It’s over. Now Tom Cruise has set his sights on ‘motion smoothing’ – the TV effect that makes films look like soap operas – it’s only a matter of time before you tweak the settings

This has been a landmark year for Tom Cruise. In Mission: Impossible – Fallout he made the action film of his career. He’s currently filming a sequel to one of his most beloved films, Top Gun. And it’s been rumoured that he has plans to make history by literally filming Mission: Impossible 7 in space.

How on earth could Tom Cruise manage to top all this? Simple. He’s made a video urging you to switch off motion smoothing on your TV. For this, he deserves everything. Welcome back, Tom. We’ve missed you.

At 9:46 last night, Tom tweeted an 87-second video in which he and his go-to director Christopher McQuarrie explained the concept of video interpolation and why it is the death of all good things. Video interpolation, they explained, is a digital video effect used to improve the quality of high-definition sport. “The unfortunate effect is that it makes most movies look like they were shot on high-speed video rather than film,” said Cruise. “This is sometimes referred to as the ‘soap-opera effect’.” They explained that most HD televisions come with video interpolation switched on by default, they explained how to switch it off, and then they both nodded with total sincerity.

Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) I’m taking a quick break from filming to tell you the best way to watch Mission: Impossible Fallout (or any movie you love) at home. pic.twitter.com/oW2eTm1IUA

Now, it’s worth noting that Tom Cruise is by no means the first film-maker to rail against motion smoothing. Back when he was still the Guardians of the Galaxy director, James Gunn tweeted that he, Edgar Wright, Rian Johnson and Matt Reeves were also peeved about the default nature of video interpolation, to which Reed Morano replied that she started a petition to fix the issue a number of years ago, to little avail.

If you still haven’t switched off motion smoothing by then, Cruise will force himself through your TV screen using willpower alone

Why did it fail? Possibly because none of these people are Tom Cruise. Because Tom Cruise has made a career of total commitment. Take him to a premiere and he’ll spend hours on the red carpet, shaking every single hand until everyone’s happy. Put him in a movie with helicopters in it and he’ll teach himself to fly a helicopter to the level of a veteran stunt coordinator. Break his ankle on the side of a building, and he’ll stagger out of frame on his ruined legs rather than blow a shot.

So you’d better believe that, if Tom Cruise wants you to turn off motion smoothing on your television, you will turn off motion smoothing on your television. This video is just the start. The next stage will be visiting your house personally and asking you nicely. After that he’ll visit your house and verbally threaten you. If you still haven’t switched off motion smoothing by then, Tom Cruise will force himself through your TV screen using willpower alone, like the girl from The Ring, grab the remote out of your dumb cow hands and turn off motion smoothing himself. He will do whatever it takes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Started a petition against motion smoothing … director Reed Morano. Photograph: Todd Williamson/Getty Images

The thing is, he has a point. Video smoothing is the worst. It’s too sharp and too cheap-looking, and undoes all the millions of dollars that go into making a film look nice. My younger brother Pete has a TV the size of his living-room wall, and he still hasn’t switched off motion smoothing. He invited me around his house not so long ago, to watch the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson film San Andreas. And it was legitimately unwatchable. With video interpolation turned on, the whole film looked awful, like a kaleidoscope made of different types of migraine. Tom Cruise is doing a good thing here. He deserves our respect.

Plus, you know, it’s just nice to see a Tom Cruise video appear online that isn’t somehow about Xenu. If nothing else, that has to count for something.



