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Update: July 11, 2023
Dragonlord’s Review of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE
Bottom Line: Proving that artificial intelligence is not immune to plot-induced stupidity, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One delivers plenty of high-octane action sequences but falls a bit short on logic.
After saving the cinemas last year with Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise is back to save the summer blockbuster season with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One. Alongside his go-to director Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise proves once again he might be one of the last few mega stars left in Hollywood.
Dead Reckoning starts off with a tense, well-executed prologue involving a Russian submarine ship and showcases how scary the artificial intelligence antagonist can be. From there, everyone is chasing after two halves of a key that has the potential to either shut down or control the A.I. Since Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is intent on destroying the A.I., now called the Entity, rather than giving the power to anyone else, he is once again on the run and hunted down by his own country.
Providing his own stunts, Cruise is again in top form as the ever-likable Ethan Hunt. You can now add sleight of hands mastery among Ethan’s impressive arsenal. Much has been talked about his daredevil stunts, one thing I would like to bring up is Cruise’s underrated penchant for physical comedy which has been present in all the M:I films. Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are back as Luther and Benjie and though they don’t do anything extraordinary, it’s still a comfort to have them. Esai Morales is the main villain Gabriel and was just okay for me. Esai was more intimidating and scarier in The Ozarks. Shea Whigham plays Jasper Briggs, an operative in charge of hunting down Ethan. He was pretty good and provided a nice foil to Ethan throughout the movie. It was also fun seeing Kittridge (Henry Czerny) again whom we last saw in the very first Mission: Impossible film in 1996.
The four major female characters in here are just wonderful. Hayley Atwell, who was fantastic in season one of the underrated series Agent Carter, plays master thief Grace who is a breath of fresh air in here and a good addition to the M:I franchise. The actress’ charisma shines brightly and her chemistry with Cruise is palpable. Pom Klementieff, known mostly as Mantis in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, was great as the assassin Paris. Though she didn’t have a lot of lines, her manic energy and charismatic presence were very noticeable. She reminded me of Harley Quinn but less talkative. Rebecca Ferguson is back as fan-favorite Ilsa Faust and it’s a pleasure to watch her every time. Vanessa Kirby is also back as the black market broker Alanna Mitsopolis and she just radiates in all her scenes.
The action scenes were magnificent, crisp and easy to follow. McQuarrie especially excels when it comes to car chases which heavily uses practical effects. The action takes viewers to some gorgeous locations like the Abu Dhabi international airport, the streets of Rome, the club scene in Venice and onboard the Orient Express in the Austrian alps. The climax of the train scene is just bonkers and is undoubtedly the highlight of the film. There’s a sense of deja vu though as the car chase in Rome reminded me of Fast X’s Rome car chase sequence and the neon club scene in Venice reminded me of John Wick’s signature neon discotheque scenes.
With a runtime of 163 minutes and splitting the story into two movies, Part One has a more deliberate pace (which I liked) than the previous M:I films and the action scenes tend to go a bit too long. The much-hyped motorcycle stunt that Cruise did was a bit underwhelming in context to the movie. It was very short and the reasoning for the jump felt too contrived. The IMF team has done numerous elaborate, super-tough missions in the past but they're now having trouble to get on board a normal train?? There’s a bit of tediousness in the fact that all the missions in the movie involve the key. Mission one: key. Mission two: key. Mission three: key. Mission four: key.
The artificial intelligence angle is a new one for the M:I films and a timely topic in correlation with what's happening in real life but it's not that groundbreaking as this plotline has been used by other movies and TV shows, specifically in Jonathan Nolan's Westworld and Person of Interest.
The problem with having an omniscient A.I. as your antagonist is creates a lot of plot induced stupidity scenarios. As per what the movie revealed, the Entity is capable of hacking into any system and taking over anything that can be digitally controlled with absolute ease. The A.I. sees Hunt as a threat and wants to stop or eliminate him but doesn’t fully utilize its resources to do so. The Entity knows where Hunt and his team are hiding each time. Hunt is a fugitive of justice but the Entity doesn’t notify local law enforcements or constantly hire mercenaries to kill him. The Entity could take control of a drone and bomb Ethan. The Entity could just also bomb the key, destroying it and ensuring that it won't be used against it anymore.
Despite finding the story a bit lacking, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One is still a highly-entertaining summer blockbuster film in large part of the spectacular action scenes, awe-inspiring stunts, gorgeous visuals and an amazing cast. But without seeing the trailers for it, it did not make me look forward to Part Two though.
RATING: 7/10
(Please leave a Like if you appreciate my reviews. Thanks.
)
Dragonlord’s Review of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE
Bottom Line: Proving that artificial intelligence is not immune to plot-induced stupidity, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One delivers plenty of high-octane action sequences but falls a bit short on logic.
After saving the cinemas last year with Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise is back to save the summer blockbuster season with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One. Alongside his go-to director Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise proves once again he might be one of the last few mega stars left in Hollywood.
Dead Reckoning starts off with a tense, well-executed prologue involving a Russian submarine ship and showcases how scary the artificial intelligence antagonist can be. From there, everyone is chasing after two halves of a key that has the potential to either shut down or control the A.I. Since Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is intent on destroying the A.I., now called the Entity, rather than giving the power to anyone else, he is once again on the run and hunted down by his own country.
