Pom Klementieff Improvised One Of Paris' Best Moments In Mission: Impossible 7
This post contains spoilers for "Mission: Impossible" – Dead Reckoning Part One."
The latest entry in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise leans on bombastic set pieces to tie its MacGuffin-led plot together, but everything comes together pretty well, thanks to a host of compelling characters. The tense, globetrotting adventure in "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" makes way for, um, interesting antagonists, including an AI known as The Entity, who is hell-bent on world domination. The Entity hides behind its machinating circuitry and lines of code but sends two humans after Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team: the mysterious Gabriel (Esai Morales) and his unpredictable assassin partner, Paris (Pom Klementieff).
Klementieff stands out in a film that is already packed to the brim with excesses, thanks to smart, eye-catching costume design and a mostly silent presence that makes her more deadly than Gabriel himself. Paris seems a bit unhinged from the get-go, as we see her gleefully crashing her massive truck into vehicles during the lengthy Rome chase without any concern for innocent passersby. While Paris is only carrying out tasks on behalf of The Entity, she seems to seek some sort of sick thrill from her mission, as she taunts, kicks, and evades Hunt for the majority of the storyline. There's more depth to her than murder and mayhem, of course, as she ends up helping Hunt out with crucial information about the A.I.'s location before breathing her last.
Klementieff clearly had a blast portraying Paris — who is meant to be a nod to Leonard Nimoy's magician character in the "M: I" television series — and the actor recently explained how one key moment in "Dead Reckoning" happened due to impromptu improvisation.
Completely unpredictable
Throughout "Dead Reckoning," Paris turns up when one would least expect, and attempts to hinder Hunt from pursuing his mission, as he is the only one who wants to destroy The Entity instead of wanting to control it. One of her memorable appearances is during the alley fight she engages with Hunt, where the two fight it out brutally, wounding each other pretty badly. After Ethan defeats her and spares a life, she is next seen on the train, where she's tasked with taking out authorities to ensure a smooth heist.
In an interview with IndieWire, Klementieff explained how the scene in which she traces a fog heart before killing a guy was completely improvised by her:
"I think what I was looking for is to bring something very unexpected, you don't know how she's going to react, so it's very scary actually. At some point in the movie, I just draw a heart on the window [before a fight scene], that was also unscripted. I came up with the idea and I thought it would be interesting. 'Oh, she's going to kill someone, but actually, it's like, oh, a cute act of love, but actually, she smashed his face.'"
While this moment might seem insignificant, it adds massively to Paris' shifting moods, as her eventual decision to save Ethan's life feels more believable with this established behavioral pattern. There's more to her than just being a silent, deadly assassin who can kill anyone in a heartbeat — in the end, she is able to extend some amount of empathy before her last moments. While this act does not redeem her, it surely paints Paris as more complex than she appears to be.
"Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" is currently in theaters.