Certification. 12A
Running Time. 2 hours 43 mins
Director. Christopher McQuarrie
Cast. Hayley Atwell, Tom Cruise, Henry Czerny, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Shea Whigham.
Rating. 63%
The filming of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One was scheduled to begin in February 2020 but delayed for more than six months because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. However, this protracted delay has resulted in the release of the film at a time when the audience is becoming more attune to the implications of Artificial Intelligence.
In Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the IMF Team are pitched against a sentient Machiavellian AI system, called The Entity - the roundly unimaginative name for this amorphous, digital antagonist. An elusive pair of keys would essentially give the owner control of The Entity and, as a result, global dominance.
Much of Mission: Impossible franchise's success has been down to Tom Cruise's willingness to undertake ever more increasingly death-defying set pieces. These stunts, Cruise routinely performs himself. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is no different; the action sequences are mightily impressive, or at least they would have been were it nor the Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One marketing campaign that heavily featured (and in many ways, spoiled) the 'biggest stunt in cinema history.'
But one stunt does not make a movie. The plot is convoluted. In truth, too complex; much of the lengthy run time is down to explanation and exposition.
The returning cast members - comfortable in their character's skin - deliver solid performances, but two of the new characters stand out. Much of the plaudits have gone to Hayley Atwell (as Grace), but there is a gleeful, psychotic maliciousness in Pom Klementieff's portrayal of Paris, as she pursues Ethan Hunt through the streets of Rome.
Ethan Hunt's main adversary is an entirely one-dimensional and under-developed Gabriel (Esai Morales). There's little to make Gabriel all that interesting, especially when compared to the likes of Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) or Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). By comparison, Gabriel is largely underwhelming.
More frustrating is the conclusion of Ilsa Faust's character arc. In Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation and Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Rebecca Ferguson portrays Ilsa as a highly capable and experienced operative, making her lacklustre demise in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One all that more disappointing. The contrived sacrifice on the Ponte Minich is for no apparent or logical reason other than whim of the screenwriter.
To some extent, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One does feel a wee bit like the beginning of the end for Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. One of the more impressive elements of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is how well its able to signal that a changing of the guard is on its way without feeling like an overwrought or sycophantic goodbye to Cruise. Could the franchise be rebooted without Ethan Hunt as the centrepiece and another IMF member as the new Team Leader? Hayley Atwell's Grace would appear to be the obvious choice. She certainly feels like she could be where the franchise is heading. Ilsa Faust would have been my preferred option, but I reckon there's a dark horse in the race, the wholly underused, but apparently sympathetic Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis).
In many ways, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One was always going to struggle following Mission: Impossible - Fallout, the franchise's highpoint. It is therefore no surprise that Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One does feel a wee bit of a let down.
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