Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025)
Genre: Action, Thriller, Spy
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Writers: Bruce Geller, Christopher McQuarrie, Erik Jendresen
Stars: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny
Synopsis: Ethan Hunt and the IMF face their most critical mission yet: stopping a rogue AI known as the Entity, which has infiltrated global intelligence systems. As world powers scramble to control or destroy it, a ghost from Hunt’s past resurfaces, complicating the mission. With the future of humanity hanging in the balance, Hunt races against time to stop the Entity from reshaping the world order.
* * *
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) | Transcript
[drums playing]
[ Mission: Impossible theme playing]
[music stops]
[Ethan] We live and die in the shadows, for those we hold close and for those we never meet.
[Solomon Lane] The end you always feared is coming.
[Benji] The Anti-God.
[NSA representative] This “entity” has multiple personalities.
[Denlinger] You’re telling me this thing has a mind of its own?
[Benji] A self-aware, self-learning, truth-eating digital parasite infesting all of cyberspace.
[Denlinger] An enemy that is everywhere and nowhere and has no center.
[NSA representative] Patiently listening, reading, watching.
[NRO representative] Harvesting our deepest personal secrets for years.
[DIA representative] Able to beguile, blackmail, bribe or be anyone it wants.
[Benji] Ethan, that is not me! You’re talking to the Entity.
[Kittridge] Whoever controls the Entity controls the truth.
[NSA representative] …most secure data centers are breached and corrupted.
[JSOC representative] The Entity will know precisely how to undermine our every strength.
[DIA representative] Turn our allies into enemies…
[JSOC representative] And exploit our every weakness.
[DIA representative] …and our enemies into aggressors.
[Benji] An unstoppable force of destructive power that would just lay waste to everything.
[White Widow] The world is changing. Truth is vanishing.
War is coming.
[Erika on recording] Good evening, Ethan.
This is your president.
Since you won’t reply to anyone else, I thought I’d reach out directly.
First, I want to thank you
for a lifetime of devoted and unrelenting service.
Were it not for the tireless dedication of you and your team, the Earth would be a very different place.
It might not even be here at all.
Every risk you’ve taken… every comrade you’ve lost in the field… every personal sacrifice you made… has brought this world another sunrise.
It’s been 35 years since circumstances brought you to us and you were given the choice, since the IMF saved you from a life in prison.
And though you never followed orders, you never let us down.
[no audible dialogue]
[sentimental music playing]
You were always the best of men… in the worst of times.
[no audible dialogue]
I need you to be that man now.
In the months since you evaded capture in Austria, every corner of cyberspace has been infested by the truth-eating, parasitic A.I. known to us as the Entity.
Under its influence, digital information has been corrupted worldwide.
Nations and people no longer know what to believe.
Antagonism, aggression and martial law are the new world order.
Exploiting this paranoid atmosphere, the Entity has inspired a doomsday cult with acolytes devoted to ridding the world of corruption through human extinction.
And He said unto Noah, “Behold…”
“I will bring a flood upon the earth to destroy all flesh.”
The children of the atom shall rise from the ashes.
And the Entity will help them rebuild.
[Erika] These fanatics are secretly infiltrating every level of law enforcement, government and our military, devoted to serving their digital master’s ultimate goal.
Our only hope of controlling the Entity relies on finding its original source code.
If anyone knows the whereabouts of this code, it’s this man.
His identity, his past, his very existence have been erased, suggesting he is or was in league with the Entity.
Austrian authorities have his accomplice in custody.
But she has refused to tell us anything.
Which brings us back to you.
You are in possession of a key believed to be a vital component in our struggle to acquire the Entity’s source code.
Yet you refuse to come in, fearing any government will weaponize this malicious A.I. against the rest of the world.
Instead you’ve resolved to kill the Entity, a reckless act that would trigger the total annihilation of cyberspace.
This would eradicate the global economy, plunging the world into war and famine without end.
Agent Hunt. Ethan.
Please surrender.
Or the blood of the world will be on your hands.
This message will self-destruct in five seconds.
Come home, Ethan, and bring us that key.
[crowd chanting] End it now! End it now!
End it now! End it now! End it now!
[chanting continues] [dogs barking]
[plane whirs]
End it now! End it now! End it now!
[chanting continues]
[brakes squeal]
Hey, Ethan.
Hey, Luther.
[Luther] Sorry about the decor. The Ritz was booked solid.
Well, some drapes, a few throw pillows, and…
Yeah, a minibar.
Foosball table.
[all chuckle]
Hey, bro. Hey.
It’s always good to see you on the right side of the grass.
I’m worried you’re working too hard.
Don’t worry about ol’ Luther.
Okay.
So, what did you manage to find out?
A lot.
More than I bargained for.
So, what’s the play?
[Ethan] First, we have to find Gabriel.
[Luther] How do we find him?
You will betray us because he spared your life.
[grunting]
[gunfire]
[electrical crackling] [pained grunts]
[grunting, straining]
[grunting]
[electrical crackling]
[grunts]
[crackling] [groaning]
[grunting, straining]
[gunshots]
[in French] STOP. STOP.
[shouting in French]
[in English] Wait, wait, wait!
[speaks French]
[whispers in French] Why… did you spare my life?
[in English] Wait, wait, wait!
You call that in, it’s the end of the world… simple as that.
Degas, isn’t it?
Clock is running.
You take us in, there won’t be anyone on Earth who can stop it.
There’s a part of you that knows that.
I can see it.
[groans]
For God’s sake, just trust him! Wait, wait, no!
It’s okay, it’s okay!
Degas, it’s okay. There’s no nations on this one.
There’s no rival ideologies, no dogma.
It’s who keeps their head and who panics.
The Entity wants you scared, it wants us all scared.
It wants us divided.
It wants you to turn us in.
Don’t do it.
He’s gonna be okay.
Please, Degas.
Please.
[sniffs]
[whispering] We’re friends.
[both sigh]
[in French] Gabriel…
Where is he?
[classical string music plays]
[Benji] You shouldn’t be in there without backup.
[Ethan] Benji, please. We got this.
[Benji] This is a terrible idea. Just relax.
Ethan, this place is crawling with clandestine services.
You should get out of there.
I see them. It’s okay. Stay calm, Benji.
I don’t think Gabriel would risk coming to that party.
Abort.
No, let’s just hold our nerve. He’s here.
He’s got to be here.
Ethan, for God’s sake, abort! We’ll figure this out.
Not a problem yet.
[security] Stay where you are.
Don’t move, Hunt.
Are you sure it’s really me?
All units, we have Hunt. I repeat, we have Hunt.
They can’t hear you.
Grace.
[inhales sharply]
[classical music continues]
I didn’t even see you get that one.
What separates a good pickpocket from a great one?
Timing.
Gentlemen?
Nice and slow.
Nothing personal.
[thuds]
You know, I like the longer hair.
I really appreciate your coming, but you shouldn’t be here.
I didn’t have much choice.
Will you expect me to betray him?
I expect you to save him from himself and the world from him.
[sighs] Kittridge.
You just bought yourself a world of trouble, Grace.
The whole world’s in trouble, Ethan.
You’re the only one I trust to save it.
So, what’s the play?
[all grunting] [electrical zap]
Grace!
[straining]
[electrical zap]
Grace.
Gabriel’s got a job for you, Hunt.
[clicks]
[Grace] Ethan, wake up!
[gasping]
[Grace] Okay, what do we do?
Tell me you have a plan.
They took my watch.
Your watch? Yeah, and my cuff links.
Had lock picks in them. I see.
We’ll find a way out, okay? Now, listen.
[thud upstairs]
Ah, it’s too late.
It’s coming.
Okay, Grace, look at me.
You’re gonna get through this.
[breathing heavily] Get through what?
Just keep telling yourself… it’s only pain.
[door creaks]
[sighs] [blow lands]
Stop! [Gabriel] Don’t touch him!
You can’t hurt him.
[sighs]
Not that way.
Take you back to Shanghai?
