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Early in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, this council is arguing over the unreliability of the team, most specifically about the fact that they rely on luck. I think this is extremely true, however, and am surprised at the number of times the people have gotten away with such missions and survived by chance. Don't believe me? Water current scene in the last one is a fantastic example. He was holding 2 memory sticks and didn't know the difference and he had to insert one fast. The current blew one away he inserted the other one that he still had. It was the right one, fortunately, but that was TOTAL luck! My question is this:

Does Ethan Hunt indeed rely on luck and chance to a large degree? Are there instances in all the previous movies where he primarily succeeded by luck? Or is there more to it than that?

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  • I tried to improve the question a little in order to move it away from the rather trivial "gimme teh luck examples" angle.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Sep 1 '15 at 9:48
  • A lot of the need for "luck" could be mitigated with a bit more planning... Like marking which memory stick is the correct one.
    – Catija ♦
    Sep 1 '15 at 22:25
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"He relies on luck", might not be the right choice of words here. I would like to put as "He takes huge risks and he is not afraid of taking on these insanely difficult tasks"

In other words, he attempts things, which seem impossible. Hence the name Mission Impossible.

In MI 2, we have the rock climbing scene, where he slips and almost falls, but he doesn't survive by mere luck. He survives by displaying mental fortitude. We don't see Ethan Hunt panicking. Rather we see him taking a deep breath, closing his eyes and sort of meditating. Then he makes a leap and climbs over the cliff safely.

In MI4, he is seen climbing the Burj Khalifa, which his team mates also think as insane. But again he survives using his calm head and profound skills.

There are similar instances in all MI movies. So in my opinion, Ethan Hunt is a character who is fearless, skillful and has a very calm head. This enables him to always push his limits and achieve impossible results.

Of course in these dangerous missions, there is a huge probability of failure, but Ethan Hunt does not simply rely on luck for his success. He tries very hard and doing so, he quite often inspires others as well, who follow him, sometimes saving his life. Example is the water tank scene from latest part.

So, that's my take on it.

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  • Exactly. It takes great skill to get to the point where it all comes down to luck. Few people would ever get that far.
    – Mohair
    Sep 1 '15 at 15:19

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