Don't Expect A Pee Break In Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Watch enough movies and you'll inevitably come across one of the medium's funniest little quirks. Depending on how skilled a particular filmmaker is at managing pacing and rhythm, 3-hour-long epics can go by in a breeze while what should've been a fun, 90-minute breeze can feel like it takes several hours to slog through. Runtimes, as every avid moviegoer must learn eventually, mean nothing compared to the actual experience of making your way through each and every scene. You can chalk this up to many different aspects of filmmaking, but it ultimately comes down to the magic of editing.

Much of this fully applies to a movie as ambitious and as sprawling as "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1" is shaping up to be. In the latest issue of Total Film, these questions were put to editor Eddie Hamilton, who has worked on the franchise ever since 2015's "Rogue Nation." All those years of experience have given him a unique perspective on making sure that these oftentimes epic-sized blockbusters never once feel like they overstay their welcome. Of course, the flip side of this means that audiences are less likely to find some downtime to check their phones or, more pressingly, duck out for a quick bathroom break. According to Hamilton, this is all by design:

"In a dialogue scene or an action scene, you're always trying to make sure that the emotional intention of the scene is clear for the audience, and that they give a s**t about what's happening. I think that the real trick is, if we've done our job right — if I've done my job right as an editor — everything is paced so that you are constantly leaning in, and you never even think, 'Is this the right time to go and pee?'"

Different directors have different approaches to moviegoers navigating the thorny question of how long is too long. James Cameron practically dared viewers to simply leave "Avatar: The Way of Water" as needed and catch up on what they missed the next time they watch the movie. But when it comes to the next "Mission: Impossible" sequel, the filmmaking team decided to remove that possibility from the equation altogether. Editor Eddie Hamilton went on to say that:

"You don't want to give the audience space to feel that that's an option. They have to be pulled along in the story, and kept engaged the whole time, and (they] don't want to leave the cinema because they don't want to miss anything."

With a runtime of 156 minutes (or two hours and 36 minutes), pushing "Dead Reckoning" into rarefied territory that makes it the longest "Mission: Impossible" movie yet, fans may be skeptical of the idea that there's no downtime whatsoever to take their attention away from the movie. According to Hamilton, however, he claims that, "From the very beginning of the movie to the end, it's just one massive, complex sequence after another." 

If the action is staged well enough and filled with just as any top-notch set pieces as director Chris McQuarrie's previous movies in the franchise, something tells me that most general audiences will be too caught up in the thrills of watching Tom Cruise defy the laws of physics to care about how long they've actually been sitting in their comfortable, air-conditioned seats in the dead of summer.

"Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning" will base-jump into theaters on July 12, 2023, though with an exclusive IMAX run of only one week before the arrival of "Oppenheimer."