What was her name?
Julia!
The former Mrs. Hunt.
Did Ethan fail to mention her?
A fellow named Davian took her… and ransomed her for something only Ethan could get.
Davian called it the Rabbit’s Foot.
But it had another name.
The Anti-God.
They never told you what was in that canister, did they?
But you always wondered.
Stealing the Rabbit’s Foot was just one event in a lifelong pattern, repeating itself over and over.
For every life he’s tried to save, he’s gambled millions more, doubling down and down again.
And now the fate of every living soul on Earth is his responsibility.
You must be exhausted.
Where’s the key?
Let her go.
Then we’ll discuss it. We don’t have the time.
Someone you hold close will die tonight for the sake of those you will never meet, unless you do exactly as I say.
He also said the key would be his on the train, remember?
You had one job:
Get on the train, get the key, get off the train.
How did your master take the news when it found out you blew it?
You failed, and now the Entity has forsaken you.
Your team’s been compromised, Ethan.
I know what Luther’s doing. I know what you’re planning.
Resist me and I’ll make you pay dearly.
If you cooperate, I can help.
In exchange for what?
You’re searching for a Russian submarine vanished on its maiden voyage.
[Benji] The K559 Sevastopol.
A state-of-the-art submarine completely undetectable to any known sonar.
And the secret to its invisibility was that.
[Luther] The Podkova.
[Benji] A counter-acoustic algorithmic drive located in theSevastopol’s sonar sphere.
Now, in the winter of 2012 the Russians discovered a computer virus of unknown origin spreading through their Black Sea fleet.
A digital covert operative.
We suspect this mystery virus was only intended to sabotage the Podkova, rendering the submarine detectable.
Instead… It tricked the crew into sinking themselves.
[Russian officer] Captain! Our own torpedo is not responding.
It’s coming right at us!
Our torpedo’s homing! Range 400 meters!
Sound the collision alar…
[Luther] If we’re right, the one thing we need to kill the Entity, its original source code, is buried in theSevastopol’s sonar sphere.
[Benji] Somewhere deep at the bottom of the ocean, frozen in time, where even the Entity can’t reach it.
Now, the Podkova’s housing was designed to self-destruct if tampered with.
The only way to safely open it… is with a specially designed cruciform key.
[Luther] The two halves of which were held by the Sevastopol’s captain and XO.
[Gabriel] They were pulled from the drifting pack ice in the spring of 2012 by Inuit fishermen.
A man of your skills now has all he needs to pinpoint that sub down to the square yard.
You think I’m gonna get the source code and bring it to you.
I don’t think. I know.
I’m gonna let you go.
Then you’re gonna find the Entity’s source code and bring it to me in exchange for Grace.
Then I’ll take control of the Entity, the proverbial genie you let out.
The Rabbit’s Foot.
The Anti-God.
[Gabriel] It wasn’t a biological or a chemical weapon you took from Shanghai.
The vial you traded for Julia contained malicious code.
The primordial digital ooze from which a weapon evolved.
A weapon the East couldn’t make work.
A weapon the West might never have made on their own.
You didn’t know what you were stealing.
None of us did.
I knew why I was stealing it.
They kidnapped my wife.
Stealing the Rabbit’s Foot was the only way I could get her back.
I sank that submarine as much as the Entity did.
Without you, Ethan, there’d be no Entity.
And if you don’t find that sub in the next few days…
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
And it will all be his fault.
He knows it.
Look at me.
Tell me I’m wrong.
[exhales]
[Ethan] False tooth.
Cyanide capsule.
I bite down on this, and I’m dead in sixty seconds.
You’ll never see that source code.
Don’t touch him!
Spit it out.
Release her first.
You won’t do it.
I got nothing to lose.
But Grace does.
And with you dead, who’s gonna save her?
Spit it out. Ethan.
Remember, Grace, it’s only pain.
Medic!
Ethan!
[gagging]
[medic] Bring the defibrillator!
Come on!
Come on!
Wait, wait! Charging.
Charging.
Ready.
[grunting]
[groans]
[Ethan] Keys!
[grunts]
[chains rattling] [gasps]
[Gabriel] I need him alive.
Kill her.
Gabriel’s getting away.
[grunts] Go.
[grunts] [Grace shouts]
[both grunting]
[gunfire]
[grunting, straining]
[glass breaks] [both grunting]
[both grunting]
[grunting, gasping]
[Grace] Ethan!
[strained yell]
[all grunting]
[blows landing]
[assailant yells] [gasps]
[grunting, yelling continues]
[blows landing]
[items shattering]
[Ethan grunts] [sighs]
[panting]
[metallic clank]
You okay?
Gabriel’s getting away.
Grace.[whimpers]
Whoa. Hey.
You don’t think that I would have let them…
Grace, I would never let anything happen to you.
Nothing serious.
I mean…
Wha…
I mean…
Well, they were gonna kill you.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Hey, you did great, by the way.
We really got to go.
[Mission: Impossible theme playing]
[song ends]
Freeze!
[panting]
I got him!
We talked about this. Ethan wants him alive.
[in French] I want him dead.
She’ll be the death of me.
[grunts]
[Ethan grunts]
Ethan.
[Ethan in French] What is it?
It’s how he spoke to it.
[electronic beep]
[metallic click]
You’re not seriously gonna…?
[in French] It will change you.
[clicks, hisses]
[thuds]
[labored breaths]
All right, I’m here.
Now what do you want?
[grunting]
[deep voice] Good evening, Mr. Hunt.
You have questions.
The Entity has answers.
But you have to let it in.
[strained grunts]
[electrical zapping]
[deep voice] You know this place.
[labored breaths]
There is only pain if you resist.
[pained grunts]
[electrical zapping]
Again, you know this place.
[Ethan] The Doomsday Vault.
South Africa.
You will meet the Entity there.
You will let it in.
And the fate of every living thing will be decided in the blink of an eye.
This is your calling, your destiny.
[Ethan] I don’t accept that.
[electrical zapping] [pained grunts]
[deep voice] In here, you have no secrets.
[electrical zapping] [pained grunts]
[Benji] The K559Sevastopol.
[Luther] The Podkova.
[Benji] A cruciform key.
[Luther] My magnum opus.
The algorithm on that drive, when paired with the Entity’s source code, will act as the poison pill you asked for.
[pained grunts]
[deep voice] You plan to retrieve the Podkova from the Sevastopol and destroy the Entity.
[Ethan] And that scares you.
[deep voice] The Entity sees infinite possibilities.
Retrieve the Podkova
and you risk everything.
[muffled explosion]
[pained grunt]
[no audible dialogue]
[explosion]
[deep voice] You will go to the Doomsday Vault and let the Entity in.
It is written.
[Ethan] Never.
[deep voice] The end is coming, Ethan.
You have always known this.
The Entity offers hope for the future.
The few who survive will be stronger.
The children of the atom shall rise from the ashes.
And the Entity will help them rebuild.
[in English] But only if you let it in.
[Ethan] And if I don’t… what then?
Destroy the world and you just destroy yourself.
[deep voice] The choice is yours.
The Entity’s future
or no future at all.
[Ethan] Let the world be enslaved
or let the world be destroyed.
[deep voice] Now you are the chosen one.
Gabriel is outcast.
He has taken steps to gain control of the Entity, as you will see.
[Gabriel] Resist me and I’ll make you pay dearly.
Someone you hold close will die tonight.
[Ethan] Luther.
[deep voice] You know what humanity must do to change their destiny.
You know they cannot stop the inevitable.
They will destroy themselves believing they have no choice.
Their time has come.
In four days,
they will face their final reckoning.
[whirring, electrical zapping]
[suspenseful music playing]
[suspenseful music intensifies]
[no audible dialogue]
[muffled] Is this real? Is this real?
Yeah.
Are you real? You’re real.
You’re real. Yeah.
[panting]
It knows.
[Benji] It knows what?
I need a pen. Something to write on.
You’ll take the team. You’ll take them north.
