FoCC Review: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – Death Defying
By Jason Delgado
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to see Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One on the largest screen possible. All of the action cliches apply to this film: it’s a non-stop, heart-pounding, edge of your seat thrill ride. The impeccable score ratchets up the already high tension, but the visuals on IMAX are simply stunning. Locations such as Italy, Norway, England, and Abu Dhabi are gorgeous extra characters of their own, as well as the submarine and train locations that take everything to a whole other level.
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back once again to defy death many times over while saving the world (and doing magic tricks). The danger this time is from a quite timely AI (artificial intelligence) that has the power to take over all of the technology that we use today, and use it against us, along with some dastardly human threats such as Gabriel (Esai Morales), a cold villain from Ethan’s past who would like to harness that power for themselves.
The cast around Cruise could not have been any better, with Hayley Atwell (Agent Peggy Carter from the MCU), the delightfully charming actress with a mountain of range, playing the cunning master thief Grace, and Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) with his own charm, humor and range playing a crucial role as Denlinger. The wonderful returning characters to the series such as Rebecca Ferguson (she’s been great in the fantastic sci-fi series Silo) as Ethan’s complicated spy love interest Ilsa Faust, and Ethan’s expert team of the wise, tech-savvy Luther (Ving Rhames) and the comic relief of Benji (Simon Pegg) round out the all-world team of thespians.
The film kicks off with an intense Russian submarine scene, where their technology dooms the craft to harrowing disaster. It’s difficult not to be reminded of the recent real life sub tragedy of the Titan, a sad coincidence since filming took place long before that news event. Add to that a wild car chase, the crazy scene shown in the trailers of Cruise skydiving off of a cliff with his motorcycle, which is part of an insane train action sequence at the end. Another favorite scene of mine is a comically pressure-cooking bomb diffusion puzzle, with Simon Pegg at his hilarious best.
If you’re looking for action, you cannot do much better than Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. There are so many twists and turns, and the film is so tension-filled that a person next to me in the theatre let out a whale of a scream when Tom cliff-dived, causing a much-needed laugh from the movie-going crowd, to release some of that build-up.
I know that this is an action-packed epic, but I still wish that the runtime was less than two hours and forty-three minutes, especially considering that this is part one. Also, much like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, it’s difficult to fully review this movie on its own since the story is not yet complete. But what an insane way to start the tale!
I give Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One four and a half hot sauce packets out of five. It’s hot enough to make you think that Tom can do the impossible!
