Jonah Naplan   July 10, 2023

He runs. He jumps. He drives. He shoots. He flirts. Still. “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” is just as good as you’d expect it to be, but it also features a Tom Cruise that we forget how grateful we are exists. The man turned 61 a couple of days ago, and yet he still manages to be the king of Hollywood in his own, swooning way. Last summer, Cruise saved the film industry with the advent of “Top Gun: Maverick,” a phenomenon I’ve publicly adored and praised, but still one that doesn’t exactly amount to a hill of beans in any world on any cinematic bingo card. Ethan Hunt, with the assistance of Miles Morales, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Barbie may just save cinema again from the crumbling state of content machines, streaming, and plain old lazy filmgoers. Much like “Maverick,” though admittedly not as good, “Dead Reckoning Part One” isn’t terribly plot-heavy, as its appeal draws from the shiny, reverent, action setpieces and the attractive actors included in them. There is a plot, but that’s besides necessary. When we watch a movie like this, on the largest screen we can find, in a crowd of excited people—some there for the film itself, others only for Tom Cruise—we anticipate the most state-of-the-art action that a studio can provide. We beg for it. We sit giddy with delight like children on Christmas morning. You could say it’s not “real cinema,” but then you’d be shrewdly missing the point.

Granted that the villain this time around is an idea rather than a person, “Dead Reckoning Part One” is not the best mission yet. That title still remains with its predecessor, “Mission: Impossible - Fallout,” a more exciting and better paced action movie, that I consider to be one of the greats of its genre. “Dead Reckoning Part One,” however, is certainly the most dangerous outing up until this point, and the most relevant to the current generation of technology. The film’s MacGuffin is the key to a rogue A.I. that has the potential to inflict global damage. But of course, it’s split into two halves, calling to mind a similar MacGuffin, that of the Antikythera from “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” a week and a half ago. Our heroes aren’t aware of this key’s purpose, but they’re at least cognizant of several sketchy people who would like to put it towards their own sinister intentions. The two halves are separated for the majority of the movie, and each are passed through a plethora of hands; some good, mostly bad. 

All of the characters in “Dead Reckoning Part One” can be divided into three categories. Some do not know the specifics of the key’s power but know that it’d be catastrophic if put into the wrong possession. Others embody that wrong possession, trying their best to attain the key and use it however their tyrannical brains choose. And very few know what the key actually does, one of whom is Gabriel (Esai Morales), an infamous adversary of Ethan’s who was integral in his becoming an IMF agent in the first place.

After a shoot-em’-up in a desert, “Dead Reckoning Part One” introduces Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) back into the franchise, along with Hunt’s team of usual suspects—Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames). In a tense setpiece taking place at the Abu Dhabi airport, Ethan becomes acquainted with a few other players in this “four-dimensional chess game,” as Luther calls it. The first is a sneaky pickpocket named Grace (Hayley Atwell) who is working under the radar, to make her own moves in this chase. The second is a silent mercenary named Paris (Pom Klementieff), who seems to be caught up with some of the wrong people. And then there’s a pair of inessential but welcome MI6 agents who always seem to be trailing Ethan in the midst of all the chaos, played by Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis. Leaving a decidedly more miniscule impression is the return of Vanessa Kirby as the White Widow, another lax fashionista and valuable broker who connects buyers to sellers; sometimes for money, sometimes for information, almost always regarding criminals.

If you’ve seen the last three “M:I” movies—“Ghost Protocol,” “Rogue Nation,” “Fallout”—then you’ve basically already seen “Dead Reckoning Part One.” Though consistently exhilarating, this seventh entry isn’t admittedly very new. We’ve seen a lot of this stuff before, plot and action-wise. But even with that being said, “Dead Reckoning Part One” does contain some of the best action in the entire series, expertly supervised by co-writer and director Christopher McQuarrie, who essentially rebuilt this franchise from the ground up when he arrived in 2015. This is a movie teeming with wall-to-wall, hand-to-hand, fist-to-face action, squeezed into an impressive runtime of 163 minutes, that never, ever feels its length.

The reinvention of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise has made it arguably deviate from the heart of Brian De Palma’s 1996 original that coined the famous portrait of Tom Cruise dangling an inch above the floor, quietly and subtly completing his mission. Contrast that with this film’s many shoot-outs, chase scenes, and knife fights, and you have yourself what seems to be two entries from two completely different franchises. But hear me out! Fans of the original will be obliged to hear that “Dead Reckoning Part One” pays homage to the first in ways that none of the other entries have.

The upside is this: McQuarrie’s film takes the time to incorporate subtle, but admirable callbacks to De Palma’s piece, without feeling directly derived from it. The return of IMF director Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), for one, is a literal representation, while the film’s frequent use of Dutch angles is a figurative. The downside is this: while “Dead Reckoning Part One” is never once boring, these moments of dialogue and callbacks always slow down the narrative, if briefly, making us itch for the action—something we really shouldn’t have to be doing. Less so than “Fallout,” “Dead Reckoning Part One” is never spoon-feeding us action. It makes us be patient, ratcheting up suspense, before plunging us headfirst into the thick of it.

When the action does come though, it’s as good as any action in any movie can be. Our glorious, 61-year-old movie star seems more vulnerable than usual, teetering closer to the verge of death than ever before. Each punch he takes feels more significant, and each punch he throws feels like more of a victory. Yes, the much bruited motorcycle stunt is impressive, but that’s not even the movie’s best thrill. Calling to mind a similar sequence from “Tomorrow Never Dies,” my favorite part of “Dead Reckoning Part One” is a quasi-satirical, but rousing chase scene that finds Ethan and Grace handcuffed to each other in a small, yellow car, speeding away from their adversaries. McQuarrie, working with cinematographer Fraser Taggart, crafts a claustrophobically sound action setpiece that is equally as thrilling to keep up with as it is to watch.

Another conundrum on the Orient Express runs no shorter than 30 minutes, employing multiple framing techniques, and an expert use of tension that’d make Alfred Hitchcock proud. But most importantly of all, this mission makes Tom Cruise run—legs stretching, arms swinging wide and free. The trademark imagery is not used once or twice, but several times, almost seeming as if it’s the driving force that powers the whole darn machine.

Combined with the stellar “John Wick: Chapter 4,” “Dead Reckoning Part One” is helping to shape 2023 up to be my favorite year for action movies of all time; an incredible mix of hand-to-hand combat AND vehicular fare. Cruise’s insistence on performing his own stunts has become a relic upon which we worship, and these movies have become his sermon. We’re glad to know that it is not a stunt double or a CGI apparatus up on that motorcycle, but Cruise himself. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Now playing in theaters.