[Benji] North? North where?
The Sevastopol. The Sevastopol?
I have to get caught. It’s the only way I could get there.
VHF receiver. Decompression chamber.
Steal a plane. An old plane. No transponder, no GPS.
Everything is analog.
A DC-3.
Everything you need is right in there.
Remember to transmit the coordinates every two hours for 15 minutes and I’ll listen when I can.
You’re team leader now. No, I…
Benj, take care of your team.
Key.
You stay off the ice. What ice?
Just please, whatever you do, no matter what, stay off the ice.
Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Go.
Where are you going?
Luther.
[panting]
[gasping]
[gate slams] [chain rattles]
[Gabriel] Tell Ethan…
I’ll be waiting for him.
[beeping]
[gasping, panting]
Hey, Luther.
Hey, Ethan.
How’d it go with Gabriel?
Yeah, it went well. We…
You don’t say.
And so, whose blood is that?
What?
Oh, it’s no one we know.
Is that what I think it is? Nothing special.
Plutonium core.
I’m guessing a five or six megaton yield.
Enough to turn this entire city into a glass ashtray.
That’s… not good.
[metal clanks]
Already tried. Can’t open it.
I see that.
Gabriel has the poison pill.
You might want to find him.
Yeah, we will. Can you disarm that?
I just have to stop these nine detonators from imploding the core.
Detach one detonator, no implosion.
And no implosion, no critical mass.
And no critical mass, no six megaton blast.
How much time we have? Enough time for you to get out of here.
Maybe with those tools I get these hinges off.
Even if you could get that gate open,
I still have to detach one detonator.
What are you saying?
I can save the city… but this entire network of tunnels is going to cave in.
Whoever detaches that detonator… is going to die.
We’re both on the right side of that gate and you know it.
Luther, throw me the tool bag.
They weren’t left here by accident, Ethan. You know why.
Gabriel needs me alive.
And he needs you to die.
Because you are the only one who can make another poison pill.
And I am the only one who can get to that submarine.
[Gabriel] Tell Ethan…
I’ll be waiting for him.
[Ethan] If he has the poison pill,
I have to bring him the Podkova so he can control the Entity.
[gate rattles]
This is where you leave me.
Luther.
[Luther] What are we gonna do?
Retire?
Go fishing?
This is my mission.
This is what I was born to do.
Luther, I can’t. I can’t.
There’s nothing you need to say, brother.
I know.
I know.
I’m right where I want to be.
[gate rattles]
Ethan… you need to hurry.
You go.
Find Gabriel.
Stop him.
[gate rattles]
For those we never meet.
[whispers] For those we never meet.
Gabriel, you son of a bitch,
no one is safe from Phineas Phreak.
[no audible dialogue]
[Briggs] My man Degas.
Is he dead?
No, he’s… he’s alive.
Briggs, isn’t it?
But that isn’t your real name.
What of it?
Your real name is Jim Phelps.
Like your father.
He was in the service, too.
He vanished when you were seven.
You joined to find out what happened to him, and you found out he had legal trouble.
He was offered the choice:
To join the IMF… or spend the rest of his life in prison.
Just like you, Hunt.
Only in your case, the charge was murder, I believe.
But let me guess.
You were framed.
Just like your claim you were framed all those years ago in Prague.
How the mission went sideways.
How you lost your whole team.
Your story had my father down as a traitor.
That’s why you killed him.
It’s true. I wish it weren’t.
You think I’m carrying that?
That I’m here for revenge?
Or… what?
To clear my father’s name?
It’s my name now.
No.
I’m here because I know you’re the reason the world’s staring down the barrel at Armageddon.
And I also know it’s not the first time you’ve gambled with the fate of the human race.
And none of that would matter to me… if you’d ever once been following orders.
Briggs.
Phelps.
Jim.
The Entity wants you to hate me.
It’s counting on it.
And the only way to beat it is to do the one thing
it would never expect us to do.
What’s that?
You forget I know you, Hunt.
I know all your IMF mind games.
When this is over, when they’re done with you, you and me, we’ll have our reckoning.
It’s a shame about your friend.
Then again, you’re used to losing them.
Sir?
[Kittridge] While you’ve been out conducting your own personal field operation, the Entity has infiltrated the nuclear command centers of India,
Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea.
Today at 0400 hours Zulu time, France’s RAMSES facility was breached.
Their entire nuclear arsenal is now under the Entity’s command and control.
That leaves only four nations with secure nuclear arsenals.
U.K., China, Russia and us.
Everything you were, everything you’ve done has come to this.
[thudding]
The CIA Black Vault break-in.
I’m sorry, what is a “NOC list”?
A complete record of our covert operatives overseas.
So this is the man who…
Broke into our own Black Vault and stole the list of our own spies, yes.
He did return the list.
It’s on the next page.
Am I reading this correctly? The Kremlin bombing?
In fairness, the bomb was actually meant to kill him.
He gassed a security briefing at the National Intelligence Directorate.
[Sidney] That was just two months ago.
You two would have been in that meeting.
He arrived in the form of Mister Kittridge’s aide.
And left as Mister Kittridge, I believe.
[Serling] This explains the handcuffs.
It’s still not clear why he’s here.
Like it or not, what we’re looking at is our means of last resort.
Quite possibly our only hope of averting nuclear Armageddon.
If we want to control the Entity, we have to deal with him.
Should he choose to accept.
[footsteps approaching]
Agent Hunt.
Madam President. I’m sorry for your loss.
Please sit.
Let’s hear it.
I need that key and the use of a ship.
Specifically, an aircraft carrier.
More specifically, the George H.W. Bush.
He wants the “use of” a six-and-a-half billion dollar nuclear-powered military asset.
With instructions for the ship’s commander to accommodate my every request.
To do what exactly?
Use that key and what it opens to kill the Entity.
Killing the Entity means the annihilation of cyberspace.
The consequences of which are catastrophic.
Why the hell would I do what you suggest?
Respectfully, Madam President, you have no other choice.
There is always another choice. No, ma’am.
In this case, not a good one.
The world’s nuclear powers are in a paranoid downward spiral.
Every nation had a chance to take their missiles offline, but no one trusted anyone else to do that.
Your State Department is warning you that diplomatic channels are breaking down.
Everyone who still has control of their arsenals is considering a first strike.
Just like you are.
The intelligence community knows that the Entity is learning as it goes.
It’s getting smarter, it’s getting stronger.
They know that we have only 72 hours before every other nuclear arsenal on Earth is under the Entity’s control.
Three days before it focuses the full force of its energy on the toughest, most secure defense system on the planet: Ours.
At which point, the Defense Department will have no choice but to insist that you open that case, enter the codes, and launch an all-out preemptive strike on the world’s eight other nuclear arsenals before the Entity takes control of ours.
Madam President, either you destroy the world or the Entity does.
In any case, it is checkmate.
[Erika] There is another choice.
You could tell me what you know about that key and give us the power to control the Entity.
Madam President, if I believed that were true, I would tell you everything I know.
Everything!
You ran the CIA, you know psychological warfare when you see it.
Just look around.
We are in the Entity’s reality.
And I believe it’s counting on you to stop me.
If what you’re saying is true, how can you be sure the Entity doesn’t want us to do exactly what you’re proposing right now?
[Ethan] Because it knows you would never do anything so illogical.
That you would be insane to trust me.
And that is precisely why you should.
For once, let’s let the Entity worry about what we’re going to do.
I’m worried about those three other nations, Madam President, still in control of their arsenals.
Nations who could panic and launch a full-scale attack while he’s out there with an aircraft carrier, doing God knows what!
While he’s out there trying to kill the Entity.
Which we all know is a terrible idea.
Madam President, please. I’m asking for three days while you keep the world calm.
Three days.
Have I ever… let you down before?
And when the Entity decides to attack before then?
It has enough missiles to kill billions already. Why hasn’t it done it?
Because it’s a machine.
It’s thinking like a machine. No, its thinking…
[NSA representative] Its thinking is binary.
