Thanks to a string of ongoing box office disappointments that have hinted not even the biggest and brightest brands in the industry are safe from disaster, Tom Cruise has been forced to head once more into the breach and save cinema for the second consecutive year with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
Having grabbed a flagging industry by the scruff of the neck 12 months ago when Top Gun: Maverick exploded out of the blocks and soared to critical, commercial, and awards season glory, the diminutive megastar has only gone and done it again with a jaw-dropping opener that will leave you wondering how on earth he and director Christopher McQuarrie are going to top it when Part Two lands next year.
In fact, with Dead Reckoning comfortably capable of being mentioned in the same breath as immediate predecessors Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, and Fallout, four consecutive instant classics of action cinema have reinforced the long-running spy saga’s credentials as perhaps the genre’s single greatest franchise of all-time, and it only took the leading man and producer risking his life countless times over to do it.
It’s far from perfect, though, and it shouldn’t be a shock to discover that the narrative is the weakest link in Dead Reckoning‘s armor. Of course, all seven installments to date have boasted plots that range from the convoluted to the confusing via the nonsensical, but that’s obviously not the number one driving force behind the enduring popularity of a brand that’s closing in on its 30th anniversary.
This time around, the nefarious force needing to be stopped by IMF agent Ethan Hunt and his close-knit band of agents is a sentient AI called The Entity, an erstwhile MacGuffin that would give its overlord the power to basically control the world. Naturally, there’s also returning deep cuts from Mission: Impossibles past, a villain with a shared history to our intrepid protagonist, double and triple-crosses, and the globetrotting hunt for two sub-MacGuffins that have the potential to alter the course of humanity forever.
As always, Ethan is assisted by fellow stalwart Ving Rhames’ Luther and Simon Pegg’s Benji, with Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa also getting drawn back into his irresistible orbit. In addition, Hayley Atwell’s grace gets caught up in the maelstrom when she inadvertently gets in the hero’s way, while Shea Whigham’s Jasper and Greg Tarzan Davies’ Degas are tracking Ethan for entirely different reasons, without mentioning Pom Klementieff’s ass-kicking Paris, Vanessa Kirby’s Alanna, Cary Elwes’ Denlinger, Esai Morales’ principal big bad Gabriel, and even Henry Czerny making his first Mission: Impossible appearance since 1995.
Suffice to say, there’s an awful lot going on at any given time, and the only moments where Dead Reckoning feels like a 163-minute film is during the frequent (albeit entirely necessary) scenes of exposition where the broad strokes of the story are laid out and spoon-fed to the audience to ensure we’re keeping track of who’s who, why they’re doing what they’re doing, and who they’re doing it for… at least, until the next rug-pull comes along.
Thankfully, Mission: Impossible can always be relied on to pull out all of the stops and deliver on the set pieces, and it’s a joy to report that things haven’t changed. Each one has a distinct flavor and variety; from the borderline slapstick shenanigans of a chase through Venice that stuffs Cruise and Atwell into a ridiculously undersized car, to the train sequence that’s expertly shot but still a lot heavier on the CGI than you might be expecting given the IP’s illustrious history. And of course, the marquee bout of insanity that sees Cruise drive a motorcycle straight off the edge of a cliff before engaging in some jaw-dropping speed-flying that offers the latest reminder that there’s never going to be another star quite like him.
Dead Reckoning even sings in the smaller moments, too, with a tension-fueled scene set in an airport relying on nothing more than the characters, the performers, the framing, and editing to generate genuine anxiety and sweaty palms, with layers being piled on top of layers that underlines the expertise of McQuarrie in making the micro just as exciting and innovate as the macro, even if the screenplay he co-wrote alongside Erik Jendresen occasionally veers into the overwrought and self-indulgent.
There’s also plenty of organic comedy that never feels forced, with Whigham deserving of being singled out for his exasperated approach to one of Mission: Impossible‘s signature gimmicks, while Klementieff and Atwell both prove themselves worthy additions by virtue of two completely different performances and contributions to the movie that make equally powerful impressions.
Sure, there’s the requisite undercooked villain that’s become a regular part of the furniture ever since we first met Ethan back in the mid-90s, and you’re always fully aware that Part Two is coming, which can sometimes make Part One come across as though it might be deliberately dragging its heels a little. On the other hand, the positives innumerably outweigh the negatives, with Dead Reckoning laying it all on the table to raise the bar for the eighth chapter through a slick, stylish, and spectacular summer blockbuster that only serves to reinforce the franchise’s impeccable credentials.
