10 Movie Sequels That Started In Surprising Ways

4. Mission: Impossible III

Mission Impossible 3
Paramount Pictures

There are few greater ways to surprise an audience, than by offing a significant character in your opening moments. Step forward, Mission: Impossible III... kind of.

As J.J. Abrams' 2006 directorial debut starts, we're greeted by a scene of Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt and his wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan) held hostage and strapped to some chairs. With this all being part of a plan of nefarious arms dealer Owen Davian, this rogue intends to kill Julia unless Ethan gives him answers.

Shockingly, Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Davian does indeed go ahead and shoot Julia in the head when he doesn't get what he wants.

With that, the ever-shocking Mission: Impossible franchise served up arguably its greatest shock, as audiences were left stunned at what they'd just witnessed. Well, that is until the opening credits end and we get the reveal that the person Davian killed was actually his own translator, who was sporting a mask to look like Ethan's beau.

Of course, this all sets the wheels in motion for The Cruise to hunt down Davian and rescue his kidnapped wife, which, of course, he manages to do by the time Mission: Impossible III rolls to a close.

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