Heartwarming / Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning

• Throughout the film, Ethan displays his inner goodness to people he barely knows: reassuring the young courier that he made the right choice to join the IMF, asking Grace if she's okay after her car gets wrecked, being reluctant to hurt the agents after him, and showing kindness to Paris before she dies.
• The realization that Ethan's team put the safety of others above their own lives makes Grace cry tears of joy as she realizes that she can stop running and that she's finally protected.
• When Benji is trying to decode the nuclear bomb, the Entity asks him what matters to him the most. He correctly responds that his friends do.
• Ethan and Ilsa share a tender moment in the rooftop of the team's safe house in Venice. Ilsa admits that this is her first time in Venice, Ethan responds that it's also his first time, and they share a warm and loving embrace. Yet again, their profound love for each other is palpable without either of them ever having to say a word.
  • They also hold hands while on the gondola ride to the gala.
• When one of Gabriel's men tries to physically harm Ethan, both Ilsa and Grace immediately protest against this and seem ready to intervene. Keep in mind that Grace has only known Ethan for a few hours at most and has spent half of that time double-crossing him.
• Ilsa sacrifices her life so that Gabriel will spare Grace, who is practically a stranger to her. She could've easily run away or simply not intervened as Gabriel was on the verge of killing Grace and therefore wouldn't kill her, but chooses to risk her life because it was the right thing to do. While her death was certainly sad, it ultimately wasn't in vain.
• When Grace asks about Ilsa, Luther and Benji both admit that they were close to her, which is notable given their relationship with her in the two previous movies was often tenuous at best. After she fully sided with them in Fallout, they did genuinely come to see her as a friend and a member of the team.
• While the IMF has always been shown to have its detractors, and the opening of the movie shows a great frustration about chain of command with them, the team's pitch to Grace is that none of them are working against their will. That they did some wrong in their pasts, but working the Impossible Mission Force is their way of making up for it in the world.
• Before seemingly dying, Paris gives Ethan the true location of the Entity as thanks for him having spared her life earlier. Seeing how scared she is to die, Ethan and Grace comfort her before she passes out.
• Luthor leaves before the mission on the train, but not because he scared or abandoning the team. He just need to go off the grid to analyze the data he has on the Entity to help put a stop to it once and for all.
• After Ethan reveals he managed to pickpocket the key from Gabriel, Grace triumphantly hugs him.
• Over the course of the movie, Briggs continually sees Ethan in action and slowly begins to doubt his mission and the morality of it. This culminates, along with some prodding from Degas, when he sees Ethan parachuting away, letting Hunt go to continue the mission to stop the Entity. Despite have a clear shot and more then enough time, he can't bring himself to shoot, but walks away satisfied.

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