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Last summer, Tom Cruise was given credit for saving the theatrical experience with the widely beloved “ Top Gun: Maverick .” One of our last true movie stars returns over a year later as the blockbuster experience seems to be fading with high-budget Hollywood endeavors like " The Flash " and " Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny " falling short of expectations. Can he be Hollywood's savior again? I hope so because “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” is a ridiculously good time. Once again, director Christopher McQuarrie , Cruise, and their team have crafted a deceptively simple thriller, a film that bounces good, bad, and in-between characters off each other for 163 minutes (an admittedly audacious runtime for a film with “Part One” in the title that somehow doesn’t feel long). Some of the overcooked dialogue about the importance of this particular mission gets repetitive, but then McQuarrie and his team will reveal some stunningly conceived action sequence that makes all the spy-speak tolerable. Hollywood is currently questioning the very state of their industry. Leave it to Ethan Hunt to accept the mission.

While this series essentially rebooted in its fourth chapter, changing tone and style significantly, this seventh film very cleverly ties back to the 1996 Brian De Palma original more than any other, almost as if it's uniting the two halves of the franchise. It’s not an origin story, but it does have the tenor of something like the excellent “Casino Royale” in how it unpacks the very purpose of a beloved character. “Dead Reckoning Part One” is about Ethan Hunt reconciling how he got to this point in his life, and McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendresen narratively recall De Palma’s film repeatedly. And with its sweaty, canted close-ups, Fraser Taggart ’s cinematography wants you to remember the first movie—how Ethan Hunt became an agent and the price he’s been paying from the beginning.

It’s not just visual nods. “Dead Reckoning” returns former IMF director Eugene Kittridge ( Henry Czerny ) to Ethan’s life with a new mission. Kittridge informs Hunt that there’s essentially a rogue A.I. in the world that superpowers are battling to control. The A.I. can be manipulated with a key split into two halves. One of those halves is about to be sold on the black market, and so Ethan and his team—including returning characters Luther ( Ving Rhames ) and Benji ( Simon Pegg )—have to not just intercept the key but discern its purpose. The key only matters if IMF can figure out where and how to use it.

After a desert shoot-out that ushers Ilsa Faust ( Rebecca Ferguson ) back into the series, the first major set piece in “Dead Reckoning Part One” takes place in the Dubai airport, where Hunt discovers that there are other players in this espionage chess game, including a familiar face in Gabriel ( Esai Morales ), a morally corrupt mercenary who is one of the reasons that Hunt is an agent in the first place. Gabriel is a chaos agent, someone who not only wants to watch the world burn but hopes the fire inflicts as much pain as possible. In many ways, Gabriel is the inverse of Ethan, whose weakness has been his empathy and personal connections—Gabriel has none of those, and he’s basically working for the A.I., trying to get the key so no one can control it.

At the airport, Ethan also crosses paths with a pickpocket named Grace ( Hayley Atwell ), who gets stuck in the middle of all of this world-changing insanity, along with a few agents trying to hunt down the rogue Ethan and are played by a wonderfully exasperated Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis . A silent assassin, memorably sketched by Pom Klementieff , is also essential to a few action scenes. And Vanessa Kirby returns as the arms dealer White Widow, and, well, if the ensemble has a weakness, it's Kirby's kind of lost performance. She has never quite been able to convey "power player" in these films as she should.

But that doesn't matter because people aren't here for the White Widow's backstory. They want to see Tom Cruise run. The image most people associate with “ Mission: Impossible ” is probably Mr. Cruise stretching those legs and swinging those arms. He does that more than once here, but it seems like the momentum of that image was the artistic force behind this entire film. “Dead Reckoning Part One” prioritizes movement—trains, cars, Ethan’s legs. It’s an action film that's about speed and urgency, something that has been so lost in the era of CGI’s diminished stakes. Runaway trains will always have more inherent visceral power than waves of animated bad guys, and McQuarrie knows how to use it sparingly to make an action film that both feels modern and old-fashioned at the same time. These films don’t over-rely on CGI, ensuring we know that it’s really Mr. Cruise jumping off that motorcycle. When punches connect, bodies fly, and cars crash into each other—we feel it instead of just passively observing it. The action here is so wonderfully choreographed that only “ John Wick: Chapter 4 ” compares for the best in the genre this year.

There’s also something fascinating thematically here about a movie star battling A.I. and questioning the purpose of his job. Blockbusters have been cautionary tech tales for generations but think about the meta aspect of a spy movie in which the world could collapse if the espionage game is overtaken by a sentient computer that stars an actor who has been at the center of controversy regarding his own deepfakes. There’s also a definite edge to the plotting here that plays into the actor’s age in that Ethan is forced to answer questions about what matters to him regarding his very unusual work/life balance, a reflection of what a performer like Cruise must face as he reaches the end of an action movie rope that’s been much longer than anyone could have even optimistically expected. Cruise may or may not intend that reading—although I suspect he does—but it adds another layer to the action.

Of course, the most important thing is this: “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” is just incredibly fun. It feels half its length and contains enough memorable action sequences for some entire franchises. Will Cruise save the blockbuster experience again? Maybe. And he might do it again next summer too.

In theaters on July 12 th .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material.

163 minutes

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt

Hayley Atwell as Grace

Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell

Simon Pegg as Benjamin 'Benji' Dunn

Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust

Vanessa Kirby as The White Widow

Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge

Esai Morales as Gabriel

Pom Klementieff as Paris

Cary Elwes as Denlinger

Shea Whigham as Jasper Briggs

• Christopher McQuarrie
• Erik Jendresen

Cinematographer

• Fraser Taggart
• Eddie Hamilton
• Lorne Balfe

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All Mission: Impossible Movies in Order (and Where to Watch Them in India)

Shaurya Singh Thapa

Official JustWatch writer

Tom Cruise has endured as one of Hollywood’s most active and daring action stars, thanks to the many high-profile stunts he has performed for the Mission: Impossible franchise. However, the Mission: Impossible movies are much more than just the action. From the first Mission: Impossible movie in 1996 to the current sequels, the franchise has also revolutionized the spy thriller genre in Hollywood.

If you wish to watch all the Mission: Impossible movies in order, we have got you covered with a guide on where to stream them all. This JustWatch streaming guide shows you the latest streaming offers for viewers in India, as well as any options to watch the Mission Impossible franchise legally for free online.

Based on the TV series of the same name, the Mission: Impossible movies revolve around the exploits of Ethan Hunt, an agent working for the fictional Impossible Mission Force (IMF). All eight Mission: Impossible movies star Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, with the actor also producing each one and performing his own stunts. Recurring characters throughout the franchise include Ethan Hunt’s trusted IMF accomplices like Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames). From Rogue Nation onwards, the ex-MI6 agent Isla Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) also became a regular face of the franchise.

Several high-profile directors have helmed the Mission: Impossible movies. Brian DePalma ( Scarface , Carrie ) directed the first movie while action genre veteran John Woo ( Face/Off , Silent Night ) directed Mission: Impossible 2. JJ Abrams ( Star Trek , Star Wars Episode VII ), directed Mission: Impossible III while Brad Bird ( The Incredibles , The Iron Giant ) directed the fourth movie, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. The fourth movie notably had a few scenes set in India, even featuring popular Bollywood star Anil Kapoor in a supporting role. Ghost Protocol marked a watershed moment in the franchise, upping the scale of its stunts and action sequences. Christopher McQuarrie ( Top Gun: Maverick ) then took on filmmaking duties and directed three Mission Impossible movies so far (Rogue Nation, Fallout, Dead Reckoning Part One). Under McQuarrie’s direction, Cruise performed jaw-dropping practical stunts like clinging on to a flying airplane and riding a motorcycle off a cliff (with only a parachute to save him).

How to watch the Mission Impossible movies in order

You can watch the Mission: Impossible movies chronologically by watching them in release order. Unlike similar franchises, there are no spin-offs or prequels that can change the viewing order, and every movie was released in chronological order. However, there are flashback sequences in specific entries, like Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, filling in for past events.

Mission: Impossible 

Mission: Impossible II

Mission: impossible iii.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation 

Mission: Impossible - Fallout 

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Mission : Impossible 8

How can I watch Mission Impossible movies online?

To keep you up to date with Mission: Impossible movies, we have gathered all the necessary information you need to stream them in India. We have arranged the Mission: Impossible movies below in order of their release date, including all offers to stream, buy, and rent them.

Mission: Impossible

When Ethan Hunt, the leader of a crack espionage team whose perilous operation has gone awry with no explanation, discovers that a mole has penetrated the CIA, he's surprised to learn that he's the No. 1 suspect. To clear his name, Hunt now must ferret out the real double agent and, in the process, even the score.

With computer genius Luther Stickell at his side and a beautiful thief on his mind, agent Ethan Hunt races across Australia and Spain to stop a former IMF agent from unleashing a genetically engineered biological weapon called Chimera. This mission, should Hunt choose to accept it, plunges him into the center of an international crisis of terrifying magnitude.

Retired from active duty, and training recruits for the Impossible Mission Force, agent Ethan Hunt faces the toughest foe of his career: Owen Davian, an international broker of arms and information, who is as cunning as he is ruthless. Davian emerges to threaten Hunt and all that he holds dear -- including the woman Hunt loves.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Ethan Hunt and his team are racing against time to track down a dangerous terrorist named Hendricks, who has gained access to Russian nuclear launch codes and is planning a strike on the United States. An attempt to stop him ends in an explosion causing severe destruction to the Kremlin and the IMF to be implicated in the bombing, forcing the President to disavow them. No longer being aided by the government, Ethan and his team chase Hendricks around the globe, although they might still be too late to stop a disaster.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Ethan and team take on their most impossible mission yet—eradicating 'The Syndicate', an International and highly-skilled rogue organization committed to destroying the IMF.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

When an IMF mission ends badly, the world is faced with dire consequences. As Ethan Hunt takes it upon himself to fulfill his original briefing, the CIA begin to question his loyalty and his motives. The IMF team find themselves in a race against time, hunted by assassins while trying to prevent a global catastrophe.

Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the world's fate at stake and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan must consider that nothing can matter more than his mission—not even the lives of those he cares about most.

Mission: Impossible 8

The eighth installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise.

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Cruise control: An homage to the relentless reliability of 'Mission: Impossible'

Linda Holmes

Tom Cruise returns again (and again, and again, and again) as Ethan Hunt in the latest Mission: Impossible film — Dead Reckoning Part One. Christian Black/Paramount Pictures and Skydance hide caption

Tom Cruise returns again (and again, and again, and again) as Ethan Hunt in the latest Mission: Impossible film — Dead Reckoning Part One.

More than Marvel or DC, more than Jurassic World , maybe even more than James Bond with its revolving 007s, the Mission: Impossible franchise runs on its ability to meet expectations. Not just any expectations — high expectations. People go in wanting top-flight action, beautiful locations, a modest amount of melancholy character business about Ethan Hunt's mounting personal losses, Tom Cruise doing a lot of his own stunts, and an uncomplicated story in which a bad guy has (or wants) something and a good guy has to go get it. And that's exactly what they get.

And unlike Fast & Furious , this franchise hasn't shape-shifted over and over. It has remained remarkably stable at its core, despite taking several films to settle on writer-director Christopher McQuarrie and changing up the women in Hunt's life every movie or two.

'Mission: Impossible' is back, but will you accept it, or will it self-destruct?

It is axiomatic even within this universe that the idea of the government's underground "Impossible Mission Force" is absurd; the films have even started having characters comment on it. It also seems unlikely that Hunt would be forever on the edge of being disowned and deemed a traitor, given that no human being has ever been forced to demonstrate his trustworthiness so many times. If there were really a spy like Hunt — he flies helicopters! he climbs skyscrapers! he does close-up magic! — you have to assume he would be popular with spy leadership instead of constantly seeming like he's at risk of a negative performance review. But these things are utterly unimportant, because I know them going in, and the fact that they make no sense (and repeat over and over) is a given.

In fact, I'm not sure anything has ever really surprised me in one of these movies, which might seem contradictory given that they are, in part, "thrillers." By the time an M:I guy who has seemed to be a good guy is revealed as a stealth bad guy, you've probably spent a good amount of time thinking, "Who's the stealth bad guy in this movie? Oh, I bet it's him." There don't tend to be complex motivations behind any of what happens; the villains are generally just kind of international dirtbags who have something they shouldn't. A list, a bioweapon (twice!), some launch codes, some data and of course, the sentimental favorite: big shiny balls of plutonium. In the case of the new installment Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One , the battle is over two halves of a key that, in some gauzily defined way, can be combined to stop a godlike AI spoken of only as ... The Entity.

This all probably sounds like criticism, and it emphatically is not. Talking about the predictability or thinness of a story in a Mission: Impossible movie is like talking about the nutrition information on a box of Pop-Tarts — if you were focused on this aspect of the thing you are about to consume, you would have chosen something else. The story of The Entity is somehow vague and overexplained, not to mention unpleasantly adjacent to a kind of "tech as replacement for an all-knowing God" attitude that the movie doesn't actually care about, and that it doesn't really give the audience much reason to care about either. And that turns out to be completely fine.

Hayley Atwell and Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One . Christian Black/Paramount Pictures and Skydance hide caption

Hayley Atwell and Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One .

Because what Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One cares about is jumping a motorcycle off a mountain and then creating, though its marketing, an entire sub-narrative about the 60+ action star who trained to do the stunt himself and shot it on day one so they wouldn't waste any money if he died . What it cares about is a train dangling from a mountain. A car chase that is as witty and inventive as any you'll see anywhere. A fabulous race through an airport full of glass walls. Refreshing the cast with a woman as charming as Hayley Atwell, who is wonderfully entertaining as a scrappy pickpocket named Grace. Relying on Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, as Benji and Luther, to anchor the Impossible Mission Force team.

Movie Reviews

Tom cruise hangs on for dear life to his 'mission' to save the movies.

The biggest problem (if there is one) with Dead Reckoning is not its story, per se, but how much time it spends explaining it. It's worth noting that, as with action blockbusters generally, these films have gotten longer ... and longer ... and longer. At around two hours and 45 minutes, Dead Reckoning is roughly an hour longer than the original Mission: Impossible . It tries heroically to avoid dragging by featuring such genuinely exciting and inventive action sequences. But two hours and 45 minutes is a long time to sit in a seat having your needs met, and every time the film slows down to discuss (1) The Entity (a term that sounds sillier and sillier with repetition), (2) the keys, where they've been, and what they may open, or (3) the entire concept of a godlike AI and what it might be able to do, it gets a little ... well, fast-forwardable for future home viewers.

But again, this is what one expects. It is film as both exquisitely crafted entertainment and ruthless consumerism, fulfilling the order made at the counter with the certainty of fast-food fries that will always be the same – and will always be good.

There is some cost to this. For whatever reason, Mission: Impossible avoids the questions that are so often asked about Marvel movies in particular, about what Ryan Coogler or Chloé Zhao would be doing if they weren't making superhero movies, or about what the actors would be doing if they weren't tied into these franchises for years. Tom Cruise has mostly stopped doing the more intimate projects in comedy and drama that he did earlier in his career; he's a three-time acting Oscar nominee who pretty much does just action blockbusters now. He seems thrilled and delighted to be in this half-actor half-stuntman lane, and at 61, that's certainly his right. But there doesn't seem to be, for instance, another Magnolia in his future.

I do worry that having one's expectations precisely met – neither exceeded nor even simply upended – is becoming the only way to get people into theaters. Yes, perhaps we will take a risk for something at home that we can always turn off if we don't like it. But to get audiences to a theater, does a film need to be a sequel or a piece of IP or a franchise like this that delivers and satisfies, as neatly as a bed with hospital corners? There are signs that we're not quite there yet; Everything Everywhere All at Once did great, for instance, and an expectation-meeter it was not. But I worry about the longer-term difficulty of getting people into theaters to see something more ... well, more weird (not that all the Entity talk doesn't get a little weird).

Seeing a movie that is so very good at doing what it promises drives home that point that it takes both movies that do what they promise and movies that do something you couldn't have anticipated to make up an industry that thrives.

This piece also appeared in NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter so you don't miss the next one, plus get weekly recommendations about what's making us happy.

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‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One’ Review: A Stunt-Loving Tom Cruise Takes On AI … and Big-Screen CG Rivals

Combining breaking-news intrigue with ever-crazier practical set-pieces, Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie keep this almost-three-decade franchise feeling cutting-edge.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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Sooner or later, Ethan Hunt will face a mission he really ought not to accept. But for the time being, he remains the one man on Earth willing to attempt the impossible without questioning the motives of those who require his services. That’s the deal with America’s most dutiful Boy Scout, Tom Cruise , who’s carried the billion-dollar “Mission: Impossible” franchise across 27 years without losing steam. Compare that with Indiana Jones, who’s failed to connect with a younger generation, or the “Fast and Furious” movies, which aren’t running out of gas so much as guzzling the laughing sort.

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While Cruise’s Hunt is busy being the movie’s action figure, he’s supported by tech agents Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), who give him pointers via headset. “Dead Reckoning” also brings back sharpshooter Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) and arms dealer the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby), lining up a neat little ensemble of friends and associates that the AI can target and/or manipulate. The idea here is that the Entity’s mile-a-minute computation skills have concluded that the only thing that stands in its way is Hunt. And what is Hunt’s weak spot? Loyalty to his friends. As Hunt tells a gifted recruit known only as Grace (Hayley Atwell), “Your life will always matter more than my own.”

That’s just a flat-out lousy tactical philosophy, but it’s the kind of stubborn thinking that Cruise embodies so well: a blunt instrument traveling at extremely high velocity, guided by instinct and that inner ethical barometer. Even though we’ve just met Grace — who’s a pickpocket for hire, and not much of a team player — Hunt has decided she’s worth protecting. Heck, she could even be Impossible Mission Force material. So, when the Entity forces Hunt to choose which of his amigas to save, Ilsa or Grace, the guy all but short-circuits. In theory, that’s how you beat a virtual brain: You give it an impossible problem to solve (à la the tic-tac-toe game in “War Games”). For the moment, the Entity seems to be playing chess, not Risk, as “Dead Reckoning” has yet to show what renegade AI is capable of. Told that one of these women must die, Hunt does his darnedest to save them both. As usual, he’s got face masks in his arsenal, while the Entity has a nifty trick for pretending to be various people — a reminder that you can never trust your eyes or ears in an “M:I” movie.

Since Hunt can’t really deal with the Entity directly, the movie concocts a handful of human henchpeople to do its bidding (and punching, driving, etc.). To that end, Esai Morales plays a guy named Gabriel who’s been retconned into Hunt’s backstory, which supposedly makes this a more personal mission than those that came before — although the effect is no different than if he’d been invented for this movie. Gabriel takes orders from the Entity, while right-hand woman Paris (Pom Klementieff, who played Mantis in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies) proves the more threatening adversary. She first appears in Rome, where an elaborate car chase shot on location expertly balances thrills and laughter, the latter courtesy of a puny Fiat 500 and a pair of handcuffs.

