"Mission: Impossible" director Christopher McQuarrie laments that "fan service is poison"

Not putting too fine a point on it, McQuarrie said in an interview, "Fan service, and fandom, is poison." While he did note a smidge of it here and there is acceptable, he asserted that fan service will do one of two things. For extant fans of the property, they will be pulled out of the story they are watching and then the movie has to work to pull them back. For those not familiar with what the fan service is built upon, they become alienated, especially if in a theater and surrounded by those who are in on it, and then, yes, are pulled from the story.

Those are both reasonable points, and in general we agree with the assertion that fan service is best meted out carefully and in meager portions. Beyond callbacks and the like, we are wary of filmmakers catering to fans in an attempt to make them happy. Many franchises have fervent, vocal fan bases, and they are not afraid to be loudly critical. The problem with fan service in terms of trying to make those fans satisfied is that it will never happen. You can never appease those who live to complain, and they will simply continue to move the goalposts on you. It runs counter to what the creative process should be, and leaves you selling out your own personal vision as a creative for nothing.

"The Final Reckoning" premiered, naturally, at Cannes. While it got a five-minute standing ovation, Cannes audiences hand out standing ovations like some directors hand out fan service. It hits theaters Memorial Day weekend.

(h/t The Hollywood Reporter)