Considering the fact that it is the seventh installment of a series that has been running strong for nearly 30 years at this point, one might naturally expect Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One to demonstrate some trace of franchise fatigue at this point—even the James Bond films were getting a bit creaky by that point. If you look closely, I suppose that there are indications that such a thing is beginning to set in—especially in the way that some of the major action set pieces end up inspiring memories of similar sequences in the earlier installments—but it has been made with such wit, style and heedless energy that viewers will be caught up in its globe-trotting intrigue to the point where they won’t even notice or mind (at least while it is unspooling) the more familiar moments or the fact that, as suggested by the title, that they are only getting, despite a franchise-topping 163-minute running time, half of the narrative.
For example, it will probably not come as much as a surprise to most observers to learn that the basic plot revolves around the search for a particular item that could spell disaster for most of the free world if it falls into the wrong hands. The twist this time is that both the villain and the item are essentially the same—an experimental A.I. program known as “The Entity” that has inexplicably become sentient and gone rogue, as demonstrated in an extended opening sequence in which it choreographs an elaborate submarine disaster. However, there is a key that, when its two pieces are joined together, can allow whoever possesses it to control The Entity, either by shutting it down permanently or by weaponizing its awesome powers for themselves.
Needless to say, many of the world’s top powers—not to mention a few rogue elements—are keen to acquire the key for themselves and this is where Impossible Mission Force super-agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) comes in. After acquiring one half of the key, he is charged by IMF director Kitteridge (Henry Czerny) with finding and acquiring the other half at any cost. This leads to Hunt once again bringing his loyal fellow agents—Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg) and Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson)—to help him track things down while being pursued by another group of government agents (led by Shea Whigham) who are under the impression that they have gone rogue.
Complicating matters quite a bit is Grace (Hayley Atwell), a professional thief who gets in the middle of Hunt’s first attempt to acquire the key and who winds up becoming a not-entirely-willing participant in the chase. Complicating matters even further is the presence of Gabriel (Esai Morales), a rogue element who is determined to acquire the key for himself—with the assistance of deadly aide Paris (Pom Klementieff)—and who also has a dark past connection to Hunt’s own shadowy past. There is also a return appearance by The White Widow (Vanessa Kirby), the cheerful arms dealer who becomes involved with the negotiation for bringing the two halves together at last, blithely unconcerned with anything other than the deal’s effect on her bank account.
If one were to sit down and do a strict analysis of the screenplay concocted by Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen (and I suppose that is my job), it would be hard to overlook the inescapable fact—one not necessarily unusual for a franchise that has lasted this long—that it is a bit on the uneven side and that is even after discounting the fact that the two-part structure means that it doesn’t have a satisfying end. (In fact, it actually concludes in such a way that you do feel as if you have gotten a full story and not just half of one.) Unlike the previous entries, which have gotten off to fairly fleet starts, this one kind of takes a while to get into gear (thanks mostly to a submarine sequence that goes on just a little too long for its own good) and when it does, the script is a jumble of elements cribbed from James Bond films (including an inspired borrowing from For Your Eyes Only and an extremely close quarters brawl reminiscent of the train car fight in From Russia With Love), ideas previously explored in the series that are inexplicably treated here as new and fresh (when Ethan explains to his cohorts that The Entity is so monstrous that it will ruthlessly go through them in order to get to him, you half-expect them to reply “So what else is new?”) and there are too many scenes in which people speak in especially purple prose about the diabolical abilities of The Entity but not nearly enough practical demonstrations of such.
And yet, if ever there was a movie that proved to be far more than the sum of its parts, Dead Reckoning is it. Once things officially kick into gear, McQuarrie (marking his third time in the director’s chair for the series) offers up one literally breathless set piece after another, including a brilliantly timed cat-and-mouse pursuit through the Abu Dhabi airport, a wild pursuit through the crowded streets of Rome (where the characters evidently just managed to avoid being sideswiped by the characters from Fast X who were presumably a couple of blocks over), a nightclub brawl in Venice and an over-the-top climax set aboard a hurtling train that involves the now-infamous stunt involving Tom Cruise driving a motorcycle off a cliff in Norway in order to parachute onto the train (don’t ask) and somehow gets even more spectacular as the sequence progresses.