With just one film left in the series, “Dead Reckoning” starts to tie up loose ends, which means none of the canonical characters is safe — not even Hunt. Combine that with the Entity’s strategy of targeting his friends, and the movie succeeds in humanizing the stakes. At the core, this is still just an elaborate game of hot potato, as everyone chases the two-part key that went down with the Russian sub, and which keeps changing hands over the movie’s 163-minute running time. The action builds to the film’s best set-piece, as Hunt finds a novel way to board a speeding train — and an even more unconventional way to disembark once it starts sliding off a bridge, one car at a time. This outing may be one-half of a two-part finale, but it gives audiences enough closure to stand on its own, and every reason to expect the last installment will be a corker.

Reviewed at Paramount Theatre, Los Angeles, May 27, 2023. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 163 MIN.

• Production: A Paramount Pictures release of a Paramount Pictures, Skydance presentation of a Tom Cruise production. Producers: Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie. Executive producers: David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Tommy Gormley, Chris Brock, Susan E. Novick.
• Crew: Director: Christopher McQuarrie. Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie & Erik Jendresen, based on the television series created by Bruce Geller. Camera: Fraser Taggart. Editor: Eddie Hamilton. Music: Lorne Balfe.
• With: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Frederick Schmidt, Cary Elwes, Mark Gatiss, Indira Varma, Rob Delaney

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‘mission: impossible — dead reckoning part one’ review: tom cruise amps up the electrifying action but story is strictly secondary.

Hayley Atwell joins returning cast Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby in Christopher McQuarrie’s high-octane opening salvo of the two-part Ethan Hunt thriller.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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It says a lot about Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One , the first chapter in the $3.5 billion franchise’s two-part seventh installment, that detailed footage of one of the film’s most spectacular stunts was released in full online last December. The extended clip showcased the meticulous planning and execution of a sequence in which Tom Cruise as superspy Ethan Hunt drives a motorcycle off a cliff and plunges 4,000 feet into a ravine, separating from the bike and BASE jumping the final 500 feet to the ground.

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The movie’s sustained adrenaline charge is both its strength and its shortcoming. Comparing part one of Dead Reckoning with Brian De Palma’s terrific 1996 opener, which upgraded the CIA’s covert Impossible Missions Force from its 1960s television origins to the big screen, is an illuminating insight into how audience expectations have changed in the past 27 years — or perhaps more accurately, how the major studios have reshaped audience expectations.

Working with screenwriters David Koepp and Robert Towne, De Palma assembled the nuts and bolts of an admittedly convoluted story with patience and care. He allowed his characters space to breathe while building to stylishly choreographed action sequences that bristled with the director’s customary Hitchcockian flair.

Notable among them was a nail-biting CIA heist operation in which Cruise’s Hunt was lowered into a state-of-the-art Langley security vault to copy a highly prized classified document. It set the tone for a series driven by jaw-dropping stunts, redefining the actor’s career at the same time.

His Ethan has become more careworn, jaded, emotionally bruised; he’s acquired the gravitas that comes with loss. And the passionate, hands-on commitment with which the actor approaches each stunt, emphasizing practical execution over effects, has only intensified through the years. No one can accuse Cruise of being a performer who fails to deliver what his audience wants. Which includes running. So much running.

In that sense, Dead Reckoning Part One works like gangbusters. If something has been discarded in the storytelling craft along the way, it’s unlikely that the core fanbase will mind. But McQuarrie, who co-wrote the screenplay with Erik Jendresen (an Emmy winner for Band of Brothers ), invests so much in the almost nonstop set-pieces that the connective narrative tissue becomes virtually disposable.

Sometimes it feels as if he’s boiled down the most thrilling elements, not only of the Mission: Impossible series, but of the Bond and Bourne movies, and threaded them into a sizzle reel. There’s less sense here of a story that demanded to be told in two parts — this one running two-and-three-quarter hours — than of McQuarrie and Cruise having a bunch more jaw-dropping stunts they plan to pull off and new travel-porn locations on which to unleash mayhem.

The A.I. development harnesses the power to make everything from people to vessels of war undetectable, to turn allies into enemies, commandeer defense systems and manipulate the world’s finance markets. It has become a monster with a mind of its own that knows everything about everyone and can be controlled only with a cruciform key made of two bejeweled parts lost in the Russian submarine disaster that opens the movie.

As the motivation for a globe-hopping hunt to find the two halves of the key and slot them together to tame the A.I. renegade before Gabriel can get his paws on it, it’s a serviceable plot. But it’s elaborated in numbing scenes lumped in among the fun stuff, with Ethan and his associates trudging through leaden exposition dumps, intoning gravely about “The Entity,” as it’s come to be known. Ominous statements are batted about like, “Whoever controls the Entity controls the truth,” which I guess is tangible enough as a threat to world order.

But when we get to see the digital mega-brain at work, looking like a giant fibrous, pulsating cyber sphincter, the whole thing becomes a bit silly. And if after the first half-hour or so you’re still following the plotting intricacies of how the parts of the key got to wherever they are, whether they’re real or fake, who has them and how the IMF crew plans to get them back, congratulations.

Besides, the strong cast, high-gloss production values and constant wow factor of the action offer plenty of distraction from the storytelling deficiencies. And the fact that Gabriel aims to wound Ethan by harming the people he cares about gives the film a few genuine emotional moments, even if McQuarrie seldom lingers long over them.

In a nice full-circle touch, Henry Czerny is back as Kittridge, Ethan’s prickly CIA boss. Seen previously in the De Palma film, he brings with him a personal history with Ethan and a deep knowledge of the agent’s past that add tension when Hunt once again goes rogue in the new mission. Returning from Fallout is slinky arms dealer Alanna, known as the White Widow ( Vanessa Kirby ), the daughter of Redgrave’s Max, representing another link back to the first film.

In her strongest screen role, Rebecca Ferguson continues bringing smarts, sharp moves and personal — if not sexual — chemistry with Cruise to her character from Rogue Nation and Fallout , MI6 agent Ilsa Faust. She’s first encountered here holed up in the Arabian desert with a $50 million bounty on her head. Ethan’s loyal core backup remains trusty field agent Benji ( Simon Pegg ), supplying the wisecracks and whipping up those masks; and expert hacker Luther ( Ving Rhames ), who somehow gets through awkward mouthfuls like, “Ethan, you’re playing four-dimensional chess with an algorithm!”

Among the various figures trailing them — both U.S. Intelligence agents and Gabriel’s hit squad — the most memorable is an ice-cold killer known as Paris (Pom Klementieff), a deadly force behind the wheel of an armored truck and a ready-made action figure with her bleach-blond mop, pleated plaid mini and snug leather jacket.

Paris is in hot pursuit in one of the stand-out set-pieces, on the tail of Ethan and Grace amusingly squeezed into a yellow Fiat 500 on a wild ride through the cobbled streets of Rome that conveniently takes in almost every major tourist attraction before capping it off with a doozy of a sequence on the Spanish Steps. A swanky party at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice yields more suspense on the city’s bridges and in its canals. And the early desert action segues to a tense race against the clock at Abu Dhabi Airport, the undulating roof of the new Midfield Terminal giving Cruise a challenging new course to sprint.

In terms of sheer entertainment, the movie has plenty to offer. Editor Eddie Hamilton keeps his foot on the accelerator with breathless pacing, and cinematographer Fraser Taggart’s dynamic camerawork keeps the visuals fluid and exciting. Much of the propulsion is also due to Lorne Balfe’s pounding score, incorporating a thunderous remix of the classic Lalo Schifrin TV theme music.

For a series now well into its third decade — and continuing next summer with Dead Reckoning Part Two — Mission: Impossible has remained remarkably consistent, with ups and downs but never an outright dud. Some of us might lament the madly busy overplotting at the expense of more nuanced character and story development, but that’s endemic to Hollywood studio output these days, not just to this franchise. And as one of the few relatively grownup big-budget alternatives to comic-book superhero domination, I’ll take it.

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The Extravagant Treats of “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One”

By Anthony Lane

Like the beat, beat, beat of the tomtom, a pounding of the drums tells us that another installment of “ Mission: Impossible ” is under way. Most of us know the trills and thrills of Lalo Schifrin’s original score, which remains the most exciting theme tune ever composed for TV. (Paddling furiously in its wake is that of “Hawaii Five-O.”) For the ensuing movie franchise, the tune has been repeatedly stretched and tweaked—or, in the case of the second film, lacerated by Limp Bizkit. Now, as the seventh chapter of the saga begins, we hear no melody at all: nothing but the rhythm, thudding forth. But it’s enough. We brace ourselves, and adopt the Mission position. Here we go.

The new movie, which is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, runs for two hours and forty-three minutes, and its full title is “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One,” which takes about half an hour to say. If Part Two, which is due to be released next June, is of similar dimensions, we’ll be landed with a tale that is more than five hours in the telling. Concision junkies will have to look elsewhere. The first sign of swelling, in this latest adventure, comes with a gathering of U.S. intelligence personnel, which goes on and on. It’s eventually halted by a guy who throws smoke bombs around, unleashing clouds of pretty green gas—a mild surprise to those present, who were presumably expecting coffee and a selection of pastries, but by this stage any interruption is welcome.

