Worth: $17.50
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Cast:
Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Esai Morales
Intro:
What truly captures the heart in Dead Reckoning – Part One is how boldly the film submits to its comedic moments.
Ethan Hunt’s latest assignment – into the confronting realm of Artificial Intelligence – is well worth multiple watches for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, its spellbinding action sequences keep the audience on the edge of their seats, despite knowing that this mission, like all the others before it, is indeed possible. Secondly, subsequent viewings will be necessary to piece together the perplexing plot and entangled relationship dynamics. But then again, story was never the reason audiences have loved the Mission Impossible films.
In the series’ seventh instalment, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the Impossible Mission Force embark on a global pursuit to track down the two halves to an all-powerful key which, when utilised, unlocks control over the omnipotent AI aptly named Entity.
The question (seemingly) at the heart of the movie is, what does the key open? In hopes for an answer, the team is catapulted into an intercontinental search for the buyer, who can reveal the key’s purpose; a search made ever more complicated by conflicting desires and the involvement of Hunt’s powerful nemesis Gabriel (Esai Morales), who is aided by the rogue AI.
The mission takes us on a completely irrelevant yet cinematic journey through the deserts of the United Arab Emirates, the tight alleyways of Venice and the picturesque mountains of Norway. And yes, like every other film in the series, the only rhyme or reason for any of these locations seems to be stunt logistics; not that anyone is complaining.
For the most part, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is exactly what one would expect from a franchise that has to deliver on certain expectations and tropes.
Nevertheless, director Christopher McQuarrie finds enough unique methods to distinguish this latest instalment from all the others.
One involves McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendresen depicting a dodgy car chase through the densely packed streets of Rome, where Ethan Hunt is finally in the passenger seat. Now, since one of our expectations from Mission Impossible is practical stunts, this means that the life of the world’s most revered action hero is in the hands of franchise newcomer Hayley Atwell.
Giving up control on a high-stakes stunt is a refreshing change of pace from Tom Cruise, one that gives an exciting look at what the franchise may look like in the future.
As for Atwell, not only does she execute the car chase with an expert precision that would make her passenger proud, but she also steals every scene she is in. That’s saying something, considering that she must keep up with established IMF team members Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames), who are at their best here.
The same can’t be said for other characters, specifically the bland key antagonist Gabriel. Paris (Pom Klementieff), one of Gabriel’s soldiers also suffers from two dimensionality, however, the Guardians of the Galaxy actress’s ruthless actions make her scenes eventful enough.
Cruise is exactly as intense as you’d expect Ethan Hunt to be at this point. Despite not going to any unexpected heights in performance, you’re left in awe watching a man of his age able to perform action sequences with a looseness that would rival a professional athlete.
What truly captures the heart in Dead Reckoning – Part One is how boldly the film submits to its comedic moments. Whereas in previous chapters, comedy was relegated to a one-liner every now and then, here the filmmakers opt for entire sequences, none succeeding moreso than a car chase in a tiny yellow Fiat 500.
Ultimately, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One delivers in abundance within a genre that has become difficult to innovate due to previous instalments pushing the boundaries of action to unimaginable limits. Though, as would be expected, a generous amount of cognitive estrangement is required from the audience to achieve freshness in a film running close to 3 hours long.
With this being the first half of two, it will be interesting to see what inventive sequences Cruise and McQuarrie have planned for Ethan Hunt next.
