This article contains spoilers for 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1'. But then, it would, wouldn't it?
Well, that was a wild ride, wasn’t it? Multiple continents, death-defying stunts and more creepy real-face masks than we were comfortable with; the ending of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 saw one character finally in possession of The Entity’s key. But who ended up with it, and how exactly did they get it?
Lining us up for MIDR Part 2; let’s recap exactly what happened at the end of the film...
The ending explained
Post-Venice, all the action moves on to the Orient Express train bound for Innsbruck. Ethan (Tom Cruise) and Grace (Hayley Atwell) are planning to infiltrate the deal Alanna (Vanessa Kirby) is about to become very rich from, when she exchanges the interlocking halves of a key for a lot of money.
A little reminder: the reason this key is in such high demand is because – unbeknown to most characters – the key accesses a computer from which the AI-creation, The Entity, became sentient. It acts like malware, insidiously taking over the planet, glitching and corrupting anything in its path, and is able to destroy anything or anyone, which is what is making it so appealing to every country in the world: whoever gets it becomes the dominant world super power.
The Entity is working with Gabriel (Esai Morales), resident villain and Ethan’s arch enemy. The Entity wants the key back so it can control the world, and presumably not be control-alt-deleted, but that’s not exactly ideal for everyone else, as it would lead to the downfall of humanity.
So, the stage is set for Grace to pull off a switcheroo (Benji’s mask-making machine is on the blink, so she’s doing it alone). That means jumping on the train, injecting Alanna with a tranquilliser and taking her place with the anonymous dealer. And it’s… Kittridge (Henry Czerny), the director of the IMF! Meaning that he’s sort of a double agent for his country, that wants the key too.
Meanwhile, Gabriel has entered the chat: he and his mute psychopath sidekick assassin, Paris (Pom Klementieff) are on board the train and there’s just one person who knows where exactly the computer system for The Entity can be found, and it’s Denlinger. Denlinger reveals that it’s in the wreckage of the Sevastopol at the bottom of the Bering Sea. Once Gabriel has this intel, he kills Denlinger, then turns on Paris as, with the help of The Entity, he predicts that she’s going to betray him. While she’s stabbed in the heart, she manages to escape from him. We’ll return to her in a bit.
Grace-as-Alanna is offered $100 million for the key – but when the transfer is almost complete, she says she’s changed her mind and walks away. But not for long, as she manages to steal the key back from Kittridge shortly before the real Alanna turns up, and Grace has to leg it.
From the top of a mountain nearby, Ethan jumps off a motorbike and parachutes onto the train, just as Gabriel gets hold of Grace, and takes the key for himself. Oh, and guess what? The train is now a runaway, careering forward without a driver, so while Grace tries to sort that out, Gabriel and Ethan do battle on top of the train. The two US agents who’ve been following Ethan throughout the film finally get hold of him, but at a pesky moment that allows Gabriel to jump off the train onto a passing truck. What he doesn’t know is that Ethan’s pick-pocketed the key back from him again.
A bomb on the bridge ahead – thanks for that, Gabriel – means that it’s even more imperative to stop the train and save the passengers, and in some staggering stunt work, Ethan and Grace work together to try and save at least half of the carriages from falling into the abyss below.
They take pity on a dying Paris, who manages to gasp out the word “Sevastopol” – a revelation that points them in the direction of where they can use the key. Two parachutes would be handy right about now, but Ethan and Grace only have one.
Grace tells Ethan to take it, as she can leverage a deal with Kittridge to join the IMF (as Ethan told her previously). Ethan and the key duly shoot off into the distance from the train. Over footage of the submarine wreck, the last words are: “The world doesn’t know it, but they’re counting on you. Good luck, Ethan”.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 is out now.
