Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One - Train scene also caught the attention of Uncharted 2's Co-Director.
Image: Naughty Dog / Sony
In the recently premiered Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, viewers were captivated by an exhilarating action sequence involving a train precariously dangling, along with daring jumps. Interestingly, those who played Uncharted 2: Among Thieves might have experienced a sense of familiarity. The co-director of the game acknowledged this resemblance and highlighted it on the internet.
Back in 2009, Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2 made its mark as a thrilling PlayStation 3-exclusive action game, drawing inspiration from Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones movies. The unforgettable opening featured Nathan Drake, the game’s protagonist, facing a tense challenge as he climbed a derailed train that hung perilously over a terrifying drop. It remains one of the franchise’s most iconic moments and set the perfect tone for the sequel. Now, the latest Mission: Impossible movie has a scene directly compared to Uncharted 2’s famous introduction.
During my Sunday night viewing of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One, I was already aware that a major action setpiece involving a train was coming up. However, when the film featuring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt reached that particular sequence, I was taken aback by its striking resemblance to Uncharted. In this specific segment, Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, and another individual are compelled to climb both the outside and inside of several train cars gradually sliding off a destroyed bridge and into a valley. There was even a moment where Hunt executed a daring leap inside a vertically suspended train car, reminiscent of something straight out of Nathan Drake’s playbook. He managed to grasp onto a few pieces of furniture and a railing to find his way out, a move that felt truly reminiscent of Uncharted. And I wasn’t the only one who noticed this uncanny similarity.
Uncharted 2’s co-director tweeted about the similarities :
On July 15, Bruce Straley, one of Uncharted 2’s co-directors and a former employee of Naughty Dog, tweeted about these similarities. He shared images from both Mission: Impossible and Uncharted 2, added a thinking face emoji, and commented, “…the sincerest form of flattery!” He concluded the tweet with a winking emoji, indicating that he held no ill feelings about the scene, but rather wanted to highlight the likeness between the two thrilling train-dangling moments.
Naturally, as the internet tends to do, some individuals immediately jumped to conclusions, assuming that Bruce Straley was insinuating that the Mission: Impossible film stole the scene from Uncharted. Others suggested that he was overlooking similar scenes in other films, like The Lost World: Jurassic Park from 1997, which also had a dangling train scene. However, it seems that this is not the case. Bruce Straley was simply having some light-hearted online fun, drawing comparisons between something he contributed to and a major Tom Cruise blockbuster film.
Furthermore, there is a genuine possibility that Dead Reckoning Part One’s director, Christopher McQuarrie, found inspiration from Uncharted 2 while crafting the sequence. In the past, McQuarrie has acknowledged that an action scene in the Mission: Impossible sequel Rogue Nation was influenced by a sequence involving a plane in Uncharted 3.
Considering all of this, it might be a fantastic idea to bring McQuarrie, Cruise, and Nolan North, the voice actor for Drake in Uncharted, together in one room. Perhaps this collaboration could lead to Nolan North making a memorable cameo appearance in one of the Mission: Impossible films. The potential for such an exciting crossover has certainly captured the imagination of fans.