The messiah of blockbuster movies and Scientology Tom Cruise is back once again with another attempt to save cinema. Despite your hang ups on Cruise as a person, there’s no doubt he cares deeply for his craft and wants to see the theater experience prevail. And damn if he hasn’t been giving it his all. Last year’s Top Gun: Maverick shocked the hell out of me, finding a way to not only improve upon the original, but to modernize the concept with underlying themes that reflect the state of big budget movies in general. It’s a film about the grit and unrelenting drive of the old guard finding a way to exist in the modern age while still staying true to what they know and love. And wouldn’t you believe it, Cruise has returned with yet another film reflecting on the current state of the industry, and if you’ve been keeping up with the recent Writers’ and Actors’ Guild strikes, it couldn’t have come at a more pivotal time. 

Dead Reckoning Part 1 continues the long running franchise’s penchant for high octane espionage, complete with many of the calling cards the franchise is known for. Cruise and company are back for more stellar fights, chases and stunts, all against the backdrop of an encroaching future led by a calculated, empathyless artificial intelligence. For 2 and a half hours I was surprisingly consistently engrossed in the conflict, even if portions of it were weighed down by occasional poor writing and a lack of envelope pushing. But even with it potentially being one of the weaker ones of the past 4 entries, it’s still better than most modern action films regardless.

This time around, world class super spy Ethan Hunt is tasked with retrieving a highly sought after two piece key. What it unlocks no one fully knows, but it is directly connected to a program referred to as The Entity, a seemingly omnipresent AI that’s quickly growing more and more intelligent, threatening to alter the world and what we know as the truth. What does it mean for Hunt and his band of rogues? It means bomb defusals, impeccable running form, life-like imposter masks, double crosses, fakeouts, and as expected, an insane Cruise stunt that genuinely steals your breath. 

I can’t really say there’s anything different or unique for the characters this time around, but they’re still genuinely fun to watch. Cruise’s Ethan Hunt still loves his country more than the three beautiful women entangled in his mission, and while his story isn’t anything all that new he still manages to nail the intensity of each situation and even injects a good bit of humor into a lot of the impossible scenarios he finds himself in. Returning faces like Ving Rhames’ Luther and Simon Pegg’s Benji are still a delight to see, even if the characters don’t really have any emotional stakes or progression to really move their own stories along. I also feel like Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa was done a little dirty here. Without going into spoiler territory, I’m fine with the direction they take the character in, I just wish it felt more rewarding for the character or actually had a significant emotional impact on the story like the film thinks it does. 

Where I think the film does excel is its introduction of new characters, who end up being great additions that add fun and intrigue into the story. Hayley Atwell’s Grace is a self-fulfilling cat burglar that gets roped into Hunt’s shenanigans, serving as both a rival and a semi-unwilling collaborator for the main cast. While some of her decisions are frustrating to watch, they’re rooted in realism for a character just looking to disappear and go back to picking pockets rather than fighting in government conspiracies. Then there’s Esai Morales as the film’s antagonist Gabriel, a devoted acolyte to the Entity shaped as a ghost from Ehtan’s past come back to haunt him. Morales’ suave menace is a lot of fun, always seeming to be one step ahead of everyone and possessing a shroud of all knowingness thanks to his connection with the AI. The film frames him as impossible to best, so it makes it all the more satisfying when Ethan and his team work to find a way to get around him. But perhaps my favorite addition is Pom Klementieff as Paris, a French assassin working under Gabriel. She doesn’t say a whole lot, but her presence as a maniacal, honorbound force of chaos is a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

As to be expected from any of these films, the action is top notch. There’s some pretty decent hand-to-hand fight scenes, with my favorite being a 2 on 1 assault in a narrow alley. But I think the biggest draw for these films has to be the stunt work. The heavy use of practical filmmaking does wonders for these sequences, giving these scenes the necessary authenticity needed to properly translate the danger to the audience while also better hiding instances of CGI. Comparing this to a film I just reviewed, The Dial of Destiny, it’s like night and day. If you were to compare these films’ respective train sequences, even though they take place in different contexts and settings, you can tell which is more convincing. And the film is chock full of these, from a yellow buggy car chase through Rome to the highly publicized motorcycle cliff jump. It shows the crew really goes above and beyond to try to deliver on that movie magic, putting the work into making the impossible as authentic as possible without relying on a computer to generate the sequences for them.

