Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One: Tom Cruise still rocks the cinema

Let me start off by saying that my review contains no spoilers. Any information stated here is featured in trailers that have already been released.

Tom Cruise hasn’t had enough of Mission: Impossible yet. Not even after 27 years. Cruise hasn’t completed his opus magnum yet. Dead Reckoning, the seventh instalment in the franchise that made him an action star in 1996, is only Part One too. The second half hits theatres next summer. It won’t only conclude Dead Reckoning, but the entire film series. According to the marketing at least.

No surprise there. Cruise is now a proud 61 years old. That’s only four years younger than Harrison Ford was when he gave his ageing archaeologist a supposed last ride in 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. All the more astonishing, then, is the physical commitment that Cruise still brings to the screen with suicidal matter-of-factness. Fortunately, it isn’t in vain. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One may not be the best entry in the series. But it only misses the top spot by a millimetre.

What’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One all about?

It’s been almost three decades since Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) sold his soul to the IMF – the Impossible Mission Force. Their members are sworn to complete seemingly impossible missions. IMF agents also have to live and die in the shadows, for those close to them and those they’ll never meet. Hunt took this oath when his back was against the wall. Since then, he’s saved the world more than once. But never from an enemy like this: the so-called Entity.

The Entity isn’t human, but an AI. Everywhere and nowhere. Godless, stateless and amoral. Its plan? Who knows? Its next steps? Unknown. What’s clear is that it’s powerful enough to destroy humanity. But whoever is able to control it also holds the key to an entirely new world order. Thus, the world’s superpowers are engaged not only in a race against their own destruction, but also in a race for ultimate control.

Only one man can complete the mission – should he choose to accept it – to destroy the Entity altogether: Ethan Hunt.

The Entity: is a robot apocalypse coming?

No, the end of days hasn’t broken out yet. At least not everywhere. That much science fiction wouldn’t have suited Mission: Impossible anyway. After all, the series has always been characterised by its down-to-earth character – as down-to-earth as perfect face masks, drug lords with super viruses or terrorists with nuclear explosives can be. And yet, an AI pulling the strings in the background is daring. Especially for Mission Impossible.

In fact, the would-be dystopian detours of Dead Reckoning are among the weaker parts of the film. Especially during dialogue. At times, it’s reminiscent of a poorly written Black Mirror episode. The Netflix series is known for drawing dark and frighteningly close visions of the future – creepily realistic. Dead Reckoning attempts the same thing. But director and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie delivers dialogue that sounds penned by ChatGPT instead of him – of all things.

«What, this thing is sentient!?» a leader of a secret organisation asks. «Yes, and it manipulates information in a way that could put the truth as we know it in jeopardy,» responds someone else.

I almost laugh out loud. But it gets even better.

«The Entity has hacked all security systems. The CIA. The FBI. The European Central Bank. Everything.» – «And what did it do?» – «Nothing, just left traces that were obviously meant to be found. It wanted to…» – «…send us a message: I’ll be back.»

Sentences that say everything and nothing. Absurd! Not that Mission: Impossible was ever nominated for an Oscar in the Best Screenplay category. But I don’t remember the other Mission: Impossible films being this asinine. I was almost taken out of the film by this brief opening exchange, introducing the super-threat in a completely ridiculous way. Fortunately, Mission: Impossible has more to offer than that. Above all, a Tom Cruise in top shape.

Stunt man: Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise does his own stunts. Still. What used to be one of those behind-the-scenes throwaway sentences in DVD extras has become his trademark. Yes, almost his gimmick. And definitely the marketing go-to for all his Mission: Impossible films. Sometimes to a ridiculous extent: IMAX trailers of his stunts were released before there was even a trailer for the film itself.

The hype is real.

