Movies: ‘Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One’ Is An Exhilarating Action-Adventure Thriller
Tom Cruise is saving the day again -- not only for IMF, but for all of Hollywood
About a month ago, an article published by Variety detailed Tom Cruise’s plight to secure premium screens such as IMAX and Dolby Cinema past the week of the initial release of his next upcoming film.
The problem was due to those companies prioritizing the twin releases of “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” — arguably the two most anticipated movies of this summer, which both release on July 21 — over the once unstoppable Cruise, who’s overall box office influence isn’t what it was in prior decades but who arguably “saved cinema” with the release of “Top Gun: Maverick” due to its sustained superior box office take in 2022 along with its overall positive response from both critics and audiences hungry for renewed spectacle worthy of a movie night outside of the streaming devices in their dens and basements.
One would think that Cruise and his return to international espionage at the highest level as Ethan Hunt in “Mission Impossible” would be given every chance to dominate another summer movie season, but if that will happen it won’t be without a big fight.
Part of the blame lays with Paramount in delaying the sixth MI sequel to mid-July of 2023, putting nearly five years in between the release of “Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One” from the last MI installment, “Fallout” from July of 2018. Blame also lies with competitor Universal, who locked up an exclusive contract with IMAX for Christopher Nolan’s award-baiting biopic on J. Robert Oppenheimer to dominate those screens for three uncontested weeks, a shrewd move to say the least.
While the box office has not recovered entirely since the COVID-19 pandemic, “Top Gun: Maverick” last year showcased the public’s wanting to see spectacles and stories that are worth their time. Like Maverick, “Dead Reckoning Part One” is that much of a high level entertainment vehicle. To be frank, Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures may have been robbed with the film not having a wonderful marketing campaign similar to the social media-started “Barbenheimer” double feature, which reports are showing to be pretty effective regarding pre-orders.
There’s been no lack of press for MI and Cruise, of course, but if it doesn’t blow away the competition numbers-wise in its week-plus alone as the top new offering in theaters then it stands a chance to fall to the wayside in regards to cultural currency, suffering the same fate of so many other high profile sequels already this summer (“Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny,” “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” “The Flash,” and “Fast X” to be exact).
“Dead Reckoning Part One” is a film that deserves to be seen on the big screen in all of its power and it deserves to be seen expeditiously. A kinetic, 2-hour and 43-minute showcase that does not stop for a breath, “Dead Reckoning Part One” heightens the intensity levels for viewers and puts them in the middle of the whirlwind experience Hunt goes through while being hunted by the CIA for going rogue in addition to fighting an algorithm that is always one step ahead and his team getting hunted like prey.
All the while, Cruise and company engage in death-defying stunts that are jaw-dropping and leave you in absolute shock. Director Christopher McQuarrie beautifully engages these tones and plot points while delivering a wonderful combo of beautiful camerawork and infectious acting performances.
Everything in “Dead Reckoning Part One” is working at the highest level, including an amazing score orchestrated by Lorne Balfe. Throughout the film Balfe’s score amplifies what’s unsaid in the film with effectiveness akin to Hans Zimmer’s score in “Inception,” Ramin Djawadi’s score from the show “Westworld,” and John Williams’s score from “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
The all-important plot surrounding this amazing spectacle finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) being tasked by the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) to find Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), an ally and old flame of his who has gone AWOL from British Intelligence’s MI6. Faust possesses one part of a key that is able to be used on an artificial intelligence called The Entity, which is able to influence the world around us through disinformation and propaganda alongside being fully sentient.
After Hunt saves Faust and fakes her death, he reunites with his long-time crew members Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) to head to Abu Dhabi Airport to find a buyer who may possess the other half. With one half of the key found, Hunt's crew goes AWOL to find the rogue artificial intelligence and destroy it. But they aren’t the only ones either in pursuit of the key — we find out about an alliance of multiple countries, including the United States, that is known as “The Community.” The Community is attempting to possess the key in order to have The Entity comply to their commands, which could aid them for future wars and to maintain international power.
But there’s also some shadowy characters in play, such as black-market arms dealer Alanna “White Widow” Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby) who tasks an in-over-her-head thief named Grace (Hayley Atwell) to secure her the package. However, The Entity is able to employ people for its own means such as Gabriel (Esai Morales), a terrorist and an adversary from Ethan Hunt’s past, and Paris (Pom Klementieff) a French assassin tasked to secure and destroy the key.
It would seem by that description that this film might be unwieldy and hard to follow but that is not the case — it is absolutely enjoyable throughout, filled with such elements as surprising commentary involving the use of artificial intelligence in influencing public thought. The film also hints at the way governments, criminals and high-ranking officials will do anything to covet and maintain power in ways typical Hollywood espionage doesn’t do effectively.
These elements of the story of“Dead Reckoning Part One” are explored through the use of The Community and its connection to multiple intelligence agencies along with how other countries are being radio silent in their hunt for the key, and using the IMF for the task before Ethan Hunt’s team went AWOL to find and destroy the sentient AI.
Hayley Atwell was outstanding in this film in her portrayal as Grace, adding a new effective chemistry with Cruise through their character’s banter, frustration and thieving skills. From being paired up at the Abu Dhabi Airport, to Hunt bailing her out of jail in Rome as “her lawyer” and being chased around the city by hired guns from the Italian police, The Community and The Entity. Atwell’s Grace goes on an arc from finding the best deal possible, to becoming a reluctant ally, and cements herself as a part of Hunt’s team in an epic third act. This character should fit right in with Luther Stickell, Benji Dunn and Ilsa Faust as a part of Hunt’s team as a personality and useful asset.
Speaking of which, Rhames and Pegg as Stickell and Dunn are absolutely hilarious in this film, providing great comedic beats throughout the film, while also serving up some of the best serious moments in the film, making good use of their roles as veteran members of this franchise that viewers should welcome seeing again and again. Rebecca Ferguson does absolutely no wrong in returning to the series as Faust, she is brilliant in this film and has two of the best scenes in the entire film and the one and only Tom Cruise centers everything once again with his magnetism and as the stakes raise in this film his performance allows you to feel Hunt’s intensity and frustration rise as almost literally the entire world lines up against him.
Some small problems I have with the film — more could have been done with Esai Morales’s and Pom Klementieff’s characters. They are absolutely menacing in the film as employees of The Entity and they shine along with Vanessa Kirby’s White Widow towards the end of the second act and throughout the third act, so I just wanted more of them. The film doesn’t really give much about why they joined with The Entity, but those are likely answers that are being held off for “Dead Reckoning Part Two.”
The action sequences performed in this film are absolutely mesmerizing, I cannot stop thinking about them. I was having constant goosebumps throughout each one, there was never a feeling of diminishing returns.
Cruise jumping off a cliff with a motorcycle — already crazy in and of itself — to jump on the Orient Express (!) was not even the best sequence in the film. The constant replaying of the cliff jump in trailers and commercials do not give away much as there are even crazier sequences that the film saves for your viewing experience and each one comes with beautiful backdrops, including Rome, Paris and the route of the Orient Express train in a dizzying climactic sequence.
Tom Cruise has done it again, and again. This return to the Mission Impossible showcases the immense need of why theaters should not go away and the need to embrace them. Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie help orchestrate a gripping action film that holds an enchanting spectacle that needs to be seen on the biggest screen. I cannot thank them more for it.
“Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One” is in theaters now.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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