“Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One” is
finally here, and I am so excited to tell you that it is awesome.
It was one of my most anticipated movies not just of this year, but of the past few years,
pretty much ever since “Fallout” came out, and it was well worth the wait.
I honestly can’t wait to watch it again.
As a big fan of the franchise, I had very high expectations going into this.
They have managed to raise the bar for themselves and for the spy action
genre in general with every installment since “Ghost Protocol”, and it’s kind of
unheard of for a franchise to keep going this consistently strong when they’re 7 movies deep.
But here we are! “Mission: Impossible 7” does not disappoint,
and it is every bit as thrilling and entertaining as I hoped it would be.
Yes, I’m just going to keep calling it “Mission:
Impossible 7” because the full title is way too long to keep saying it over and over again.
Do we need a detailed plot description here? I don’t think so.
If you’ve seen any of the previous “Mission: Impossible” movies - you know how this works.
Ethan Hunt and the IMF team are facing their most dangerous,
most challenging, and most important mission yet.
The stakes are high, the cast is stacked, the stunts are insane,
Tom Cruise does a lot of running - this is what you’re here for, and this is why we love it.
I will say though, out of all of them, “Mission:
Impossible 7” is the one that relies on the context of the franchise the most.
“Fallout” had a bit of that going on, tying directly into “Rogue Nation”,
but “Dead Reckoning” really feels like the culmination of the bigger
story of the IMF team in general and Ethan Hunt in particular.
I think what surprised me the most about that is how much it ties into even the very
first “Mission: Impossible” film - there is a character making a major comeback,
there are some visual, stylistic callbacks,
and we even get glimpses of Ethan’s story that chronologically would predate the movies.
They are definitely going for a bit of a bigger picture,
“how did we end up here” feel, as they’re seemingly wrapping up the franchise.
It is also very much a “Part One” movie, you need “Part Two” to wrap things up.
And I don’t really mean this as a criticism - it didn’t feel unsatisfying to me,
the ending didn’t feel abrupt because they ended at a good stopping point.
But it is very clearly half the story, and the way they bring it all
together in “Part Two” can potentially affect your perception of “Part One”.
Thankfully, we don’t have to wait too long because “Part Two” is scheduled
to come out next summer and I can’t freaking wait.
But let’s talk about some of the details, starting with the cast.
I swear, with every “Mission: Impossible” movie I think they
have reached peak casting between the core cast and the new additions.
There are plenty of newcomers to the franchise this time around, as always,
the absolute best of whom is Hayley Atwell - she fits right in, and without revealing too much,
she’s a fun type of character we really haven’t seen in these movies yet.
She’s smart, she’s resourceful, she has excellent chemistry with the rest of the cast,
and her character is very important to the story.
Now, I wish I could say the same about Pom Klementieff
because unfortunately she is very much a caricature.
She is visually memorable, she has a great screen presence,
but she has very few lines and her main function in this movie is to be unhinged.
She’s fun, but after a while you realize there really isn’t much
more to her character, and that’s unfortunate.
As for the recurring cast - Vanessa Kirby returns as White Widow,
and while she has a smaller presence here, compared to “Fallout”,
she still gets to have some fun, and it’s great to see her back.
One of the best additions to the franchise, Rebecca Ferguson, returns once again,
and she is as wonderful and as deadly as you would expect.
Easily one of my favorite “Mission: Impossible” characters overall.
Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg working together are so much fun to watch as well.
And of course we have Ethan Hunt himself, Tom Cruise,
the man who makes these movies and the insane stunts in them happen.
I will say, amazing stunts put aside, I really appreciated the emotional core he
brought back to the character this time around, and there are actually a few
very emotionally charged scenes in here that definitely worked and definitely got to me.
I would say in general, my favorite movies in this franchise are the ones that do lean
into the more personal, emotional aspect of things to balance out the amazing action,
and “Mission: Impossible 7” is one of those.
Am I ready to call it my favorite of the franchise?
I don’t think so, but once again, “Part Two” may influence that decision.
But it is definitely towards the top for me.
Let me know if you want to see a full ranking.
The action and the stunts are, of course, excellent.
They do show a lot of them in the trailers, so you might feel like you’ve seen it all,
but I promise, there are a few more surprises in there and even the scenes they showed in
the trailers are so much bigger and so much more impressive than they look.
