Mission: Impossible — Fallout & The Art Of The Plot Twist [Storycraft]

Greetings fellow geeks, nerds, and movie buffs! My name is Matthew Kadish — author, evil genius, and international secret agent, here today to analyze the blockbuster action hit, Mission: Impossible — Fallout.

My Storycraft series is meant to look at movies, TV shows, and novels from the perspective of a storyteller in an attempt to figure out how and why audiences react the way they do to these forms of entertainment. In this installment, we’ll be analyzing the narrative technique of the “plot twist” and how it was used in the latest Mission: Impossible movie to great effect.

My goal with Storycraft is simply to take an analytical look at a piece of entertainment and break it down based on established and proven theories about how to properly tell a story, for the purposes of educating those who wish to learn the art of storytelling. In essence, Storycraft is about the concepts behind telling stories effectively — nothing else. This is not meant to be a review, simply an in-depth narrative analysis based in professional standards of storytelling. In other words, the goal of this essay is to educate and inform, rather than criticize.

Of course, you’re free to disagree with my analysis. But if you feel I’m wrong about something, feel free to debate me about it in the comments or on Twitter (@MatthewKadish), so long as you remain respectful. I always welcome feedback!

With that out of the way, let’s get down to how to properly use the concept of a “plot twist.”

WARNING: Major SPOILERS for Mission: Impossible — Fallout to follow! Proceed with caution.

Defining A Plot Twist

A Plot Twist is one of the oldest narrative techniques in storytelling.

What is a plot twist, exactly? Well, in regards to a narrative, “plot” is defined as an interrelated sequence of events presented to the audience of a movie, novel, or similar work.

With that in mind, a “plot twist” is a narrative technique that introduces a radical change in the direction or expected outcome of the plot in a work of fiction.

A plot twist is meant to change the audience’s perception of the preceding events of the plot or introduce a new conflict that places those events into a different context. (And sometimes even both.)

There are a variety of methods used to execute a plot twist, such as withholding information from the audience or misleading them with ambiguous or false information. This “misleading” information is often referred to as “red herrings” as a means of misdirecting the audience to make the plot twist a surprise when it is revealed. Plot twists that happen at the midpoint of a story are often referred to as “a reversal” as they typically change the direction of the plot by giving the protagonists a new goal that was different from the original goal the story started with. A plot twist that happens at the end of the story is typically referred to as a “twist ending” or a “surprise ending.” Some plot twists are foreshadowed to prepare the audience to accept it. Others are not set-up at all and meant to shock the audience. Sometimes, “plot twists” can take the form of “Deus Ex Machinas” in which the plot twist’s “surprise” is seen as improbable or artificial.

The effectiveness of a plot twist usually relies on the audience not expecting it. Due to this, storytellers will often either keep the twist entirely secret until it is revealed or will include misinformation to try and trick the audience into thinking the plot twist will be something it is not. Some movies that are famous for their plot twists are:

• The Usual Suspects
• The Planet Of The Apes (1968)
• The Sixth Sense
• Fight Club
• No Way Out
• Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
• Psycho
• Scream
• Gone Girl
• The Sting
• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The concept of a “plot twist” in narratives is extremely old and time-tested, as surprising the audience has long been a staple of storytellers. One of the earliest example of this narrative technique goes back to the collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled during the Islamic Golden Age known as “Arabian Nights” where the storyteller, Scheherazade, is regaling her murderous husband Shahryar with stories purposefully meant to end on cliffhangers so that he will forego murdering her for one more day in order to find out how the story ends the next night.

One of the earliest examples of a plot twist was in “The Three Apples” story in Arabian Nights.

One of the tales in Arabian Nights is “The Three Apples,” a story that contains multiple plot twists. It begins with a fisherman discovering a locked chest. The first twist occurs when the chest is broken open and a dead body is found inside. The initial search for the murderer fails, and a twist occurs when two men appear, each separately claiming to be the murderer. A complex chain of events culminates in a final plot twist where the real murderer is revealed to be the investigator’s own slave.

Obviously, the “plot twist” device is a technique that has been used to great effect across many different stories and genres throughout the course of human history. Some genres, such as mysteries, lend themselves to its use by their very nature. Hollywood is actually quite fond of plot twists, especially in genres that are often seen as being formulaic and predictable by audiences. So how does a storyteller craft an effective plot twist? Well, it all comes down to understanding one thing…

Managing Audience Expectations

The Usual Suspects is regarded as having one of the greatest plot twists in modern cinema.

The real key to setting up and paying off effective plot twists come down to managing an audience’s expectation of how the story is going to play out. To define what we mean by “expectation” going forward, it is simply this:

Expectation is a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future.