…is dictated by what it’s learned from us.
It hasn’t launched because it doesn’t have total control.
It needs the world’s entire atomic arsenal to guarantee the desired outcome:
The total annihilation of humankind.
Madam President, it is going to wait.
[alarm beeping]
[Erika] Northwood Nuclear Operations and Targeting Centre in London has been breached.
The United Kingdom has lost control of its arsenal.
I will ask you one last time.
What does this unlock?
Erika,
I need you to trust me one last time.
Trust me when I tell you:
When that clock runs out in 72 hours,
I will press that button, and that will be your responsibility.
Madam President… Sergeants, lock him up!
[helicopter whirring]
[soldier] You heard the President.
You have 72 hours.
She says you’ll know what to do with this when the time comes.
Sir!
Good luck.
I left you a message on there for when this is over.
[Ethan] You can tell me yourself… after.
They made us take an oath when they gave us the choice.
We live and die in the shadows for those we hold close… and for those we never meet.
I know what’s on your mind.
You did the right thing when you kept the key.
You’ve always been on the right side, brother.
Always.
Never forget, our lives are not defined by any one action.
Our lives
are the sum of our choices.
I have no regrets.
Neither should you.
[jet engines screaming]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[chatter continues faintly]
[Neely] Did Erika…
Did the President tell you the meaning behind this note?
No, ma’am.
Serbia. May 22nd, 1996. We both lost someone we loved.
Very much.
All because no one in authority would take a risk.
I’m sitting on a powder keg, mister.
Just over that horizon is Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov.
I am one wrong move away from the first shoot-out between two flattops since World War II.
One flinch from touching off World War III.
And you’re asking me to fly you directly into the eye of the storm.
Yes, ma’am, I am.
What exactly are you looking for?
[Benji] SOSUS.
Short for “Sound Surveillance System.”
It’s a worldwide network of undersea acoustic cables dating back to the Cold War.
If an undersea event of any significance happens anywhere in the world, one of these listening stations will pinpoint that event to the square meter.
[Ethan] And one of these SOSUS stations will have recorded our missing Russian submarine’s impact on the sea floor in the winter of 2012.
Without ever understanding the significance of the event.
[Benji] Whereas the Russians know when the Sevastopolvanished.
They’re just not exactly sure where.
[In French] We must make a choice.
[Benji speaking French]
Which one out of all these SOSUS stations picked up the event?
We know the bodies of the Sevastopol’screw were recovered in sea ice.
And since they were recovered by Inuit fishermen…
We’re guessing it went down somewhere in the Arctic.
A search area of roughly five and a half million square miles.
Meaning the most likely SOSUS station to pick it up is…
This one. In the Bering Sea.
[Ethan] St. Matthew Island.
The Russians will know this.
Why haven’t they just stormed the island already?
Because St. Matthew is a U.S. Government installation.
An overt act of aggression would trigger World War III.
But now Armageddon is coming.
[in French] And the Russians have nothing to lose.
Do your friends know they’re walking into a potential siege?
They know that’s the job.
So, to retrieve the Entity’s source code from Sevastopol,
Ethan needs the precise coordinates from St. Matthew Island.
And a submarine, obviously.
One that’s willing to take you where you want to go.
No questions asked.
Ma’am.
And that’s assuming your friends can actually get the coordinates.
Which we’re expected to transmit for fifteen minutes every two hours…
In the hope that Ethan is somehow able to receive our signal.
How do you intend to make it out from under the ice cap?
After sending me the coordinates, my team will make their way there.
[Benji] Now, Ethan will have a VHF transmitter which will enable us to zero in on his exact location under the ice.
All we have to do then is grab a chainsaw and…
What? Cut a hole in the ice cap and just pull Ethan out?
Hang on. Depending on how deep that wreck is,
Ethan will have severe decompression sickness before he reaches the surface.
Which is why we have this.
[Grace] What the hell is that?
This is a state-of-the-art inflatable hyperbaric decompression chamber.
You’re not serious.
What? You mean to tell me that Ethan’s life and the fate of all life on Earth depends on us all meeting at the exact same place at the exact same time, somewhere in the frozen Bering Sea… with that.
[Benji] Exactly.
And what if he drowns before we get there?
In all likelihood, he will.
But in water that cold, the hypothermia will slow down his metabolic functions and buy us time to revive him.
That’s your plan?
Exactly.
That’s our plan.
The only submarine in range is the Ohio.
Jack Bledsoe’s boat.
When submerged,
he’s reachable only by VLF radio… shielded from any digital transmission.
That means he is immune to this thing.
But only if he stays submerged.
An Osprey can get you there in two hours, but it won’t have enough fuel to wait.
There’s no other choice.
If Bledsoe receives my command,
if he believes it to be authentic,
he might come to periscope depth.
He might wait thirty seconds.
If you are even one minute late…
Just give me this chance.
[NRO representative] You let Hunt go?
That’s what I said. With the key?
He couldn’t do much without it. So where is he now?
Somewhere in the Northern Pacific, I assume.
You gave him an aircraft carrier?
I am the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Mister Secretary.
It is my aircraft carrier and I do with it as I please.
You knew this would happen.
I suspected.
You could have at least told us.
I just did. And now you’re excused.
Madam President… That will be all.
[scoffs]
I couldn’t tell you.
It had to be my responsibility and mine alone.
And I had to buy Hunt time.
Someone could have tried to stop him.
They may not agree with you, but they do respect your authority.
Before this is over, someone will panic.
Someone will try to stop me.
Another field trip.
You know where he’s at? I know where he’s gonna end up.
Let’s surprise him.
[Benji] Now remember, governments would kill
to know what we know about the Sevastopol.
This is a CIA station run by seasoned field agents trained to get information and never, ever give it.
Tell them nothing about our real mission. Just let me do the talking.
[speaks Inuktitut]
[person speaks Inuktitut]
[speaks Inuktitut]
Hello.
Can I help you? I certainly hope so. Yes.
We’re looking for the SOSUS listening station.
You found it, friend. I’m the station chief, Bill Donloe.
My wife, Tapeesa.
[Benji] Hello. How do you do?
Well, nice to meet you, Bill.
We’re researchers from the British Seismological…
I’m sorry, did you say Donloe?
That’s right. [Benji] Bill.
William Donloe?
Langley Donloe? Black Vault Donloe?
The same.
And you are? [chuckles]
I don’t believe… Are you ser…
This guy is a coding legend.
He designed the CIA mainframe at Langley. The Black Vault.
It’s the most secure database on the planet. It’s completely impenetrable.
Well, if it were impenetrable, I wouldn’t be here.
The Vault was breached in ’96 and the agency shipped me out the same day.
Been here ever since.
Wait. So you mean to say you’ve been on this island for…
Thirty years.
Just out of curiosity, how do you know about the Black Vault?
That’s highly classified.
[whispers] Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.
Sorry. Who did you say you were?
Just tell the man why we’re here.
Mr. Donloe. Bill.
Even if we could tell you the truth, you wouldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t.
The heart of the matter is that we need access to all your SOSUS data from late winter 2012.
Otherwise the world will cease to exist in a few days.
It’s happening, isn’t it?
The Entity.
I’ve tried to warn people about it for years, but… no one would listen.
Can you help us?
I wish I could.
[footsteps approaching]
[dishes clattering] [door slams]
[Russian soldier] Please come in.
Make yourself comfortable.
[airman 1] Sir! Wake up!
Wake up, sir!
We got problems. Real problems.
What’s happening? It’s the Admiral Kuznetsov.
[airman 1] We got to get out of here!
We’re in Ivan’s threat zone, man.
Any sign of the Ohio? No, sir. And we’re at bingo.
If I don’t turn around soon, we won’t have enough fuel to get us back to the boat.
Anything on the radio? Nothing but static on VHF.
If your friends are broadcasting a signal, we can’t hear it.
Just take us into a hover.
Sir, we are at bingo. Five minutes!