While I don’t know if they’ve necessarily outdone “Fallout” in terms of how epic the stunts look,
I would say “Mission: Impossible 7” is on par with the previous film,
particularly because something about the way the action is shot here feels more visceral.
It’s once again that perfect combination of the stakes of the mission and more personal
stakes of the individuals - it just makes the outcome of those big action scenes matter more.
I was at the edge of my seat the entire film, and even though it’s 2 hours and 43 minutes long,
I did not feel that runtime - it just didn’t feel like a movie that’s almost 3 hours long to me.
I would say the slowest part is the exposition that happens in the first act,
and they do go a little hard on the exposition, but even that didn’t really bother me.
They’re setting up 2 movies here, so none of it is unnecessary,
and once the action kicks in - it just doesn’t let go, it’s non-stop.
I’m not just talking about the stunts here, by the way,
because there are some excellent fight scenes with beautiful choreography in the
movie as well that had me genuinely worried about these characters.
There is a fight that happens in an alley that seriously stressed me out for multiple reasons.
There’s a fight on top of the train that you see
in the trailers that’s definitely going to make your palms sweat.
And honestly, everything that happens on that train was giving me a lot of anxiety,
especially towards the end - I remember being actually uncomfortable in my seat,
and when you watch the movie you will know why.
And then there’s also a long, memorable car chase that happens in Rome, and that one…
It’s good, but the feel of it is completely different from the rest of the action.
This actually leads me to something else that took me by surprise:
the tone is a bit more humorous than I expected.
“Mission: Impossible” movies have always had some humor to them, and some self-awareness,
but with “Mission: Impossible 7” they seem to have stepped it up a bit.
Don’t worry, they did not turn this movie into a comedy or anything,
and when you have a film that’s this long and this intense - you
need something to make things fun, to add some levity to the overall picture.
But some parts of this movie, and particularly this car chase
just feel like they’re going for a slightly different, sillier tone,
which kind of takes the tension right out of it for the duration of the scene, at least for me.
Now, I do want to talk a little about the villain situation,
because it seems to be a bit of a divisive aspect of the film, which is actually surprising to me.
And as a vague, overall comment,
I am fully on board with what they’re doing here, I’m interested.
But this does require me to get into what some people might consider a mild spoiler.
I’m not going to be getting into the ending or how things develop - nothing crazy like that.
But just a bit more details than what you might want to know about
the setup of the movie, something that’s not clear from the trailer.
So if you want to remain completely spoiler-free - skip to the next
section on this video, there are timestamps and chapters for that.
OK? Are we good? Are we ready? Can I say it?...
Let’s have a chat about the dangerous AI.
This is a major aspect of the film,
and it’s simultaneously the so-called weapon and the perceived villain.
I’ve heard some people say that this is just a tired trope, and yes,
we have seen evil AI many times before, but I really don’t think it’s as simple as that.
First of all, a big element of this are the people grasping for what they think is
ultimate power, and this insatiable desire for power is the true evil of the story.
I mean, if that’s not timely, especially combined with the AI element - I don’t know what is.
This also means that now, more than ever, the characters need
to work as a team because this issue is bigger than taking out one bad guy,
bigger than something one person with the right skillset could deal with.
And for that reason, friendship and teamwork are a big theme in “Mission:
Impossible 7”, which in turn give the movie those more personal stakes.
And yes, there is a more specific, basic bad guy in there as well, which is fine.
I think it would be difficult to pull off this story without him.
But the AI element is what makes things a lot more fresh and interesting,
and I am very curious where they’re going to take it in “Part Two”.
So, to sum it all up, did I love the movie? Yes, I did.
I had a fantastic time and I cannot wait for you guys to experience “Mission: Impossible 7”.
Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie are incapable of disappointing.
“Mission: Impossible” has become one of the most reliable franchises out there, and this film is no
exception - it’s yet again top tier spy action that will keep you at the edge of your seat.
Even though it’s technically a “Part One”, it still feels satisfying, and everything you love
these movies for is here: fantastic stunts, impressive action, great pacing, memorable
characters, and making things a bit more personal this time around only makes the film stronger.
Get ready for Tom Cruise to own summer box office for a second year in a row,
and honestly, he deserves it.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to see it on the
biggest screen possible with the best sound possible for the best experience.
I saw it in Dolby and I definitely felt some of it.
The movie gets big, it gets loud, and it is so much fun.
Now give me that “Part Two”.