As he climbs the mountains there are tracking shots that show his every move, these are from a high angle shot so you get the idea that the camera is a similar height to birds which shows how high Tom Cruise's character is, this also adds to the thrill seeker aspect because of how dangerous it is to be that high. You can also make connotations with the camera height to predatory birds that stay in that height, such as Eagles. This shows that Tom Cruise's character is dangerous and can survive where only eagles and other can survive; in hostile environments.
Frequently throughout the shot there are close ups of his face to show the strain of his activity, however he still carries on despite the strain. This shows that the protagonist is resilient, or as it's a sequel to confirm to the audience that the character hasn't changed and he's still the Ethan Hunt that they saw in the first film. At 1:51 seconds in there is a shot of him struggling against two rocks with each arm out, this is considered Jesus imagery and shows that the main character is the 'messiah' of the film and will be who his 'disciples' will go to for danger, this is seen later on as the Government send Ethan Hunt on the mission.
During his climbing there is contrapuntal music throughout, this is to manipulate the audience and confuse them. This carries on all the way until a 'missile' is fired at the main character. The reason why this relates is because the misfile is not dangerous, but instead just a mission for Ethan Hunt to accept in the form of glasses embedded into a missile. The contrapuntal music leading up to this scene is effective because it confuses the audience and throws them off course. Which is what the director wanted, to show the audience from the start that there's going to be twists and turns throughout.
Another example of audience manipulation is the slow motion effect used when he is climbing up. The effect is used when he jumps from gap to the other. The slow motion is to manipulate the audience in thinking that he might not make the jump. It's an effective technique that creates tension and adds emphasis on the main characters skills. However it also done for the audience and keeps them interested in what's happening as it is increasing the anticipation. It also lends a hand in making the direction seem more artistic and cinematic.
The non-diegetic music towards the end of the clip starts to become less contrapuntal and more and more fitting for the title. There are many different stages of this throughout the end of the extract. The first stage. At first the beginning contrapuntal music begins to fade out and then once the audience learns that the missile fired at him was not dangerous, espionage music fitting to the overall theme and institution of the original TV series starts playing. This is to let the audience know that 'holiday' time is over and it's time to start the mission.
Finally at the very end of the extract Ethan Hunt reluctantly accepts the mission after saying ''If I tell you where I am... then it's not a holiday' this dialogue is humorous for a couple reasons. the first is the director wanted to show new fans some character development, showing that Ethan Hunt is a humorous character that can be likeable. Another reason was that John Woo wanted to assure to old fans of the TV series and the first Mission Impossible that he's still the same sharp and quick character as he was before.
To conclude the extract has a wide variety of techniques used to entice the audience and is used effectively. The audience knows from the start what they're in for, a typical John Woo film, however depending on whether or not you like typical action films; this is not a bad thing.
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