The Pop Culture Pundit

Mission: Impossible is my favorite franchise. The first three movies may be tedious, but the second that Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt steps out onto the outside of the Burj Khalifa to climb the tallest building on Earth to save the world in Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol, you know you have to stick around for the next adventure to come. Once certified Tom Cruise whisperer Christopher McQuarrie took over directing the franchise in the fifth installment and onwards after a rotating roster of ‘it’ directors, the series is cemented as not only one of the best and most entertaining action franchises, but one of the best franchises, period. And although the fact that Tom Cruise does his own stunts is my absolute favorite thing about Mission: Impossible, that’s no secret. No, the secret weapon of the franchise and arguably the glue holding the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team together is Ethan Hunt’s ever-adorable bromance with desk-jockey-turned-field-agent Benji Dunn. 

Introduced in the third movie, Benji quickly goes from meager tech roadie to full-fledged superspy. Simon Pegg, who portrays the always skeptical character, is adorably British, and fits right in with the IMF team. You could argue that Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell, who’s the only other person besides Cruise himself to appear in every installment, is essential as well, and I wouldn’t disagree. But Luther never gets hilarious exchanges with Ethan, as we can see below:

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It wasn’t always like this. You see, in the early movies, Ethan Hunt was always solo, with his team members basically promoted extras. But then J.J. Abrams decided to give his character depth in the unfortunately boring third installment. Enter Julia (the always welcome Michelle Monaghan), Ethan’s new wife, whom he subsequently divorces in the 4th movie because if there’s one qualm I have about the franchise it’s that the women characters are always robbed of meaningful characterization and are almost never around for more than one movie. But even if the third movie is the least liked among critics, it is essential in introducing this other side to Ethan. Because with this more tender, emotional side comes more camaraderie among his teammates. And even if Maggie Q never came back after the 3rd installment, and Michelle Monaghan only appeared in two other Mission movies (one of which was a thirty-second cameo), Benji has stuck around ever since–and has been an important asset to the team. No one else dares to question Ethan Hunt–but Benji, ever the skeptic, always asks how they’re going to pull the mission off (or even question how the heck Ethan manages to pull off superhuman stunt after superhuman stunt).

^{Paramount Pictures/screenshots via YouTube; Paramount pictures/via Giphy (Kate Jakubowski)}

Every. Time.

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Although he has learned how Ethan works at this point. That’s growth.

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But back to the bromance. Though Benji is featured in the third movie, it’s not really until the fourth installment Ghost Protocol, that Ethan and Benji’s bromance begins to blossom. 

Without Benji, Ethan wouldn’t be able to pull off these daring missions. Even when Benji is solely there for comedic relief, he is aiding the mission–without him, they would be missing that moment of levity that gives Mission: Impossible such a good balance between serious and hilarious. One such example happens to be when Ethan is forced to climb the tallest building in the world. Ethan, ever the good sport, is willing to put his life on the line to save our planet from nuclear threat, but you can see the uncertainty on his face. Benji, in this instance, certainly isn’t helping ease Ethan’s fear as he walks him through the steps to climb the Burj Khalifa–but a scene that could have been overly-serious or forgettable is suddenly elevated to funny and memorable because of their banter. Yes, Ethan and Benji are both uncertain about the latter’s fate–but neither are going to express that directly to one another. And it leads to one of the best exchanges of the whole franchise, highlighting the importance of detail and physicality in acting: 

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The stills can’t quite do this justice though, so just watch the whole scene for itself.

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Benji and Ethan’s bromance illustrate the strengths of the later Mission: Impossible movies. Yes, watching Tom Cruise do insane stunts is part of the fun of the Mission movies. But what pushes the films to another level, starting with Ghost Protocol, is that the chemistry between the cast makes for a cohesive experience. This is further cemented with the fifth film, Rogue Nation, when Christopher McQuarrie took the reins as director and stayed for future installments. With a consistent director came consistent cast members, and the IMF team with Luther, Benji, and Ilsa Faust (the fantastic Rebecca Ferguson) demonstrates the importance of witty banter within impressive setpieces. Because Mission: Impossible could certainly be a franchise that’s all spectacle–but the moments of humorous dialogue between the cast make it even more memorable (think of the John Wick movies–even with the incredible stunts, the franchise wouldn’t be the same without Keanu Reeves’ stilted, often deadpan delivery). 

