This time, it was like seeing bible prophecies regarding the end of the world being played out in Hollywood style. A scenario which actually is already a reality in our world, with the rise of AI these days. In MI, this parasitic AI Entity, the anti-God, has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe, corrupted digital information in cyberspace and is poised to launch a nuclear holocaust on earth. It has taken over to create a New World Order, feeding false information, playing on human fears, creating havoc, antagonism and division, amongst humankind. All levels of law enforcement, government, and defence systems have been compromised. The goal is human extinction. Certainly this doomsday scenario is real enough. In our age of social media, all sorts of "news' come through the small smart device which I am very sure almost the entire world is constantly hooked up to. We keep checking this little thing called our handfone every other second. Even whilst we are eating, lying in bed, sitting on the toilet bowl, or waiting in our cars at traffic light junctions. This generation really no longer knows what's real or fake anymore. The scary thing is some of us don't even care.
Back to movie-land, how does one fight an unseen enemy that's totally non-physical? Well, I don't understand the technicalities of source codes, genomes and all that jargon. But the method is quaint : it's akin to capturing a genie into a bottle. That involves a complicated plan of unlocking the Entity's source code which is in a hard-drive buried in a long-ago sunken Russian submarine under some ocean, which no one knows where. And then infecting it with an external "poison pill" designed by MI computer-man Luther. So Entity can be controlled instead of being the controller. Cap it all with a 5D digital "coffin" - a secure server vault - to bury the Entity hopefully for eternity. Apparently can't just press delete coz that risks the unpredictable collapse of interconnected global systems which Entity already controls. Yea, the plan is complicated, and the process of pulling it off is... totally impossible. That's why it takes the MI team to do it.
So the master-spy Ethan Hunt rises up from self-imposed exile after doing everything contrary to official orders in his past missions , answering to his President's call and trust that "You were always the best of men in the worst of times." I like that line. That's a reminder to all Christians to choose to be "the best" as we live on this earth, especially in the worst of times that are surely coming soon. Not to be the smartest, happiest, richest, or bravest, but simply to be what Lord Jesus called the "light of the world" that cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14).
As in Luther's last pre-recorded message to his old-time friend Ethan: "Our lives are not defined by any one action. Our lives are the sum of our choices...this life is not some quirk of fate. This was your calling. Your destiny. A destiny that touches every living thing ..You have always been on the right side, brother." I want to be found on the right side - of God, " to live a life worthy of the Lord, to please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might...to have great endurance and patience..(Colossians 1:10-11)
Endurance is what a 62 year old Tom Cruise as super-spy Ethan portrayed - fighting fit, strong, healthy hunk of a man , still handsome in spite of the wrinkles, showing off very admirable biceps and toned torso, whether running on a treadmill or stripped bare to swimming trunks, literally drowning in the depths of the Baltic Sea or sprinting through the streets trying to save Luther. After all, MI would not be complete without the crazy death-defying stunts that literally takes the viewer's breath away. Well, at least I held my breath, almost biting my nails watching Ethan trapped in a submarine as it sinks deeper and deeper dragging him down in mazes of swirling waters, missiles and hatches. Even as he has to ditch the special decompression chamber which is his only life-line to make it back to the surface.
But of course the hero lives to fight another day....in another fantastic impossible feat of a dog-fight across the South African sky, literally "hanging out" on bi-planes. He never misses a beat, although he missed the pilot's seat in one of the scenes. I didn't know whether to laugh or to gasp, as he realizes he's in the seat without controls and has to quickly change positions as the plane is about to crash. Not to mention he's got only seconds to fit the poison pill into the hard-drive device to alert the team on the ground or else World War 3 is going to explode.
The tension is no less on the ground too, as his comrades-in-arms struggle with bombs and contraptions. All are working against time, and against humans out to spoil the rescue plan. So there are unexpected attacks which necessitate last-minute on-the-spot changes to plan B. Timing is indeed everything, down to 0.1 seconds - in the blink of an eye- at the exact right moment, simultaneously as our hero up in the air in another continent plugs in, the heroine on the ground cuts the wires - Entity is "archived", frozen in its bottle, unable to escape or act anymore. So finally we viewers can all heave a huge sigh of relief and relax back in our seats.
How true, it's all about timing. Bible puts it this way in Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons" In God's perfect time, Jesus Christ came to earth to save mankind 2025 years ago. This time around, as our world hurtles towards its end-time, though no one knows what, when or how, those who believe God's word know enough to not fear or despair. As Luther tells Ethan, "I have no regrets" even though he knows he will die but at least he can save a whole city. And he can say, "..I will see you again..." That sums up the hope we have in Christ Jesus, we die but we live again, when it's all over on this earth, there's a much better place to meet again for those who hang on to Jesus as the only Way, Life and Truth.
Apparently there will be no more MI after this "Final Reckoning" movie. If that's true, that's sad, at least for me. But I have my doubts since the ending is still left tantalizingly open: whoever holds the bottle with the "genie" controls the world. So what if our hero turns rogue instead? What if Entity escapes from its "grave?" So many what- ifs in movieland. Meanwhile the real world counts down to its own inescapable final reckoning.
"But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live" - 2 Peter 3:10-11
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