Latest news with #PomKlementieff
Geek Tyrant
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
The Cast of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING Talk Bruises, Blizzards, and That Helicopter Commute — GeekTyrant
If you sign onto a Mission: Impossible film, you're not just joining a franchise, you're strapping in for a ride that might literally throw you off a cliff. The Final Reckoning , which brings Ethan Hunt's saga to its adrenaline-fueled climax, pushed its cast to the limit in the best and most brutal ways possible. Tom Cruise is, of course, the high priest of practical stunts. At this point, he's made a career out of cheating death on screen. But it wasn't just Cruise dangling off helicopters this time. Every member of the IMF team got a taste of chaos, fire, and freezing cold. Pom Klementieff, who returns as a fierce assassin-turned-IMF recruit, tackled two particularly punishing sequences, one of which involves a gritty prison brawl, the other inside a building literally on fire. 'They were both very challenging in different ways,' Klementieff told GamesRadar+. 'The first one was the restriction with handcuffs. I had to do high kicks and also, I was wearing less clothing, so when you fall hard on the ground, it hurts more. I did all the fight for that, too.' Then came the heat. 'The one with the fire, with the real flames, where we had to be in sync with the other characters, with Tarzan and with Simon... I was wearing winter clothing, but it was hot inside and there was a real fire,' she said. 'Fighting all day long like that, it was exhausting and very hot, but I think it also shows on our face, the struggle, and it seems real. That was amazing to shoot too.' Greg Tarzan Davis, who plays Degas, had the bruises to prove just how real those fights were. 'I was getting kicked by Pom, repeatedly,' he said. 'I had bruises on my side. Granted, I did ask her to do it to make it look realistic. I just forgot how strong a Pom kick can be. She was like, 'Oh my gosh, are you okay?' I'm like, 'I'm good. Just keep kicking.'' But it wasn't all flame and fury. Sometimes, the challenge came in the form of frozen breath and polar bears. Hayley Atwell found herself in the unforgiving Arctic, filming in negative 40-degree weather—and loved every second of it. 'I loved it,' she said. 'I didn't find it difficult as such because I found it really fulfilling and satisfying every day to be there... I never thought in my life that I would be in such a remote landscape, let alone working with Sled Dogs and filming a huge franchise movie. I think it will always stay with me. A set being interrupted by the presence of a polar bear walking past is not something that you see every day.' Even amid the exhaustion, danger, and crazy temperatures, the team still found time to enjoy the perks of flying with Cruise. Simon Pegg recalled wanting to ride in helicopters during Fallout , only to realize he got his wish this time, just not in the way he expected. 'Tom used to fly us back to number ones when we were doing the scene, when we drove up the mountain,' Pegg said. 'We got to the top of the mountain, and then we'd all bundle into this helicopter, me, Hayley, Tarzan, and Pom and then we'd fly through this canyon back to number ones... I guess I did that already!' Klementieff chimed in saying: 'Yeah, it was amazing. Or [Tom] would fly us from the studio back to central London with the sunset. It was beautiful.' Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hits theaters on May 23rd.
