Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoningscores a low accuracy grade from an AI expert due to its AI villain, the Entity. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the latest installment in the long-runningMission: Impossiblefranchise sees Tom Cruise return as Ethan Hunt to face off against arogue AI threat known as the Entityand its human emissary, Gabriel (Esai Morales). The film, which also stars Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ving Rhames, was big hit with critics, earning glowing reviews for its standout action and timely premise.
In a recent video forInsider, AI expert Sasha Luccioni analyzes scenes of the Entity inMission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, finding that the film misses the mark in several key ways. While the depiction of the Entity imitating Benji’s voice is accurate, though perhaps somewhat rudimentary, Luccioni takes issue with the film suggesting that AI can set its own goals and missions. An AI Entity targetting a satellite, for example, would only happen in real life if somebody specifically commanded the AI to do it. Check out Luccioni’s commentary and score for the film out of 10 below:
“AI can definitely knock out satellites if it’s being used by a human. So it’s kind of like a computer virus, right? Once you plant the virus, it can do all sorts of things. And, actually, AI is being used in hacking. It’s being used in cyberattacks. But once again, the agency doesn’t come from the AI, it comes from the person who’s going to choose the place to deploy it, or like the type of satellite to target.
“The voice cloning was spot on. That can definitely be done already right now. So essentially, how AI voice generation works, is that if you have enough audio of someone talking, it will learn the actual voice frequencies, the actual audio frequencies of someone’s voice and the way they talk. And, in this case, it really seemed like it was taking words that Benji already said and just shuffling them around or just playing them back without actually doing the modelling parts.
“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.
“I give this clip a three [out of 10]because of the agency issue. So, AI is only a tool, and it can be used for good, it can be used for bad, but by itself, it’s not going to wake up and start hacking satellites.”
How Did The Tom Cruise Film Fare With Audiences?
AI is a hot topic today, both inside and outside Hollywood. There are very real fears about what the technology is already capable of and what it could become capable of in the near future. It makes sense, then, thatMission: Impossible – Dead Reckoningwould feature AI as the villain in the film. Obviously, though, McQuarrie and Cruise have had to deviate from reality in order to tell a compelling story.
All 9 Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Stunts & Fight Scenes, Ranked
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is full of incredible stunts and fantastic fight scenes, and here are all of them ranked.
Reviews forMission: Impossible – Dead Reckoningwere generally very positive, with praise aimed primarily at the stunts and major action set pieces. Exaggerating what AI is capable of helps to facilitate these stunts and action sequences or enhance emotion. The Entity imitating Benji’s voice, for example, leads Ethan away from Isla Faust (Ferguson), resulting in her death, which is a powerful moment. The film currently enjoys a 96% critics' score and 94% audience score onRotten Tomatoes, suggesting that most audiences either didn’t pick up on or weren’t bothered by the film’s exaggeration of AI capabilities.
Though the film fared well critically,Mission: Impossible 7was a box office disappointment, grossing $567 million worldwide on an estimated budget of $291 million.
Why The Entity Not Being Realistic Isn’t A Big Deal
In film, it’s generally less important that things are realistic than that they feel realistic to audiences and adhere to the movie’s internal logic.The Entity makes sense and feels real within the heightened world ofMission: Impossibleand it adheres to the internal logic of the story. It’s also unrealistic, for example, that Ethan’s team can make flawless masks and voice changers that allow a character to pass for someone else, but it feels plausible inside the world of the film.
One of the drawbacks of making the Entity the villain is that AI as a technology is rapidly advancing. Aspects ofDead Reckoning, such as the Entity emulating Benji’s voice, are already outdated, and this could create problems for theupcomingMission: Impossible 8. Ultimately, though, the hit action franchise isn’t popular because it adheres to reality, andMission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, despite its flaws, remains a stunning work of action filmmaking.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning
Cast
In Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt and his IMF team face a perilous mission to secure a powerful new weapon that could jeopardize humanity. With familiar adversaries resurfacing, Ethan must navigate global challenges, risking personal bonds to fulfill his mission’s crucial objectives.
