Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
PARAMOUNTEver since the moviemaking business has taken a huge toll during the pandemic, one has to ask: “How do we bring people back to the theaters?” Hearing this question, Tom Cruise puts himself on a mission to find the answer and hopefully revitalize the industry – at least on the side of Hollywood – going as far as riding a motorcycle off a cliff or angrily chastising crew members for violating COVID-19 protocols. Whether one thinks his efforts are self-indulgent or life-saving, there is no denying that his dedication to the death-defying spectacle merits a certain level of respect. Plus, his insistence on releasing his films on the big screen paves the way forward to normalcy with the massive box office success of last year’s Top Gun Maverick.
However, keeping movie theaters alive is not the industry’s only problem. Lack of compensation and consideration towards fellow writers and actors are growing concerns within Hollywood. Residuals to the actors and writers from streaming services are staggeringly inadequate. And most of all, studio executives seek to exploit artificial intelligence as a tool to replace actors and writers by generating lifeless CG doubles and generic scripts, respectively.
Now, it is difficult not to mention all of this history about the film’s production and the current climate of the Western film industry when Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning’s plot centers around Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team racing against time to shut down an artificial intelligence, the Entity, that appears to have gained both sentience and complete rule over the digital world. As the AI begins wreaking havoc on secret Russian submarines, our heroes not only have this ticking, “thinking-computer” timebomb to defuse, but also have to evade two enemy parties: agents of powerful world leaders who seek a way to control it and Hunt’s old foe, Gabriel (Esai Morales), who sees the wisdom in its seemingly infallible precognition and does anything to obey its will.
In its whopping 163-minute runtime, M:I — Dead Reckoning Part One constantly shifts in between two gears: a wild goose chase of an action film and an exposition-heavy espionage thriller. The film is at its best when the former takes centerstage. Most of the action sequences provoke enough jolts and laughs from all the physicality and good-natured humor peppered throughout. Maintaining all the chases and fisticuffs fresh and exciting is no easy feat for Cruise and McQuarrie, especially in a long-running franchise that boasts some of American cinema’s most heart-racing spectacles ever featured. While nowhere near the daring heights of Ghost Protocol and Fallout, what craftsmanship they have displayed for this newest installment is still entertaining and well-realized attempts. These include the climactic train sequence that goes from cliff-diving to train-climbing and a lengthy car chase through Paris that humorously involves handcuffs, a Fiat, and a delightful Pom Klementiff manically driving a massive Hummer through hundreds of motorcycles.
However, for every moment of excitement and riveting decision, there is also a counterpart as an exchange. As it navigates through mountain terrain, the film has to switch faces momentarily and dedicate some time to explaining and discussing the nature of the antagonists. As a result, it crumbles under the weight of handling a tad too many characters and an overcomplicated plot that simply revolves around characters pursuing each other to get their hands on a MacGuffin.
This is not to say that this franchise should stray away from focusing on its characters, and only deliver the explosive goods. In fact, the film’s most underappreciated moments involve Hunt’s team acting as a family of misfits amid all the espionage. There is an emotional thread interweaving in the chemistry of the cast throughout the franchise’s run, and it has grown crystal clear ever since Fallout. Because of it, the film’s high-stakes conflicts are strongly felt when the heroes find themselves in a dilemma where they have to reflect on the bond and history they share.
However, it’s difficult to stay invested in the heavy amounts of exposition when most of the new characters delivering them remain as cold enigmas. Most of the sketchy operatives and agents including the film’s big bad, Gabriel, are not as fleshed out as Ethan Hunt and his team. And even now, both the audience and the heroes are still left in the dark about the Entity itself, even if the latter remains an interesting adversary that allows the film to comment on the dangers of AI when created and handled by the wrong hands.
The only exception to this criticism of enigmas is Hayley Atwell, who becomes a fully-fledged character by the end of the film as the sassy and slippery pickpocketer named Grace. Her character’s journey throughout Part One brings most of the heart and joy into the film, developing her into a likable and charismatic addition to the core cast. Her chemistry with Cruise is magnetic, with banters between them scattered throughout the set-pieces. And even when the lead star is not around, the film grants Atwell moments to shine from both comedic and dramatic fronts as she evolves from a lone, distrustful thief to a newly established heroine who has finally found the company and purpose she unknowingly desires.
But McQuarrie’s most baffling mistake in the characterization department is the treatment of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who is awfully mishandled in the film. For a role that has proven herself to be a capable match for Cruise since her conception, it comes as a shock that he does not give Ferguson the compelling material that the character deserves. Instead, her trajectory in the film is one that’s filled with unwise and sappy misdirections designed to provoke distress amongst the viewers, but they only dilute the heroine’s depth and role in the process.
While Cruise and McQuarrie’s attempts to raise the stakes and the scale do not always work, and the material is overstuffed for its own good, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is still a thrill ride that will satisfy the action aficionados and the fans of the franchise. The ensemble may be crowded, but the couple of new additions Atwell and Klementiff do impress and earn their spot along with the rest of the old gang. And despite the narrative missteps and uneven pacing, McQuarrie’s eye for action and Cruise’s penchant for pushing his limits are enough to save the day for now. Bring on Part Two.
