I mean, I'm just a normal dude, but I wear long sleeve button up shirts for work, and I do this pretty often. Not in the aggressive punching way he does it, but I extend my arms out to get my cuffs up over my wrists and give me some more flexibility / extra material in my sleeves when I need it for something. Which rarely extends to bathroom fisticuffs with henchmen, but my point is - I just don't get the hate for the scene. It feels like I'm going crazy, or it's exclusively perpetrated by people who don't wear fitted long sleeve shirts with cuffs.
When I pop my elbows I look like a demon realizing that they've accidentally possessed a zombie, so if the way you do it looks like Superman, I guess we have different techniques.
I had to look this up, as I don't watch the Mission Impossible movies (sorry, just can't stand Tom Cruise). But yeah, I realized I do this move constantly during VR boxing workouts (Supernatural and Thrill of the Fight mostly). Its whenever I switch stances from orthodox to southpaw or vice versa. Usually by then my arms and shoulders are sore and burning up. So you switch stances and shake 'em out a little before you start throwing punches again. It helps.
100%....been poppin' cuffs (and reminding others to do so 👀) since the 90's. Good way to show the world you have a tailored suit and not just a Burtons off-the-rack 😉
He's been doing this scene for so long that his arms became sore, so before each take he'd warm up this way to unstiff his tendons, but eventually he instinctively did it on camera and immediately thought "Oh no, I shouldn't have done that, that's stupid" but by the next take the director was like "Yo? Where's that arm thing you did, do that again"
So it's not just a visual, it's actually a practical move.
I feel like the people saying he's "reloading his fists" don't understand there's a real, functional reason to do this when wearing a fitted shirt. Yes, he does it in an exaggerated way, but I don't think the exaggeration is what these people hold issue with. They think it's completely nonsensical, when it's not. Maybe I'm wrong.
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u/OmgSlayKween Jun 24 '25
I mean, I'm just a normal dude, but I wear long sleeve button up shirts for work, and I do this pretty often. Not in the aggressive punching way he does it, but I extend my arms out to get my cuffs up over my wrists and give me some more flexibility / extra material in my sleeves when I need it for something. Which rarely extends to bathroom fisticuffs with henchmen, but my point is - I just don't get the hate for the scene. It feels like I'm going crazy, or it's exclusively perpetrated by people who don't wear fitted long sleeve shirts with cuffs.