With the exception of the motorcycle stunt, these are things that we have more or less seen before in other large-scale action films but rarely with the kind of precision and kinetic detail provided here by McQuarrie and the army of technicians and stunt people at his service. Unlike most action-heavy films of late, in which most of the big set pieces are largely constructs of the CGI crew that work as eye candy but which often lack the kind of weight that might give them a sense of realism, the emphasis towards more practical effects (though presumably augmented by computer later on) here gives these scenes a more visceral impact that ends up grabbing viewers in a way that they cannot help but respond to on some fundamental level.
Another element that helps to elevate this film is the nuanced way that it handles the characters, especially the female ones. In too many action films, the women tend to get lost in the chaos but not only do all of the key female personalities play important parts in the evolving storyline, they are developed in far more interesting ways than usual. Among those returning to the fold, Ferguson’s Ilsa once again proves to be a wonderful foil for Hunt—in their scenes together, you can actually imagine that these two have a relationship that extends beyond the parameters of the screenplay. Meanwhile, Kirby is again a blast as the delightfully amoral White Widow but then sort of turns up as another character later on—you’ll figure it out—and does it in such a dead-on manner that it leaves you more convinced than ever as to her impressive talents.
As for the newcomers, Atwell is an absolute delight as Grace and some of the best moments—at least those not directly related to death-defiance—come from the inspired byplay between her and Cruise that starts up from the moment they meet and never lets up. As the seemingly fearless aide de camp to Gabriel, Klementieff plays a trope familiar to fans of the Bond series—the compatriot to the bad guy who switches sides after a roll in the hay with the hero—and while her character doesn’t exactly follow in those footsteps (there is no time for any hay-rolling), she finds a delightfully malevolent spin to that character type that makes her appearances a thrill as well.
By comparison, the guys are. . .fine, though not exactly revelatory. Pegg, Rhames and Czerny are all fine in their sidemen roles but don’t really get to do much of anything that we haven’t seen in their previous appearances. As for the new guys, Morales is effective as Gabriel, which is good since the role as written (at least up to this point in the story) doesn’t really give him much to do other than glower and issue proclamations that are fraught with portent while Whigham, as the fed on Hunt’s trail, is fine in what at this point could probably just be called “the Shea Whigham part.” As for Cruise, he is all star power—when is he not?—but unlike Top Gun: Maverick, where it tended to curdle into smugness, he allows Hunt to demonstrate a greater sense of vulnerability that makes for a much more likable character. This also helps immeasurably when it comes to the big stunt sequences that the series is famous for—it is amazing how much more gripping these scenes become when they involve someone that you actually have a genuine rooting interest in.
Although the Mission: Impossible series is—alongside the John Wick and Mad Max films—the most reliably exciting film franchise at this time, there is one slightly frustrating aspect to the whole thing. Over the course of the first four films, the series went through four different directors and it was fascinating to see the ways in which the basic elements were filtered through those four often diverse perspectives—they went from Brian De Palma fusing his twin fascinations with surveillance and government corruption seamlessly into a blockbuster framework in the original to John Woo’s reliance on dreamy romanticism and balletic action choreography in M:I 2 to J.J. Abrams expanding on the theme developed in Alias involving the personal and professional lives of espionage agents colliding in M:I III to the delirious live-action cartoon that Brad Bird made out of Ghost Protocol. From the fifth film, Rogue Nation, on, McQuarrie has commanded the director’s chair and while there is absolutely nothing to fault with his work over the course of those films, I suppose there is a part of me that would like to see other filmmakers take the franchise out for a run in order to see what happens. Then again, if Cruise would prefer to have a familiar face at the helm that he is comfortable with just before driving off a mountain on a motorcycle, I suppose you can’t really criticize him too much for that.
Of the franchise, I still prefer the De Palma original the best (once a poster boy for alleged narrative confusion, it now plays so beautifully that it is hard to wonder what the fuss was all about back in the day) with Ghost Protocol a close second. I would place Dead Reckoning just behind those two alongside the two immediate McQuarrie predecessors—if I prefer it to those (mostly because of the charge Atwell brings to the proceedings), I assure you that the separation is not that great. That said, it does make for a spectacular time at the movies—it is the rare event film that absolutely must be seen in as big a theater as possible in order to get the full impact. Even more impressive, when it is all over, it will leave you out of breath, possibly sporting a bruised forearm courtesy of the person sitting next to you and a desire to see Part Two as soon as humanly possible.