Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is an action movie, the 7th installment in the MI franchise. Ethan Hunt(Tom Cruise) is back and this time he has to take on a world conquering AI dubbed "The Entity" (aka Skynet). The movie opens on a Russian submarine sequence(aka Hunt For Red October). There's a great car chase with a small car(Italian Job). A train fight(Mission: Impossible the OG). A train collapsing sequence(Uncharted). A delightful high budget pastiche of things that have already been done!
Cruise is physically able to do a lot of the stunt work which is really cool but the script and the convoluted, saccharine, borderline incoherent plotting he can't do much with and frankly looks too old and tired to really be super spy Ethan Hunt anymore. The supporting cast are all talented actors but most seem to be showing up for a paycheck/because of a contract requirement and are mostly saddled with plodding exposition. Other than Hayley Atwell, the new face in this installment, who really gives it her all and is by far the most compelling character in the movie there is not much at all in the way of recognizable humanity.
The action sequences, many done fully or partially practically are really cool. But there are not enough of them in the bloated near 3 hour runtime. The McGuffin that the whole movie is in pursuit of and the world ending threat are transparent plot devices and don't actually translate to stakes or interest. Not to mention, as noted above, so so so much of the movie is derivative, pulling directly from other movies or even within the franchise itself. Christopher McQuarrie is a decent director but he has only rarely been a competent screenwriter and his screenwriting involvement in this franchise has been a classic demonstration of diminishing returns. Pass the torch Chris.
Great spectacle, terrible story.
Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.
Don't See It.
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