Toronto Sun
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
The maybe-final ‘Mission: Impossible' finds Cruise in control, again
Published May 21, 2025 • 6 minute read From left, Pom Klementieff, Greg Tarzan Davis, Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg and Hayley Atwell in "Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning." MUST CREDIT: Paramount Pictures/Skydance Photo by Paramount Pictures and Skydance / Paramount Pictures and Skydance By Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The arrival of 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' puts any knowledgeable filmgoer on alert. Final? Really? That's what they told us when we mourned the passing of Iron Man in the final Avengers movie; now Robert Downey Jr.'s coming back as a villain. After announcing that he would no longer act on-screen, Daniel Day-Lewis recently made it known he will star in an upcoming movie directed by his son. Steven Soderbergh, thankfully, has made more than half a dozen movies and TV series since 'retiring' in 2013. Without spoiling anything, let it be recorded that 'The Final Reckoning' makes sure to leave its options open. But for now, it's best to take the wording of the subtitle in good faith. Even if this doesn't turn out to be Tom Cruise's last hurrah as IMF team leader Ethan Hunt, it's as good a time as any to take the measure of a franchise that, for nearly 30 years, has thrilled and chilled its way into our hearts as the movie we can rely on to make us laugh, gasp, scratch our heads a little, and finally applaud for its unbridled – and giddily contagious – love of spectacle for its own sake. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In 1996, when Cruise first appeared as the boyish, spikily hair-gelled Ethan, it was the era of floppy disks and pay phones and smoking on airplanes. Apps were to be eaten, not downloaded, and characters said the word 'internet' with a combination of awe and incipient dread. Cruise was 33 when he starred in the first big-screen 'Mission: Impossible.' Now 62, his Ethan is floppy-haired, phones are palm-size computers in our pockets, and the internet has achieved terminating velocity by way of artificial intelligence: In 'Dead Reckoning, Part One,' which came out two years ago, an AI blob called the Entity was turning the planet into a self-destructing Babylon of post-truth paranoia and conspiracy theories. As 'The Final Reckoning' opens (technically the door's still wide open for 'Dead Reckoning, Part Two'), the Entity is coming for the world's atomic weapons, with one major power after another kissing its arsenal goodbye. ('The Final Reckoning' ostentatiously includes Israel in the nuclear fellowship, so that secret's out, apparently.) Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Tom Cruise is still delivering stunts in 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.' Photo by Paramount Pictures and Skydance / Paramount Pictures and Skydance Quick recap: Gabriel is still the bad guy, played with evil-laugh glee by Esai Morales. The IMF team dedicated to stopping him is still attractively ragtag, including the pickpocket Grace (Hayley Atwell), Q-like gadget monger Benji (Simon Pegg), enigmatic assassin Paris (Pom Klementieff) and super-hacker Luther, played by Ving Rhames in a touching full-circle turn, having survived all eight MI movies. There are other originals here, too – and a callback from the first film that strikes a particularly winning chord of humor and sentimentality. Director Christopher McQuarrie has enlisted a terrific, if underused, supporting cast that includes Nick Offerman, Janet McTeer and Hannah Waddingham; Tramell Tillman, the breakout phenom from the Apple TV+ series 'Severance,' makes a particularly welcome and impactful appearance as a steady-eyed submarine captain who is forced to make an unexpected trip to the North Sea. That's where Ethan will single-handedly avert global disaster, as only Ethan can do – which McQuarrie and his co-screenwriter Erik Jendresen insist on reminding the audience at every conceivable opportunity. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The scripts have never been the strongest suit of the 'Mission: Impossible' movies; back in 1996, the big moments were Cruise hanging balletically (and beautifully) by a bungee cord in a secret CIA vault, and tearing off a latex mask at the most dramatically opportune moment. That film, viewers may recall, clocked in at a fabulously lean hour and 50 minutes: Now one hour longer – and what an overstuffed, meaninglessly busy hour it is – 'The Final Reckoning' exemplifies a more-is-less approach of diminishing returns, whereby the stunts have become exponentially more elaborate while the story has been reduced to talky expository scenes full of arcane techno-speak and variations on Only Ethan Can Save Us. Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning from Paramount Pictures and Skydance. Photo by Paramount Pictures For all their inflationary bloat, the secret of the MI movies – the reason Ethan Hunt has proved more consistent than James Bond, more enduring than Jason Bourne, more likable than John Wick – is the way they combine contradictory elements: the bluntly effective action and needlessly complicated plotting, for example, or the sophisticated production design and location work with goofy twists worthy of a 'Scooby-Doo' episode. It's all been in good fun, and delivered with gusto and audience-first generosity. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Read More 'The Final Reckoning' stays true to those core tenets, even if it too often feels baggy and redundant. It's a nesting doll of life-and-death deadlines within life-and-death deadlines, with one wildly improbable stunt leading to another, even more wildly improbable stunt. The inevitable setbacks are met with the inevitable last-minute rescues, or miraculously bloodless fights, or both. Resistance is futile. Just repeat after me: Only Ethan Can Save Us! This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The messianic not-so-subtext of 'The Final Reckoning' dovetails neatly with Cruise's offscreen persona: He's always presented himself as a man of destiny, whether he's jumping on Oprah's couch or off the tallest building in the world. In recent years, he's set out to save theatrical filmgoing itself, an impossible mission that met a rare hiccup when he dared to stare down Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' and lost. (Cruise's refusal to move the opening date resulted in the first part of 'The Final Reckoning' playing on Imax screens for only one week.) Still, it's an indisputably honorable endeavor, and Cruise has literally put his body on the line in its service, upping the ante on doing his own stunts with each succeeding movie. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Last time, he rode a motorcycle off a cliff and helped orchestrate a dazzling finale set on a precariously teetering train; in the really-truly-final 'Final Reckoning,' he engages in some eerily spectacular underwater exploits, swimming with lurking naval behemoths, dodging literal missiles and surviving a paralyzing case of the bends. In the film's climactic sequence, he reaches back to cinema's earliest days in a flat-out bonkers wing-walking sequence atop not just one but two biplanes, his face distended into a g-force rictus. (Thank the cinema gods for crepe soles and stupid courage.) An entire generation has grown up learning what a movie is from 'Mission: Impossible'; in his commitment to physical performance and practical effects, Cruise has taught them that it isn't a conglomeration of CGI pixels or green-screen fakery, but something of genuine awe and, at its best, sublime artistry. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning from Paramount Pictures and Skydance. Photo by Paramount Pictures The emotional core of 'Mission: Impossible' was and still is the team: the team Ethan lost in the first movie, the team he's fighting for in this one. There are one or two moments when fans will mistily realize that, as Angela Bassett's presidential voice intones at the beginning of the movie, 'the end you always feared is coming.' But, just maybe, this also marks a beginning. The theme of sacrifice that runs through 'The Final Reckoning' could just as easily apply to Cruise himself, who his younger fans may not realize once starred in motion pictures that didn't require him to run, jump, punch, shoot, walk on airplanes or fly off cliffs on a motorcycle. To paraphrase 'The Final Reckoning,' every 'Mission: Impossible' he's made might have brought this world another exercise in escapist amusement, but they have also deprived us of the Cruise who was astonishingly good in 'Magnolia' and 'Tropic Thunder' and 'Collateral' and 'Born on the Fourth of July' and so many more movies, going all the way back to 1983's 'Risky Business.' If this 'Reckoning' truly is final, Cruise is now faced with tearing off the last mask and admitting his true identity: a shrewd, emotionally fearless actor whose singular brand of intensity is its own best special effect. Leaving behind the disguises and dinguses and derring-do, he's now free to seek out material that makes the most of gifts that, with luck, will only have seasoned and deepened with age. It's a daunting mission, but a worthy one. Should he choose to accept it. – – – RATING: Three stars Canada Toronto Maple Leafs Golf Columnists World
CBS News
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Simon Pegg and Pom Klementieff on wrapping their "Mission: Impossible" journey
Simon Pegg and Pom Klementieff are both saying goodbye to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise. They appeared on "CBS Mornings" on Wednesday to promote the latest film "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning," which hits theaters this Friday. Pegg, who has been with the franchise for two decades, reprises his role as tech specialist Benji Dunn, while Klementieff returns as Paris, a character seeking revenge against her former boss Gabriel in this latest installment. "It's bittersweet," said Pegg, who filmed his first scene for the franchise in November 2005. "We've been working so hard. And here we are, and it's coming out. There's a sense of sort of achievement and completion, but also a sense like we're not going to hang out so much anymore." Klementieff said for her action sequences she had been "training for years" to perform a specific axe kick shown in the film. "We had an amazing stunt team," Klementieff said. "We took the time to rehearse, to do the high kicks, to rehearse the whole choreography." Her commitment to stunts has earned her the nickname "Pom Cruise" on set, a nod to franchise star Tom Cruise's legendary dedication to performing his own stunts. Klementieff admired Cruise for being "so passionate" about making movies and stunts. "His passion, his fire, his good energy ... on set, it makes you be even better," said Klementieff. When asked about how the franchise continues to top itself with each film, Pegg said while it is goodbye, there's more that could come. "Every time we finish a movie, that's it, isn't it? We can't do anymore," Pegg said. "With this one, I genuinely can't see how we could possibly risk his life any more than we do on this." "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" is distributed by Paramount Pictures, which is a subsidiary of Paramount Global, CBS News' parent company. The film hits theaters on Friday, May 23.
Vogue Singapore
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue Singapore
Cannes Film Festival 2025: The best jewellery on the red carpet
The Cannes Film Festival, held in the French Riviera, is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Which, unsurprisingly, makes it prime viewing for new films—sure—but also the stars and celebrities in the orbit of cinema. The 2025 edition of Cannes is proving just as glamorous on the jewellery front, one area of styling that's perhaps least affected by a newly instituted ban on naked dressing on the red carpet. Some of the most spectacular, standout jewels are, unsurprisingly, creations by Chopard, which has been an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival since 1998. French actress Pom Klementieff had on a pair of incredible Chopard haute joaillerie pink kunzite briolette earrings to the première of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning . At the red carpet for Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme , Eva Longoria with 479 carats of kunzite briolettes on her neck courtesy of a design from Chopard's (aptly named) Red Carpet collection, and model Alex Consani wearing over 21 carats of the house's new Insofu emeralds. And, of course, brand ambassador Bella Hadid—always one to watch at Cannes—drew eyes on the festival's opening night in a pair of positively massive earrings set with a pair of emeralds weighing 118.68 carats in total. Some other standout jewellers and maisons on the red carpet so far: Boucheron, which is finding fabulous occasion for a number of its Untamed Nature high jewellery pieces, and which seems to have lit up Cannes with its fabulous Question Mark necklaces. Pomellato, meanwhile, previewed some pieces from its upcoming new high jewellery line, set to debut in June in Milan, on brand ambassador Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu. Here, a look at the sparkling, standout jewels so far on the 2025 Cannes Film Festival red carpets. Getty 1 / 18 Bella Hadid Wearing Chopard high jewellery. Getty 2 / 18 Kim Go-eun Wearing Chanel Comète earring. Getty 3 / 18 Mina Wearing Boucheron Rosier earrings and Question Mark necklace from the Histoire de Style, Untamed Nature high jewellery collection. Getty 4 / 18 Zhou Ye Wearing Tasaki Harmonie necklace from the Nouvelle ère high jewellery collection, and earrings. Getty 5 / 18 Gao Yuanyuan Wearing Chaumet Joséphine Valse Impériale high jewellery necklace. Getty 6 / 18 Alexa Chung Wearing Boucheron Serpent Bohème Vintage earrings, ring and bracelet, and archival bangle. Getty 7 / 18 Pom Klementieff Wearing Chopard high jewellery. Getty 8 / 18 Julianne Moore Wearing Boucheron Goutte de Cristal high jewellery earrings. Getty 9 / 18 Natalie Portman Wearing Tiffany & Co. high jewellery earrings and necklace from the 2025 Blue Book Collection. Getty 10 / 18 Eva Longoria Wearing Chopard high jewellery. Getty 11 / 18 Alessandra Ambrosio Wearing Pomellato Fortezza high jewellery earrings and necklace. Getty 12 / 18 Araya Hargate Araya Hargate wearing Boucheron Airelles necklace from the Histoire de Style, Untamed Nature high jewellery collection; and Lierre de Paris earrings. Getty 13 / 18 Rihanna Wearing Boucheron Rosier earrings from the Histoire de Style, Untamed Nature high jewellery collection. Getty 14 / 18 Araya Hargate Wearing Boucheron Plume de Paon Question Mark necklace and earrings. Getty 15 / 18 Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Wearing Tiffany & Co. high jewellery earrings and necklace from the 2024 Blue Book Collection. Getty 16 / 18 Amal Clooney Wearing Caresse d'orchidées par Cartier earrings from the Cartier Collection and Cartier Libre Polymorph ring. Getty 17 / 18 Veena Praveenar Singh Wearing La Marquise jewellery. Getty 18 / 18 Leila Slimani Wearing Cartier Collection Honeymoon earrings and necklace.
Asharq Al-Awsat
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Movie Review: Tom Cruise Goes for Broke in ‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning'
Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt is getting a bit of a god complex. It's not exactly his fault after defying death and completing impossible missions time and time again. But in 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,' out Friday, there's a breathlessness to the naive trust from his growing band of disciples, including the US president (the formerly skeptical Erika Sloane of 'Fallout,' played by Angela Bassett ), and Paris (Pom Klementieff), the once delightfully fun maniac assassin who has been reduced to brooding French philosopher. In a series that has often been best when it's not taking itself too seriously, these dour developments start to feel a little unintentionally silly. And, for at least the first hour, it's all we have to hang onto. Perhaps this is part of the point in pitting a human man against a parasitic artificial intelligence set on inciting nuclear extinction, something we're meant to believe has been brewing in some way since the beginning of the franchise. You can almost see the behind-the-scenes wheels turning: Gravity is kind of a prerequisite when this much is on the line, and when so much pain has been taken to link 30 years and seven movies that were certainly never meant to be connected by anything other than Ethan Hunt. But we don't come to 'Mission: Impossible' movies for the bigger picture, and definitely not to learn what the rabbit's foot was in the third movie. We come to be awed by the thrills and Cruise's execution, whether he's speeding through Paris on a motorbike, driving one-handed through Rome in a tiny old Fiat, or hanging on the outside of an airbus, or bullet train, or helicopter, or the Burj Khalifa. And unlike, say, the 'Fast & Furious' movies, which long ago jumped the shark, the 'Mission' stunts have always felt grounded in some reality and playfulness. It's not just Cruise's willingness to tether himself to all forms of high-speed transportation for our enjoyment. His reactions — surprise, panic, doubt — are unparalleled. Ethan Hunt is never too cool to look unsure. 'Final Reckoning,' Christopher McQuarrie's fourth 'Mission' movie in the director's chair, does deliver two truly unforgettable sequences. One is in a long-defunct submarine at the bottom of the sea that will have you squirming; another involves two classic biplanes careening at 170 miles per hour (274 kilometers per hour) over lush South African landscapes. Though they may induce vertigo on IMAX, these are the things that make the trip to the theater worth it. But be warned: It takes a good long while of labored exposition, manic flashbacks and Oscar broadcast-ready greatest-hits montages to get there. McQuarrie, who co-wrote the script with Erik Jendresen, might have learned the wrong lessons from the past decade of overly interconnected franchise filmmaking. Or perhaps it still seemed like the right call when this two-part finale was put into motion seven years ago. Not only does realizing one previously enjoyable character is related to and motivated by a character from the past do little to raise the stakes, it also bogs everything down. 'Final Reckoning' also overstuffs the cast with faces that are almost distracting (like Hannah Waddingham as a US Navy officer, though her American accent is quite good). Maybe it's overcompensating for the movie's flesh-and-bone villain Gabriel (Esai Morales), who seems to be there because Ethan needs someone to chase. There are some fun additions to the lot: 'Severance's' Tramell Tillman as a submarine captain, as well as Lucy Tulugarjuk and Rolf Saxon, for anyone wondering what became of the poor guy in the Langley vault. Simon Pegg, as the capably flustered tech wiz Benji, is still great, Ving Rhames gets to flex emotionally, and Bassett really makes you believe she's chosen a US city to destroy as an offering to 'The Entity.' But many get lost in the unnatural, one-size-fits-all dialogue, which is especially true in the bizarrely sweaty Situation Room where everyone is always finishing each other's sentences. Maybe when you have a larger-than-life movie star, you need larger-than-life character actors. Besides, everyone knows they're there as side players supporting the Cruise show — no one more so than Hayley Atwell as Grace, the once inscrutable pickpocket turned wide-eyed Madonna supporting and tending to Ethan. The loss of Rebecca Ferguson is acutely felt here. The 'Mission: Impossible' movies, even when they're mediocre, remain some of the most effortlessly enjoyable cinematic experiences out there, a pure expression of 'let's put on a show.' There's nothing else quite like it and maybe they've earned this self-important victory lap, though it seems to have gone to the characters' heads. Saving the showstopper for last will certainly leave audiences exiting the theater on a happy high note. But it's hard to shake the feeling that in attempting to tie everything together, 'Mission: Impossible' lost the plot.
