Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Premise: The seventh Mission: Impossible film. An artificial intelligence has infected the world’s computer networks including intelligence agency assets. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team race other parties for possession of a key that can control the renegade AI.
What Works: Throughout its tenure, the Mission: Impossible series has channeled trends in Hollywood filmmaking. Following the lead of superhero movies, the second half of the franchise told an interconnected storyline and the final installments were conceived as an epic two-part story in the sense of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. To that end, the filmmakers of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning made the film something of a victory lap and brought back characters from the previous movies, namely Kittridge (Henry Czerny) from the original film. Hayley Atwell plays a new character, a professional thief who gets mixed up in the action. Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell make a likeable pair and they add humanity and comedy to their scenes. Considering its length, Dead Reckoning is paced remarkably well. The narrative runs breathlessly from one location to another and strings together some impressive set pieces especially an extended car chase through Rome and a climactic train crash.
What Doesn’t: Any movie series that goes on long enough often succumbs to self-seriousness, self-parody, or both. Dead Reckoning is shot through with self-importance, which is evident in the way everyone speaks in stage whispers. Once again, the world is on the brink of nuclear catastrophe but the pitch of Dead Reckoning is so pretentious that the prospect of Armageddon comes across melodramatic. Dead Reckoning is self-consciously big. The movie runs nearly three hours and the length is unjustified. Other Mission: Impossible movies told equivalent stories in a shorter amount of time. Despite its length, this story does not advance its characters. There is a hint at Ethan Hunt’s background but nothing comes of it. Dead Reckoning is also redundant with earlier movies. Ethan Hunt and company are again hunted by their own intelligence agencies. Hayley Atwell plays essentially the same character as Thandiewe Newton in Mission: Impossible 2 and Dead Reckoning climaxes with a train chase that’s quite similar to the finale of the original picture. The filmmaker’s belabored insistence that this is a big important story isn’t supported by the drama which is flimsy and silly. The villain of Dead Reckoning is an evil artificial intelligence known as The Entity. The AI has no personality of its own. It’s an abstract working through Gabriel, a mustache twirling villain played by Esai Morales. The logistics of Gabriel working on behalf of this artificial intelligence are never explained and does not make much sense. Hunt, Gabriel, and other parties compete for possession of a MacGuffin but the stakes are vague, draining the action of any emotional impact.
Disc extras: The 4K release includes a commentary track, an isolated score track, and featurettes.
Bottom Line: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a belabored attempt to set up an epic series finale. The action sequences are as good as anything else in the franchise but the premise is silly and Dead Reckoning is one of the least compelling installments of the series.
Episode: #958 (July 23, 2023); Revised #1049 (May 25, 2025)