Title – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Director – Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible – Fallout) 

Cast – Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, Vanessa Kirby

Plot – Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team of fellow IMF agents must unite in hopes of finding a dangerous and life threatening AI-weapon before it falls into the wrong hands. 

“Our lives are the sum of our choices. And we cannot escape the past”

Review by Eddie on 10/07/2023

Any concerns fans had of the Mission: Impossible cinematic universe running out of steam 7 films in will be quickly laid to bed when the lights in the cinema dim and the action to this two-part entry takes hold. 

Ageing like a fine wine and going against the odds stacked against it, the highs of 2018’s entry Fallout have here been topped with writer/director Christopher McQuarrie and his leading man Tom Cruise combining once more to deliver all you could ever want from an action/thriller of this ilk with Covid-19, re-shoot’s and gravity unable to hold Dead Reckoning Part One back from becoming one of the must-see blockbusters of the 2023 Summer catalogue. 

Since its humble beginnings in 1996 when Brian De Palma took a mid-tier TV show to the mainstream, the Mission: Impossible franchise has continued to up its game and spectacle with each passing instalment and while there’s nothing here of great substance or anything that should be taken to heart, there’s an undeniable charm, quality and enthusiasm on display here that puts many other counterparts to shame with what this film offers for viewers on an almost non-stop two and half hour plus ride. 

Featuring the return of everyone’s favourite impossible mission completionist Ethan Hunt and his merry gang of helpers that includes Ving Rhames Luther, Simon Pegg’s Benji, Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa and also new series additions such as Shew Whigham’s always one step behind government agent Jasper Briggs and Pom Klementieff’s deranged Paris, Dead Reckoning throws a lot of ideas and sequences at us that mostly all land and combine to create a breathtaking thrill ride across the globe. 

From an early dalliance in the unforgiving sand swept desert, a thrilling game of cat and mouse in a crowded airport, the years best car chase in the streets of Rome right through to a showdown on the famed Orient Express (featuring the films much hyped bike jump Cruise completed for multiple takes), Dead Reckoning has a large collection of stand out segments that all play out like their own mini-movie with their own narratives taking place and when combined with McQuarrie’s pinpoint direction, the films smooth and clean editing and Lorne Balfe’s perfectly bombastic score, this is the very definition of an all-round package that can’t be denied. 

Coming to us at a time and place where many questions are still being asked about the future of cinema and the blockbuster movie making business in general, with a series of 2023 flops tarnishing an industry looking to bounce back from a tough few years, on the back of Top Gun: Maverick and now this film, Tom Cruise can be seen as a Hollywood player that gets what the people want and whether viewers loathe, love or care no way or the other for the seemingly ageless star, there’s no denying that if you want spectacle and entertainment that deserves the big screen treatment, Cruise has you well and truly covered. 

Final Say – 

An endlessly enjoyable and thrilling new entry into a series that is getting better with each passing instalment, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is top-shelf Hollywood entertainment that leaves most of its peers in the dust as its leading man and director leave us eagerly awaiting next years Part Two. 

4 1/2 steering wheels out of 5