Synopsis:
Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan’s past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about.
What We Thought:
Is Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One as good as the past few Mission: Impossible movies? Maybe not. Is it the most fun you’ll have at the theater this summer? Maybe. It might not be the best in the franchise, but it’s a must see for fans of the series and deserves to be seen on the big screen.
The thing is, I don’t even know what I would change about the movie. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) as the plot seems a bit trendy and what it is capable of is a bit convoluted, but you can kind of say that about most of the franchise. They are ridiculous, over-the-top spectacles that are at least more grounded than the Fast & the Furious franchise at this point. It’s long in terms of runtime, but doesn’t feel long. I don’t know what I would cut out to shorten it, but I did feel like previous films were better.
Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t better by a large margin. This seventh film has a ton of pros and is a heck of a lot of fun. There are multiple big action set pieces. The chase in Rome with Tom Cruise and newcomer to the series Hayley Atwell handcuffed together is fast paced and better than the one in Fast X. The third act train sequence is exactly what you expect in a Mission: Impossible flick with Cruise doing a motorcycle jump that will be analyzed and broken down in film classes. The man is a lunatic and boy do I respect him for what he puts into his films.
Bringing up Fast X again, if you notice in the title it says Part One. Going into the film you expect an open ending, but MI7 does it the right way compared to Fast X and even Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. MI7 at least gives a bit of closure to the story of the film, but leaves it open to Part Two. Audiences don’t feel cheated out of a movie like the literal cliffhanger in Fast X and the story not being wrapped up in Across the Spider-Verse. I didn’t walk out of MI7 annoyed like I did with those two films. Yes the story will continue in Part Two, but this movie at least got some closure to its plot.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is going to go gangbusters at the box office. It should easily win the summer if not the entire year with its global box office. It deserves it because it is a ton of fun. Atwell is a good addition to the cast without taking away from Cruise’s star power unlike what we saw in the latest Indiana Jones film. The action is there throughout. The backdrops and characters are beautiful. The runtime never feels long. If you like the franchise go see it this week because it is…
RECOMMENDED!
Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Frederick Schmidt, Cary Elwes, Mark Gatiss, Indira Varma, Rob Delaney
The Nerds Templar 