I think I was kidding myself when I thought I could sneak in more than just Tom Cruise’s new vehicle this weekend. So here we are, with just a review for the lone film I got in this weekend: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
If you are like me, you probably felt like you’d been hearing about this film for forever. And we kind of have been. This is one of the handful of films that was impacted from the very start by the pandemic. It was due to begin filming in February of 2020, but instead was pushed to July in England, but was then met with a slew of setbacks. It ultimately took them eight months to finish filming, and then however long post-production took to get us to the middle of the year in 2023. But, we got it, and similar to all of the other entries in this franchise, it delivers. I should mention that I’ve only ever seen the last installment, Fallout. It was awesome. And while I’m sure the other films could fill some knowledge in for me, in my opinion, these films could be treated pretty well as stand-alones. They remind me of any long-running crime book series with the same protagonist. Enough background information is parsed in throughout that you have a complete enough picture of the past.
Anyways, here, in the first part of Dead Reckoning, which rings in just under three hours, we are faced with one major threat that has lots of complicated workings. And actually, this film manages to bring up two things that are hot topics right now: submarines and AI. The former is maybe not quite as on the nose as the latter, but there is a giant sub that sinks to the depths of the Arctic waters. Eerie. The latter is the bigger threat, which is an AI that has become sentient and dead set on controlling all knowledge. I know that seems super vague, but that AI could cause chaos wherever it wanted. It could replace the truth with lies and people would have to take it as fact. Apparently, the only thing standing in the way is the US government (I think) and their dispensable toy, Ethan.
All in all, Ethan is a good guy who wants to save people. Admittedly, I don’t know a whole lot about his origins into the impossible missions squad, but in a single scene flashback, I can tell he was mainly just seeking vengeance. Since then he’s been a ghost, except to intelligence agencies, but he also has a small cohort of other ghosts who are on his side no matter what. Best friends! And I love how conveniently crafty and intelligent his friends are. It makes things go smoother as far as planning, but we all know execution is the hardest part. And in the case of this film, the funniest. I loved seeing Tom Cruise’s character try to figure out how to get to a train he’s missed twice. Simon Pegg is also a nice bit of exaggerated sarcasm that always lands the punch. There are a slew of awesome female cast members this time around that I will let their performances speak to for yourself, and then there’s also a villain in human form helping this AI out. His role still confuses me a bit, but I imagine the second installment of Dead Reckoning will answer some of those questions for me.
I know, I could just go back and watch all the other films while I wait for the second part to drop next year, and I might! You’ll just have to wait and see. Now, if you couldn’t catch this latest MI flick this past weekend before the Barbenheimer chaos ensues, then please consider giving it a chance while it’s still in theaters. I promise you won’t be disappointed. In fact, who says you can’t make it a triple feature?!