‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ Adds Another Dynamic Chapter to the Classic Franchise

Alci Rengifo

Tom Cruise once again shows everyone how you’re supposed to do summer at the movies. His devotion to a classic style of popcorn entertainment balanced with the latest in film technology make “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” a masterful action film. It has the slick style and surfaces of the best spy thrillers with a plot that taps into our current paranoias. There’s much franchise overkill now at the box office, yet here is one that has been going strong for 27 years. Each new entry has known how to adapt, and fresh narrative threads are established when the previous ones wear out. Then there’s Cruise, one of the last remaining movie stars of a different era, really flying the motorcycle off the mountain or hanging from a cliff. The audience catches its breath because none of it looks like digital hocus pocus. 

This is the third of the “M:I” movies to be directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who has kept both a high standard and connected storyline. It opens with one of those great set-ups where a nuclear submarine as at play, this time threatened by some out of control A.I. system. Enter Ethan Hunt (Cruise), who is informed about the rogue entity by old IMF director Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), who we haven’t seen since the original 1996 movie. Kittridge reveals how the world powers all want control of the A.I. system and are scrambling to get the key necessary to do so. One half of the key is about to be sold on the black market, so Ethan and his usual comrades, Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg), must infiltrate the sale and get the half-key. Once they set off, the spies cross paths with a professional thief Grace (Hayley Atwell), who wants the key to cut a particular deal. To Ethan’s greater surprise, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), the MI6 agent and near romance also returns, seeking the key for her own superiors. But also desperate to attain the key and its power is a mercenary named Gabriel (Esai Morales), who has a particular connection to Ethan’s past.

“Dead Reckoning Part One” is a great first act in what is billed as an emerging climax for the franchise, but it’s also a tribute to the spirit of the original movie, and how the series has evolved since. Kittridge’s return is a gift for fans but isn’t done with absurd fanfare. When he tells Ethan about the rogue A.I., notice how McQuarrie instead opts for winking at the first movie by emulating the same close-ups and Dutch angles De Palma used for the characters’ original, fateful meeting. A later, stunning train sequence is a great homage to the famous bullet train standoff from ’96. McQuarrie and his co-writers are so comfortable with the material by now that the dialogue is peppered with many funny in-jokes, even going so far as to slyly mock the classic motto of, “your mission, if you choose to accept it.” Eyes roll when Kittridge explains to government officials how IMF stands for “The Impossible Mission Force.” Like the James Bond movies, the humor is part of the experience, while never becoming slapstick. 

Because the title promises us the impossible, all of the good writing is a welcome driving force for the real attraction of the film. We want to see how it will surprise us and top what was done in the last few entries. Cruise is famous for doing his own stunts, to the point of flying airplanes in last year’s big hit “Top Gun: Maverick,” and here he and McQuarrie’s team create action sequences of pure, visual adrenaline. A chase through Rome involving Ethan, Grace, handcuffs and many cops and armed thugs, as well as a compact yellow car, has an almost Buster Keaton feel. There’s a particular elegance to how we get more variations of the movie’s most famous bit of imagery, namely Cruise running full speed down streets, candle-lit pathways, rooftops and hills. It’s always been the perfect metaphor for one of the best-paced franchises ever. Essential is how we perceive everything on screen to be real. Of course we’re aware of the editing and digital efforts that go into making a film of this scale, but the essentials feel like real bodies leaping through the air or trading punches. A scene involving a dangling piano will make you sweat. The much-hyped stunt involving Cruise riding a motorcycle off a cliff is a real stunner. None of the action is filmed in a typical, jagged way but with wide shots and long takes that let us clearly see everything taking place.

Elegance in general is important because it’s what distinguishes “Dead Reckoning Part One” from so many of the lazy CGI fests we are constantly bombarded with. Some great directors like John Woo, J.J. Abrams and Brad Bird have brought their particular eye with impressive effect. What has made McQuarrie’s approach special is how he’s doing a modern, frenetic thriller but with the buried spirit of a ‘70s espionage drama. Not a single scene is wasted. In-between the astounding stunts, there are stylish events involving Hunt playing cat and mouse with Grace at an airport, or meeting at neon-lit clubs with arms dealer the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby), who you may remember from the previous entry, “Fallout.” In each scene the plot advances, dialogue becomes puzzle pieces and issues of geopolitics and A.I. get thrown around with genuine intrigue. Like the best spy thrillers, “Dead Reckoning Part One” does not assume the audience is stupid. More important than gunfights are battles of will when characters negotiate and try to out-scheme each other. Still, the movie doesn’t forget to feature more familiar, enjoyable action movie types, like Pom Klementieff as Paris, a darkly stylish assassin wielding deadly swords for Gabriel.

A trait the “M:I” films have expertly displayed since Brad Bird’s “Ghost Protocol” is something similar to the Bond films since “Casino Royale,” in how the character of Ethan Hunt has been allowed to grow convincingly. In “Dead Reckoning Part One” he’s still an action hero, but the introduction of Esai Morales’s Gabriel reveals more about his origins and why someone would choose to live a clandestine life. In other words, he becomes more than a screen cartoon. The 1996 “Mission: Impossible” marked Cruise’s first attempt as a producer, so this franchise is dear to him and it shows. The structure is so skilled that just enough is revealed in a movie that spans 2 hours and 43 minutes, yet leaves us eager for the next chapter. All of the rich locales, stunning views and exhilarating action sequences are background for characters we come to care about. That’s rare when special effects take up more screen space than the actors in recent blockbusters. It’s a lesson other studios and filmmakers should pay close attention to. Grand entertainment doesn’t mean there has to be a lack of artistry and passion, and this is a popcorn escape fueled by both.

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” releases July 12 in theaters nationwide.