The topic of the meeting is the Entity, which is discussed at such length, and in tones of such grandiloquent awe, that I understood it even less at the end than I did at the start. In the world of “Mission: Impossible,” villainy gets bigger and more abstract by the movie. In “ Rogue Nation ” (2015), we had the Syndicate. In “Fallout” (2018), we had the Apostles. Now we get the Entity. (What next? The Intimation? The Word in Your Ear?) It seems to be a species of A.I.—“an enemy that is everywhere and nowhere,” we hear, with “a mind of its own.” Access to it is granted by a cruciform key, in two sections; collect the pair, slot ’em together, and the Entity lies within your grasp. Any government or terrorist outfit possessing it will wield unquenchable power, and the one person who can stop it from slipping into evil hands is, of course, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), Frodo Baggins having taken early retirement.

Ethan assembles his usual gang, consisting of Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), who has been on call since the first “Mission: Impossible” (1996), and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg). Also in the mix is Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who made her début in “Rogue Nation.” To my eyes, it was with the arrival of Ferguson that the franchise truly took flight; her manner was tranquil even at the height of tension, her character’s fealty was elusive, and she was splendidly unimpressed by the hero. That impressed him. Make no mistake, Cruise is in control of these movies—“A Tom Cruise Production,” the opening credits of “Dead Reckoning” announce—but he has the wit to realize how dreary that dominance would become if Ethan were not, at regular intervals, unmanned by women.

Hence the amazing Grace (Hayley Atwell). She is a thief, whom Ethan bumps into at the Abu Dhabi airport. The thing about bumping into Grace is that, post-bump, you will find yourself bereft of valuables, for her fingers are feather-light. Although she has a sheaf of passports, like Jason Bourne, she is new to mayhem, never mind to brutality, and Atwell does a lovely job of suggesting that Grace’s natural state is one of criminal innocence—wide-eyed yet without a flake of ditziness, and far too schooled in common sense to be a femme fatale. Observe how she pauses, with a frown of uncertainty, before putting on one of those rubber masks which more seasoned habitués of “Mission: Impossible,” when switching identities, don and doff like gloves. Ever practical, she ties her hair back before clambering onto the outside of a speeding train, and, as she and Ethan are harried through Roman streets by multiple vehicles, exclaims, “Is there anyone not chasing us?” An excellent question. The chase concludes with a merry plea. “Don’t hate me,” she says, leaving Ethan bewitched, bothered, and be-handcuffed to a steering wheel. Nice.

The cuffs are a Hitchcockian clue, and the whole movie is clamorous with echoes of earlier works. (“Dead Reckoning” was a Humphrey Bogart thriller from 1947—tangled, surly, and steeped in postwar bitterness.) On the trusty comic principle that huge blockbusters deserve dinky modes of transport, Ethan and Grace scoot through Rome in a Fiat 500, the color of ripe lemons, recalling Roger Moore’s Citroën 2CV in “For Your Eyes Only” (1981), or, indeed, the tuk-tuk driven to exhaustion by Harrison Ford in the latest “ Indiana Jones .” The climax of McQuarrie’s film, set on and atop a train, alludes with pride to the first “Mission: Impossible” and winds up saluting “The General” (1926), Buster Keaton’s runaway masterpiece, as a locomotive takes a deep dive through a broken bridge.

Cruise has none of Keaton’s dreamy stoicism, but both actors, trim and compact, define themselves by the outsized magnificence of their stunts. In addition, each of them is most at ease when in haste. They run unstoppably yet with an oddly formal poise—torso held upright, like that of a waiter with a tray, above the pumping pistons of their legs. Watch Keaton sprint along the crest of a hill, a century ago, in the finale of “Seven Chances,” or Cruise in full flow on the roof of an airport, in “Dead Reckoning.” Relentlessness of this order ought to be chilling. Not so. Instead, we are stirred and amused by a preternatural sight: men as little machines.

There is a devout podcast, “Light the Fuse,” which peruses “Mission: Impossible” in all its incarnations. Should you wish to hear an interview—nay, a two-part interview—with a former marketing intern on the third film, here is your opportunity. As the podcast approaches its two-hundred-and-fortieth episode, one has to ask: why do these movies continue to suck us in? Perhaps because they are as fetishistic as their fans. Precision is everything. I have lost count of the objects, friendly and hostile, that click, lock, or shunt into place. The bass flute that turned into an assassin’s rifle, in “Rogue Nation,” somehow stood for the cunningly wrought design of the entire narrative. Likewise, on a larger scale, the main attraction of “Dead Reckoning” is a motorbike-and-parachute leap that was previewed, unpacked, and explained online, many months ago, the purpose being to demonstrate that Cruise, the nerveless and unfading star, had performed the maneuver himself. Here is a motion picture equipped with auto-spoilers, eager to stress that at the heart of its fantasy lies something risky and real.

It was after “Rogue Nation” that I searched my conscience and discovered, as I sorted through the rubble, that I was looking forward with greater gusto to the next helping of “Mission: Impossible” than I was to the upcoming James Bond. For somebody reared on 007, this was tantamount to apostasy. I felt like a mid-Victorian Protestant admitting, in shame and confusion, to the lure of the Catholic faith. The change of allegiance was merely hardened by “No Time to Die,” the most recent Bond flick, in 2021, which foundered in an agony of self-involvement. Who wants a hero who expires under the sheer weight of backstory? Where’s the fun in that?

By contrast, retrospection has played a blessedly small part in the emotional legend of Ethan Hunt. We gaze back, in remembrance of stunts past—“Oh, my God, that bit in the fourth one where he climbed a skyscraper with magnetic suckers on his mitts,” and so on. Ethan’s own impulse, though, is forever onward, and to complain that his character lacks depth is to misinterpret the laws of dramatic physics. He is mass times velocity plus grin. If he has a history, it tends to self-destruct from film to film; which of us honestly remembers, let alone cares, that he got married in “Mission: Impossible III” (2006)? Does he remember? That’s why the plot of “Dead Reckoning” is a cause for concern—not because of the metaphysical fluff (“Whoever controls the Entity controls the truth”) but because of Gabriel (Esai Morales), a smooth devil who craves the cruciform key. Thirty years ago, apparently, he crossed paths with Ethan, who declares, “In a very real sense, he made me who I am today.” I don’t like the sound of that. Let us pray that Part Two will not require Ethan to follow the example of poor 007, forsaking crazy capers to lick his psychological wounds.

For now, how does Part One stack up? Well, as I say, it’s too talky by half. A funky soirée at the Doge’s Palace, in Venice, brings together Ethan, Ilsa, Gabriel, Grace, and the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby), the arms dealer with a hypnotizing stare whom we first encountered in “Fallout.” All the interested parties, in other words, yet the result is just not interesting; I vaguely hoped that Miss Marple would show up, reveal the killer’s name, and hit the dance floor. Soon afterward, a fight breaks out in an alleyway, during which Ethan beats a woman’s head against a wall—a spasm of nastiness that has no place in a saga as strangely anesthetized as “Mission: Impossible.” There isn’t the faintest shudder of sex in “Dead Reckoning,” so why does McQuarrie allow such violence to sour the spirited action?

But let’s be fair. Despite its longueurs and shortcomings, this movie is still a bag of extravagant treats. A submarine attacked by an invisible foe beneath the Arctic ice. A grand piano suspended directly over Ethan and Grace, and prevented from dropping only by a slowly weakening clamp. Rebecca Ferguson wearing a sniper’s eye patch. A nuclear bomb that asks the person trying to defuse it whether he is afraid of death. And, best of all, in Rome, the Fiat 500 rocking and rolling down the Spanish Steps—which, as we are charmingly assured in the closing credits, were not harmed in the making of the film. Thank God. Or thank Tom Cruise. The choice is yours. ♦

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Movie Review: Take the leap with Tom Cruise in ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One’

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Tom Cruise in a scene from “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One.” (Paramount Pictures via AP)

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Hayley Atwell, left, and Tom Cruise in a scene from “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One.” (Paramount Pictures via AP)

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Rebecca Ferguson in a scene from “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One.” (Paramount Pictures via AP)

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Hayley Atwell, left, and Esai Morales in a scene from “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One.” (Paramount Pictures via AP)

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Pom Klementieff in a scene from “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One.” (Paramount Pictures via AP)

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Ving Rhames, left, and Simon Pegg in a scene from “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One.” (Paramount Pictures via AP)

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Wondering if you should choose to accept the latest “Mission: Impossible” entry? Maybe you’re sick of all the bombast at the movie theater lately? Well, put it another way: Do you really want to disappoint Tom Cruise?

On the first day cameras were rolling for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One,” Cruise drove a motorcycle off an actual 4,000-foot Norwegian cliff and then parachuted down. He did it for you. The least you can do to repay him is watch his movie, right?

If you do give in, you’re in for a treat — a heart-pounding, never dragging, mission accomplished that takes audiences from the frozen Bering Sea to the rooftop of Abu Dhabi International Airport and the narrow alleyways of Venice.

It’s got plenty of facemasks being ripped off, a car chase through Rome, a shoot-out in the desert, a sword fight on a bridge and an intense, runaway train sequence that may top anything the franchise has ever produced.

“This is getting exciting,” one character says early on and you’ll heartily agree.

Christopher McQuarrie returns for the third time as director of the spy series — he also helped write Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” — and he’s brought back love interest/spy Rebecca Ferguson, comic relief buddies Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby as The White Widow and Henry Czerny as slimy Eugene Kittridge.

Newcomers include Esai Morales as a very bad baddie and Pom Klementieff as his psychotic aide. Hayley Atwell also makes her impressive debut, playing a master thief and possible romantic partner for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. (If that makes too many love interests, you’d be right.)