In other words, the process by which an audience member uses their brain to predict how a story will develop equates to an audience’s expectation. But expectations can extend to more than a story’s narrative. In the book Film: A Critical Introduction by Maria Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis, they cover what audiences expect from films by saying:

…audiences carry with them certain expectations when they go to see movies: expectations based on the leading actor or actress in a movie, expectations shaped by marketing strategies, and expectations based on their assumptions of how a story should be told.

One of the most powerful expectations come from an audience’s knowledge of the genre of a film and the tropes associated with it. In the book The Film Experience by Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, they discuss how genre can influence an audience’s expectation thusly:

Something that is important to note about genre is that it provides an expectation for the viewer. When you go to see a comedy, you expect to laugh. When you see a horror film, you expect to be scared. When you see a crime film, you expect a lot of theatrics and action shots, and so on. Although films within genres can be totally different and unique, there is typically an underlying expectation for films within a genre.

So as we can see, audience expectation can be shaped by external factors and genre knowledge going into a film. But expectations can also be set up within a story’s narrative to direct audiences toward a predictable outcome through the use of foreshadowing, or “set up.” In short, a storyteller can feed the audience information that then generates a reasonable expectation that a development will occur in the story at some point. But it is when this expectation is subverted that a “plot twist” occurs. To understand how to develop an effective plot twist, Bronwyn Hemus, author and co-founder of Standout Books, writes:

What’s more important is that you write the story with the constant knowledge that the twist is coming. Knowing that things are not as they appear will subtly influence your tone, phrasing and word choice. It will establish a mood that subconsciously prepares the reader to accept a new status quo.

This is a huge part of getting them to accept the twist. Challenge an established truth in an instant and your story will fall apart, but gradually build to it and the twist becomes an answer to a question they were only half sure existed. Fight Club does this beautifully. The story gets more claustrophobic, the narrator communicates less and less agency, until the reader is just ready to ask ‘what’s going on here?’ Then Palahniuk swoops in with a mind-blowing twist; the reader didn’t see it coming, but it still feels like an answer.

Far more than a few scattered clues, this gradual adjustment of style and tone foreshadows the twist that’s coming. If a change is broadcast through tone then the reader will be more receptive to it, and once it’s confirmed by your breadcrumbs they’ll feel like they should have realized all along.

A storyteller has tremendous power to surprise an audience if they know what an audience is expecting to happen. And it is the way the storyteller reveals this surprise that determines whether or not an audience will accept it as an enjoyable revelation within the narrative or reject it as a “cheating” contrivance that undermines the credibility of the narrative.

In short, effective plot twists require the storyteller to have knowledge of what their audience expects, but also knowledge of how to subvert those expectations without alienating the audience when their expectations are denied. It is quite a tight-rope walking act because it requires the storyteller to essentially outsmart his or her audience without making the audience feel as though they’ve been unfairly misled.

Now that we understand what a plot twist is and the role audience expectations play in successfully introducing one into a story, let’s talk about how this convention is used in the film Mission: Impossible — Fallout.

The Art Of The Reversal

Mission: Impossible — Fallout has an incredible plot twist in the middle of the film.

WARNING: Spoilers For Mission: Impossible — Fallout To Follow!

Christopher McQuarrie, writer and director of Mission: Impossible — Fallout, is no stranger to the art of plot twists. In fact, he’s responsible for writing one of the greatest plot twists of all time in his screenplay for The Usual Suspects, a crime drama with a twist ending so profound that it won him an Academy Award for “Best Screenplay.”

So it should come as no surprise that McQuarrie also knew how to set up an amazing plot twist for his latest movie as well. But whereas The Usual Suspects had a “twist ending,” the plot twist in Mission: Impossible — Fallout occurs at the midpoint of the film, which is called a “reversal.” The big difference here being that while a “twist ending” takes the film in a different direction at its end, the “reversal” changes the story at its midpoint, setting up the second half of the movie to have the characters pursue a new goal that is different from the first half.

Christopher McQuarrie knows how to properly set up plot twists.

Let’s look at how McQuarrie set up his reversal. First, he establishes in the very first scene of the movie what Ethan Hunt’s mission is: to stop a terrorist group known as The Apostles who are being led by a mysterious fundamentalist named John Lark, who no one knows the true identity of. Lark is a loyal ally of the previous film’s antagonist, Solomon Lane, and he is looking to acquire plutonium cores to build portable nuclear weapons to execute terror attacks designed to destabilize the world’s governments and create anarchy. This scene not only sets up the main conflict for the film, but also the mysterious antagonist John Lark, who is presented to the audience as nothing more than a stock profile picture of a silhouette.

