‘Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One’ Review: The Most Intense Mission Yet
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning - Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
At the moment in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One when Tom Cruise approaches the now infamous cliff edge and jumps — though everyone in the room knows it’s coming — there’s a clear moment when the audience’s collective stomach drops. Whether it’s a testament to Cruise’s commitment to entertaining those that watch his movies or simply because the scene is so well crafted — and mixed (you can literally hear people stop breathing) — it’s hard not to look onward in awe at the sheer risk playing out in front of you. Maybe it’s because the stunt is actually weaved into the story instead of feeling out of place, or maybe it’s the fact that this moment comes after two hours of Tom Cruise drifting cars in Rome, engaging in various forms of hand-to-hand combat, and, of course, running, but there’s something about Cruise’s death-defying feat this time that elevates it from past instances.
Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh (technically sixth-and-a-halfth) movie in the Mission: Impossible franchise, might be the *most* a Mission: Impossible has ever Mission: Impossible’d. It ups the stakes, increases the missions, has more characters, and is increasingly aware of itself, with a fair amount of endearing jokes made at their own expense. The film’s most prominent mission, one that’s perhaps the most timely mission in the franchise thus far, revolves around The Entity — a rogue AI that’s able to hack into anything, manipulate anyone, and has the potential to save or destroy the world — and the two halves of a key that might unlock the only thing that can destroy it (it’s not made particularly clear — they’re saving it for part two).
Reckoning is clearly much more comfortable and sure of itself than the past Mission entries, making jokes about the absurdities of the franchise, including, but not limited to, the fact that IMF, the team that Ethan Hunt (Cruise) operates with to execute the titular impossible missions, is literally called “Impossible Mission Force.” To be clear, it’s more than just jokes. Reckoning operates at a higher level than the past films, with all aspects dialed up to their maximum potential. The film’s score, which is always iconic, almost becomes a character, opening and closing the film with new variations of the original theme, now remixed by Lorne Balfe (whose 2023 has included titles like Tetris and Ghosted), leaning more towards the excitement brought by Hans Zimmer’s Mission 2 score. It opens the film with a careful build, getting louder and more intense as it progresses, hitting a point where the excitement in the room is palpable before crescendoing, setting the tone for the most intense mission yet.
Though it’s probably the most timely conflict of any of the Mission films with the potential to be the most exciting — and potentially the scariest — The Entity is undoubtedly a victim to some of the largest chunks of exposition in the franchise — with monologues every few scenes explaining why it’s such a risk and why it needs to be destroyed. Sure, this works at first, but it gets repetitive as the film goes on, only being used to explain who the new characters are and what their role in the story is.
Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and Rebecca Ferguson in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning - Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Speaking of the new characters, Dead Reckoning Part One establishes what may be the biggest ensemble of any mission, though many characters aren’t used to their fullest. The film has the returning primary cast of Ethan (Cruise), Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames), and Ilsa (the always great Rebecca Ferguson) — as well as returning antagonist White Widow (Vanessa Kirby). It’s made clear that this film, like Fallout, is part of the same saga that started in 2015, though, unlike Fallout and Rogue Nation, it’s significantly less connected to its predecessor, with the only real ties being the characters.
It’s not only returning characters in Reckoning Part One, adding new allies, foes, and characters that find themselves in somewhat of a grey area when it comes to their alliances. Newcomer Hayley Atwell (known for her role as Marvel’s Peggy Carter) is a strong addition to the list of “Why weren’t they in all of [the films]?” characters, standing out even with many of her scenes being opposite Cruise. There’s also Paris, played by Pom Klementieff (Mantis from Guardians of the Galaxy), a character that, if anything, is proof that Klementieff could throw a hat in the ring for casting as DC’s next Joker. Her fight scene opposite Cruise displays how versatile the filmmaking team can be, going from wide, large-scale fights filled with various forms of weapons to one that becomes intensely claustrophobic.
The film’s final prominent new addition is Gabriel (Esai Morales), a villain who’s meant to be tied into Ethan Hunt’s backstory — a piece of his past that is severely underexplained and isn’t something addressed in previous installments. It’s not detrimental to the film, but it certainly doesn’t help when we get to the point of scene after scene that features the majority of the cast in a single space, and we don’t entirely know what’s in it for Gabriel, or why Ethan Hunt is so afraid of him.
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning - Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
For a movie with a runtime of two hours and 43 minutes, Dead Reckoning Part One moves at a pace that — in the moment — takes its time to meticulously move through each set piece at a rate that doesn’t feel excessively quick, while never once feeling as long as it is. The only time the film’s length is at risk of becoming an issue is in the film’s third act, as it becomes confined to a single location. This location — a moving, crashing train — gets used to its fullest, with each train car being carefully designed to serve a purpose for the story and for a variety of set pieces, though on a smaller scale than in the rest of the film.
It’s at this point in a review of a movie with the phrase “Part One” in the title that I’d generally mention the film’s incomplete story, how it leaves too much in the air, and that it doesn’t stand on its own as a complete movie. In the case of Dead Reckoning Part One, that’s not at all what’s happened — as the story, though clearly setting up the next film, is undoubtedly complete. Sure, the story isn’t over in the same sense that Rogue Nation finished its story before continuing into Fallout, but it’s enough to remain satiated as we wait for the story to wrap itself up. Cruise once again proves why he defines the phrase “movie star,” demonstrating just how good a Mission movie can be, even if it isn’t the franchise’s absolute best.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One arrives in theaters on July 12.
This review was made possible thanks to our friends at Paramount Pictures who invited us to an advance screening of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One for review.
