Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 promises to be the best film of the summer. Impressive performances, a captivating storyline, and phenomenal stunts support this claim. In fact, the latest escapades of the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) may be the best Mission: Impossible film so far.
What’s it about?
Artificial intelligence developed as a tool for espionage, has become sentient. It can infiltrate any intelligence agency, rewrite its files, steal its secrets, and disappear without a trace. This sentient AI, known as The Entity, has gained a follower, Gabriel (Esai Martin), a dark figure from Ethan Hunt’s (Tom Cruise) past.
Hunt, his IMF team (Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg), associates (Rebecca Ferguson), and newcomers (Haley Atwell) must find a secret key that can kill The Entity. But how do you beat a villain that has computed every scenario?
My Reaction
How does this franchise keep doing this?
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 is the next entry into the saga, led by writer/director Christopher McQuarrie and its long-time superstar Tom Cruise. It is the third film in the franchise written and directed by McQuarrie. An oddity, as the Mission: Impossible franchise was known for its fresh perspectives fostered by a rotation of top talent in the director’s seat.
McQuarrie’s tenure has its benefits, as it has introduced long-term storytelling and consistency to the epic journey of Ethan Hunt and his team. The McQuarrie films successfully weave in an overarching arc where our main protagonist has become this altruistic hero.
Sure, Ethan is just as cool as he was in the franchise’s first two films, but the character has grown past being just a cool super-spy to one with a deep moral code and approach to his missions. This is what separates him from other superspies of cinema.
If done incorrectly, such a character can be rather dull. But the interesting wrinkle in the Hunt character is how his moral code makes his job increasingly difficult. Ethan Hunt always wants to have his cake and eat it too. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 really plays with the tension between Hunt’s desire and actual ability to save anyone.
Especially since Ethan’s altruism makes him so predictable for The Entity. Of course, making the main villain artificial intelligence is a little on the nose as far as metaphors go. But it also introduces a threat beyond any that Ethan has ever faced. His previous foes were all villainous geniuses, but none had the cold, calculating power of The Entity. It is like a Chess Grandmaster vs a supercomputer. Ethan’s team struggles to find moves that can surprise the algorithm. It is a clever concept that makes the likelihood of our heroes losing believable.
The Entity is a great villain, but our human performers also pull their weight. Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are great at bringing a level of emotion without much dialogue outside the actual missions.
Esai Morales brings a smugness to Gabriel that makes you want to punch him in the face, which is always a plus for a great villain. Pom Klementieff is delightfully unhinged as our silent assassin.
And Henry Czerny is as smarmy as ever as Kittridge, a character we haven’t seen since 1996’s Mission: Impossible Film. McQuarrie even pays homage to De Palma by shooting Ethan and Kittridge’s scenes in the same style as the original film.
Haley Atwell plays Grace and serves as the second lead in the film. Her acting choices make it easier to believe that she has entered a world for which she is not ready. If Atwell doesn’t nail her character, then the frustrating choices her character makes would be so distracting that they would have sunk the film. But Atwell delivers and is additive to the development of Cruise’s Hunt.
McQuarrie, Cruise, and the rest of the production team again commit to practical effects and production. You know you are watching real action instead of a green screen and CGI machinations. But that has been a staple of Mission: Impossible for years.
What separates Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 from the action of other films is how each set piece separates itself tonally. The car chase scene in Dead Reckoning Part 1 is as good as in Mission: Impossible Fallout. Yet, this one has campy humor that serves as a palate cleanser, preparing you for the more harrowing sequences to come.
Another action set piece fills you with anxiety. It uses tight spacing, backlighting, and foggy backgrounds to elevate your anxiousness. And yet another action sequence feels like a miniature disaster movie, with the score wholly removed, so all you hear is the crashing and tumbling of items that would mean certain death for the heroes if they were to connect. The action looks incredibly cool but also builds the story unlike anything else you have seen in the genre.
Overall Rating
There may not be an actor more committed to bringing the magic of the theatrical experience than Tom Cruise.. He never cheats any of his projects and works with filmmakers who share his commitment to delivering the most captivating action and stunts possible. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 is his latest and possibly greatest attempt at giving an audience their money’s worth. A great premise, solid performance, and heart-pounding action give us a perfect summer blockbuster that begs to be seen on the most giant screen possible.
On July 12th, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 can be found in theaters everywhere.