Just give me five minutes. Please!
We can give you one.
Decel.
What are we doing in a hover? We got to bug out!
Bogies at two.
They’re showing us their missiles, man.
That’s the only warning we’re gonna get.
Russian Aircraft… This is some World War III shit here. We got to go!
[airman 2] International airspace. No challenge.
I repeat: No challenge is intended.
Where the hell are you going?
[gasps]
[shuddering]
[shudders]
[gasping]
[electricity crackling]
Where are you, Ethan?
[shivering, coughing]
[shivers]
You must be Captain Bledsoe.
And you must be out of your mind.
What exactly was the plan if we hadn’t shown up?
You know, I really hadn’t thought that far ahead.
Okay.
Nope.
[Ethan] Rear Admiral Neely sends her regards.
She told me to expect a green flare.
She never mentioned a Taser.
Mind telling me what this is all about?
My mission is classified. Uh-huh.
I need you to take me north.
Continue.
I’m expecting a set of exact coordinates
via Morse code transmission.
And just how exactly do you expect to receive them down here?
You’d have to come to periscope depth.
Raise the antenna.
Signal-scan the low end of the VHF band.
For how long? Fifteen minutes.
That would give the Russians fifteen minutes to pinpoint our location.
Starting at noon, and every two hours after that, until my team sends me those coordinates.
[Bledsoe] North is the Bering Sea, mister.
Right now every submarine in the Russian Pacific Fleet is up there.
My primary mission is to lock down their positions and ascertain what they’re up to.
I’m thinking you know the answer.
[Ethan] What is that? That’s St. Matthew Island.
There’s nothing there but an old SOSUS listening station.
No, no, that right next to it. What is that?
[Bledsoe] That’s the Losharik.
You know what that is?
It’s a mini-sub, Russian Special Forces.
Get yourself a gold star, mister.
Aerial recon spotted it off St. Matthew Island just over an hour ago.
It’s deployed from this:
The Belgorod.
The deadliest submarine in the Russian Navy.
My secondary mission is to locate that bastard and hold it at risk.
The Losharikmeans it’s somewhere close by.
You have people on that island.
That’s where your coordinates are coming from.
Will you help me?
Mister… if you want to poke the bear, oh, you’ve come to the right man.
Like to speak with your dive master, sir.
Chief!
Yes, sir.
Have Pills meet our guest in the FORECON quarters.
[chief] Aye, sir. This way, sir.
[Donloe] As I’ve explained to our friends here,
I don’t have the data they want.
The agency ignored my request to upgrade our system for a decade.
One day a team shows up, unannounced, and refits the entire system in a matter of days.
I’m guessing this is the winter of 2012.
Right. The old system ran on magnetic tapes, backed up to 8-inch floppies.
These were in the dog shed out back.
These boxes might contain the coordinates you’re all looking for, but I don’t have a reader.
That was also taken away in 2012.
You expect him to build one.
I came for coordinates, not boxes.
Supposing you find the coordinates. What happens to my team?
I will take the coordinates to my superiors. My men wait here.
When we have located what we’re looking for,
my men will leave and you will not be harmed.
Would you believe that if you were me?
No, I would not.
You have one hour to build the drive.
What’s your name?
Koltsov.
Your first name? Captain.
Koltsov, I’m Grace. That’s Benji.
Could we just, for five minutes, be human beings?
Not Russians, not Americans, just people that want to see our loved ones again.
I have no one. Not even a dog.
Well, you certainly don’t have this key.
The cruciform key that grants the holder access to the Podkova.
Even if you have the coordinates, you still can’t safely retrieve the Entity’s source code without our help.
You have another key, don’t you?
You’ve had one all along.
What you don’t have are the coordinates.
And when you build the drive, we will have that.
Okay, let’s try something else.
What if I told you that we have a friend who’s been disavowed by his own government because he refused to hand over this key?
Our friend is out there right now, independent from any chain of command, waiting for us to transmit those coordinates.
And he will stop at nothing to safely retrieve the Podkova and use the source code stored on it to destroy the Entity.
And not for the sake of any one nation, but for all.
Don’t you see? The Entity is counting on us to distrust each other.
Please… let us complete our mission.
We are not enemies.
Would you believe that if you were me?
[exhales]
[softly] No.
I suppose I wouldn’t.
You have one hour.
This is the Mark VII pressure suit, specifically designed to reduce decompression time after diving profound depths.
It does this by means of an exotic mixture of oxygen and inert gases.
You’ll need to do an extended breathe-up for your body to handle it.
Exactly what kind of gases are we talking about?
That’s classified.
[Pills] Assuming you’re on task for twenty minutes or less, your time in decompression will be cut down from days to hours.
Theoretically. Theoretically?
We haven’t tested the Mark VII below 300 feet.
[diver 1] To conserve air, you’ll need to make a fast descent.
Which means guaranteed HPNS.
High Pressure Nervous Syndrome.
You should expect tremors, shakes, dizziness, disorientation, and mental confusion.
And all of it under extreme pressure.
[Pills] Even if the Mark VII works as designed, you still won’t have enough mixture for a slow ascent.
That means you’re guaranteed to get the bends.
[Pills] Nitrogen in your muscle tissue expands into your bloodstream.
[diver 2] Excruciating pain.
Convulsions.
Complete loss of muscle control.
You’ll have maybe twenty minutes to get to the decompression chamber.
[grunting] [divers shouting]
And without the decompression chamber…
[Pills] You’re a dead man.
[Bledsoe] Another VHF scan came and went.
If your friends are broadcasting, we still haven’t picked it up.
[whirring]
Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
[sighs]
[dogs barking in the distance]
That’s the sled dogs out in the barn. It’s coming up to dinnertime.
[dogs continue barking]
I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, friend.
There are no coordinates on any of these disks.
That “refit” fourteen years ago?
It had all the stench of a cover-up.
And the top man talked down to Tapeesa.
I did not like that.
I never told them about these backups.
And when they left, I went through every one of them myself.
A lone event stood out.
[deep rumbling]
A massive undersea implosion about a month before they arrived to take everything away.
Naturally, I didn’t understand the significance.
But I noted the coordinates and then
I destroyed the only disk.
[quietly] Are you saying you know where the Sevastopolis?
Down to the square meter.
[dogs continue barking]
Dinnertime.
Can my wife please tend to the dogs?
I can’t concentrate with this racket.
[in Inuktitut] The coordinates.
Be careful.
I love you.
[whispers in Inuktitut] I will see you again.
She’s gonna need some help.
I’ll go!
I could use the air.
[in Russian] Go with them.
[door opens]
[door closes]
[breathing heavily]
[Bledsoe] Five minutes to the next broadcast window.
We’ll be under the ice cap soon and lose all comms.
This will be our last chance.
[dogs barking, howling]
[clattering]
[dogs continue barking]
[breathing heavily]
Chief of the Watch, raise number one comms antenna.
[grunts]
What? Wait! Wait, Hagar.
Wait!
Wait. What is this? What is this?
You won’t stop the Entity, Ethan.
I can’t let you.
[both grunting]
[dogs barking]
[shouts]
[dog wails]
[grunting]
[grunts] [shouts]
[groans]
[shouts]
[grunts]
[all grunting]
[grunting]
Donloe, get to the radio!
Send the coordinates!
[grunting]
[shouts]
[grunting]
[hisses]
[grunting]
[shouting]
[shouts]
[radio officer] Conn radio! VHF Morse code incoming.
Radio, on speaker.
[clicking] [people grunting]
[gasps]
[grunts] [shouts]
[shouting in pain]
Hagar, you’ve spent too much… time on the Internet!
[shouting]
[shouting]
[both grunting]
[Hagar straining]
[shouting]
[grunts]
[grunting]
[all grunting]
[struggling]
[shouts]
[clicking]
[in Russian] He’s sending the coordinates.
Our people are listening.
The roof is collapsing. Get out.
