History Headscratchers / MissionImpossibleRogueNation

** While it is a DramaPreservingHandicap, it is strange that there isn't a non-metallic rebreather or scuba tank available considering the IMF would have cases where they must circumvent metal detection. Considering that Solomon sorely needs the access codes for the bank accounts holding the money he needs, it wouldn't be an unreasonable delay as Ethan could have died in the underwater torus.

*** I don't remember if the movie actually states it's just a copy. But in either case, time kind of isn't on his side. Lane probably realizes that Ethan's little heist means the MI6 and the IMF are now aware of the Syndicate's existence. Or, Hell, the fact someone has managed to do that to the Prime-Minister once means his security will quadruple, making it nigh impossible for the feat to be done twice. In fact, even in the movie's timeline Lane only aims for the Prime-Minister when he has Hunt who's A) Expendable. B) Extremely skilled. Lane realizes he'll probably not get a second chance at all.
** Third, when compared to the setup to kill the Austrian Chancellor, Lane seems particularly under-prepared, in particular given that he knows he is going head-to-head with Hunt. His whole plan is to put two IMF agents and Ilsa (who has no desire to help him or strong motivation to go along with his plan) on some explosives, whilst a few of his goons (who were overpowered by Hunt -and Ilsa, but he doesn't know this for sure- whilst he was hand- and ankle-cuffed in his torture cell) watch them from a distance. He even gives Ilsa a loaded gun. Exploding Benji is not really possible, since it achieves none of his objectives. It would just kill the people who can get the information. If the USB key is there, it's been destroyed. If Hunt knew where it was hidden, now he can't find it. If his team has the key, what motivation do they have to hand it over to Lane with their friends now dead? If the data has already been shared with MI6/CIA/??? he's just giving a nice, big signal that he's active with an explosion in central London, which would make any attempt to leave much more complicated (plus if any of his team members are injured but don't die, they could reveal all kinds of information about how Lane works).

*** Considering Lane's motivation being that he needs better resources, it may simply be that he's short on manpower (specially considering the people Ethan kills in his breakout, at the opera, during the motorcycle chase and in the shootouts in London). Another factor is the sheer VillainousBreakdown. Lane is a puppetmaster of sorts, but at that point, Ethan derailed his entire plan and Lane is starting to lose his patience (and every minute wasted is a minute more for the MI6 to find him, as well as the fact this is his only chance to get the money), so he's not thinking straight.

*** With the bomb now disarmed, how is he supposed to make that happen? Threatening to have Syndicate agents start shooting is a big risk to himself as well because it alerts MI6 and the CIA very clearly where Syndicate is present.

*** Of course Lane wants Ethan alive (duh). The point is: how can Lane make Ethan talk without having precious leverages like Benji and Ilsa? I don't know what he hopes to accomplish by capturing Hunt alone. Beating the guy up? Having Janik torture him? Drugging him with truth serum? I doubt any of those is gonna work. Scratch that, even getting Hunt to their hideout is already a big problem. His teammates, especially Luther, will have no trouble tracking Ethan down (not to mention they now have the CIA and MI6 at their side). Having the group sitting there is the best chance Lane had, but he stupidly gave it up.

*** There's still nothing stopping Benji delaying his entry into the facility proper, as the distraction is only when he's at the gate. He could get out of his car, pretend to take a phone call for 10 minutes, giving Ethan time to do the change.

** Presumably, given how high-tech the place is, they didn't want to stay in there any longer than they had to, meaning that they may have been worried that when Ethan changed the profile it might have been noticed shortly after. Benji was also trying to distract the guards while Ilsa and Ethan infiltrated the place, so that might have been a factor too.

** Based on the past movies, the people handing out the record ALWAYS know who the recipient is. Consider the air hostess at the end of the first film who gives Hunt his next mission, for example. Hunt doesn't give her a passphrase (he's not even EXPECTING a mission), and he's in an airplane so the hostess knows who he is based on the manifest. It might be bad security, but it's consistent with the series canon.

* Like ''WebVideo/CinemaSins'' as well noted, why couldn't Benji wait until Ethan changed the secure profile and ''then'' begin to pass the secure mechanisms instead of ''hoping'' that Ethan has managed to install the right profile when he reaches the gate analysis? Sure, this makes for a very good and suspenseful scene, but still, it seems that they could have avoided that risk.

