Film
Hunt didn't memorize all the Redbox Account info, it really was just a bluff
.Think about it logically. Ethan Hunt's super-smart and athletic and perfect spy and all that jazz, but he's not a god. With almost no time to spare, all he needed to do was realize that Lane's plan was almost certain going to involve his and Benji's death, memorize one entry and be ready to use it. The countdown timer meant that Lane would be under a time crunch, and demonstrating one account's info would probably be enough to convince Lane that he knew the rest too... or at least enough that Lane couldn't risk it. Besides, that way if he does get caught, Lane won't get anything else out of him, and Hunt is definitely the sort to not put too much on the line...- My thoughts too. He even states the possibility to Lane himself that even he couldn't possibly remember everything in the redbox. But the time was running out and Lane has to decide whether to keep Ethan alive or not. He couldn't ask Ethan for another account info because even he don't know which bank account was in the redbox either. In other words, Ethan is his only link to the money with or without the redbox (because he didn't know that Ethan already destroyed it, too), and Ethan, who knows this, plays a really dangerous Batman Gambit in order to force Lane out of hiding.
America's ties with the United Kingdom really do get set back to the American Revolution, if discreetly.
Given that CIA Director Hunley was privy to the truth about The Syndicate and Attlee's involvement as part of British intelligence among other things, it would make sense that it would quietly spread among US officials in the know regarding the IMF, which would in turn shape American relations with the British. Making his off-hand quip a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.- Unlikely, given that Hunley knows for a fact that the British Prime Minister expressly forbid the implementation of the plans for The Syndicate. Furthermore, for the doubters of that policy decision, the public inquiry the PM threatened to initiate on this matter would likely satisfy the US government that it was being properly handled.
- Further, it was made clear Atlee was working without the permission of the British government and then attempted to cover his own ass when things went wrong, which turns him into an all-too-deserving scapegoat. While American intelligence may come out of this feeling rather dubious about the ability of the Brits to control the leadership of MI6, the fact is that it was largely Atlee's own screw-up, so the Brits can also probably calm the waters by volunteering him for prosecution.
Benji and/or Brandt, most likely both of them, were helping Ethan evade capture by the CIA.
Given the looks that they exchange throughout Benji's polygraph, it explains how Ethan is so effective at avoiding being caught by the CIA (apart from his aforementioned super-spy skills). Both Benji's and Brandt's position as CIA agents would allow them to be able to feed Ethan information in order to stay one step ahead of Hunley's manhunt while also supplying him with highly classified documents that form part of his on-going Syndicate investigation.- It was sort of implied that Benji and Brandt had at least been helping Ethan out on the side.
The Syndicate had a hand (or directly engineered) the Ukrainian Crisis
- The movie states they have been orchestrating acts of political sabotage all over the world, but particularly Eastern Europe and against Western-sympathetic nations. It does sound like the Ukrainian crisis would fall somewhere within their purview.
Hunley was the CIA employee Reassigned to Antarctica in the first film
Which is why he brings up the NOC list incident and seems so eager to shut down IMF in the beginning of the film. It's not just that they're reckless, he's holding a personal grudge against the organization and people that not only had him sent to the ass end of nowhere, but made him puke his guts up in the process.- I guess if you totally ignore the original actor but I don't think that character would have been able to rise up in the ranks due to the events of that film.
The commitee made Hunley the new secretary
out of annoyanceBrandt kept on repeating the same blank sentence with every hearing, so they got annoyed and told Hunley "you're the new secretary!" to get Brandt to start talking.The original ending had the IMF actually go rogue
...as a sequel hook. The committee was all set to disavow the IMF. If they had, Ethan Hunt would have an absolutely loyal, Badass Crew to work with and $2.8 billion in covert funds in his head to save the world.- I'll be first in line to watch THAT movie.
The next M:I film will deconstruct the character of Ethan Hunt.
With Ethan's badassery reaching memetic status in-universe, not least of all that epic speech Hunley gave to the British PM, where the hell can Hunt go from here?? The next film will pull him down a peg or ten; we'll see what makes him tick, what makes him scream, cry, and give up. It makes sense that this may happen as we come to the third instalment of the 'second trilogy', as we got to see a bit of what lay under the agent persona in M:I 3, the end of the 'first' one.Additionally, Solomon Lane, outright mentioned in-universe to be Hunt's match, becomes the first M:I villain to outlive their movie. Lane knows how Hunt works, and even more now that he's been Out-Gambitted once and is looking for revenge - perhaps he might be the one to really stick it to Hunt in M:I 6? Such a storyline would also provide a good conclusion to the M:I series, or at least, a point for Tom Cruise to bow out of the franchise's spotlight, since he's not getting any younger... "Hunley" is Jack Ryan