Studios used to be terrified of this. Why else do we have stunt men? Cruise is the star. The face of the franchise. What if something happens to him, say he gets hit by a bus during his umpteenth stunt – or he suffers a career-ending ankle fracture while jumping across London’s rooftops (only watch if you don’t have a sensitive stomach)? But the 61-year-old knows no boundaries. Now a producer for his own films, he’d rather have all the production’s stuntmen fired before he’d let them ban him from doing his own stunts.

For Cruise, this kind of extreme sport may be a matter of ego. Or just a hobby. Film-wise, however, it gives the franchise something that many action films can’t: a feeling of palpable danger. After all, it is real. At least for him. For the film, this means that the camera can keep full focus on Cruise for every stunt. Like when he groans and screams into the camera during a motorcycle jump off the side of a mountain that turns into a base jump in mid-air. With a headwind that blows all the wrinkles out of his face, of course.

As a viewer, I can’t help but dig my fingernails deep into the theatre seat with anxiety.

Breathtaking action thanks to a proven director

This isn’t only thanks to Cruise’s adrenaline addiction, but also to the director. Since 2015’s Rogue Nation, the fifth instalment in the series, the star has preferred working with Christopher McQuarrie. Actually, ever since Jack Reacher, Cruise’s 2012 action film. While keeping his dialogue in mind, I have to commend McQuarrie here. Because when it comes to the action in Mission: Impossible, he and Cruise have an uncommonly good sense for packaging familiar elements from earlier films in a fresh way.

Crazy chases through the most beautiful European cities? Check. Daring motorbike stunts? Yep. Fistfights amid claustrophobic sets? Also included. Tracking shots of Tom Cruise sprinting? Would it even be a Mission: Impossible movie without them?

In doing so, McQuarrie never ceases to amaze me with his cleverness. His efficiency. Because unlike other directors, he rarely resorts to digital effects to make people on tightropes in front of a green screen seem more imposing than they actually are. I’m looking at you, Fast & Furious franchise. Across the board, compare the action of Fast & Furious with that of the Mission: Impossible films. The longer Vin Diesel’s auto extravaganza runs, the «lighter» it seems. Typical of stunts created primarily on a computer; the physics just aren’t right. Even if a muscular action star grimaces in pain.

In Mission: Impossible, on the other hand, the effort behind every jump, every run, and every fight is palpable. When the G-forces tug at Cruise’s face during his base jump, or when he’s desperately trying not to lose his balance while fighting an antagonist on a moving train, I buy it. For the train scene, for example, they apparently built a custom track. Accordingly, the stunts on it are real. The beads of sweat. And the apparent danger. It’s this authenticity that triggers pure thrill, even in stunts that are «small» on paper.

This is exactly what Cruise and McQuarrie understood, and it’s what puts Dead Reckoning ahead of most current action films. Only the John Wick series is really comparable, albeit more brutal.

Verdict: one of the best action movies of the year

Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie are still a proven team in their third Mission: Impossible film together. Especially when it comes to the action. Or the increasingly radical stunts.

Is Dead Reckoning the best film in the series? No. This title goes to Fallout, the direct predecessor. Fallout is perfect in almost every respect. From insane stunts to casting Henry Cavill and the breakneck pace of the film. Dead Reckoning, on the other hand, lacks a quality script. The mysterious Entity in particular, an interesting AI concept, is ultimately implemented with plenty of platitudes. I’d have expected more cleverness.

In addition, there’s suddenly this antagonist, Gabriel (Esai Morales). We viewers are told right away that he’s incredibly important to Ethan, as he’s the main reason Ethan had to join the IMF. This even goes so far that Gabriel’s face alone triggers something like post-traumatic stress in Ethan. After seven films. Out of nowhere. Right. A new character was simply crowbarred in afterwards. This seems far too contrived.

Still, this doesn’t change my overall positive impression. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One namely scores with its ensemble cast. The visuals are wonderfully varied and the action fantastically staged. This is what event cinema has to feel like.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One hits theatres on 13 July, 2023. Runtime: 163 minutes. Age rating: 12.