Tonight's Movie: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

The MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie series has now been with us for 27 years, and having now seen every film of the series I can say that everything in these films for over the past quarter century seems to have been moving towards MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE (2023). It's an exhilarating and surprisingly deep film which I feel is the best of the series.

The movie is also especially timely, delving into the increasingly concerning subject of artificial intelligence. As the movie begins, a new AI system, "the Entity," attacks a Russian submarine.

There is a literal key to the system, a cross-shaped key in two halves. IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) obtains half of the key from his friend, MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), and sets out to find the other half, which a thief named Grace (Hayley Atwell) steals at an airport on behalf of a buyer.

Ethan and his IMF team (Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames), arms dealer Alanna "The White Widow" Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby), and world powers all race for control of the key before the Entity takes over the world, culminating in a battle aboard the famed Orient Express.

I'll take a moment here to say that the rest of this review might be considered mildly "spoil-ery," as I discuss some of the film's key themes without going into explicit detail; anyone wanting to avoid that may wish to return here after seeing the film.

It's really hard to know where to start in mentioning all the great things about this film. I'll begin with a relatively small thing, the return of Henry Czerny as CIA Director Kittridge. Kittridge was in the very first film and hadn't been in one of the films since; his reemergence adds a touch of "full circle" weight and emotional resonance to the movie.

For that matter, Kirby's White Widow, who first appeared in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT (2018), is the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave's character from the first movie.

Like another new film, BARBIE (2023), the movie also contains "throwbacks" in that there are scenes which conjure memories of earlier films, ranging from THE 39 STEPS (1935) and ROMAN HOLIDAY (1950) to the more recent AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018) and AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019).  Like the cited AVENGERS films, the DEAD RECKONING story is split into two parts, and sacrifice is a key theme.

Indeed, it's the themes of sacrifice and redemption and what Kittredge describes as the "cross" Ethan must bear which give the film an especially significant amount of depth and emotion; these themes are underscored by the production design, including elements such as the cross-shaped key itself and Ethan running full speed past rows of votive candles at a church.

First and foremost, the film focuses on the redemption of a sinner named Grace, whose life is saved when someone sacrifices for her. When Grace ultimately utters her final line of the film, "I choose to accept," the layered meanings gave me goosebumps, as did Ethan's earlier statement "Your life will always mean more to me than my own."

And speaking of Grace, how great it is that our greatly loved AGENT CARTER, Hayley Atwell, finally has a film role worthy of her talents. It's a true movie star role, and if I had to pick my favorite thing about the movie, it would be her.

But speaking of favorite things, how about the amazing stunt set pieces? I actually gripped my daughter's arm during Tom Cruise's motorcycle stunt; knowing it was real and not CGI added enormously to its impact. (And I couldn't help wondering how many millions of dollars it cost to insure the movie!)

I loved Ethan and Grace's wild car ride through the streets of Rome, and everything about the Orient Express sequence thrills, from the rooftop battles to the final moments with Ethan and Grace trying to extricate themselves from falling cars; it's all an absolute wow. Action films simply don't come any better.

The cast could also not be better. The actors on Ethan's team are a well-oiled machine after all these years, and I'll particularly cite two of the supporting actresses: Kirby's screen time is limited but she makes the most of it in a charismatic performance, particularly during the train sequence, and Pom Klementieff (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2) is excellent as an assassin. The overarching redemption theme also applies to Klementieff's character who is part of a couple profoundly weighty moments.

The movie was directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who also cowrote with Bruce Jendresen. McQuarrie also directed ROGUE NATION and FALLOUT. The movie was filmed by Fraser Taggart.

The highest praise I can give the film is that it ran 2 hours and 43 minutes and yet the energy and my interest never flagged. For those concerned about this being a "Part One," I can say that the movie does have a satisfying endpoint which gives a feeling of completeness even though there's much more of the story yet to come. I can't wait for the second part, coming in the summer of 2024.  (Update: The movie's release date has changed to May 2025.)

Parental Advisory: This film is rated PG-13. It's the usual MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE non-gory violence. Positives include teamwork, devotion to "found family" (the IMF team), and the previously mentioned theme of turning one's life around.

A trailer is here.

When the famed MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE theme music starts, it's more thrilling than ever. This film is highly recommended. I'll be seeing it again, and soon.

Previously: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (1996), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II (2000), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III (2006), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL (2011), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION (2015), and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT (2018).

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