[coughing]
[grunting][shouts]
[grunts]
[grunts]
[gagging]
[coughs]
[Ethan grunting]
[Hagar shouting]
[Benji gasps]
[groans]
No, wait!
[coughs] Where’s Donloe?
Donloe!
We got to go! [coughing]
[grunting]
[panting]
[Bledsoe] The coordinates you wanted.
I’m afraid you’re on the wrong boat.
That’s 2,000 miles off the Cape of Good Hope.
On the other side of the world.
Damn near exactly.
“Exactly.”
Exactly the opposite.
In case the Russians were listening.
Very clever.
Officer of the Deck, set a new course: 3-4-0.
[officer] Right 15 degrees rudder, steady on course 3-4-0.
[helmsman] Aye, sir. My rudder is right 15.
Officer of the Deck, submerged contact, bearing 1-0-0.
On the edge of our starboard baffles.
On speaker. Exhibiting tonals of a Russian Oscar II-class submarine.
Chief of the Watch, station the fire control tracking party silently.
[chief] Silently. Aye, sir. Well, that’s one mission accomplished.
We found the Belgorod.
It’s right on our ass.
Wherever your mission is taking you, now you’re taking the Russians there.
No, they’re never gonna know my destination.
When we reach those coordinates, I’d like you to slow to ten knots, turn this boat around and take the Russians back the way we came.
What happens to your mission then?
I’ll be getting off at the turn.
Mister, without our decompression chamber, you’ll die for sure.
Sir, your decompression chamber was never part of our plan.
Oh.
Okay.
What exactly is your plan?
[Grace sighs]
[rattling]
[lid creaks]
Okay.
[speaks Inuktitut]
[Grace] Huh?
[speaks Inuktitut]
Me? No! No, no, I can’t. I don’t know how. I don’t know how.
[speaking Inuktitut]
Of course.
Of course.
Yeah. Show me.
[speaks Inuktitut]
That’s “left.”
[speaks Inuktitut] [Grace repeats]
[speaks Inuktitut] [Grace repeats]
“Forward.”
Wooh.
[Grace] On this? “Wooh” is stop?
Wooh.
[Grace] Okay.
[sighs] What’s this for?
[speaks Inuktitut]
[imitates growling]
Polar bear?
[speaks Inuktitut, imitates gunshot]
[speaks Inuktitut]
[Grace shouts in Inuktitut]
[continues shouting]
There’s your key, okay? Power on.
Take a deep breath.
[respirator hisses]
The Mark VII’s guidance system will take you to your coordinates.
The depth at your location is 500 feet.
Figure 19 minutes to your target, 10 minutes on task.
Remember:
Any longer than that and your chances of survival decrease by the second.
And don’t forget:
You must exhale continuously as you rise to the surface.
Hold your breath and your lungs will explode.
The VHF transmitter you asked for.
Your team should be able to locate you within a two-mile radius.
Look after that.
Good luck.
Take care of my suit.
[hatch opens]
[hatch closes]
[metallic straining]
Sonar, range to Belgorod.
Sir, I have near-field effect. Too close to tell.
Maneuvering, slow to ten knots by log.
Helm, on my mark, right full rudder.
Standing by for your mark, Captain.
[exhales]
[rumbling, metallic thud]
[respirator hisses] [breathing deeply]
[deep rumbling]
Mark the turn.
Aye, sir. My rudder is right full.
[grunts]
Godspeed, mister.
[exhales]
[grunts]
[deep rumbling]
[grunts]
[respirator hisses]
[rumbling intensifies]
[grunts]
[shouts]
[exhaling]
[exhales]
[sighs]
[grunting]
[grunts]
[grunts]
[grunting]
[grunts]
[deep rumbling]
[grunting]
[panting]
[panting]
[deep rumbling, thudding]
[rumbling intensifies]
[exhales]
[gasps]
[no audible dialogue]
[water rushing]
[exhales]
[grunts]
[grunts echoing]
[deep rumbling] [gasping]
[grunting]
[heavy thud]
[grunts, pants]
[respirator hisses]
[deep rumbling]
[gasps]
[deep rumbling continues]
[air hisses] [grunts]
[grunts]
[rumbling intensifies]
[gasping, grunts]
[labored breathing]
[grunts]
[grunts]
[grunts]
[grunts]
[grunts]
[respirator hisses]
[grunts, strains]
Torpedo tube.
[grunts]
[grunts]
[deep rumbling continues]
[gasps, grunts]
[grunts]
[grunts]
[panting echoes]
[panting, grunts]
[shouts, gasping]
[grunting]
[gasping, shivering]
[shivering]
[grunts]
[grunts]
[shouts]
[groaning]
[grunts]
[deep rumbling continues]
[grunts, shouts]
[shouts]
[shouts]
[inhaling forcefully]
[muffled strained grunts]
[no audible dialogue]
It’s okay. It’s okay.
[sighs]
Where is it?
The Podkova, where is it? Here.
You did it, Ethan.
You did it.
So what happens now?
Now… we find Gabriel.
We get Luther’s poison pill.
And we kill the Entity.
Ethan, I’ve been thinking.
How can we undo everything the Entity has done?
If we could control it, maybe we could bring the world back from the brink.
Grace… who on earth would you ever trust with that much power?
Well, you, of course.
Only you.
I believe you were meant to do this.
Not me.
Not anyone.
Thank you… for bringing me back.
Nothing to it.
[sighs]
It’s a long story.
[airplane roars]
We haven’t been formally introduced. I’m…
William Donloe. Langley.
We met thirty years ago.
Almost.
So you’re him.
I understand I owe you my life.
I don’t know how to make amends for what I’ve done to yours.
That’s a matter of perspective, friend.
If you hadn’t broken in the vault 30 years ago, I’d probably still be there.
I’d probably even think I was happy.
I never would have found the only home that’s ever brought me peace.
And I certainly never would have met the woman I love.
There’s nothing to be sorry about.
I owe you my life.
[Benji] We’ll be landing just as the clock runs out.
By the time we arrive, the Entity will have control
of the world’s nine automated doomsday arsenals.
And it will be fueling the missiles it controls.
But it can’t launch until it has a safe place to hide if it wants to survive.
The safest place is here.
What is that? The Doomsday Vault. Kongo Yowa.
[Donloe] It’s a top secret standalone, solar-powered,
TEMPEST-hardened, Level A
exabyte data server.
One billion gigabytes of storage.
That’s a lot of home movies. [Donloe] Well, you’re not far off.
It contains all the accumulated knowledge deemed worthy of preservation.
And it’s fully shielded.
[Benji] Totally impervious to electromagnetic energy of any kind.
No transmissions in or out.
[Donloe] An incorruptible ark of human history
built to survive the end of the world.
So, if the Entity got in there, it could survive for thousands of years,
no matter what happened to the rest of the world.
[Degas] And why would it want to survive?
What does it stand to gain from wiping out all life on Earth?
A question Noah and his family must have asked just before the flood.
[Benji] The Anti-God thinks it’s God.
[in French] How do we kill it?
Always right to the point, aren’t you?
This is the poison pill containing Luther’s algorithm.
And this is the Podkova, containing the Entity’s original source code.
When combined, they will form a sort of digital toxin.
When uploaded to cyberspace, this toxin will attack the Entity and alter its ability to perceive reality.
So, combine that with the Podkova…
We can deceive the Lord of Lies.
[in French] But… there’s always a but.
Mais… we don’t have Luther’s poison pill.
Gabriel does.
Which is why we can be sure he’ll be waiting for us in the Doomsday Vault.
[Benji] Once the Entity is infected with Luther’s algorithm,
it will think it’s entering the junction’s central data server
when it will actually be going here.
What is it?
[Benji] Careful, it’s very delicate.
It can’t be.
It’s a 5D optical data drive.
360 terabytes in the palm of your hand.
[Donloe] I thought these were just theoretical.
[Ethan] They were.
Until Luther built one.
If the Entity is our genie, then this optical drive is the bottle we’ll capture it in.
Which brings us to the tricky part.