In Rogue Nation, the cast is at its strongest, with Benji and Ethan delivering some of their best bromantic moments of the whole series. It starts when Ethan is supposed to dive underwater to gain access to a key card containing sensitive information–but nearly loses his life drowning. Ilsa, who at this point is a new character, leaving the audience unsure if she’s on the good or bad side (spoiler: she’s good), steals the key card from a just-revived Ethan and incapacitates Benji, by hitting him with the defibrillator (what makes this even more shocking is that moments before, Benji was comforting Ethan, which just goes to show how far their bromance has come). Anyways, Ethan and Benji somehow manage to get ahold of themselves and realize that they need to chase after Ilsa. So Ethan, ever the hero, tries to triumphantly leap over a car, which doesn’t go according to plan:

^{Paramount Pictures/via Giphy (Kate Jakubowski)}

Benji is rightly concerned with Ethan trying to be his normal superhuman spy self while in a fuzzy state of semi-consciousness–and it leads to this iconic exchange:

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But because Ethan is Ethan, he takes the wheel and desperately tries to reconfigure himself in his surroundings, to mixed effect. He does remember to ask Benji if his seatbelt is buckled, but that’s because he drives backwards off a set of stairs, which leads to their car flipping over at least 5 times. And because Ethan is Tom Cruise and Tom Cruise is a superhuman stuntman, there’s really no damage save for probably a deflated ego- and a definitely totaled car. But no one can deliver a comedic punchline after a dramatic chase scene in an action movie like him!

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And because our baffled comedian is along for the ride, we get twice the punchlines!

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And then Tom Cruise hops on a motorcycle for some more frenzied action. But this car chase scene is crucial to establishing the Ethan-Benji bromance that has become an enjoyable staple of the franchise. They’re perfect foils for each other, much like Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence in Cobra Kai, or Deadpool and Wolverine in their titular movie. Ethan is the serious, stoic spy while Benji is our frenzied comedic foil. Opposites really do attract–and opposite personalities clash to perfect effect. But clashing isn’t a bad thing. In fact, all of these examples above become best friends, best foils for each other. Let’s look at another Ethan-Benji example, this time from Fallout, when Ethan is chasing after a mustachioed Henry Cavill on rooftops in London:

^{Paramount Pictures/via YouTube; Paramount Pictures/via Giphy (Kate Jakubowski)}

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If you see the video, you can hear how contrasted each actor’s delivery is. Cruise plays it straight–he’s not kidding around, he has to jump out a window or lose the guy altogether. He means business. Pegg on the other hand plays it more frazzled, more comedically. Yes, he’s a tech genius, but he also messes up from time to time, and acknowledges that while wishing Ethan luck. Both of these actors have such different interpretations, such different deliveries of the lines of the scene, but somehow, it still adds up to a consistent tone. At this point, we know Ethan is the Stoic while Benji is the Comic Relief. So to the audience, it makes sense that Hunt is the serious secret agent while Benji is the still-frazzled spy, and it just adds more personality to their bromance as a whole.

As we can see, Benji and Ethan have a bromance for the ages. Although Benji was introduced later in the series, he has since become an asset for the team, and a reliable source of comic relief in the movies. Not only has Benji grown since the series began, but Benji and Ethan’s friendship has grown by blossoming into a full-on bromance. Yes, Ethan Hunt may still work alone in his stunts, but in the end, if something goes right–or something goes wrong–his team will be there for him at the end of the day.

After defeating the evil Henry Cavill in Fallout, Ethan is recovering in the field hospital, because he did get into a helicopter crash before battling it out with the bad guy on the edge of a cliff. (Tom Cruise also learned to fly a helicopter in 6 weeks just for the movie instead of the usual 12 weeks it takes, adding even more authenticity and awe to his already impressive roster of stunts). His friends are there by his side, which just goes to show how much Ethan has grown, too, as he’s gone from riding solo to relying on his friends for help–and his friends know they can rely on him as well. So as Ethan recovers in Fallout, they wait for the next mission, and so does the audience. Because no matter where they go next or what stunts Tom Cruise does, we know that Benji and Ethan’s bromance will continue to be Mission: Impossible’s secret weapon.

And yes– I saved the best exchange for last, when Ethan is hanging on the side of a plane (which Tom Cruise really did!) while waiting for Benji to assist him in getting the door on the plane open.

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That’s what friends are for.