The bad guy isn’t a guy this time, it’s a haywire form of conscious artificial intelligence that has infiltrated every nation’s computer systems and represents a Hollywood fever dream of this emerging technology. (And maybe a swipe at CGI, too.)

This AI can foul up every digital device with “the power to bring the world to its knees” — or at least to a pre-internet, analog state. It’s “an enemy that is everywhere and nowhere.” The filmmakers aren’t too keen in giving too many specifics, leaving it an existential threat and giving it the very non-threatening nickname, The Entity.

“Dead Reckoning,” as the “Part One” in the full title suggests, is another action franchise going epic with several-part arcs — like “Spider-Verse” and “Fast & Furious” already this year — and uses a two-part special key as the plot device that everyone desperately needs, like in “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.”

The key here is sought by Cruise, our thief/love interest, a U.S. Special Operations team, Morales’ nasty Gabriel and the arms dealer The White Widow. It soon gets swiped, pickpocketed and seized, jumping from owner to owner like an unwanted Secret Santa office gift.

What’s so special about this key? Somehow, the AI needs it and one estimate of its worth is $100 million, which seems pretty cheap, to be honest. “The fate of the world rests on finding whatever the key unlocks,” we are told. Rhames’ Luther warns his friend: “Ethan, you’re playing fourth dimensional chess with an algorithm.”

If other “Mission: Impossible” outings have sometimes felt that Hunt is, well, a little robotic, this time the filmmakers allow some humanity to peek through. Cruise shows some delightful annoyance at having to sit in the passenger seat as his car careens backward through Rome, like an exasperated Drivers’ Ed instructor after a long day. He also shows a tender side in Venice as he cuddles Ferguson in the twilight and they hold hands on a gondola.

Speaking of that car chase in Rome — the second time this year that the iconic Spanish Steps have been shattered by a brash, hulking U.S. franchise — we get the delightful image of Cruise and Atwell handcuffed together scooting along in a tiny, vintage yellow Fiat 500.

“Is anyone NOT chasing us?” she asks.

All the interested parties come together at one of those big, elegant Eurotrash dance parties with dark lighting, thumping rave music and writhing dancers on platforms that only Hollywood seems to love, a sequence most recently bettered by “John Wick: Chapter 4” in Berlin.

Then a movie that started filming pre-pandemic and has a two-and-a-half-hour runtime, culminates with Cruise’s motorcycle leap, a breathless fight sequence on top of a steam train and then a derailment that forces the good guys to climb through railcar after railcar vertically as they dodge debris, bad guys and even, in a sly move, a falling piano.

Are you possibly not going to accept this mission? Tom Cruise basically flew for you. It would be rude to leave him hanging.

“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One,” a Paramount Pictures release that’s only in theaters starting Friday, is rated PG-13 for “intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material.” Running time: 156 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Online: https://www.missionimpossible.com

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One First Reviews: Action Filmmaking at Its Finest

Critics say part one is thrilling and emotional, doing enough to stand on its own while also keeping audiences excited for the final installment..

TAGGED AS: Action , First Reviews , movies

Here’s what critics are saying about Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One :

How does it compare to the other Mission: Impossible movies?

“ Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is the best Mission: Impossible film yet.” – Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

“This new entry ramps up the excitement and sheer flat-out impressiveness to a new level.” – Todd McCarthy, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“McQuarrie has made the most tactile Mission yet.” – Alex Godfrey, Empire Magazine

“Probably the funniest of the franchise, it tries hard to ensure that you have a good time at the movies.” – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

“ Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One isn’t quite as dynamic as McQuarrie’s preceding Fallout , but it’s not far off that standout’s pace.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“ Dead Reckoning Part One may not be the best movie in the Mission: Impossible franchise — there’s no topping the raw adrenaline rush of Fallout , and McQuarrie is smart enough not to try — but this extravagantly entertaining Dolby soap opera nails what the Mission: Impossible franchise does best.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

“Coming after the series high of 2018’s Fallout , in which McQuarrie found an ideal balance of story, character, and turbocharged spectacle, this aspect of the film, it must be acknowledged, is disappointing.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“ Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is as big of a step back from the last two films as its title is overly long. Another mediocre summer blockbuster.” – Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool

(Photo by ©Paramount Pictures)

Does it up the stakes for the franchise?

“As the beginning of the series’ end game, Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One features genuine stakes.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“ Dead Reckoning sometimes strains to live up to the high standards of earlier installments – especially in presenting this latest global threat as even more terrifying than all the ones that came before.” – Tim Grierson, Screen International

Is it better than most action movies, period?

“Few films have come into existence that display so much confidence and conviction in what they’re doing and can follow through with their ideas onscreen virtually without regard to budgetary constraints… This is Hollywood action filmmaking at its peak.” – Todd McCarthy, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“At a moment when nearly every other franchise, from Marvel to Avatar , has embraced the fake look of CG cartoons, Mission: Impossible appears the most practical: So much of what we see really was captured on camera, and that makes all the difference.” – Peter Debruge, Variety

“ Dead Reckoning Part One transcends anything any other action tentpole can even dream of touching.” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse

“ Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One still delivers big-screen spectacle like no other blockbuster this year.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

(Photo by Christian Black/©Paramount Pictures)

So how are those action scenes?

“Damn does Dead Reckoning deliver on the action! I don’t know how these movies keep topping themselves, but they do.” – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

“There’s a thunderous brawniness (and goofy wit) to the director’s showstoppers, which expertly up the ante, culminating with a massively inventive and suspenseful climax that puts the loco in locomotive.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“The big chase in the little Fiat puts you so shudderingly close to the action, you feel like you’re being constantly smashed up. Have you ever had whiplash from watching a film before? Brace yourself.” – Alex Godfrey, Empire Magazine

“In terms of action, Cruise and McQuarrie are unsurprisingly in top form… The roughly 20-minute car chase through Vienna is an absolute show-stopper, with twists and turns that’ll have you tossing and turning in your seat with pure adrenaline.” – Rohan Patel, ComicBookMovie.com

“The stunts are absolutely fantastic… Cruise and McQuarrie remain a dream team for executing and framing stunts, and they know how to drop you right in the middle of a scene.” – Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool

“The action sequences are essentially just slick retreads of familiar stunts.” – Peter Debruge, Variety

“ Dead Reckoning’ s set pieces do not quite top what has come before in this franchise.” – Tim Grierson, Screen International

Is there more to love than just the action?

“For as deviously epic as the stunts are, the film also carves out time for intimate moments where the characters’ humanity and relationships shine.” – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

“ Dead Reckoning is a bone-shaking reminder that sound is the real secret weapon of the theatrical experience.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

How is Tom Cruise this time?

“Tom Cruise once again proves that he is fantastic at what he does.” – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

“Cruise is exceptional at this part — as much credit as he gets for pulling off each amazing stunt, not enough can be said for how good he is at playing an extremely determined guy who is very, very tired.” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse

“Cruise is Cruise.” – Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool

Is Hayley Atwell a good addition to the franchise?

“The film’s MVP is Hayley Atwell, whose double-crossing thief is an inspired addition to the team. Atwell takes to the action like a pro, and has a tense dynamic with Cruise that escalates the stakes in entertaining ways.” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse

“Atwell makes a phenomenal addition to the series and is the most consistently engaging actor here.” – Jake Cole, Slant Magazine

“Hayley Atwell is dynamite! Going toe to toe with Cruise, Atwell breathes charisma and a magnetic presence that stands out as one of the best character introductions in the series thus far.” – David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel

“Atwell’s a breath of fresh air in the team dynamic, full of effervescence and resourcefulness.” – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

“Hayley Atwell steals the show with a tour de force performance as Grace. She is a breath of fresh air and turns the franchise on its head with her infinite charm. – Rohan Patel, ComicBookMovie.com

“Cruise and Atwell have gangbusters chemistry.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

How is the film’s overall representation of women characters?

“The women here are sharp, proactive, and intriguing, hardly the sort of tag-along women who generally populated male-oriented action films in the past.” – Todd McCarthy, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“More awesome ladies equals a better movie, and Dead Reckoning Part One might be the best of them all… All of Cruise’s female co-stars bring something different and valuable to Mission: Impossible .” – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

“ Dead Reckoning Part One certainly makes the case that the women in Ethan Hunt’s life are far more interesting than Hunt himself.” – Ross Bonaime, Collider

“What doesn’t make sense is watching grown-ass women (proven badasses, at that) sit passively while Ethan attempts to handle the situation. This is the first Mission: Impossible film to pass the Bechdel Test with flying colors, an achievement undercut by these characters’ occasional reduction to objects in service of the story.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence

Does the movie have good villains?

“What the plot does have is a unique and timely villain… Something we haven’t seen yet in a blockbuster. It’s a big swing from McQuarrie and one that makes this mission distinctive.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“The decision to make the bad guy [spoiler redacted] or whatever — with heavy emphasis on the whatever — can’t help but feel a bit like throwing in the towel.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

“[Esai] Morales’ suave villain exudes a serene self-assurance that’s unsettling.” – Tim Grierson, Screen International

“Morales, with a piercing, steely glare and suave silver fox looks, makes for an unrelenting, unflinching foe for Cruise.” – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

“While Morales’ Gabriel is being set up as the main antagonist in Hunt’s life, there’s little here to make him all that interesting of a villain… As an endgame villain of sorts, Gabriel is fairly underwhelming.” – Ross Bonaime, Collider

“It’s [Gabriel’s] henchwoman played by Pom Klementieff that matches the heightened weirdness that Mission: Impossible has become known for.” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse

“Pom Klementieff is the standout of the two villains putting in an absolutely buckwild performance.” – Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool

What are the film’s biggest issues?

