Stubs - Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, Erik Jendresen; Based on Mission: Impossible by Bruce Geller. Run time: 163 minutes. Color. USA Espionage, Action

In a summer of blockbuster films, and, of course, sequels, comes Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh in a series that dates back to 1996. The last film was Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). If you're like me, five years, due to COVID, is a long time between engagements and some of the relationships established in that film have faded for me. However, the central core of the IMF group, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) return; a secret rogue group of a secret rogue organization. These three have each other's back but no one has theirs, you know the drill.

 

The team in Venice. Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg),  Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames),
Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), and Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise).

This time the enemy is The Entity, think that everything you've worried about with A.I. has come true and the world is teetering on collapse. The apparently feckless U.S. government turns to Ethan Hunt, a man they also want to kill, to retrieve the literal key to stopping The Entity. Car chases, motorcycle jumps, train wrecks and a lot of running ensue before the story is only half over after nearly three hours. They also pick up a new member, Grace (Hayley Atwell), a thief with ambiguous loyalties and lose an associate, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who had been a part of the last two missions, Rogue Nation (2015) and Fallout (2018).

Grace (Hayley Atwell) with Ethan during a somewhat comedic car chase.

A big film needs a big cast and there is no shortage of characters in Dead Reckoning Part One. There are the usual cast of villains, which are somewhat interchangeable. The biggies here are Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), the former head of the IMF, last seen in the first film; Denlinger (Cary Elwes), the Director of National Intelligence, and Gabriel (Esai Morales), a powerful terrorist who appears to be working with the Entity. Working for Gabriel is Paris (Pom Klementieff), a French assassin who appears to enjoy her work. And so that Ethan has no one to turn to, there is Jasper Briggs (Shea Whigham), a US Intelligence agent tasked with hunting him. There is also the return of Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby), a black-market arms dealer and broker who goes by the alias "White Widow." Alanna is the daughter of Max, a deceased arms dealer, portrayed in the first film by Vanessa Redgrave.

One of the more harrowing stunts in Dead Reckoning Part One.

As stated before, there is a lot of action in the film. Cruise, who is notorrious for doing his own stunts really ramps them up here, though with the exception of some thrilling driving, the big stunts seem to be left to the last thirty minutes or so, perhaps as the audience's reward for sticking with the film. The much ballyhooed motorcycle jump is overshadowed by ones at the end when Ethan and Grace have to rescue themselves from a train about to fall into a deep ravine (are there any other kinds?).

You shouldn't have too much trouble staying awake, as the pace is brisk. Dead Reckoning also features more locations than even your average Bond film, going everywhere from Venice, to Norway, to the Sahara desert. There is really never a dull moment and the film has something I don't remember from previous outings, humor.

Tom Cruise playing Ethan Hunt for the seventh time.

Tom Cruise, who is finally starting to show his age, is the force that propels the story forward. He seems right for a part that he had to change from the TV series the films are based on. Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are good as the second fiddles with a friendly rivalry going on. Hayley Atwell is much more physical than she was in the Marvel movies and who also did her fair share of stunt work on the film. Esai Morales's Gabriel is an evil force that we're shown will do whatever is necessary.

My complaints about the film are minor. Some of the fight scenes seem to defy logic and physics, such as several that are supposed to be taking place on top of a speeding train. And there is the idea that a mask of someone else's face is simple to apply and that you can then pass as practically anyone else in the world, including voice.

In a rather ironic twist, the film is dedicated to the late Sumner Redstone,“Film fan and friend,” once the head of the group that owned Paramount Pictures. You might remember that Sumner once fired Cruise from the film series. I guess that didn't stick.

Based on the high flying success of Top Gun: Maverick (2022), another overdue sequel starring Cruise, one might have expected bigger box office for this thrill ride. Perhaps there is some Cruise fatigue or this got barbenheimered, but the film is definitely worth watching on a big screen if not IMAX.

You will be forgiven if you don't remember all the players and story details when Part Two comes out, now delayed by the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes, but there will no doubt be enough stunts and action to get you past that.