Providing his own stunts, Cruise is again in top form as the ever-likable Ethan Hunt. You can now add sleight of hands mastery among Ethan’s impressive arsenal. Much has been talked about his daredevil stunts, one thing I would like to bring up is Cruise’s underrated penchant for physical comedy which has been present in all the M:I films. Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are back as Luther and Benjie and though they don’t do anything extraordinary, it’s still a comfort to have them. Esai Morales is the main villain Gabriel and was just okay for me. Esai was more intimidating and scarier in The Ozarks. Shea Whigham plays Jasper Briggs, an operative in charge of hunting down Ethan. He was pretty good and provided a nice foil to Ethan throughout the movie. It was also fun seeing Kittridge (Henry Czerny) again whom we last saw in the very first Mission: Impossible film in 1996.
The four major female characters in here are just wonderful. Hayley Atwell, who was fantastic in season one of the underrated series Agent Carter, plays master thief Grace who is a breath of fresh air in here and a good addition to the M:I franchise. The actress’ charisma shines brightly and her chemistry with Cruise is palpable. Pom Klementieff, known mostly as Mantis in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, was great as the assassin Paris. Though she didn’t have a lot of lines, her manic energy and charismatic presence were very noticeable. She reminded me of Harley Quinn but less talkative. Rebecca Ferguson is back as fan-favorite Ilsa Faust and it’s a pleasure to watch her every time. Vanessa Kirby is also back as the black market broker Alanna Mitsopolis and she just radiates in all her scenes.
The action scenes were magnificent, crisp and easy to follow. McQuarrie especially excels when it comes to car chases which heavily uses practical effects. The action takes viewers to some gorgeous locations like the Abu Dhabi international airport, the streets of Rome, the club scene in Venice and onboard the Orient Express in the Austrian alps. The climax of the train scene is just bonkers and is undoubtedly the highlight of the film. There’s a sense of deja vu though as the car chase in Rome reminded me of Fast X’s Rome car chase sequence and the neon club scene in Venice reminded me of John Wick’s signature neon discotheque scenes.
With a runtime of 163 minutes and splitting the story into two movies, Part One has a more deliberate pace (which I liked) than the previous M:I films and the action scenes tend to go a bit too long. The much-hyped motorcycle stunt that Cruise did was a bit underwhelming in context to the movie. It was very short and the reasoning for the jump felt too contrived. The IMF team has done numerous elaborate, super-tough missions in the past but they're now having trouble to get on board a normal train?? There’s a bit of tediousness in the fact that all the missions in the movie involve the key. Mission one: key. Mission two: key. Mission three: key. Mission four: key.
The artificial intelligence angle is a new one for the M:I films and a timely topic in correlation with what's happening in real life but it's not that groundbreaking as this plotline has been used by other movies and TV shows, specifically in Jonathan Nolan's Westworld and Person of Interest.
The problem with having an omniscient A.I. as your antagonist is creates a lot of plot induced stupidity scenarios. As per what the movie revealed, the Entity is capable of hacking into any system and taking over anything that can be digitally controlled with absolute ease. The A.I. sees Hunt as a threat and wants to stop or eliminate him but doesn’t fully utilize its resources to do so. The Entity knows where Hunt and his team are hiding each time. Hunt is a fugitive of justice but the Entity doesn’t notify local law enforcements or constantly hire mercenaries to kill him. The Entity could take control of a drone and bomb Ethan. The Entity could just also bomb the key, destroying it and ensuring that it won't be used against it anymore.
Despite finding the story a bit lacking, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One is still a highly-entertaining summer blockbuster film in large part of the spectacular action scenes, awe-inspiring stunts, gorgeous visuals and an amazing cast. But without seeing the trailers for it, it did not make me look forward to Part Two though.
RATING: 7/10
I am sad that they killed off Ilsa Faust. She was one of the best things about the franchise.
I found it weird that they are trying to immediately set up Ethan and Grace as a couple in the wake of Ilsa’s death. I would have preferred if Ilsa did not show up for this movie so she can still live and they could just continue their plans for a Hunt/Grace romance. And if they wanted to kill off someone close to Hunt, I would have been okay if it was Benjie or Luther.
Speaking of Benjie, what's up with the retconning his history. In this film, they made it seem like had a criminal past and he joined the IMF to change all that. If I recall, Benjie was just a lowly technician in M:I 3 and he got promoted to field agent in the sequels.
I found it weird that they are trying to immediately set up Ethan and Grace as a couple in the wake of Ilsa’s death. I would have preferred if Ilsa did not show up for this movie so she can still live and they could just continue their plans for a Hunt/Grace romance. And if they wanted to kill off someone close to Hunt, I would have been okay if it was Benjie or Luther.
Speaking of Benjie, what's up with the retconning his history. In this film, they made it seem like had a criminal past and he joined the IMF to change all that. If I recall, Benjie was just a lowly technician in M:I 3 and he got promoted to field agent in the sequels.
(Please leave a Like if you appreciate my reviews. Thanks.
)
