Film Review: "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" (2023).

From the director of Mission: Impossible – Fallout comes Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. This action spy film directed by Christopher McQuarrie, written by McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen, and based on the television series created by Bruce Geller. It is the sequel to Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) and the seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.

In mid January 2019, Tom Cruise announced the seventh and eighth Mission: Impossible films and that they would be shot back-to-back with McQuarrie writing and directing both films for July 23, 2021, and August 5, 2022, release dates. In December, Simon Pegg confirmed his return for the film. In January 2020, Henry Czerny, reprising his role as Eugene Kittridge for the first time since the first installment. Vanessa Kirby also announced she was returning for both films. By late February, Ving Rhames and Rebecca Ferguson confirmed their return with Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, and Cary Elwes were cast as newcomers. Principal photography was supposed to commenced at the same time, however it was delayed numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic in numerous countries. Ultimately, in early September 2020, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early September 2021. Filming took place in England, Italy, Norway, and United Arab Emirates under the working title Libra. The film was shot with Sony CineAlta Venice cameras, making it the first film in the franchise to be shot digitally. In late October 2020, production was halted in Italy after twelve people tested positive for COVID-19 on set. Filming resumed a week later. In December 2020, during filming in London, an audio recording of Cruise shouting at two production crew members for not following the COVID-19 rules on set was released online. Cruise was likened to his character Les Grossman from Tropic Thunder (2008) as a result. The response from the general public and that of many celebrities, including George Clooney, was supportive, suggesting that his tone and seriousness were warranted given the extreme circumstances and burden of ensuring production not be halted again. The frequent delays caused by the pandemic ballooned the budget to $290 million, making it the most expensive Mission: Impossible film, and the most expensive film of Cruise's career. The film was previously scheduled for a July 23, 2021, November 19, 2021, May 27, 2022 and September 30, 2022 release dates, before being delayed to July 14 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and production shutdowns. In April 2023, Paramount announced at CinemaCon that the film would be released two days earlier on July 12.

The film stars Cruise, Atwell, Rhames, Pegg, Ferguson, Morales, Kirby, Klementieff, Czerny, Whigham, Davis, and Elwes. Cruise is the American Jackie Chan at this point. He's doing his own stunts for the love of the game. Cruise runs on screen for ten straight minutes which means high-level action enjoyment! Cruise is a live-action testament to his own ability to take punishment, a kind of human sacrifice. Cruise has never flirted with death so closely before. This film makes all his prior stunts look like cakewalks. Cruise not only does some incredible stunts, he actually lets you know a little bit more about who Hunt is. So much of what you've seen of Hunt--the way that he's developed in the last twenty plus years since the first Mission Impossible--is visible in this performance from Cruise. I think there's an interesting connection between Cruise and the character he plays...there's a detachment, a sadness around him, what he's had to sacrifice to carry the world's burden on his shoulders. The final guard of a dying age of superstar, Cruise is the last action hero and never has his skill been in sharper focus.

When it comes to sheer quantity of triple-crosses, double agents, remote control gizmo toys, one-liners, stunts and rubber mask fake outs, the film outdoes its predecessors. The film continues to be the rare film franchise that actually gets better with age. It makes no attempt to reinvent the wheel. Instead it takes the best elements of its predecessors and then cranks the dial past ten. Even in their seventh installment, the Mission: Impossible films remain a breath of fresh air amidst the CGI-fueled superhero spectacles of the summer. With Fallout, McQuarrie delivers not only the best film in the franchise after De Palma's slick original, but one of the great films of artfully photographed and technically monumental action. Cruise's iron will to entertain with insane physical setpieces, along with McQuarrie's sharp script and direction, mark this film as one of the best. To all moviegoers out there, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go out and see the film as soon as possible and on the biggest screen. A blockbuster bonanza that genuinely feels as if it's tossing absolutely everything it has at the audience in an attempt to deliver pure, unadulterated escapism. The physical proximity to each character and each movement is so minute, so aurally and visually sweeping, that film is often slick as all hell. McQuarrie's eye for slick, flawless and stunning filmmaking paired with Cruise's slightly unhinged grip of action fodder has created spectacular, pure unadulterated blockbuster awesomeness. The film feels tougher and less polished in all the right ways while simultaneously being bigger and more sweeping than ever before. It's the best of what the franchise has to offer. It could have been chopped down by fifteen-minutes, but even then, it never loses its audience - and that's what you must shoot for when telling a story.

Simon says Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One receives:

Also, see my review for Mission: Impossible – Fallout.