‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ Movie Review: Tom Cruise Goes All Out in Flawed Action Spectacle
Photo from Paramount Pictures/Skydance
From Jeff Nelson
The Mission: Impossible franchise always finds new ways to stop moviegoers in their tracks with Tom Cruise’s death-defying action set pieces. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is the seventh installment, yet the flashy spectacle of it all is as hard-hitting as ever. Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen’s screenplay packs this narrative full of industry commentary that doesn’t quite live up to the height of its action.
IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his trusted associates, Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), accept a new mission that threatens the future of human civilization. That menace is an artificial intelligence technology called “The Entity,” which has the power to distort the truth via digital warfare. Every country in the world is desperate to get its hands on it to achieve absolute power, but Ethan and his team once again put their lives on the line to save humanity from itself.
Ethan remains the central protagonist, but his role primarily revolves around the introduction of a resourceful criminal named Grace (Hayley Atwell). She’s not quite as well-rounded as the long-time action hero, but she has her own unique strengths that make her an absorbing character. Meanwhile, Ethan and his crew are a compelling center to the mission’s most nerve-shredding moments.
The Entity is the primary villain of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, while human greed bolsters its devious interests. McQuarrie’s new installment introduces monumental stakes that only one specialized team can take on, but it drowns itself in exposition. Its 163-minute runtime spends entirely too much time describing its technological narrative that isn’t nearly as complex as the story makes it out to be. The Entity itself is an effective commentary on Hollywood’s dangerous precedent-setting interest in AI, although it doesn’t make for a very riveting antagonist. Ethan faces more physical dangers in both new and familiar faces, such as Gabriel (Esai Morales), although they’re clunky, one-note villains that aren’t quite as intimidating as they should be, possessing as much personality as the AI itself.
Cruise’s passion for the Mission: Impossible franchise radiates in every frame, from the serious to the campy moments. His team chemistry with Pegg and Rhames stands strong, while Atwell makes a brilliant showing that frequently carries the film. McQuarrie and Jendresen’s screenplay fails to entirely capture emotional beats, locking them in a vacuum of sorts and glossing over them. Nevertheless, the cast does what they can with the material.
McQuarrie’s action relies on cat-and-mouse games, racing through city streets and other bustling environments. Ethan constantly fights to evade multiple looming threats on foot and in various vehicles, all of which are thrilling. Its third-act spectacle is staggeringly tense, taking the audience through an armrest-clenching adventure that makes full use of its budget.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One falls short of the high expectations established by the franchise’s latest predecessors, but its bombastic action set pieces are no less grandiose. If nothing else, it will leave you wondering just how much bigger the stunts will get in Part Two.
Rating: 3/5
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One hits theaters on July 12th, 2023.
