Among the many, many, many things going on in “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” the eighth movie in the billion-dollar movie franchise that opened in theaters May 23, there’s a reminder that the death-defying character played by Tom Cruise is, yes, a Badger.
During a couple of scenes in “Final Reckoning,” viewers get a flash of the dossier of Ethan Hunt, the character Tom Cruise has played in the “Mission: Impossible” movies since the big-screen reboot began in 1996.
At the top of the first page visible in Hunt’s top-secret file is his place of birth — Madison, Wisconsin.
It’s not the first time that Hunt’s Wisconsin roots have come up in the “Mission: Impossible” movies, although they haven’t been brought up all that often.
In Cruise’s first “Mission: Impossible” movie, released in 1996, Hunt is on the run after most of his team is killed. Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), the head of the IMF, shows him documents from his parents’ Wisconsin bank account, showing a huge inflow of money after his father’s death and the family farm going into a form of receivership. Kittridge claims the money came from a Czech arms dealer. In the first of many, many, many times, Hunt manages to escape in a showy set-piece scene (this time by shattering a giant aquarium and flooding the restaurant where they’re meeting).
To smoke Hunt out, Kittridge stages an arrest — shown live on CNN — of his mother and uncle at a farm outside of Madison, who the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency claims were the kingpins behind a massive drug-manufacturing ring. (After things are all resolved — several chases and explosions later — the Justice Department apologizes to mom and uncle and lets them go.)
The dossier on Hunt’s background returns in 2018’s “Mission: Impossible — Fallout.”
In a rarity for Wisconsin shoutouts in the movies, no cheesehead hats or beer jokes accompany any of these mentions.
In its first weekend in theaters, “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” took in $77 million in North America and $204 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’ reminds us Ethan Hunt is a Wisconsin native
Reporting by Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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