Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Review)

Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One is the seventh Mission Impossible film starring Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). The film is directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Despite being the seventh film this installment is a new mission, a new story and acts as a jumping on point. Although you may be wondering if its worth jumping on to…

The latest mission starts off uncharacteristically slow For a Mission Impossible film, with a Russian submarine mission gone wrong, followed by a quite introduction to Ethan Hunt. The plot slowly unpacks itself over the first thirty minutes or so before the stakes really begin to reveal themselves during a fun airport scene. Pretty soon it becomes clear that the mission is personal for Ethan and that the the stakes are global.

It also becomes clear that the action is fun, the characters’ are likable and the stunts are, as always, death defying! A lot of chatter when Top Gun Maverick came out last year was “They don’t make movies like this any more” and the same can be said of this film. Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One, feels like a classic Hollywood film in all the right ways and is an absolute crowd pleaser, from older audiences to younger ones this film is everyone.

Despite feeling like a classic Hollywood film, the latest instlment also feels like a film that in touch with a modern audiences and taps into the modern day cultural zeitgeist. That is to say that the film addresses relevant modern themes without feeling political or bias and its very entertaining while doing it. Overall, the story isn’t outstanding but it does what it needs for the on screen personalities to have their moments’ in the sun.

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt is as charismatic and watchable as always. Cruise’s commitment to physical work such as stunts and fight choreography are a joy to watch and his charisma with his costars is as natural as always. Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Ilse Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) all return to the main cast and have great chemistry and all have their part to play. The other real stand out of the film is (Haley Atwell) as franchise newcomer, Grace. Grace is an extraordinarily capable and intelligent thief with a certain set of skills. Despite this, she has some glaring weaknesses which make her incredibly relatable and often play into some of the more comedic scenes of the film.

The humor in this film is clever and contextual. Unlike a lot of recent block Buster’s that are desperate to shoehorn increasingly cringe worthy humor into their films, the laughs in this film feel earned and organic within the context of the action.

Gabriel (Esai Morales) serves as the primary physical antagonist to Ethan Hunt. He is a ghost from Ethan’s past and a genuine physical threat to our hero. Despite this Esai’s performance is a bit wooden and lacks the theatrical grandeur of a memorable bad guy.

Despite the slow start, this film is a lot of fun and will fly by despite its long theatrical length. You may have noticed that the film is a “Part One” but fear not, this film does finish satisfactorily; with Part 2 set to come out this time next year.

Overall, if you enjoy movies you will have fun with this film. Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One; is a return the best best of classic action adventure Hollywood. It has a magnetic cast, an optimistic tone and a love of cinema not seen since Top Gun Maverik.

I’d give Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One
4 Cruise Control’s out of 5