him to Ethan), he was a key guy. Ethan knew very well that at some point he would need to face him, that he wouldnt be as easy as the rest of the other guards and that he might be a way to get closer to Ambrose. He probably came in prepared with his mask and maybe Ambroses, as well as black clothes in the backpack. It is very plausible.

To me, it reinforced the idea that these guys, these spies, are like magicians. I personally loved the scene, because it really surprised me.

It is the magic of the cinema. And there you have Tom Cruise running away, dressed all in black, with the chimera and with the Mission Impossible theme rocking. Its great.

[–] Artificial-Soldier 14 years ago

I agree with blue man's perspective, okay?

[–] edoman2000 11 years ago

Jesuschrist man, its a movie, a spies movie. Gadgets, high tech. That stuff.

Ethan, was on his last mission. He prepared it. He knew where the bad guys were, how many they were, and who would be attending the 'party'.

He had files and documentation from all the henchmen, specially of 'Blonde guy' Ambrose right hand (this is fact from the movie, Nyah gives more information about him to Ethan), he was a key guy. Ethan knew very well that at some point he would need to face him, that he wouldnt be as easy as the rest of the other guards and that he might be a way to get closer to Ambrose. He probably came in prepared with his mask and maybe Ambroses, as well as black clothes in the backpack. It is very plausible.

To me, it reinforced the idea that these guys, these spies, are like magicians. I personally loved the scene, because it really surprised me.

It is the magic of the cinema. And there you have Tom Cruise running away, dressed all in black, with the chimera and with the Mission Impossible theme rocking. Its great.

Bluesman FTW

[–] paulsdhart (277) 2 years ago

specially of 'Blonde guy' Ambrose right hand (this is fact from the movie, Nyah gives more information about him to Ethan), he was a key guy. Ethan knew very well that at some point he would need to face him, that he wouldnt be as easy as the rest of the other guards and that he might be a way to get closer to Ambrose. He probably came in prepared with his mask and maybe Ambroses, as well as black clothes in the backpack. It is very plausible.

This^, I think Ethan went in there specifically to ambush Hugh (blond guy) as he was Ambrose's right hand man
Actually I am surprised Ambrose did not consider the possibility of Ethan impersonating someone close to him as Ambrose wore a mask earlier of Ethan

[–] True_Detective 14 years ago

He probably made it beforehand, as many others have mentioned. Ever noticed in the first movie, when he's packing his bag for the Langley mission, when they're about to steal the NOC-list, he has a mask! So it shows that they probably made those beforehand. And it's really cool when movies do stuff like that too, make subtle hints at backup plans, that aren't used in the movie, to make it more realistic. If that makes sense.

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 13 years ago

Bluesman, AWESOME POST! Thank you, I don't get why so many people hate this scene. That scen was AWESOME!!

"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna `*beep*` wit' me!" Hudson in Aliens.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] ScottBBT 13 years ago

I also agree with Blueman. There are times when you have to just suspend your disbelief for the sake of enjoying a MOVIE. Would this scene be able to play out like this in real life? Probably not. But real life is boring; that's why we pay to go to movies in the first place, so we can watch something OTHER than real life.

If, for two hours at a time, you can bring yourself to believe that animals can talk, aliens can attack from outer space, and men can fly, can't you just allow yourself to believe that Ethan Hunt put on a goddamn mask and looked really, really cool running away from a bunch of bad guys with one of the world's greatest music themes booming in the background?

--
Please note that my screenname was created long before those godawful vampire books came out.

[–] kinsayder 11 years ago

If Ethan Hunt has a magic mask that can change teeth, eyes and bone structure, then why not give him a magic wand and a magic invisibility cloak as well? After all, it's just a movie and we can all suspend our disbelief, right?

My favourite part of the last Mission Impossible movie was when the mask machine breaks down...

[–] Useful_Reviewer 10 years ago

And how did the mask make Tom Cruise as tall as the guy he was imitating? I cracked up reading the comment above about how this could "probably not" happen in real life. Yeah, probably not.

When I was your age, television was called books!

[–] yurenchu 10 years ago

It doesn't matter whether Tom Cruise is as tall as the guy Ethan is imitating; what would matter is whether Ethan is as tall as that guy or not. Super-spy Ethan has skills and features that Tom Cruise doesn't have in real life. Hence it's only a small leap to suppose that Ethan is also taller than Tom Cruise is in real life.

It's called "a movie", you know.

______
Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
https://y2u.be/VI57QHL6ge0

[–] kinsayder 10 years ago

It doesn't matter whether Tom Cruise is as tall as the guy Ethan is imitating; what would matter is whether Ethan is as tall as that guy or not.

So all the bad guys need to do if they want to avoid being impersonated is to employ people who are significantly shorter or taller than Ethan Hunt.

[–] yurenchu 10 years ago

Then they simply get impersonated by other IMF agents. The ones whose adventures they don't make movies about. ;-)

______
Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
https://y2u.be/VI57QHL6ge0

[–] Useful_Reviewer 10 years ago

It doesn't matter whether Tom Cruise is as tall as the guy Ethan is imitating; what would matter is whether Ethan is as tall as that guy or not.

Well, yes, obviously. I meant the character, not the actor, but I used the actor's name because it's more recognizable, so everyone would know which character I was talking about. But the point remains: Ethan was clearly shorter than that guy that Ethan was imitating. You can tell this by comparing him on the screen, both to the character he was imitating, and to the main villain, who was also shorter than the guy Ethan was imitating yet taller than Ethan.

Sure, Ethan can be taller than Tom Cruise, but Ethan IS shorter than the guy he's imitating.

When I was your age, television was called books!