Review of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) by Moviemitch96 — 19 Jul 2023

In this latest outing in the long running spy franchise, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his crew find themselves up against an omnipresent artificial intelligence that threatens the lives of not just him and his team, but the whole world.

Past and familiar faces also get involved and complicate things further as he tries to race to stop this global evil by any means necessary. First off, seeing how this film was going to be split into two parts, I was a bit skeptical at how much of a cliffhanger this one would have, and if it's ending would either frustrate or satisfy me.

Surprisingly, this film feels the most like its own part moreso than most part ones out there for other films and franchises. It ends in a relatively satisfying spot while still leaving me eager enough to see what happens in the next part.

Storywise, this thing is ALL over the place, and the same goes for all the characters too. This film feels over stuff to a fall and so many senses. The story twists and turns faster than I could ever keep track of, and there are simply far too many characters and motives to keep track of.

Performance-wise, Cruise does what he does best, and definitely doesn't disappoint with all the jaw-dropping stunts that he pulls off in this. His performance itself also feels grounded, gritty, and raw, more than ever in this franchise.

Other familiar standouts include Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg. Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby also return from some of the franchise's previous entries. The only standout here that I absolutely did not like was Hayley Atwell, who's character was utterly frustrating and useless the entire film.

All she did was three things: pickpocket, run away, and play damsel in distress. Overall, not exactly memorable in terms of story, especially when it was as messy and all over the place as this one was, and there's little to no character development, given how over stuffed it was.

However, it also showed that Cruise definitely has no intention of slowing down anytime soon despite his age and how long he's been doing this for, and you gotta give the man props for that! It's definitely fun enough while it lasts, but doesn't rank among the best in the franchise.