“Much is made of how Ethan’s comrades are targeted in order to get to him, but this has been a common feature of all of the movies in this franchise, and the film isn’t done any favors by his long-standing comrades feeling so bland and dispensable.” – Jake Cole, Slant Magazine

“It’s clear that both Cruise and McQuarrie are incredibly invested in all of this, but they seem to be too invested. They don’t have the heart to cut anything.” – Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool

“The movie feels like a series of set pieces rather than a complete whole.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“ Dead Reckoning Part One struggles to come together. The Cold War-esque dread that McQuarrie attempts to conjure results in 70 percent of the film becoming an exposition dump.” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse

Does it do enough to stand on its own?

“In comparison to other Part Ones which have come out in recent months (looking very specifically at you, Fast X ), Dead Reckoning does manage to feel like a complete film while also still setting up the upcoming Part Two .” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence

“This outing may be one-half of a two-part finale, but it gives audiences enough closure to stand on its own, and every reason to expect the last installment will be a corker.” – Peter Debruge, Variety

“It finds a way to concoct a satisfying resolution to its tale even as it sets up its closing 2024 chapter.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“This first chapter is entertaining enough on its own, hitting a more operatic register than previous pictures.” – Tim Grierson, Screen International

“It’s evident this is constructed as a part one, as there’s a distinct lack of closure.” – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

“It feels like a feature-film version of holding our breath right before Tom Cruise leaps off that cliff: it’s thrilling stuff, but we’ll have to see where he lands.” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse

Will it leave us excited for Dead Reckoning Part Two ?

“It inevitably makes one hope that the overabundance of setup will translate to a second part that sends Ethan into the sunset on a more streamlined and refined note.” – Jake Cole, Slant Magazine

“Now that much of the exposition is out of the way, the field is wide open for the filmmakers to fly it down from cruising altitude and stick the landing.” – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

“Perhaps this one will seem better once we finally see Part Two ; it is always hard to review half a movie, but judging by this half? Perhaps we should lower our expectations quite a bit.” – Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One opens in theaters everywhere on July 12, 2023.

Thumbnail image by Christian Black/©Paramount Pictures

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Mission: impossible: dead reckoning, part one, common sense media reviewers.

Lots of action violence in excellent spy thriller.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Plenty of the usual spy movie betrayals and killin

Ethan Hunt operates in a world of violence and des

Several main characters are White, but key charact

Characters are in near-constant peril. Shoot-outs,

Nightclub scene with "sexy" dancers in the backgro

A couple of uses of "dammit," "hell," "goddammit,"

A Fiat makes a comical extended appearance.

Parents need to know that Tom Cruise returns as Agent Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One, the first movie of the two-part seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise. In many ways, it's more family friendly than, say, your average James Bond movie: There's no drinking or…

Positive Messages

Plenty of the usual spy movie betrayals and killings, but the heroes also know it's important to look out for others' well-being, even if you don't know them -- and even if they don't know you're doing it.

Positive Role Models

Ethan Hunt operates in a world of violence and destruction but also works selflessly and sacrifices much to keep world order. He's brave, and he and his team demonstrate integrity, humility, compassion, teamwork, perseverance, and excellent communication skills.

Diverse Representations

Several main characters are White, but key characters are also played by Black, Latino, and Asian actors. Higher-ups in the intelligence agency and armed forces are ethnically/racially diverse. Women are portrayed as smart, cunning, and extraordinarily physically capable. That said, Ethan is also clearly the hero, and he does a fair amount of rescuing the female characters -- although, to be fair, many characters come to one another's aid throughout: Women save Ethan, women save other women, men save Ethan, Ethan saves men, and so on.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Characters are in near-constant peril. Shoot-outs, one with mercenaries using automatic weapons and a heroic character using a long-distance sniper gun in self-defense, resulting in a high body count. Other fatalities, including a key character. Lots of heavily choreographed action violence, including intense fight sequences with knives, swords, lead pipes, and hitting heads against a wall. Multiple stabbings. Car accidents. Explosions. Dead bodies with a close-up on faces.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Nightclub scene with "sexy" dancers in the background; a woman is briefly touched under her breast.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

A couple of uses of "dammit," "hell," "goddammit," and one "what the fu--" that cuts off.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Parents need to know.

Parents need to know that Tom Cruise returns as Agent Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One, the first movie of the two-part seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise. In many ways, it's more family friendly than, say, your average James Bond movie: There's no drinking or smoking, women are more empowered than they are objectified or romanced, and language is limited to "goddammit," "hell," and an unfinished "what the fu--." That said, the action violence and peril are nonstop (though not graphic). Both villains and heroes use guns, people die, and there are intense physical fights with knives, swords, a pipe, and a shovel. The Mission: Impossible movies are known for their astonishing daredevil stunts, which Cruise is famous for doing himself, and those are definitely here -- as is a message about the importance of doing the right thing, even when no one knows you're doing it. Ethan Hunt and his team also demonstrate character strengths like teamwork, perseverance, and courage. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (12)
• Kids say (25)

Based on 12 parent reviews

Everything you want from a summer spy thriller action blockbuster

Very intense movie for young teens., what's the story.

In MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE, Ethan Hunt ( Tom Cruise ) and his IMF team are tasked with tracking down a powerful skeleton key that's believed to open access to all digitally controlled networks. With intelligence agencies from various world governments -- as well as crime syndicates -- in a race to find and control the key, Ethan encounters dark forces from his past who are working with a new, mysterious entity that threatens the future of humanity.

Is It Any Good?

For parents who want to watch action movies with older tweens and teens, Cruise and longtime collaborator Christopher McQuarrie make it possible with this riveting thriller. Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One is a perfect example of Cruise Control, and the hands-on star and producer outdoes himself, delivering an edge-of-your-seat actioner that pulls you in immediately and never lets go until the screen goes dark. It's one long, audible gasp. Cruise clearly takes the franchise's name to heart, creating action sequences that seem impossible to pull off -- and yet he does. And "he" really does -- making sure the camera captures his face as he rides his motorcycle off the side of a mountain or climbs up a falling train or drives down the Spanish steps in Rome backward.

That particular car chase scene clearly aims to best both Bullitt and The French Connection -- and it succeeds. In those classics, audiences were entranced by Steve McQueen flying down the enormous hills of San Francisco's main thoroughfares, or Gene Hackman speeding through busy New York City traffic. Taking note, Cruise spins through the cobblestones, narrow passages, and famous landmarks of Rome in a tiny, manual Fiat. It's as exciting as it is hilarious, with the filmmakers ensuring that viewers' eyes don't glaze over during the long scene by keeping the comedy coming. Add to this the gorgeousness of the many international locations -- Arab Emirates, Austrian Alps, Venice -- and a simple story that doesn't require overthinking, and Cruise's spy thriller reminds us: This is why we go to the movies.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One . How does it compare to the violence in previous M:I movies? Is it what you expect from this type of movie?

Do you consider Ethan Hunt a role model? How do he and his team demonstrate courage , integrity , self-control , compassion , empathy, perseverance , and teamwork ? Why are these important life skills?

How does this Mission: Impossible movie compare to its biggest rival, the James Bond movies , in its depictions of women? Why does that matter?

What is a MacGuffin? How is this idea/device used in Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One ? What other MacGuffins can you identify in other films you've seen?

A villain says "the truth is vanishing." What does this mean, and why is media literacy an essential skill? What role do you think media and tech/AI play in your daily life?

Movie Details

• In theaters : July 12, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : October 10, 2023
• Cast : Tom Cruise , Hayley Atwell , Esai Morales
• Director : Christopher McQuarrie
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Topics : Adventures , Great Boy Role Models
• Character Strengths : Communication , Courage , Integrity , Perseverance , Teamwork
• Run time : 163 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material
• Award : Common Sense Selection
• Last updated : April 27, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Where to watch.

Watch Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One with a subscription on Paramount+, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

With world-threatening stakes and epic set pieces to match that massive title, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One proves this is still a franchise you should choose to accept.

With a terrific cast and some beautifully shot stunts, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One might be the best action movie of the year.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Christopher McQuarrie

Hayley Atwell

Ving Rhames

Luther Stickell

Rebecca Ferguson

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‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One’ Review: Still Running

In this franchise’s seventh entry, Tom Cruise’s mission includes increasingly improbable leaps, chases and stunts. Luckily for us, he chooses to accept it.

• Share full article

By Manohla Dargis

I don’t know if anyone has ever clocked whether Tom Cruise is faster than a speeding bullet. The guy has legs, and guts. His sprints into the near-void have defined and sustained his stardom, becoming his singular superpower. He racks up more miles in “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” the seventh entry in a 27-year-old franchise that repeatedly affirms a movie truism. That is, there are few sights more cinematic than a human being outracing danger and even death onscreen — it’s the ultimate wish fulfillment!

Much remains the same in this latest adventure, including the series’ reliable entertainment quotient and Cruise’s stamina. Once again, he plays Ethan Hunt, the leader of a hush-hush American spy agency, the Impossible Mission Force. Alongside a rotating roster of beautiful kick-ass women (most recently Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby) and loyal handymen (Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames), Ethan has been sprinting, flying, diving and speed-racing across the globe while battling enemy agents, rogue operatives, garden-variety terrorists and armies of minions. Along the way, he has regularly delivered a number of stomach-churning wows, like jumping out a window and climbing the world’s tallest building .

