Movie Review: 'Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1'

Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 (2023)

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Written by Christopher McQuarrie, Erik Jendresen

Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Esai Morales, Cary Elwes, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Henry Czerny

Release Date July 12th, 2023

Published July 13th, 2023

I'd never heard the term Dead Reckoning before. In the opening minutes of the new Mission Impossible franchise entry, titled Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1, they explain the term in the most efficient fashion and it dawns on you just what a perfect title this is for this adventure. It's a little thing, but I absolutely love that level of attention to detail and I appreciated that the movie gave us this information not with a windy info dump but with an offhand comment that explains the context of the term. On a colloquial level, it very simply means to navigate based on limited information on your own location.

That's a perfect metaphor for where the Impossible Mission Force, headed up by Tom Cruise's super-spy, Ethan Hunt, find themselves. They are navigating a world saving adventure plot with very little knowledge of where they are going next. Every little twist and turn of the plot, every development surrounding the McGuffin, is delivered with precision and in a way that only gives us and these wonderful characters, just enough info to take us the next step. That the McGuffin happens to be a literal Key is quite a fun and clever detail that, again, I absolutely love.

Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning opens on a Russian Submarine navigating back to Russia after a very successful mission. This mission involved fooling the entire world's worth of submarines and military intelligence. The sub commander explains that his new sub was able to get within mere meters of the most advanced submarines and military ports in the world, completely undetected. It's a game changing piece of technology that would give Russia a grave advantage in any world conflict. I say that it would, if this sub didn't soon wind up at the bottom of the ocean.

How it got there is the world altering mystery at the heart of Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1. Ethan Hunt has been given the mission of recovering to halves of a very special key. It's a key that unlocks control of a world altering A.I that may itself be the villain of this movie. With his newly reunited team, including Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa, Simon Pegg as Benji, and Ving Rhames as Luther, Cruise's Ethan Hunt must recover a key but he doesn't know what this key unlocks or where the lock actually is.

Also playing a key role in this plot is a globe trotting thief named Grace (Hayley Atwell). Grace has been hired to steal the key on behalf of an unknown interested party. What she doesn't know is that every move she makes may have already been planned not by her new employer, but by another shady figure named Gabriel (Esai Morales). Gabriel has a long and dangerous history with Ethan Hunt and he plans to use Grace and Ethan's IMF team to get to Ethan once again, while using everyone to get him to wherever the lock for that key is located.

The plot mechanics are a well oiled machine that perfectly provide the groundwork for some of the most exciting and intricately paced action scenes in any modern action movie. Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 is sooooo much fun. The action scenes are impeccably staged, often breathtaking in their intricate execution. But, what caught me off guard and made me love this movie even more is the room that is left for humor. The film has a terrific sense of humor with a couple of really great tension breaking laughs over the absurd circumstances our heroes find themselves in.

Christopher McQuarrie is developing into, arguably, the best action director working today. The precise staging, the taut editing, the clever stories developing within each intricate bit of spy play, it's all so much fun. It's both easy to access for regular audiences and lovingly detailed for people like me who like making mental notes and following series lore. You might expect dense amounts of lore but truly, the efficiency of the storytelling in Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 rewards any kind of audience whether you are turning off your brain for adventure or watching closely for mental posterity.

I have enjoyed all of the Mission Impossible franchise and this entry is yet another top notch effort. The spectacular action, intricate but not inaccessible plot twists, the surprising laughs, this movie is the whole package. This is what we go to Summer movies for. This movie is thrilling, exhilarating, and wildly entertaining. Tom Cruise is on an absolute roll with this and Top Gun Maverick returning him to his perch as the most bankable and simply best movie star working today. I feel weird fawning over a movie this much, but I had such a great time at Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 that I just cannot help myself.

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