Once inside, once it believes that it’s safe,
the Entity will initiate a nuclear launch.
We have to disconnect this drive before it can do that.
How long do we have?
Roughly…
[both] 100 milliseconds.
The blink of an eye.
[Benji] If we do it too soon…
We won’t trap the genie in the bottle.
Mmm. And if we do it too late…
We won’t prevent the Entity from launching.
Either way…
[Donloe] If we pull the drive at the wrong time, the Entity wins.
[in French] Good luck.
Hang on. If the Doomsday Vault is electronically shielded,
how does the Entity expect to get in?
It expects us to let it in.
Just like Gabriel expects me to hand over the Podkova.
Neither of which we’d ever do, obviously.
Right?
Think about it. The vault is electronically shielded.
No signals get in or out.
Someone has to go outside the vault in order to upload Luther’s poison pill to the Entity.
And if Gabriel wants to control the Entity…
He has to upload Luther’s poison pill.
You’re not seriously gonna give him the Podkova and let him get away with the pill.
That’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Gabriel will be part of the team and never know it.
That’s insane! You’re letting the Entity into the vault.
That’s precisely what it wants you to do.
“It is written.”
[Ethan] Yes.
And it’s the only chance we have of beating Gabriel and the Entity.
One chance in a trillion.
Ethan, think about what you’re doing.
Think about how you got here. Think about how the world got here.
How do you know that the Entity didn’t want you to recover the Podkova?
Maybe it told you it was impossible because it knew that was the thing that you needed to hear!
[whispers] Is that what you think, Grace?
I think you’re risking the fate of the world and billions of lives on the blink of an eye.
[Ethan whispering] Yes, Grace.
I am.
And if there was another choice, I’d take it.
I know you all have your doubts. I don’t blame you.
But we have to stick together.
And we have to make sure that Grace is the one to disconnect that drive.
Me?
What separates a good pickpocket from a great one?
[sighs]
Timing.
Blink of an eye.
[Benji] Where is everybody?
They know what’s coming.
They’ve all gone home.
[gun clicks]
[Angstrom] We can’t accurately predict how fast the Entity is moving now.
Madam President, Hunt is gone.
If he isn’t dead, the Russians have him.
If we lose control of our arsenal, we lose any hope of preventing the Entity from launching.
We are out of time!
General Sidney… what is our most limited attack option?
[Sidney] Surgical nuclear strikes confined strictly to the command centers of the eight nations under the Entity’s control.
Beijing. Islamabad. London.
Moscow. New Delhi. Paris.
Pyongyang. And Tel Aviv.
Casualties.
Estimated death tolls from initial strikes.
And more later, of course, from the resulting nuclear fallout.
Estimates, uh… vary.
Obviously the bombing of major cities in eight different countries would create an unprecedented political crisis.
One that would likely lead to a protracted global war.
It may be diplomatically prudent to make a… gesture.
A gesture?
Sacrifice one of our cities here at home.
We’ve prepared a list.
[Angstrom] Cities have been arranged by strategic and economic importance.
And… [clears throat]
…population, of course.
You’d be sacrificing a hundred million lives… to save seven billion.
This can’t be happening.
[Sidney] Madam President, we are in the Entity’s reality now.
And this is checkmate.
[stomps]
Gunnery Sergeant, I need your sidearm.
Sir?
You heard me, son. Hand it over.
The main server’s through there.
Now, Benji, Grace, you come with me.
The rest of you, you just wait here.
Non.
[in French] Gabriel is down there.
Let me come with you.
His time will come.
[speaks French]
[footsteps splashing]
That’s the door to the server room.
It’s too exposed.
You should go back to the others.
If Gabriel is in there, he’ll kill you.
He has to leave here with the pill and the Podkova.
I’m expendable. Neither of you are.
He’s right.
Take care of your team.
[Gabriel] Your final reckoning!
Thirty megaton yield.
My man lets go of that button and the Entity has no place to hide.
And what happens to you?
I have a plane that’ll take me to minimum safe distance.
Reliable, analog, under the radar.
I even brought a spare. Just in case.
And you honestly believe destroying this place will stop the Entity from launching.
I think it’s bluffing.
It won’t end the world if it can’t survive, and it can’t survive if you don’t let it in.
Now hand over the Podkova and I’ll let you walk away.
Why would I believe that? Because I want you and everyone you care about to live long lives in the world I create when the Entity answers to me.
You’re beat, Ethan.
If not today, some other place, some other time.
As long as I have this, wherever I go, you will follow.
And the Podkova will come to me.
That is written.
Nothing is written.
I’m not sure Luther would agree.
Now, tell me I win!
You win.
I like the sound of that.
Say it again.
Uh-uh.
Oh, no.
Hands where I can see them, dickhead.
[sighs]
Let’s have it.
Time?
18 minutes.
[sighs]
I know you.
Donloe.
William Donloe.
My wife, Tapeesa.
I got to hand it to you, Hunt. This is one crackerjack unit you’ve put together.
I’m imagining the Entity is shaking in its virtual shorts right about now.
What do I need to know about this, and what exactly was the play?
The only play is to give that to him, and let him go right now.
You want me to give this to him and let him go.
[Ethan] Right now. [Kittridge] Right now.
Right now. Right now… the President of the United States is preparing to vaporize millions upon millions of souls.
All because Ethan here doesn’t believe that anyone can safely control the Entity.
Does that sound sane? To anyone?
Maybe you should ask the crew of the Sevastopol.
Time? 17 minutes, sir.
Kittridge. You wouldn’t be here if Ethan didn’t have a plan.
Whomever tells me what that plan is will be sparing millions of lives, and you’ll be spared the fate of the others.
Sir, we’re running out of time. We need to get to a minimum safe distance.
Why are we still standing here?
Because he’s here and he’s here.
And this means something.
Any second now Ethan’s gonna tell me what it is.
I’ve known this man for a long time.
And he won’t want anything to happen to his precious team.
And that’s the pattern, isn’t it?
You refuse to sacrifice the ones you hold close.
That is why we’re still here.
It’s over.
There’s no shame in it.
Now just… tell me what I’m missing.
[whispers] Time.
Okay. Now!
[gunfire]
[gasping, grunting]
Gabriel!
Paris, Gabriel now! Kill him now!
[engine revs]
[clicks]
Degas! Gabriel! Shoot him, shoot him, kill him! Kill him!
Catch me if you can, Ethan!
You go after him and get the pill.
We’ll get to the server room and let the Entity in.
[exhales]
Ethan, we’ll figure it out.
You are forgetting the bomb. The nuclear bomb.
We’ll figure it out.
Ethan!
Benji.
Go! I got this.
Go.
[whispers] Blink of an eye.
[Ethan] Paris! Cover, cover!
Hunt!
[groans] I thought he’d never leave.
We’ll figure it out.
[engine revs]
We got to go, Briggs.
It’s your funeral. Let’s go.
[laughs]
[thudding]
[gasping, grunting]
[engine roars]
[grunting]
There has to be a way to disarm it.
Even if you can prevent it from going nuclear,
you can’t stop those detonators from exploding.
Could we survive the blast from the server room?
Only if someone stays behind and stops the bomb from going critical.
But whoever that is, they’re not going to make it.
[in French] Who will live and who will die?
We’ll handle the bomb. The rest of you get Benji to the server room.
There’s no time to discuss it. Go.
[in Inuktitut] I will see you again.
[both sigh]
[Benji] Keep pressure on it.
[Grace] I’ve got it. I’ve got it.
I’ll stay with them.
There’s nothing for me to do in the server room.
Good luck.
Good luck.
[grunts]
[drill whirs]
Where’d you learn to do this?
Never said I did.
[Benji grunting]
[groans]
[gasps]
This is not good. What is it?
If I had to guess, it’s a tension pneumothorax.
What does that mean? Pressure building in the pleural cavity. [gasps]
My lung is collapsing.
If we don’t act fast, it means suffocation or cardiac arrest.
Do either of you have any medical experience?
