Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One review

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE: 

EXTREMELY FUN SEVENTH “MISSION” BALANCES ITS ADRENALINE-PUMPED ACTION WITH A BOLD, THOUGHT-PROVOKING STORYLINE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Esai Morales, and Vanessa Kirby in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

 

            Tom Cruise (Top Gun 1 and 2, Minority Report, Edge of Tomorrow) is back as Ethan Hunt for the seventh time in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the latest installment of the Mission: Impossible film series loosely based off the television series of the same name. This marks the first film in the series not to involve J.J. Abrams since 2000’s Mission: Impossible 2 though Rogue Nation and Fallout director, Christopher McQuarrie (The Way of the Gun, Jack Reacher) is back in the chair. 

            I’ve enjoyed the Mission: Impossible movies despite not having seen much of the original TV series, I think they’re very well-crafted and exhilarating action films that has a lot of tension, exciting scenes, and a charismatic Tom Cruise at the center of it. However, while I liked Mission: Impossible 1-3, even I’ll admit the series never fully got great until 2011’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol which was a no hold barred adrenaline rush with some of the best action and stunts in the entire series and an equally memorable supporting cast including Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner…it was also incredible in IMAX. 

            Pretty much, whenever I decide to go back to the Mission: Impossible films, it’s almost always Ghost Protocol,Rogue Nation, or Fallout because the later installments take the franchise’s formula and elevates it to the next level with each new entry. Naturally, I was excited for Dead Reckoning Part One, the first two-part sequel in the series with Part Two being released later next year. 

            And just like Ghost Protocol-Fallout, I had an absolute blast with this movie and was constantly on the edge of my seat throughout the entire film. However, this time around the film manages to balance its high-octane action and stunts with a surprisingly relevant storyline regarding artificial intelligence (That’s not a joke, BTW). 

            The film follows IMF agent, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team, Luther (Ving Rhames-Pulp Fiction, Con Air,Entrapment) and Benji (Simon Pegg-Cornetto trilogy, Star Trek franchise, Paul) being tasked with obtaining a powerful new weapon, an artificial intelligence weapon known as the Entity that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. However, when Ethan loses part of the key to unlocking the Entity to professional thief, Grace (Hayley Atwell-The Duchess, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Christopher Robin) she reluctantly becomes his new ally in this daring, globe-traveling mission to keep the Entity out of the hands of a powerful terrorist known as Gabriel (Esai Morales-Fast Food Nation, Jarhead 2: Field of Fire, Titans).

            The film also stars Rebecca Ferguson (The Girl on the Train, Doctor Sleep, Dune: Parts 1 and 2) reprising her role as disavowed MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, Vanessa Kirby (The Crown, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Napoleon) reprising her role as black-market arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis, Pom Klementieff (Oldboy (2013), Ingrid Goes West, Marvel Cinematic Universe) as Paris, Henry Czerny (Clear and Present Danger, Ready or Not, Scream VI) reprising his role from the first Mission: Impossible as IMF and CIA director Eugene Kittridge, Shea Whigham (Silver Linings Playbook, The Wolf of Wall Street, Fast & Furious franchise) as Jasper Briggs, and Greg Tarzan Davis (Tales from the Hood 2, Grey’s Anatomy, Top Gun: Maverick) as Degas. 

            Overall, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One continues to elevate the franchise’s formula even further with thoroughly exciting results and a surprisingly relevant story to boot. Normally, I go see Mission: Impossible movies for the action, suspense, and Tom Cruise doing what he does best, but with this outing I found myself getting very invested in the narrative surrounding artificial intelligence which adds a layer of timeliness and intrigue on top of the adrenaline-pumped action. 

            It’s a silly action movie where Tom Cruise drives off a cliff on a motorcycle and runs through a train as it’s falling down said cliff, but it isn’t afraid to also be smart at the same time. Especially since how far ai has come in recent years with films like this, M3GAN, and the upcoming Gareth Edwards sci-fi film, The Creator (Which I saw the trailer for before this movie) providing bold social commentary on it.  

            As expected, the action sequences are spectacular, but not only do I think they’re incredible, they’re some of the best in the entire series with an exciting and somewhat comedic car chase sequence through Rome involving Tom Cruise driving an old tiny Fiat car to a phenomenal climax in a train that constantly builds on top of itself as it goes on and (almost) gives the Spider-Man and Doc Ock train fight from Spider-Man 2 a run for its money. 

            Tom Cruise is still as egotistically charismatic as ever, but he’s also given plenty of screen-time with Mission: Impossible newcomer, Hayley Atwell. I think she is a wonderful addition to the Mission: Impossible family as a beautiful woman who may or may not be trustworthy, the banter between her and Cruise is a lot of fun, and the two of them do have a likable chemistry together. 

            Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a consistently exciting and at times intelligent summer blockbuster that honestly puts most of this year’s summer releases to shame. Here’s one that delivers the goods and never runs out of steam (No pun intended), like last year’s Top Gun: Maverick, it’s a summer blockbuster that reminds us exactly what the big screen was made for and I cannot wait for Part Two to hit theaters next year.