Where to watch Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
2 Stars
Ethan Hunt and his IMF team must track down a dangerous weapon before it falls into the wrong hands.
The Mission: Impossible films have steadily increased the stakes placed on their hero, Ethan Hunt, and in the latest entry, M:I: Dead Reckoning Part One, he takes on AI. This precedent but abstract villain is just one of the miscalculations made by writer/director Christopher McQuarrie in delivering the seventh feature in a series that dates back to the summer of 1996. The ever-hardworking Tom Cruise, still the premiere daredevil of modern cinema, once again gives the film every ounce of his focus and energy; he’s the best thing in this bloated sequel.
The Byzantine screenplay does work in new characters; Hayley Atwell is a nice addition to the fold; while also bringing back legacy players, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg, and familiar faces from earlier movies; Kittridge is always fun when he gets shit on, but the story isn’t as compelling as in the previous entries of the series. What is Mission: Impossible without the spectacular stunts? This one features another jaw-dropping feat by Cruise and his first-rate crew and specialists, although that fantastic moment comes 130 minutes into the film’s 164-minute running time.
M: I-Dead Reckoning Part One is as complicated narratively as the 1996 original movie. The first Mission: Impossible movie, you may recall, was largely criticized for its cold veneer and impenetrable storyline. Dead Reckoning is a dense film with a lot of exposition, technically skilled but largely dull set pieces, and a curious air of arrogance in that it tests the limits of the audience’s patience with the material. M: I-7 is an inauspicious beginning to the heavily advertised two-part series finale.
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Written by: Bruce Geller, Christopher McQuarrie, Erik Jendresen
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames