A suspenseful action sequence in the recently released Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One involving a dangling train and some precarious jumps might have seemed a bit familiar to anyone who’s played Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. That game’s co-director thought so too, and pointed out the similarity online.
Released back in 2009, Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2 was a blockbuster PlayStation 3-exclusive action game that was clearly inspired by the Tomb Raider franchise and movies like Indiana Jones. In case you didn’t play it, Uncharted 2 opened with a tense, now-iconic sequence featuring the game’s protagonist, Nathan Drake, climbing his way up a train that had derailed, partially slid off a cliff, and was dangling above a terrifying drop. It’s one of the franchise’s most memorable moments and was one hell of a way to kick off that sequel. And now, a sequence in the latest Mission: Impossible film is being directly compared to Uncharted 2’s famous opening.
When I saw Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One on Sunday night, I knew ahead of time there was a big action setpiece involving a train somewhere in the film. But when the Tom Cruise-led film reached that point, I was surprised by how much the whole thing reminded me of Uncharted. Specifically, one chunk of the sequence involves Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and another character having to climb outside and inside multiple train cars that are slowly sliding off a destroyed bridge and into a valley. At one point, Hunt even does a very Nathan Drake-like leap inside a vertically hanging train car, barely grabbing a few pieces of furniture and a railing to make his way out. It all felt very Uncharted, and I’m not the only person who noticed.
Uncharted 2’s co-director tweeted about the similarities
On July 15, former Naughty Dog employee and Uncharted 2 co-director Bruce Straley posted a tweet showing analogous Mission: Impossible and Uncharted 2 images, a thinking face emoji, and the comment “…the sincerest form of flattery!” He finished with a winking emoji, seemingly indicating that he isn’t angry about the scene and just wanted to point out how alike the two train-dangling moments are.
Of course, this being the internet, some folks immediately assumed he was insinuating that the film stole the scene from Uncharted or that he was ignoring other films, like 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which features a similar dangling train scene. But that doesn’t appear to be what’s happening here. He’s just having some fun online comparing something he helped make to a big Tom Cruise blockbuster film.
Besides, it’s actually very possible Dead Reckoning Part One’s director, Christopher McQuarrie, was inspired by Uncharted 2 when putting together the sequence.
In the past, the director has confirmed that an action scene in Mission: Impossible sequel Rogue Nation was inspired by a sequence involving a plane in Uncharted 3. After all this, someone needs to get McQuarrie, Cruise, and Drake voice actor Nolan North in a room together so we can finally have North make a cameo in one of these Mission: Impossible films.
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