Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Being Accused Of Ripping Off The Best Video Game
One of the best moments in Tom Cruise’s latest Mission: Impossible film involves an action scene that might be too familiar to those who previously played 2009’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. This similarity between the movie and the game has been noticed by the game’s co-director, who pointed out the similarities between the two releases online.
However, the Mission: Impossible 7 director Christopher McQuarrie claims he had no prior knowledge of the Uncharted 2 video game. According to Comic Book, the director, after learning of the similarities between the two, stated on Threads that he doesn’t know much about the world of gaming, therefore, couldn’t use Uncharted 2 as an inspiration.
A scene in the new Mission: Impossible film looks just like something from Uncharted 2, but the movie’s director insinuates it’s a coincidence, as he is unfamiliar with the game.
And this actually isn’t the first time someone has compared Uncharted to Mission: Impossible and vice-versa; Rogue Nation and the stunts performed in that movie have been linked to Naughty Dog’s title in the past as well.
It’s worth mentioning that Mission: Impossible is one of the biggest and longest-running action franchises in existence, and there’s no denying that it has evolved quite a bit since its inception.
This actually isn’t the first time someone has compared Uncharted to Mission: Impossible and vice-versa.
What began as a spy thriller became an over-the-top action franchise—much like Fast & Furious—and breathtaking action scenes aren’t something the franchise lacks. However, the similarities between the two scenes are very hard to ignore, given that death-defying Tom Cruise even performs the same Nathan Drake-like leap inside a handing train, which took place in Uncharted 2.
What’s even more interesting is the fact that Bruce Starley, a former Naughty Dog employee and Uncharted 2 co-director, commented that the scene in the latest Mission: Impossible is actually the sincerest form of flattery.
Furthermore, his post seemingly indicates that he holds no grudge about the similarities between the two scenes and that he apparently only wanted to point out how alike the two scenes actually are. Hopefully, Sony, the Naughty Dog’s parent company, shared the same sentiments and won’t file a lawsuit.
There are a lot of ways we can interpret this event. For example, we can say with a degree of certainty that McQuarrie just made a better Uncharted movie than the one we got with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg—here’s an unpopular opinion: it actually isn’t that bad.
Bruce Starley, a former Naughty Dog employee and Uncharted 2 co-director, commented that the scene in the latest Mission: Impossible is actually the sincerest form of flattery.
It would also be very entertaining if, after all the fanfare about the alleged connections between Mission: Impossible and Uncharted 2, Nathan Drake was to make a cameo appearance in a future Mission: Impossible movie, even if he’s portrayed by Tom Holland.
While Mission: Impossible remains one of the best action franchises in film, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves remains a PlayStation 3-era blockbuster exclusive that was clearly inspired by archeology action franchises such as Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones.
If you haven’t played the game, Uncharted 2—penned by the legendary Amy Hennig—received a PlayStation 4 remaster in 2016, and you can enjoy it on PlayStation 5 through backward compatibility. However, it’s worth noting that some features available on PlayStation 4 might be absent from the game.
