This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
When I did my Creed 3 review, I watched all the Creed movies in one day. When I did my John Wick 4 review, I watched all the Wick movies in one sitting. For this Mission Impossible review, I went back and watched the previous six Mission Impossible movies in two days. I believe this helps me come into a franchise entry as fresh as possible. It was definitely worth it as Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 was an incredible addition to the franchise.
I find it really cool how after MI:2 was negatively received, the franchise has been on such a heater. Whether its Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Sean Harris, Michael Nyquist, or Henry Cavil, Tom Cruise has had incredible antagonists to go up against.
The Mission Impossible movies have become known for the incredible stunt choreography and Dead Reckoning Part 1 is no exception. I got to go see this movie early and they showed some of the behind the scenes footage of some of the stunts. The car chase in Rome in particular was incredible to see how Tom Cruise was able to navigate the streets in the little VW bug. I’d put the motorcycle jump up there as well as one of the best stunts I’ve ever scene.
Dead Reckoning Part 1 follows Ethan Hunt and his team as they go after a key with access to the most intelligent entity on Earth. They aren’t the only ones after it as all foreign governments want access to dominate the world’s information game. Like Across the Spider-Verse, Dead Reckoning is part one to a larger story and I felt like the were able to tell a satisfying story within the larger one. There are plenty of chases, heists, and well-choreographed fights to keep me entertained.
I know I’ve said before that I’m not the biggest action fan, but I was surprised that this was such an engaging movie. All those chase scenes had me tensed up and there were some really strong emotional moments as well. Maybe it’s because I had binged about 12 hours of this franchise in 48 hours, but I cared so much about Ethan and his friends that every time one of them was threatened, I got scared for them.
Speaking of the friends, Haley Atwell slid into the team pretty seamlessly. The earlier movies felt like they would put together new ensembles and if someone garners a strong enough reaction, they’d keep them. I’m real happy Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and Rebecca Ferguson made that impact because they did for me when I first saw them. Esai Morales also makes for such a fascinating villain. He’s so cold and calculated but with so much charisma that my eyes kept looking towards him during his scenes.
Final Thoughts
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 is one of the better action movies to come out this year. There is just so much to enjoy here. It has some good camp to balance out the action and has a really interesting story too. Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt is an S-Tier action star, and I can’t wait to see how this story ends. Go see this in theaters on the largest screen they have.
