MISSION IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE – Review by Rachel West
The only impossible mission is keeping Tom Cruise away from this spy franchise, and quite frankly, that’s not a bad thing.
Returning for the seventh outing, Cruise, 61, once again steps into the role of Ethan Hunt, rogue IMF agent who must almost single-handedly save the world. It is up to Hunt to track down the key to a terrifying new all-seeing, all-encompassing AI that has earth-shattering consequences for those who possess and control it. A race around the globe that would make James Bond jealous, Cruise is once again joined by franchise stalwarts Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg, along with returning actors Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Henry Czerny. Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, and Pom Klementieff make welcome additions to the cast for Dead Reckoning Part One.
On the surface, the story seems fairly simple – retrieve the keys to the AI machine – but throw in competing endgames, you’ve got yourself a twisty spy thriller. Christopher McQuarrie, who directs and co-wrote the script with Erik Jendresen, had a forward-thinking story in mind that seems impossibly relevant in 2023 given the rapid rise of AI and ChatGPT. Asking prescient questions about what individual or nation should hold the keys to such power, and more importantly, when artificial intelligence takes its directive to places beyond what it was designed for, who is to blame? Even Ethan Hunt isn’t quite sure of the answer.
It should be impossible – or at least unlikely – that the original 1996 film could have spawned a franchise that continues to be a box office juggernaut more than 25 years later. Yet, defying all odds, the franchise seems only to get better with each entry. Most of the credit for that rests on the shoulders of Cruise as both an actor and producer. He knows what he wants and what the audience wants when it comes to Mission: Impossible. And what the audience wants is more Cruise and even higher-stakes stunts.
Cruise has garnered a reputation of one-upping himself with each consecutive film. One of the most iconic pop culture moments of the 1990s was Cruise’s upside-down infiltration of a Langley vault via ropes and cables from a ceiling in the first film. While seemingly simple but technically complex for the actor to pull off, that stunt began a chain reaction of greater stunts that the franchise has come to be known for, especially with director Christopher McQuarrie at the helm. There was scaling the Burj Khalifa in Ghost Protocol, Cruise’s ankle-shattering jump in Fallout, and hanging off the side of a plane in Rogue Nation. This time around, Cruise literally throws himself off a cliff on a motorbike in a highly publicized stunt that is just one of many jaw-dropping moments in the finished film. Part of what makes this franchise so successful is not just Cruise’s willingness to attempt the impossible, but the reliance on practical, in-camera stunts and effects wherever possible.
Though Cruise is the star and Ethan Hunt is the hero of this film, Dead Reckoning Part One does its female characters justice. A franchise that has included some A-list female talent along the likes of Angela Basset, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Michelle Monaghan, Dead Reckoning Part One has the quadruple threat of Ferguson, Kirby, Atwell and Klementieff. Not content to sit on the sidelines, each of these women characters have not just narrative agency but kick-ass action skills. Atwell is no damsel in distress as she reluctantly partners with Hunt, taking on some physical challenges and stunt work of her own. When it comes to the bad guys, Klementieff poses a formidable physical threat to Hunt, culminating in one action-packed fight sequence that would make John Wick jealous.
Clocking in with a runtime of two hours and 43 minutes, the film clips along at such a brisk and exciting pace that by the time the credits roll, it almost feels like an affront. So well-paced, it would have been easy to carry on with Hunt and co. for another 90 mins. The real impossible mission will be having to patiently wait until June 2024 for Part Two.
In theatres on July 12, Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a movie that must be seen on the biggest screen possible.