This time, the villain is the very au courant artificial intelligence, here called the Entity. The whole thing is complicated, as these stories tend to be, with stakes as catastrophic as recent news headlines have trumpeted. Or, as an open letter signed by 350 A.I. authorities put it last month: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from A.I. should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war.” In the face of such calamity, who you gonna call? Analog Man, that’s who, a.k.a. Mr. Hunt, who receives his usual mysterious directives that, this time, have been recorded on a cassette tape, an amusing touch for a movie about the threat poised to the material world by a godlike digital power.

That’s all fine and good, even if the most memorable villain proves to be a Harley Quinn-esque agent of chaos, Paris (Pom Klementieff), who races after Ethan in a Hummer and seems ready to spin off into her own franchise. She tries flattening him during a seamlessly choreographed chase sequence in Rome — the stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood, is also a racecar driver — that mixes excellent wheel skills with scares, laughs, thoughtful geometry and precision timing. At one point, Ethan ends up behind the wheel while handcuffed to a new love interest, Grace (Hayley Atwell, another welcome addition), driving and drifting, flirting and burning rubber in what is effectively the action-movie equivalent of a sex scene.

Despite the new faces, there are, unsurprisingly, no real surprises in “Dead Reckoning Part One,” which features a number of dependably showstopping stunts, hits every narrative beat hard and, shrewdly, has just enough winking humor to keep the whole thing from sagging into self-seriousness. This is the third movie in the series that Cruise and the director Christopher McQuarrie have made together, and they have settled into a mutually beneficial groove. On his end, McQuarrie has assembled a fully loaded blockbuster machine that briskly recaps the series’ foundational parameters, adds the requisite twists and, most importantly, showcases his star. For his part, Cruise has once again cranked the superspy dial up to 11.

Over the years, McQuarrie has loosened up the star, who generally seems to be having a pretty good time. Still, it must be exhausting to be Tom Cruise, who famously performs his own stunts. A smattering of creases now radiate around his smile, but time doesn’t seem to have slowed his relentless roll. The most arresting set piece here finds Ethan smoothly sailing off a cliff via a motorbike and a parachute. Improbable, yes? Impossible? Nah. Like the other large-scale, stunt-driven sequences, this showy leap at once underscores Cruise’s skills and reminds you that a real person in a real location on a real motorbike did this lunatic stunt.

Nothing if not a classicist, Ethan also goes one to one with a baddie (Esai Morales) atop a speeding train, perhaps in homage to his cliffhanger moves on another train in the first “ Mission: Impossible ” (1996). In his review, the New York Times critic Stephen Holden observed that with this film Cruise had “found the perfect superhero character.” It’s worth noting that, in 1996, the top 10 movies released in the United States were largely high-concept thrillers and comedies; in 2022, half the top 10 releases were from Marvel or DC. Yet the film that connected most strongly with audiences was Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Although “Maverick” featured plenty of digital whiz-bangery, its most spectacular draw of course was Cruise, who has also remained the single greatest attraction in the “Mission” movies. To that point, while there’s little of substance that I remember about the first film other than it was directed by Brian De Palma, I can vividly picture — with the crystalline recall that only some movies instill — two distinct images of Cruise-Ethan from it. In one, he races away from a tsunami of water and shattered glass; in the second, he hovers inches above a gleaming white floor, his black-clad body stretched head to toe in a near-perfect horizontal line. The filmmakers imprinted those images on my memory; so did Cruise.

Early in the “Mission: Impossible” series, the outlandishness of the movies’ plots and Cruise’s equally fantastical stunts started to make him seem less than human. By the second movie, I wondered if he were disappearing altogether, turning himself into little more than a special effect. Since then, the plots and the stunts have remained impossibly absurd, sometimes enjoyably so, as here. Yet over the years, the series has unexpectedly made Cruise seem more poignantly human than he has sometimes seemed elsewhere. One reason is that the “Mission” movies were instrumental in shifting the locus of his star persona from his easygoing smile — the toothy gleam of “Risky Business” and “Jerry Maguire” — to his hardworking body.

The obvious effort that Cruise puts into his “Mission” stunts and the physical punishment he endures to execute them — signaled by his grimaces and popping muscles — have had a salutary impact on that persona, as has the naked ferocity with which he’s held onto stardom. It’s touching. It’s also difficult to imagine any actor today starting out in a superhero flick reaching a commensurate fame, not only because the movies, Hollywood’s at least, no longer retain the hold on the popular imagination that they once did, but also because the corporately branded superhero suit will always be more important than whoever wears it. Tom Cruise doesn’t need a suit; he was, after all, built for speed. He just needs to keep running.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One Rated PG-13 for thriller violence. Running time: 2 hours 43 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic of The Times, which she joined in 2004. She has an M.A. in cinema studies from New York University, and her work has been anthologized in several books. More about Manohla Dargis

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• DVD & Streaming

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

• Action/Adventure , Drama , Thriller

Content Caution

In Theaters

• July 10, 2023
• Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt; Hayley Atwell as Grace; Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust; Vanessa Kirby as the White Widow; Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn; Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell; Shea Whigham as Jasper Briggs; Greg Tarzan Davis as Degas; Pom Klementieff as Paris; Esai Morales as Gabriel; Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge; Cary Elwes as Denlinger

Home Release Date

• October 10, 2023
• Christopher McQuarrie

Distributor

• Paramount Pictures

Movie Review

Ethan Hunt has chosen a lot of impossible missions. And he’s taken down a lot of villains. From oily terrorists to agency moles, Ethan and his team have faced and beaten a bevy of bad, bad people.

But what if your enemy isn’t a person at all?

Enter the Entity, AI programming gone very wrong and very rogue. Its origins are complex; its goals, mysterious. But intelligence services around the globe are aware it’s up to something: infiltrating national defense systems; influencing intelligence; and, occasionally, eliminating organic lifeforms for its own shadowy purposes.

ChatGPT? Try ChatGPTerminal.

Few people know the Entity even exists. And those who do? They’re terrified. But they’re also … intrigued. Charmed, even.

Sure, they don’t want the Entity traipsing through their country’s own top-secret digital apparati. But the ability to tunnel into those of other countries? If they could “capture” the Entity and somehow tame its unruly code? Well, that’d be a powerful weapon, make no mistake.

In a world in which pictures can be digitally manipulated, where voices can be faked, where facts themselves are often called into question, the Entity just might make truth itself a relic. Forget misinformation: The Entity is nix- information—a tool that can scramble (or steal) nuclear codes, obliterate elections and send armies to attack the penguins of Antarctica. In the words of one character: “Whoever controls the Entity controls the truth.”

Naturally, the U.S. intelligence community would dearly love to put a binary leash on the Entity and bring it to heel. Ethan Hunt—the Impossible Mission Agency’s talented, constantly disavowed agent—is clearly the best man to corral the Entity.

But while Ethan would like to get his hands on the Entity, too, he means to destroy it. And he’ll need some help along the way.

Yep, this time Ethan Hunt is assigning himself an impossible mission. He’s going rogue in search of a rogue AI—one that can manipulate every smartphone and satellite feed, one that even has a few human helpers to do its dirty work.

This time, he’ll need to do more than don a rubber mask or hang off an airplane. He’ll need to do the impossible.

Thank goodness he’s used to that.

Positive Elements

Ethan does a lot of stuff that would get most of us thrown in prison for several millennia, including working against his own government. But given the Entity’s ability to “lie,” if you will—the ability that makes it the ultimate prize for every government after it—destroying it seems like a higher, more moral mission. Success in this mission means preserving self-determination, autonomy and perhaps even the notion of truth itself.

And in contrast to the Entity’s binary code, Ethan’s very much a people person. When someone on his team suggests that each of them is “expendable” when it comes to this assignment, Ethan says, “I don’t accept that.” He tells a new team member that he values his teammates’ lives more than he values his own—and he, at least, seems to believe it.

The value Ethan places on people would seem to be counterintuitive both to self-preservation and the mission at hand. But against such a coldly rational enemy, that sense of love and sacrifice may indeed be a powerfully irrational, and irrationally powerful, weapon.

Ethan’s kinship with his teammates is reciprocated. Given that none of them have any real connections outside the team, they’ve all become something of a family. Benji (a technician and agent on the team) admits that nothing is more important to him than his friends. He and Luther (the computer whiz of the bunch) willingly risk their careers and their lives to help Ethan—even when he encourages them to stay away for their own safety. Ilsa—Ethan’s one-time frienemy-turned-friend-and-ally ( frienally? ) risks her life not just for her friends, but for a near stranger.

A newcomer, a talented thief who calls herself Grace, certainly doesn’t have, or even understand, that sense of loyalty and sacrifice at the movie’s outset. But she comes to understand it better. And before the credits roll, she shows an ever-greater willingness to dare and risk for a greater good.

An act of unexpected mercy produces unexpected dividends.

Spiritual Elements

Dead Reckoning Part One , as is the case with most Mission: Impossible movies, steers clear of overt spirituality. But it relies heavily on religious imagery and themes to set the stage.

The most obvious example is a mysterious two-part key that’s designed in the shape of a cross. (Because it’s bedecked in high-tech jewel-like accoutrements, it comes with the vibe of a Catholic relic.) Characters refer to it as a “cruciform” shaped key. And when characters digitally trace half of the key from one holder to another, it looks even more like a Christian cross on screen.

Another interesting touchstone: Gabriel, the main human antagonist here. He serves the Entity as its “chosen messenger” (an intentional turn of phrase, considering the angel Gabriel’s role as a messenger in the Bible), and he’s also referred to as a “dark Messiah.”

We see churches and religious buildings in some scenes. Someone holds a cross around his neck in a moment of peril and seems to say a prayer. There’s a joking reference to Ethan being a vampire.

