Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Esai Morales, Shea Whigham
Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Cary Elwes
Year: 2023
The Mission: Impossible movie franchise turned a big corner with the addition of Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, and Fallout, using the original three as a springboard, but launching into much stronger territory with these three sub-titles titles, becoming a series of much better films. Dead Reckoning in only part one of a duo of movies that perhaps puts a bow on this team? Time will tell, but this wouldn’t be the worst ending at all, we could say goodbye soon and be pleased with the time we spent. Also, maybe it’s time to be done; Dead Reckoning isn’t great enough to inspire a whole new run of M:I films, it’s, sadly, a little weak, and maybe we’d better wrap things up before we run out of steam.
Ethan Hunt is given his normal choice before accepting a new mission, this time one that may decide the future of humans and an AI overlord with a desire to rule us all. A super computer has been developed and has then developed independent thought, keeping itself safe from human interference by sinking the submarine it was on and killing the crew so that no one lives to tell the tale. However, two pieces of one key are let loose, and they have the power to turn the machine off, or to control it. Naturally, every government on the planet wants those keys so that they can hold the power in their hands, including our own, which is where Hunt and his team come in. Find the keys and stop the machine, no matter what the cost, and no matter who dies along the way.
Plot-wise, a little shaky; this ‘Entity’ is all anyone talks about, and its human subjects are like little creepy robots, the whole thing feels faker than fake, and I’m not sure I would have gone with this premise for a two-part action adventure with the M:I team. Action-wise, you know exactly what you’re going to get, and that’s awesome, explosive, out-of-this-world sequences that take you to the edge, that Cruise did a lot of himself, and that always impress. What doesn’t impress is the dialogue; there are way too many scenes of like 9 people being suspicious of each other and looking at each other one at a time while everyone says really cliched things. It’s just not written well, there are too many characters, parts get repetitive, and way too much feels completely unnecessary, leading to an almost three-hour movie that has way too many weak points to support it over that long a time. Still, I mean, it’s Mission:Impossible, it’s action, it’s fun, your eyes will be impressed, but it’s not up to the quality of the last two, and I now doubt that they will ever get there again.
My rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