Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One (2023) – Mission Possible

Released: 8th July 2023
Seen: 29th January 2024

At this point, the Mission Impossible series exists for one reason and one reason only, to basically make the entire world believe that Tom Cruise is the most badass human being alive. Sure, there’s a story, espionage, action and comedy that appeals to the masses and delivers high-octane thrills as needed but its principal job at the moment is to help launder the image of a man whose entire life is so intertwined with the evil that is Scientology that he needs people to ignore that and focus on the cool stunts that he can perform. It’s kind of a neat trick because normally it works, normally Tom Cruise movies open so big and make such a splash that we talk about how he saved cinema or something like that. So what does it take for a Mission Impossible film to underperform like this one did? I mean, mostly it was just bad luck with the strikes and people not going to the movies as much but it’s also a case of diminishing returns.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One pits Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team against a truly great modern evil, a rogue AI program called The Entity that has taken over the internet and can control pretty much everything that has an internet connection. The only way to stop it is with a special key that seemingly everyone wants to get their hands on but only a few people know where the key can be used to turn off/control the rogue AI. This naturally leads to a lot of wild set pieces where Ethan risks life and limb to save the world, with the help of his regular friends Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg) and a thief named Grace (Hayley Atwell) he might just be able to pull it off… or at least half of it since there needs to be something for them to do in part 2.

In absolute raw entertainment terms, once again the Mission Impossible franchise delivers a good high-energy action film with the stunts and fights that people seem to love. It’s what made this franchise last so long and all the classics are being done here, from a dramatic bomb disarmament to a fight in a confined space that feels more and more visceral the longer it goes off to an over-the-top stunt that’s just there so Tom Cruise can feel alive. It’s all there, everything that you expect from this franchise is done here in an expert fashion, as always. The tension flows throughout, even though you know for a fact that the central cast has to be OK because otherwise there is no part 2, but the film still finds new ways to deliver an intense glorious set piece.

For the most part, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One understands that the audience wants to see as much as possible of these stunt scenes, every single one is lingered on for as long as possible. It’s not even about what works for the story, it’s just pushing the stunt scene to its practical limit and that means if we need a 10-minute car chase then we’ll have one. Most of the time this can lead to some very fun scenes that are a joy to watch (the final train sequence is a blast), but sometimes it leads to scenes that go on so long that it feels like padding. With the film pushing well over 2 and a half hours and only telling half the story, it feels like they’re basically trying to force an extra film into existence when it’s not needed. Again, that doesn’t make this film any less enjoyable, but it is noticeable how much stretching is being done.

Now the reason this is being reviewed this year is because this film has two Oscar nominations for sound and visual effects, basically the things that make those stunt sequences work. It’s undeniable that the visual effects of this movie are fantastic, to the point where it’s hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t (this is also helped by all of us knowing that Tom Cruise is insane enough that he would just do anything that’s done in this film). The combination of the great effects work and sound heightens every scene, making every single hit feel brutal and intense. It’s action cinema on an expert level, this film’s structure could basically be used as a blueprint for how to make a good action film to be copied over and over again… because it kind of has.

The problem that this Mission Impossible film has is kind of the same that the last Fast and the Furious movie had, namely these characters have done so much insane shit that there’s an upper limit about what can be done. Sure it’s impressive that Tom Cruise drove a bike off a ramp and parachuted on his own but a few films ago the man was holding onto the wing of a plane as it took off, we’re hitting the point of diminishing returns here. Kind of like when Fast and the Furious sent the characters into space, you can’t get much more insane than that so everything after is going to feel like it’s dragging… and Mission Impossible is at a disadvantage because it’s not about to create a villain as over the top or instantly iconic as Jason Momoa in Fast X, that’d be too campy and have too much personality for a franchise like Mission Impossible. As such, after a while the big stunts and over-the-top action scenes just feel like things we’ve seen in better films in this very franchise, films that had endings and didn’t feel like a setup for whatever the hell comes next.

Look, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is still a very good Mission Impossible film, at this point as long as they follow the basic formula that they’ve been handed and can think of new ways to make Tom Cruise look cool this franchise will probably live forever (at least, if Xenu allows it). The reason this probably didn’t do as well as they wanted is that there are a half dozen films that are doing the exact same thing this does and this isn’t a franchise known for a big personality so it can’t lean on anything. It’s a fun time, it’s got great effects and the action scenes are undeniably cool but it doesn’t have anything that feels like it’s an absolute must-see. Maybe the second part will be great enough that it’ll improve this one as a double feature but as its own thing, Dead Reckoning is just kind of fine enough.

…now, Where’s Shelly?