For those so inclined, the idea of a truly sentient form of AI may spark some theological questions worth mulling and talking over.

Sexual Content

An important meeting takes place in a boisterous nightclub, where dancers on platforms writhe in outfits so formfitting that they could easily be taken as nude.

Ethan and Ilsa grow rather chummy as the movie goes on, but their affection seems to walk the line between close friends and something more. We see her hold his arm and rest her head on his shoulder, but nothing much beyond that.

Ethan and Grace flirt when they first meet each other—but it’s a ruse by both parties. Later, circumstances force them to work literally closely with one another (including a stretch of time when they’re handcuffed to each other), during which time they hold hands and comically scrape their bodies by one another (in, say, a moving car). We hear a bit about Grace’s past, which includes a failed relationship.

In flashback, we see Ethan with yet another woman with whom, we assume, he had a romance with.

Violent Content

It’s called Mission Impossible , not Mission Peaceable . No one here flinches at violence or death. And while Ethan and Grace both seem concerned about protecting innocent lives, plenty of folks—both innocent and guilty—lose theirs.

An entire submarine crew is killed in the movie’s opening moments. The sub suffers a catastrophic breech, and the bodies of the dead float in the Arctic water, bouncing against the ice above.

A chaotic chase through the streets of Rome depicts several crashing cars, imperiled onlookers and untold levels of property damage. People are shot and stabbed, often (but not always) fatally. Someone’s throat is sliced open. Loads of fights take place, featuring feet, fists and deadly weapons. A man is apparently hung. (We see his body dangle from where he was left.)

Ethan and others often use nonlethal methods to incapacitate their enemies, but it can still feel harsh. In some scenes, rooms full of people succumb to a sort of knock-out gas (leaving just mask-wearing characters conscious). Another woman is knocked out as part of a ruse.

A nuclear bomb nearly goes off. A good chunk of a train plummets off a destroyed bridge. A torpedo explodes. Characters fall, or nearly fall, from some pretty tremendous heights.

Crude or Profane Language

A handful of profanities come out to play, including one use of “b–tard” and a few each of “d–n” and “h—.” We hear what sounds like the beginning of an f-word in one scene. God’s name is misused eight times, five instances of which are paired with “d–n.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

There’s not a lot of drinking here, but we do see characters in the presence of wine, champagne and liquor.

Other Negative Elements

Obviously, Ethan and others lie and mislead as part of the mission. Others deceive and manipulate as well. Grace is a thief, and she’s quite good at her job. People drive recklessly in Rome. I mean, even more recklessly than most people already do in Rome.

There’s certainly a sense that the world as we know it is dying. We hear some references to climate change and dwindling resources, and the U.S. is presented as no better or more exceptional than any other nation. “The days of you fighting for the so-called greater good is over,” one government official tells Ethan.

Give props to Tom Cruise and the real-world team behind the Mission: Impossible movies. Built on Cruise’s considerable charisma, stunning set pieces and breathtaking real-world stunts, the MI movies represent this era’s gold standard in action movies.

Coming on the heels of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny —a fabled franchise that once ruled the cinematic action roost—the contrast couldn’t be sharper. While Dial of Destiny leans back on its nostalgic charm and CGI, Dead Reckoning Part One leans forward.

Sure, the franchise is pretty long-in-the-tooth, too: Any 14-year-old who saw, in theaters, the original Cruise-fronted 1996 Mission: Impossible movie is 41 now, maybe with 14-year-olds of her own. Her grandmother might wax nostalgic about the original Mission: Impossible TV series, which debuted in 1966.

And yet, the movies still feel fresh. Exhilarating. And Cruise—even at age 61—feels like a credible action star.

Dead Reckoning has its issues. People fight and die. Some sensuality writhes about in the background. Language can be harsh, and the moral conundrums in play here are glossed over in the movie’s rush to its next set piece. One should not mimic Ethan Hunt and rush headlong into this story, heedless of the dangers.

But let’s also give the movie props. While bullets fly and blades flash, the action isn’t particularly bloody. The movie’s sensuality is kept largely in the background. The language, overall, is milder than what we’d hear in a standard superhero flick.

Dead Reckoning Part One is intense, to be sure. But for many families, the film will be more navigable than a Tom Cruise stunt. Will Part Two follow suit? That’s something we’ll reckon with when the time comes.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Mission: Impossible Could Bring Back a Secretly Crucial Character

Here's how you make impossible missions seem plausible.

The longevity of the Mission: Impossible film series defies conventional wisdom about franchise-building, partly because when you look at all seven movies, it feels like several franchises at once. Yes, agents Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) appear in every single one of the movies, but, interestingly, they’re the only characters that share that distinction. In a way, since it launched in 1996 as a reimagining of the popular 1966 TV series of the same name, Mission: Impossible’s most consistent key ingredient is that it changes its premise and basic set-up about every two movies or so.

Right smack-dab in the middle of all of that are two stand-out installments, Mission: Impossible –Ghost Protocol (2011), and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015); films that have a more cohesive ensemble than some of the other entries. And, arguably, one key ingredient to those films is a deeply underrated Impossible character: William Brandt, as played by Jeremey Renner . This character hasn’t been in an M: I movie since Rogue Nation , but the actor has expressed interest in coming back. Here’s why he should, and why Renner’s Brandt was the secret glue holding this franchise together.

Speaking to Collider , Renner confirmed that he left the Impossible franchise under good conditions, and didn’t appear in Fallout or Dead Reckoning simply because he wanted to spend more time with his family. “It requires a lot of time away. It’s all in London,” Renner explained. “I had to go be a dad. It just wasn't gonna work out then.” But Renner’s kid is older, and the Mayor of Kingstown actor says he’s ready to return to the franchise at any time. “Maybe now that my daughter is older that could happen. I'd always jump into a Mission: Impossible anytime and back into Brandt,” he said .

While casual fans of Mission: Impossible might shrug their shoulders, the truth is, that having Brandt back for a future film in the franchise would be fantastic, for one simple reason — he grounds the franchise.

Mission: Impossible’s most realistic character?

Renner and Cruise in 2011.

While Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt defies believability basically on purpose, and Simon Pegg’s Benji Dunn is a nerdy, relatable everyman, what the Mission: Impossible movies often lack is something that all good spy flicks need — a boss. In the James Bond films , the figure of M (Bernard Lee, Judi Dench, et al.) serves this purpose; a person who tells the secret agents what to do and why.

Since 1996, the Mission: Impossible movies have had, in essence, no consistent authority figure like this. In fact, nearly half the movies seem to focus on the IMF agents, and Hunt specifically, going rogue, including the most recent film, Dead Reckoning. But what made Brandt so great in Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation is that he was basically a working stiff within the CIA and IMF, who became an ally, but also a kind of faux-administrator. Within those two movies, the bureaucracy behind the IMF helps to make the outlandish plans of the bad guys seem more realistic because the logistics of the good guys seem somewhat grounded.

As Brandt, Renner got to be a kick-ass action hero, but also a down-to-earth counterpoint to the kind of braggadocios energy of Ethan Hunt. All the Mission: Impossible movies have their charms, but the two that are the best have Brandt. He’s not the most interesting character in the entire series, but in terms of making these impossible adventures seem real, he’s sneakily crucial.

So if Renner does return as Brandt either for the eight M:I film, or beyond, then that hypothetical movie will automatically be better than it could have been otherwise. And if you think otherwise, the secretary will disavow all knowledge of you reading this article.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning is streaming on Paramount+.

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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

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Shockwave 44467 262 days ago

Asad Khan 289 298 days ago

Mission Impossible's Dead Reckoning Part One brings back the iconic Tom Cruise as the fearless Ethan Hunt, joined by an exceptional ensemble cast including Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and a host of other talented actors. While Tom Cruise's performance continues to be exemplary, the film's story falls short of its potential. It delves into a familiar topic that has been explored countless times before, leaving us yearning for something fresh and unpredictable to reignite the franchise's excitement.<br/>Amidst the film's shortcomings, one cannot overlook the brilliantly executed action scenes that do make an impact. While there are fewer action sequences compared to the previous instalment, the ones present leave us on the edge of our seats, especially the heart-pounding car chase that adds an adrenaline rush to the viewing experience.<br/>However, not all aspects of the film deliver on their promise. The scenes set in Venice, which held great promise, fail to reach their full potential and could have been more thrilling and engaging. Nevertheless, the film manages to retain its allure, thanks to the unwavering charisma of Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt.<br/>One of the film's most significant drawbacks is its excessive length, as it could have benefitted from tighter editing to maintain a more captivating pace and keep the audience fully invested in the unfolding events.<br/>In conclusion, Mission Impossible's Dead Reckoning Part One offers a mix of highs and lows. Tom Cruise's stellar performance and some standout action scenes add excitement and spectacle to the film, but the repetitive storyline and lack of fresh ideas dampen its overall impact. Despite its flaws, fans of the franchise will likely find enough enjoyment to appreciate the latest thrilling instalment.

RAJ KUMAR 38 321 days ago

Brilliant movie...Tom cruise is real action star

Santosh Kumar 63266 323 days ago

Perfect Entertainment

JJ 18613 323 days ago

Awesome movie!!!!

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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two

The 8th entry in the long running Mission Impossible franchise. The 8th entry in the long running Mission Impossible franchise. The 8th entry in the long running Mission Impossible franchise.

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• Trivia Production on the 7th and 8th installments were planned to be filmed back to back. This changed after the 7th completed filming, due to Tom Cruise having to leave to do promotion for the Top Gun sequel, " Top Gun: Maverick (2022) ".
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