Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Pt. 1 – Review

The gang is back! We waited through five years of mostly hell to get here and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the results. Death-defying stunts, tasteful humor, a bit of really hot flirting, and a villain that literalizes the enemy Tom Cruise has vowed to spend the rest of his career fighting have all convalesced to create what might be a mild step down from 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout but is still an insane, excellent ride.

It’s always great to see these folks together on the big screen. There’s Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), a coder and tech expert with a vast collection of hats he rotates through (some only slightly askew upon his head). There’s Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), a man who lives by and for his friends and nothing else. You’ve got ever-compelling Ilsa Foust (Rebecca Ferguson), charming and deadly as ever while still maintaining that core of sweetness. And then there’s Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), the living manifestation of destiny that takes on the the most diabolical of villains in an effort to keep literally every single person on Earth alive. It’s a great crew, each driven by the ties that bind and their inexplicable need to follow their maniac leader through any situation.

But this time there’s a hitch. Ethan is confronted with the thing that Tom Cruise fears the most – a sentient algorithm. An escaped AI known only as The Entity is vying for world power. There’s a macguffin that can stop it, but it’s difficult to locate without the help of master thief Grace (a delightful Haley Atwell), arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby), and the former head of the IMF Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny returning from the first film). They’re up against The Entity’s prophet, a mercenary character known only as Gabriel (Esai Morales) and his henchwoman, Paris (Pom Klementieff rocking an awesome wardrobe that all looks like it was purchased at Hot Topic around the time My Chemical Romance released “The Black Parade”). The IMF team is in a race against the world, their own government included, to find all parts of the macguffin before anyone else so that The Entity can be destroyed instead of becoming a slave to one government or another.

Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie have once again delivered a hell of a movie, one that shouts at its audience that no matter how much they like movies on their couches (picked by an algorithm that targets their taste) nothing will compare to Tom Cruise on his death-wish bullshit again in a theatre. The sounds, the imagery, and the lead actor literally riding a motorcycle off of a cliff to plunge 4000 ft before opening his chute all make the case that other blockbusters best come correct if they want to hold a candle to this. The point is made before the film even starts with a few featurettes on the making of the film and its stunts to remind you that yes, almost every moment on-camera is happening for real.

Missing is a compelling villain. Morales does all he can with The Entity’s frontman but alas the character falls short. This is not another Henry Cavill, Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, or Sean Harris. Gabriel is only here to serve as a mouthpiece for his master, receiving a very slight backstory that ties him to Ethan in a way I’m not sure was necessary. It’s a bit part that is thankfully held aloft by a few genuinely menacing action sequences. He’s joined by newcomers Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis as a couple of silly but ultimately unneeded covert operatives tasked with hunting down Ethan Hunt to stop him from destroying a program that would make America the dominant superpower until we go extinct. Fun moments but the two add a whole bowl of nothing to the stew that is this action film.

It’s okay, though, because stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood is here to make sure you have a heartpounding time at the movies. Cliff dives, parachute chaos, a wild car chase through the streets of Rome, and even a nice cat-and-mouse footchase through an airport are all beautifully executed by the dedicated performers on screen. Eastwood is a racecar driver, one that was able to bring much of that car chase to life as Tom Cruise drives one-handed over cobblestone with Haley Atwell panicking in the passenger seat (though she also gets a fun turn at the wheel to both laughs and excitement), Say what you will about these films, the action is always gripping to watch with the knowledge that our lead might literally die for our entertainment any time now.

There’s something special about the collaboration between Cruise, McQuarrie, and composer Lorne Balfe (Top Gun: Maverick, The Lego Batman Movie, and Ambulance to name a few of his scores). Rarely is a composer repeated in this franchise, just like every film had a different director up until McQuarrie’s involvement. Balfe brings a snare drumline to the proceedings, much as he did with the excellent “Stairs and Rooftops” track from M:I – Fallout. Snappy, grand, and soaring, his work this time is more bombastic and all-encompassing than before. It’s a hell of a score and one that will be going in my vinyl collection as soon as possible.

No matter your thoughts on the culty weirdo, Cruise has continued to be the final savior of big cinema as the world tried to move on. His steadfast refusal to lose this thing he loves is comparable to that of his character’s and both execute that love the the greatest extremes a human being can physically go to. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Pt. 1 transcends the recent “split it into two movies and end on a cliffhanger” style of filmmaking by telling a complete story. While most of it is a blast there are heavier moments that remind us the power of greedy men, hateful warmongers, misinformation, and fanaticism are dangerous realities that we have to face every day. This is one that NEEDS to be seen in a theatre and is one of the best times I’ve had in recent memory.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Pt. 1 is in early access screening and officially releases July 12th.