Thus, the audience is given a question to answer: Who is John Lark?

This is the question McQuarrie wants the audience seeking the answer to because its reveal will be the plot twist at the midpoint of the film. In the movie The Usual Suspects, McQuarrie used a similar set-up device by asking the audience to question who the identity of Keyser Söze was. Except Keyser Söze’s true identity wasn’t revealed until the end of the film. Regardless, the intention here remains the same — McQuarrie wants the audience seeking an answer to this question.

McQuarrie then introduces a red herring early on in the film in an attempt to misdirect the audience. He sets up the first mission for Ethan Hunt and CIA operative August Walker (played by Henry Cavill) to confront a character presented as John Lark at a fundraiser in Paris. Hunt and Walker confront the man who is supposed to be Lark in a bathroom where Lark appears to get the better of them, only to be killed by the arrival of MI-6 agent Ilsa Faust.

The film’s biggest red herring was introducing a man who was supposed to be John Lark.

At this point, the audience is expected to believe that the man killed in Paris was the actual John Lark, until a scene where August Walker meets with CIA Director Erica Sloan and he shares his theory that Ethan Hunt is actually John Lark, and the man killed in Paris was an imposter Hunt had hired to impersonate him so that Hunt could kill him and assume the alias that was his all along with the intention of operating as the terrorist John Lark in an official capacity without worry of actually being discovered or interfered with. Essentially a strategy of “hiding in plain sight,” where the real John Lark can be carrying out his agenda under the pretext that he’s trying to prevent that agenda from coming to fruition.

This was the set-up scene where I guessed the incoming twist.

It was at this point in the film that I, as an audience member, knew something wasn’t right. As a rational thinker and natural critic, I knew Ethan Hunt could not be the film’s real villain due to getting to know his character over the course of 5 previous films (and let’s face it, Tom Cruise is never the bad guy). This forced me to ask the question: Why is Walker trying to set up Hunt as the real John Lark? What possible motivation could he have to do that? And the answer to this was simple:

It was because August Walker was the real John Lark.

I felt good that I’d figured out the plot twist, but also a bit disappointed that it was so easy to spot this early in the film. However, though I’d thought I’d had this movie figured out, I’m happy to say that I was wrong.

The Two Aspects Of An Audience

A good storyteller knows the two different aspects of his/her audience.

Now, every storyteller knows that audiences are made up of a variety of people. A portion of every audience will simply be immersed in a narrative to the point where their critical factors are turned off and they simply process the narrative as it comes to them without questioning any of it. But another portion will indeed have their critical factors engaged and will be scrutinizing the film and its narrative as they watch it. Good storytellers always try to account for both these types of audiences.

It’s easy to please and surprise those who don’t watch movies with a critical eye, but not so easy to please and surprise those who do. The quintessential challenge for any storyteller is to make a narrative simple enough not to alienate those who don’t watch it critically, while smart enough to please those who do. This is because a storyteller wants to appeal to the broadest possible audience they can, and should they fail to please the critical thinkers in their audience, they will lose a large portion of those they are meant to entertain.

There is a concept in storycrafting called the “lowest common denominator.” This is the concept of creating your story for the most basic level of those in your audience. For instance, when it comes to writing novels, the vast majority of readers do not read above a sixth-grade level. Thus, authors are encouraged to write very simply, at a sixth-grade level or below, foregoing the use of complex words or language in order to appeal to the “lowest common denominator” of their audience. This is because while those who read above a sixth-grade level don’t typically mind reading below what they are capable of, those who don’t read above a sixth-grade level do mind trying to read above what they are capable of. So to write to the “lowest common denominator” is a technique meant to appeal to the largest readership possible.

But when it comes to visual mediums such as movies, there’s a counter to this concept known as “critic proofing.” This is the act of catering to the critical thinkers in one’s audience to suppress their critical factors and prevent them from pulling themselves out of the story’s immersion. It is actually possible to cater to the “lowest common denominator” of one’s audience while also making a narrative “critic proof” by simply preserving narrative rationality. So long as a story’s narrative is consistent and everything makes sense, the story can easily be “critic proof” because it creates no contradictions that an audience can criticize. If you would like to learn more about the concept of narrative rationality, I go into depth about it in this article:

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In the scene where Walker is attempting to frame Ethan Hunt, the “lowest common denominator” of the audience will simply attribute this scene to the simple plot point that the CIA doesn’t trust Hunt, and that Walker is just being established as an obstacle to Hunt within Hunt’s team that Hunt will have to overcome. However, the critics in the audience will see the deeper implications of this scene, just as I did, and come to the same conclusion that I did, which is to have the expectation that later on in the narrative, August Walker will be revealed to be the movie’s actual villain.