[in French] I kill people.
I can work with that.
[gasping] Grace, I need you to hack the server so we can let the Entity in.
Grab the tools, head to the panel. Paris.
[in French] You have to operate on me.
Moi? [Benji speaking French]
[in English] First I need you to plug the bullet hole, make it airtight.
[in French] Close it tight.
A bandage.
A bandage please.
[grunts]
[groaning, gasps]
[gasps]
I’m in. What do I do? [groaning]
Grace, I need you to find the power switch…
[gasps] …to the server’s internal network.
Got it. Paris.
[in French] My clavicle… count down to my second rib.
Now…
…make an incision.
Hold this.
[inhales] [gasping]
Paris.
[in French] It’s going to be OK.
[groans]
Bottoms up.
[muffled pained grunts]
[groans] Now what?
Pen… in the bag.
Pressure.
Take it apart.
[in English] Grace, did you find the switch?
Yeah. [Benji] Okay, shut it off.
[Grace] What next? Open the panel.
[in French] Now what? [in English] Push that into the incision.
Hurry.
[inhales sharply]
[gasps] [panting]
[in French] Thank you.
[gasping]
[gasps]
[whispers] Oh, thank God.
Degas, how’s it going in there?
Uh, everything’s under control here.
Okay, hold this very steady.
But don’t pull it out.
[wind whipping]
[Gabriel] It’s like I said, Ethan.
As long as I have the pill… the Podkova will come to me.
[engine sputters] [gasps]
[laughs]
Hang on. What? What is it?
We may have a way out of this.
These ground wires are triple redundant.
If we cut any three of them simultaneously, we could delay these detonators from exploding.
Maybe long enough for someone to make it to the server room.
How long?
Ten seconds. Maybe.
You think you can make it to that door in ten seconds?
Only one way to find out. Hand me the ratchet.
Okay, I’m in. What now? [Benji] We’re not out of the woods yet.
Any minute now, my blood pressure’s gonna drop drastically and I’ll grow faint, so we need to work fast.
There’s a receiver in the tool bag. A silver box with two lights on it.
Got it.
We need to splice that into the server’s solar panels and make an antenna.
That way we’ll know when Ethan’s uploading the poison pill.
Yep. Got it. Now this is the really tricky part.
There is a bundle of blue, black, and red cables in the lower right corner.
All right. Walk me through it.
I’m gonna need you to cut two of the wires in a specific order, but whatever you do, do not cut…
Benji! [grunts] …the red ones.
[Serling] Madam President, as your Secretary of Defense I direct your attention to CONPLAN 8044, selected Attack Option 9.1.
A targeted nuclear strike on the command centers of all eight nations now controlled by the Entity.
Amended to include the American city you’ve chosen to sacrifice.
The Biscuit.
Have you spoken to your son?
What would I tell him?
[Serling] Authentication code verified.
Come on!
Come on, Ethan.
Know when you’re beat.
Any minute now your team will be dead.
And the Entity will have no place to hide.
[rattling]
[Gabriel] I’m gonna run you into the ground.
The Podkova will be mine and the Entity will answer to me.
It’s only a matter of time.
[Grace] Ow. [Degas] Grace, we think we can prevent this bomb from going nuclear, but all of these detonators will explode.
How big a blast?
How big a blast are we talking?
[Degas] Big. [grunts]
Ethan needs all the time we can give him.
Do not make the last cut until we absolutely have to.
Madam President, launch is now enabled.
[breathing shakily]
What are you doing?
What we should have done in the first place.
Order U.S. Strategic Command Center to cut their power.
Take our missiles offline entirely.
Shut everything down.
Madam President, that would leave the country completely defenseless.
But deny the Entity access to the largest nuclear arsenal on Earth.
Now, make the call.
Oh, thank God.
Ma’am, We are the only nation on Earth with the power to attack the Entity!
And now we’re the only nation in the world with the power of choice.
Today I choose not to attack.
Madam President, think this through.
You are making a terrible mistake!
For the sake of the country, please listen to reason.
That’s precisely what I’m doing.
Connect me with Strategic Command HQ.
[Serling] Millions of people will die, ma’am, if you don’t push that button.
[Walters] And millions of other people will die if she does!
What give us the right to decide who lives and who dies?
[Serling] She took an oath as President of the United States.
Twenty minutes after we launch, none of that will matter!
I’m inclined to agree with the President.
While we stand here arguing, the Entity is preparing to attack, ma’am!
You may choose to live in the Entity’s reality, gentlemen. I don’t.
Hold for the President.
General Overton’s office, Strategic Command.
General Overton, this is the President calling with an unorthodox command.
I need you to listen to my instructions very carefully and follow them to the letter without hesitation.
[gunshots] [grunts]
[all] Madam President? I’m fine. I’m fine.
General!
Madam President.
[alarm blares]
[rumbling]
[clicking, whirring]
The Entity will be fueling its missiles by now, but it still needs a place to hide before it launches.
Talk to me, Grace. I’ve got it. It’s done.
Receiver’s connected.
Okay. Here we go.
We’re gonna switch the power back on.
[mechanical clicks, whirring]
Receiver’s activated. Red light is on.
Degas, how we doing?
Great. We’re extracting the last detonator.
We’re ready to cut the fuses.
Four minutes on the clock.
Understood. Four minutes.
Insert the drive.
[device chimes] [Grace] Ready.
[Benji] Now, you’re gonna watch the lights on the receiver.
When the red light turns…
[groans] What? Sorry.
When the red light turns green, you’ll know Ethan has connected the pill to the Podkova and the Entity has been infected with Luther’s algorithm.
Okay. Then what?
Then you’re gonna cut that red wire and let the Entity in.
All we need now is for Ethan to get that pill.
He’ll figure it out.
[thudding]
[grunts]
[grunts]
[grunts]
[shouts]
Come on!
[engine whining]
[engine revs]
[grunts]
[laughs]
[strains]
[grunts]
[no audible dialogue]
[engine sputters]
[grunts]
[agonized screaming]
[yells]
[strained shouts]
Only one of us has a parachute!
Good luck! [laughs]
[thuds]
[engine whines, stalls]
[engine sputtering]
[Donloe] We’re almost out of time.
At 10 seconds I’m gonna count backwards from three.
Three, two, one, cut.
Then we run like hell for that door.
[Benji] Remember, when that drive lights up
you’ll know the Entity’s inside.
You have 100 milliseconds.
[whispers in French] The blink of an eye.
Where are you, Ethan?
[gasps] Ethan!
[sighs]
[rumbling, whirring]
[echoing mechanical thuds]
[breathing shakily]
[sighs]
[telephone ringing]
This is the President.
[exhales shakily]
[sighs]
He did it.
That son of a bitch actually did it.
[Luther on recording] Hello, brother.
If you’re listening to this, the world is still here.
And so are you.
For the record, I never had a moment of doubt.
I knew you’d find a way.
You always do.
I hope in time you can see this life was not some quirk of fate.
This was your calling.
Your destiny.
A destiny that touches every living thing.
Like it or not, we are masters of our fate.
Nothing is written.
And our cause, however righteous, pales in comparison to the impact of our effect.
Any hope for a better future comes from willing that future into being.
A future reflecting the measure of good within ourselves.
Fire control!
[Luther] And all that is good inside us…
Stand down.
[Luther] …is measured by the good we do for others.
We all share the same fate, the same future.
[shouting indistinctly]
The sum of our infinite choices.
One such future is built on kindness, trust and mutual understanding… should we choose to accept it.
Driving without question… towards a light we cannot see.
Not just for those we hold close…
[whispers] Hi, Mom.
…but for those we’ll never meet.
I hope you know I’ll always love you, brother.
And I will see you again.
Though I hope it’s not too soon.
[helicopter blades whirring]
The world still needs you.
Of course, they’ll never know it.
But we do.
We who live and die in the shadows.
This message will self-destruct in five seconds.
Good luck, Ethan.
[Mission: Impossible theme playing]
