Tom Cruise and his Mission: Impossible movies have long had a standing relationship with Apple Computers. Even back in the day when the first movie came out directed by Brian De Palma we saw that Mission: Impossible had tied in with Apple to promote and use their computers. Of course, technology has come a long way since then.
But after watching the latest M:I 4 movie, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, I couldn’t help but notice that Apple and their products of iPads, Iphones and laptops were a bit more ‘in your face‘ than usual. Normally, you see the branded items here and there. Maybe someone picks op a phone or surfs the web. But in M:I 4 we see a ton of Apple products.
The movie publicly teamed up with BMW to showcase the new BMW i8 and 6 Series convertible. The cars in the movies are almost all BMW’s and the new techno-friendly i8 Series has already popped out this commercial. And apparently everyone in India owns a BWM. I can’t vouche for that. I just guessed it from the movie even though I though everyone owned a Tata.
Hee, not really. I just like saying Tata.
‘Hey, jump in my Tata!’
Anyway, I can understand that BMW would pony up some ad space and promote a new cutting-edge product. The I:M 4 crew is just trying to make some money to offset the cost of the huge production of a major blockbuster movie.
And it’s a sweet looking car, that’s for sure.
I can say that the movie and the cars also look pretty good in IMAX. A few scenes stand out as being well shot in the IMAX format including the Dubai scene where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) scales the side of the world’s largest skyscraper. It’s dizzying to say the least so take a few Dramamine with you if you get easily startled by heights.
But there’s something off with the odd amount of iPhones and iPads in the movie. You won’t see a product tie-in or commercial like for BMW but the Apple products are everywhere! There are several scenes where 3-4 Apple products including iPhones and iPads are being handled and shown. It’s blatant enough that several people in the theater took note. Usually, Apple is more discrete with their product placement.
And don’t get me started on the MacBooks.
Only three MacBooks?
Apple must have paid out the yang for the blatant product placement in the movie because apparently you can’t be a super, secret IMF agent without an iPhone.
Oh yeah, all the good guys use Apple products which should make the fanboys happy. Somehow the spies are able to use their iPads to power holographic screens and their iPhones to hack security cameras but I still can’t get reception in downtown Manhattan or even around town here in Knoxville. Go figure…
Can you hear me now?
Maybe it’s just AT&T hampering me. I could be doing all kinds of funky things with my stuff if I had the right network, right? That’s what is holding me back. I could scale the Sunsphere or hack into the local power grid with my phone and iPad if I were on Verizon maybe…
I’m not sure. I still haven’t found that ‘reroute security camera’ App yet.
I’m sure it’s there and even though they probably put up a free version, I bet it has stupid ads that pop up at the wrong time. I think I’d pony up for the paid one without ads.
Disavowed? There's an App for that
I did note one Droid in the movie. It wasn’t labeled and not obvious but when Tom Cruise is tracking a briefcase through a sandstorm in Dubai (Ethan Hunt scaling the tower in IMAX is awesome, BTW!) he does appear to have a non-apple product.
Maybe that’s because he’s using custom software and no one at Apple has approved an App for tracking low-level irradiated nuclear documents. Give it time, though.
In the end the movie was a fun action movie but I will say if nothing else go check it out in IMAX to see Paula Patton’s boobs (top of post) on the big screen. It’s worth it just for that.
ehhh…not a tom cruise fan. dudes nuts