* How did Ethan actually know that this would work? It seems that he didn't know that Benji was wearing a bomb vest until he saw it. So if Lane just ordered some sniper to shoot Benji if Ethan wouldn't give him the disk, Ethan's plan that Lane ''has'' to let Benji go wouldn't have worked, because they still could've taken Ethan alive.

*** Even just sitting there might not work. Lane has too much to consider with so little time to think: He can't kill Ethan, but can't tell whether he really remembered all the bank accounts or not. What if Ethan doesn't remember every account after all? How can he capture him and Ilsa without causing too much fuzz? Heck, Ethan even asks Ilsa to point the gun at him and shoot him if his goons come any closer. Benji already walks away, Ilsa can take care of herself, and both him and Ethan knows that Ethan doesn't care whether he lives or dies as long as his friends are safe. If he keeps Ethan and Ilsa sitting there and make him read out accounts, chances are: 1. Ilsa can use Ethan as a human shield and get rid of Lane's goons or retreating to safety (can be countered if Lane's goons are smart enough to injure Ethan instead so he becomes a liability, but then again, there are lots of civilians there), 2. Lane might wait until someone gets a sniper rifle and snipe Ilsa, but that would cause the civilians there to panic and attract attentions from law enforcement. 3. Sleeping darts. But the best that would do is that he could get rid of Ilsa, but he might not get anything out of Ethan, and due to him being the ''only'' lead left to the bank accounts, Lane couldn't kill him and couldn't force him to cooperate in any way, just like you said. And lastly, Lane doesn't know that Ethan is a rogue agent. For all he knows, Ethan could have backup agents hiding somewhere, ready to strike if things go wrong. So the longer he keeps Ethan and Ilsa there, the riskier it would be for his goal. With all those spanners in his plans that he didn't see coming (prior Ethan reveals that he turns himself into a LivingMacGuffin, Lane thought he was holding all the cards), it's no wonder why even [[TheChessmaster a Chessmaster like Lane]] slips up.

*** Of course Lane wants Ethan alive (duh). The point is: how can Lane make Ethan talk without having precious leverages like Benji and Ilsa? I don't know what he hopes to accomplish by capturing Hunt alone. Beating the guy up? Having Janik torture him? Drugging him with truth serum? I doubt any of those is gonna work. Scratch that, even getting Hunt to their hideout is already a big problem. His teammates, especially Luther, will have no trouble tracking Ethan down (not to mention they now have the CIA and MI6 at their side). Having the group sitting there is the best chance Lane had, but he stupidly gave it up.

*** He needs Ethan alive. His goons were supposed to be shooting at Ilsa, not him, or if they were shooting at him they were supposed to hit non-vital organs. Lane needs Hunt alive, and Hunt knows it, so while he ''could'' have threatened to blow everybody up if Ethan didn't tell him what he knew, Ethan already called his bluff on that by making him stop the timer in the first place. Ethan might be gambling with the lives of everyone around him if he tried to call that bluff again, but Lane has already decided to let him and Benji live and take the chance that Ethan is telling the truth- and thus, that he can and must be taken alive. Bare in mid that Ethan still had to escape Lane and his goons and very nearly didn't, so it's not like ''his'' plan was that much better.

*** The countdown stops ''doesn't mean'' the bomb is deactivated. It can still be remotely detonated for all we know. And Lane doesn't seem to mind assassinating the Austrian Chancellor by shooting at him then blowing up his car. What makes you think he's afraid of bombing or shooting up a random London street? The fact that his goons immediately start shooting when Ethan makes a move clearly shows that he isn't.

*** The countdown stops ''doesn't mean'' the bomb is deactivated. It can still be remotely detonated for all we know. And Lane doesn't seem to mind assassinating the Austrian Chancellor by shooting at him then blowing up his car. What makes you think he's afraid of bombing a random European street?

*** With the bomb now disarmed, how is he supposed to make that happen? Threatening to have Syndicate agents start shooting is a big risk to himself as well because it alerts MI6 and the CIA very clearly where Syndicate is present.