And speaking of computer generation, that leads into the overarching theme of the film. The villain is no longer simply a person, but an Artificial Intelligence with the power to infiltrate world governments and subtly manipulate the masses through a variety of means. It’s by no means a new concept, but I do think it’s never felt as poignant because of the day and age it’s released in. AI has been a hot topic for the past few years, and while it’s led to some genuine fun like those Spongebob covers of songs, it’s also led to a terrifying uncertainty of what’s real and what isn’t through things like Deepfakes. AI is even threatening the film industry, with writers and actors now rebelling against Hollywood to keep from having their jobs replaced by an algorithm in order to save a couple bucks. In the film, the threat of the AI is broadcasted not through killer robots or nuclear codes, but from things such as voice modulation and altered footage. Whereas Maverick could be seen as an allegory for the new age of cinema threatening to leave the veterans behind, Dead Reckoning Part 1 can be seen as the threat of it coming for everyone now. The film does tend to treat the situation as a Skynet-like situation, but the underlying implications for the future of the industry are hard to ignore, and I’m glad it was presented well in the film.

Even though I enjoyed the film I do have some minor issues that keep this from being as good as it could be, especially compared with the most recent installments in the franchise. The script is often pretty weak, especially when it comes to dialogue. I can forgive some calling cards to the series’ roots, but there’s just a few things that always kind of bug me. Like during a government briefing, 5 different characters take turns exposition dumping, finishing each other’s sentences like this is a planned class presentation. I just don’t think I’ve ever heard any group ever talk like that, and I know it’s not a big deal, but stuff like that always kind of takes me out of it. Speaking of exposition, this film is HEAVY on it. The first 10 minutes of the film really made me think I wasn’t going to like it just based on how heavy handed everything is laid out. It gets better later on, as the film manages to break up the lulls with solid bits of action, but every now and then the weakness of the actual writing manages to shine through. It does feel like the actors, specifically the returning ones, aren’t given much to do emotionally. They kind of just do their deliveries and that’s it, so I couldn’t really find myself connecting with them in any kind of meaningful way. My final critique is kind of a broad one, which is its comparison to the previous films. I look at the past three films, Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation and Fallout, as a fantastic trio of films that sought to elevate the franchise to new heights and possibilities, and for the most part it succeeded. Now I can’t really call this film a decline, but more of a flatline. It doesn’t do a ton to build upon the series in a meaningful way, and I’m not just talking about its stunts. Cruise will continue to find ways to push the envelope, but after all of these films I think it’s time to really make us give a damn about the characters. It almost makes the film feel like a filler episode, which can be hard to argue given its only Part 1 of 2. Everyone involved can be given more to do, and I think this would help make Mission Impossible the complete package I know it could be.

Despite these minor issues, I still stand by that Dead Reckoning Part 1 is leagues above most other action movies made in the past few years. It manages to mostly fly by at a breakneck speed while delivering on impeccably crafted sequences of action. While the character moments could have been stronger, there’s still plenty to hold your attention. Will the IMF ever stop hiring Hunt for these big missions, politely asking him not to go rogue even though he has a very proven track record of going rogue at the drop of a hat? Probably not, but hey, I can’t lie when I say I’m looking forward to them doing it all over again in the sequel.

Rating

The Entity

This cocktail, if you choose to accept it, is inspired by the rogue AI that threatens the world in the film, known as The Entity. It’s a calculated piece of hardware, capable of adapting and being nearly omnipresent, usually embodied by a black hole surrounded by blue synapses. The cocktail’s appearance is inspired by the Entity, but the bold assortment of flavors represents the dangerous scenarios the IMF crew constantly find themselves in. This cocktail utilizes both tequila and mezcal, along with the spice of habanero and the sweetness of blueberries. For the striking black coloring, I’ve implored a mixture of black sesame seeds and black sugar to transform the color of regular old tequila. There’s several ways to achieve this, but do what works best for you! If you wish to proceed, then grab your shaker. This message will self destruct in one second.

Ingredients

• 1.5oz black tequila
• 3/4oz mezcal
• 1/2oz habenero syrup
• 1oz lime juice
• 1/2oz blueberry syrup
• 2 dashes angostura bitters
• Garnish: Blueberries

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker and shake with ice.
2. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice.
3. Garnish with blueberries.