And it is because of this that the “reversal” that comes at the midpoint of the film works so well. For the “lowest common denominator” audience, they can be genuinely surprised, but also look back to the first half of the movie to see all the clues that foreshadow this reveal. But the critics can feel like they figured out the incoming plot twist and be expecting it, satisfied that they were able to predict such a development thanks to the set-up within the story.

But the beauty of the plot twist in Mission: Impossible — Fallout is that the real identity of John Lark isn’t the entire twist…

How To Twist A Plot Twist

The reversal in Mission: Impossible — Fallout is masterfully done.

There is a great deal of intelligent set-up to the midpoint plot twist of Mission: Impossible — Fallout. Writer/Director Christopher McQuarrie layers in a great deal of subtle clues throughout the first half of the film that hint at what the twist will be, while also peppering in a few red herrings to create enough misdirection that the audience can’t be entirely sure about what will happen. But upon repeat viewings, audiences who know what to expect will be able to actively notice all these clues, thus making the narrative far deeper and intelligent upon further viewings.

Now, when we get to the scene in the underground of tunnels of London where Ethan and his team meet with their boss Director Alan Hunley (played by Alec Baldwin), it would have been easy to make the reveal of August Walker’s true identity as John Lark the whole purpose of the scene. But Christopher McQuarrie did something very sophisticated and intelligent here. He was able to not only surprise the non-critical members of the audience, but also the critical audience members who had already guessed the big twist.

So how did he do this?

He did it by incorporating plot twists into how the main plot twist was revealed. Essentially employing a technique I can only describe as a “multi-twist plot twist.” McQuarrie was aware enough of his audience to know that a portion of it would be expecting August Walker to be revealed as the main villain of John Lark, so when this reveal finally happened, those who’d guessed the reveal would be satisfied that they were able to see it coming, and those who hadn’t guessed it would be genuinely surprised.

But then, McQuarrie reveals that not only did the critical thinkers in the audience guess this plot twist, but the main protagonists of the movie had guessed it as well! And not only had they guessed this twist, they set up a trap to get Walker to reveal himself by switching out the character of Solomon Lane with Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) disguised as Lane in an effort to trick Walker into revealing his true identity.

Essentially, McQuarrie made his characters as smart as his most critical audience members.

McQuarrie was careful to make his characters as smart as the most critical members of his audience.

This is a very powerful technique, because not only do critical audience members not feel cheated by the plot twist, but they actually gain greater respect and identify far more powerfully with the characters to see that the characters are at least as intelligent as they are.

But McQuarrie doesn’t stop there. When Director Hunley appears to arrest Walker, Walker turns the tables on Hunley by confiscating his gun. But — plot twist! The gun isn’t loaded because Hunley and Ethan’s team expected Walker, a very capable combatant, to do such a thing and allowed him to make himself vulnerable enough for Hunley to pull an actual weapon on him to subdue him. Thus, further cementing the intelligence and competence of the film’s protagonists in the audience’s minds.

And then when Walker tries to monologue his way out of the situation by threatening Hunt and his team about how everyone at the CIA will think Hunt’s actually John Lark, we get another plot twist that Hunley has been on a video call with CIA Director Sloan this whole time, and she has just witnessed Walker incriminating himself. Yet another impressive reversal from the good guys!

But just when it looks like Hunt and his team had gotten the better of their primary antagonist, they are double-crossed by CIA Director Sloan who states she doesn’t trust any of the men in the room, and a CIA tactical unit enters the scene to arrest everyone. A twist upon a twist.

Then we get ANOTHER plot twist where Walker reveals he has agents within the CIA tactical team, and when they turn on their fellow team members, Walker is able to make his escape after killing Director Hunley. So not only does the bad guy ultimately outsmart the good guys, but he also succeeds in killing a member of the team.

This is important because had the character of Walker not been able to demonstrate his competence and resourcefulness after being so thoroughly dominated by Ethan Hunt and his team, the threat Walker posed as a villain would have been undermined. But by pulling off one final reversal AND killing a good guy, Walker is firmly established as a legitimate threat to Ethan Hunt and Hunt’s team going into the second half of the film.

So we have the big plot twist — Walker revealed to be John Lark — wrapped up in FIVE other twists that end in the villain being established as an even greater threat than he’d been before in order to properly set up the drive to the movie’s climax.

