Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1: Cruise Continues to Save Movies

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Run Time: 2 hours 43 minutes

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 is the summer blockbuster you’ve been waiting on. Once again, Cruise delivers a great cast to real locations, amid beautifully crafted action sets. The story is too complicated for what it’s attempting to achieve, but the other elements are so strong, that the unnecessary knots were easy to overlook.

The 7th feature of the franchise has Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) on the ropes as his IMF team attempts to track down a set of interlocking keys to a potential nuclear weapon. He enlists Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) after attempting to save Isla (Rebecca Ferguson). 

Ethan is stretched thin and struggling with continuing to risk the lives of his original team as well as others pulled into the hunt, such as Alanna (Vanessa Kirby) and Grace (Hayley Atwell). A murderer from Ethan’s past shows back up, which makes the stakes even higher, as the weapon is blended with an AI, which is part of the reason the team is so divided to begin with.

Dead Reckoning easily replaces any notion of Fast X, Extraction 2, or Transformers: Rise of The Beasts as the action movies for summer 2023. Top Gun: Maverick taught audiences to never doubt Cruise and this remains true. The film relies on stunts, real locations, a great cast, and flawless action as it attempts to top the great entries before it. Cruise is just as good as ever.

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One missing element is the villainy. I struggled to connect with Gabriel through flashbacks. Esai Morales plays Gabriel well, but I just didn’t feel the weight of the character. His intimidation was solid though. My second villain issue was turning Pom Klementieff into the silent muscle. It felt like the script wanted to avoid a stereotype and ended up leaning into it more. She can handle sinister murder and comedy, yet has very few lines in the film. 

The focus on the terrifying new weapon while everyone is a pawn may be where the disjointedness comes from. The story gets jumbled to not give too much away and maintain the mystery, which I enjoyed, but the discussion around the weapon is a little too lofty and makes it difficult to grasp. Not from a mental standpoint, but more so interest. It’s a difficult premise to pull off without a physical stand-in to encapsulate it. Hopefully part 2 pulls off the task.

Although by no means new to Hollywood, I think the breakout star of Dead Reckoning is Atwell. Across all of her appearances, many of them in the MCU, audiences have clamored for her to sincerely get involved. She’s funny, charming, and physical, but most of her appearances give her minimal space and stop short of action. She has plenty of screen time here though, playing a talented pickpocket and thief, using sleight of hand, and lacking a little bit of bravery. I didn’t enjoy her playing the naive fool in a few scenes, but I’ll allow it since that role wasn’t played by anyone else in the series this time around. Hopefully this leads to more roles for her in the future.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT

Dead Reckoning drags slightly between the heavy action scenes, but the action is so seamless and extensive, some may not notice. Whenever characters slow down to talk though, the movie really crawls. I’m unsure if this was a pandemic issue or not, but most of these slow scenes struggle to turn serious, and even their filming style is uncomfortable. 

I struggled to transition back and forth between expansive shots of Rome and sweaty close-ups in safe houses. The real locations save the film as does Cruise’s affinity for stunts. I always hold my breath when he risks his life, but I’m not tired of seeing him plan and execute. I’m still amazed, though I wouldn’t hate to see him submit a few more dramatic turns in the meantime. 

Multi-part movies are en vogue this summer, but they aren’t all bringing the same weight. Spider-Verse felt like an open door of possibilities to me while some audiences found it to be a slammed door. I’m ready to watch the sequel now. Fast X ended on a cliffhanger, but I have little motivation to see the second half, even though I probably will. Dead Reckoning finds a middle space in that I enjoyed the film and will see the second half, but don’t mind lingering for a while.

The run time doesn’t drag the best Hollywood blockbuster of the summer, but the rating is still in the 3.5 range. There’s plenty of potential for the sequel and I’m still excited to see it.

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