Review of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) by Stream2Bigscree — 21 Jul 2023

Hey, Streamers!  It’s that time of year when Tom Cruise returns to theaters to save cinema.  Last year, he flew in with the fighter pilots in Top Gun: Maverick and brought people back to the theaters.  This year, Cruise brings back the superspies with a new addition to the Mission: Impossible franchise, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1.  He’s determined to up the ante on stunts and spectacle. Here’s whether this cliff-jumping action flick is worth the price of admission.

In Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1, as in every other M:I movie, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team accept an “impossible” mission to thwart an attempt by some evil entity to obtain an existentially dangerous weapon.  In this episode, that dangerous weapon is a mysterious, all-knowing AI called “the Entity.” In their quest to destroy the Entity, Ethan and his cohorts realize that successfully completing this mission may cost the lives of those closest to them. Mask-ripping, globe-hopping, and cliff-jumping, but no couch-jumping *wink* hijinks ensue.

Spoiler Alert: this movie is an absolute must-see on the big screen. Go grab your big box of popcorn and enjoy 2 and a half hours of superspy missions and increasingly insane stunts. Period.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, my biggest qualm with this movie is the length. Although I was entertained throughout the entire runtime, I still can’t say that 2 and a half hours was absolutely necessary. There is one boring scene near the beginning where a bunch of side characters discuss the terrifying abilities of the AI.  This scene needs to be edited down. There is another scene later in the movie where Ethan, Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg) explain the IMF to the new addition to the crew, Grace (Hayley Atwell), which is tedious but ultimately necessary. Nevertheless, the momentum of the movie doesn't grinds to a halt such that you’d be checking your watch.

My other minor issues are 1.) the character Hayley Atwell plays does things that make no sense. I like her as a new player in the M:I game, but she’s very frustrating throughout; 2.) the “plot” of M:I movies are so generic. Literally, every episode is the same. Formula = x villain is trying to get y weapon to destroy or take over z + Ethan and crew go all over the world to stop it. Luckily, Christopher McQuarrie, who directed this one, Fallout and Rogue Nation, and Tom Cruise have figured out practical, high-wire stunts that inject energy into each sequel. They have to exceed what they’ve done before, and they’ve succeeded in making a very entertaining action thriller. There are truly awe-inspiring stunts and spectacles done in Dead Reckoning that justify its existence as the seventh film in this 27 year old franchise.

Side Note: at one point, I was literally digging my fingernails into the armrests.