That, my dear readers, is an excellent example of proper storycraft.

Why The Multi-Twist Plot Twist Works

It’s best to have the audience wonder how the plot twist will happen rather than what it will be.

The big reversal of John Lark’s true identity being revealed may have been the only “plot twist” for the midpoint of Mission: Impossible — Fallout had the movie been handled by a less skilled storycrafter. After all, the concept of a good guy really being a bad guy is not a foreign concept in the Mission: Impossible films. The first Mission: Impossible had the plot twist of Ethan’s mentor (and original TV show character) Jim Phelps being the actual bad guy. In Mission: Impossible III, fellow IMF agent John Musgrave was revealed to be the film’s bad guy. So the concept of a “good guy” or team member being revealed as a villain is not an unexpected twist in the Mission: Impossible series, and audiences could have legitimately expected it from Fallout without any sense of surprise.

But by wrapping the reveal of the main plot twist with no less than five other plot twists, Christopher McQuarrie was able to play against audience expectations and successfully surprise and delight all audience members — both critical and noncritical — while simultaneously building the credibility of his protagonists and the threat of his antagonist.

There are so many ways this midpoint reversal could have been mishandled by a less skilled storyteller. The set-up to it could have easily been botched, making it feel as though multiple Deus Ex Machnias were occurring instead of legitimate “twists.” The villain could have been neutered and seen as an easy obstacle for the main characters to overcome by audiences. There could have been no plot elements established that drove the story forward in the film’s second half. And yet, all of these potential pitfalls were avoided and the movie was all the stronger for it.

To reiterate the points as to why this plot twist worked so well:

• The main conflict for the first half of the film was properly established in the film’s very first scene.
• The audience was asked a clear question to consider: who is John Lark?
• The reveal of the answer to this question was properly set up with numerous clues dropped in the first half of the movie.
• Sufficient red herrings were introduced in the first half of the movie to keep audiences unsure of the impending twist.
• The reveal of the big plot twist was presented along with multiple other plot twists the audience did not see coming.
• The plot twists set up the intelligence and competence of the protagonist characters, endearing them to the audience.
• The plot twists allowed for the threat of the villain to be established and intensified, making him a credible threat to the good guys going into the second half of the film.
• The plot twists established a new goal for the protagonists to pursue, giving the film a new direction to go in for its second half.

Not only were audiences pleasantly surprised by this midpoint reversal in Mission: Impossible — Fallout, but it also helped to properly establish the new narrative going into the second half of the film, while strengthening all characters involved in the movie.

Perfect storycraft to a tee.

Conclusion

A good plot twist will not only delight audiences, but strength one’s characters and story.

Plot twists can be a dangerous story element for storytellers to utilize, because when used wrong, they will effectively turn a significant portion of the audience against them. Failing to properly set up plot twists can make the audience feel “tricked” or worse, become Deus Ex Machinas within the story (and Deus Ex Machinas are a writer’s most grievous sin). But if the twist is too telegraphed, it no longer becomes a surprise and the audience becomes unimpressed by it. Because of its many pitfalls, it is very easy to mess up a plot twist.

But when done correctly, plot twists can be powerful story elements, and they can really leave a positive impression on one’s audience. How Christopher McQuarrie used plot twists in Mission: Impossible — Fallout is a textbook example of how to use them right, and a great template for other storytellers to follow with their own plot twists.

Remember that there are certain things audiences know will always happen in stories, such as the good guy winning in the end. So the key to subverting audience expectations lies not always with the outcome, but with how that outcome arrives. In my own novels, I understand that my readers know my heroes will end up prevailing in the end. So I like to put my heroes in such dire situations that my readers wonder “I know they’re going to prevail, but HOW are they going to do it???” And that’s the method by which I maintain my audience’s interest in my books and get them invested in the outcome.

In short: Good plot twists should focus on the HOW, and not the WHAT.

If you have a plot twist that is expected by the audience, be sure to meet their expectations by delivering it to them. That being said, also be sure to subvert those expectations by wrapping the reveal of the plot twists in other twists. Always strive to make your characters at least as smart as the audience, and never undermine your characters with your plot twists unless you have some method planned to re-establish them directly afterward. (ie: don’t make your plot twists occur because certain characters are dumb or do something stupid.)

But most importantly, take the time to understand the audience you are telling your story to, and figure out what they are expecting from your tale. Strive to make your story “critic proof” while also making it fun and accessible for the “lowest common denominator.”

And that, my friends, is how you do a plot twist.

Check Out My Other Articles

If you liked this article, be sure to check out my other articles in the Storycraft series.

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