If you are able to see “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One” in an IMAX theater, you should seize the opportunity. A franchise that always seeks to outdo itself in its action sequences does so once again with a climactic ending that is truly incredible to watch. An interesting premise and exotic locations add spice to this adventure picture.
Beginning under the Bering Sea, the Russian submarine Sevastopol is testing out a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) system. It has allowed them to travel far without being detected.
Suddenly another sub appears on their radar. When it begins to threaten their vessel with torpedoes, they fire back. However, the blip turns out not to have been real. The Russian weapons track back to the sub and destroy it.
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is dealing with a wannabe MI recruit when he receives a typical MI self-destructing message about going to the Arabian desert to get a mysterious object. Once there, he follows another group of raiders to a remote location.
He is sighted and fired upon but then someone in the facility fires at Ethan’s attackers. It turns out that Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) is hidden within the structure. She kills the raiders right and left as a major sandstorm descends upon all of them. By the time everyone else is dead and Ethan finds her, she also appears to have perished.
Back in the U.S., a meeting of the Community, a group of intelligence leaders. is discussing the Entity, the AI on the Russian sub which has become self-aware. It is sending feelers into all of the most secure computer networks. Yet it has not done anything to any of the systems.
There is a key, composed of two parts that when combined activate it, that can control the AI. The lead who appears to have been in the Arabian desert is dead and no sight of the key which it is believed that she had part of has been tracked down.
Suddenly an aide to Director Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) hands him a gas mask. A green fog overtakes the group and knocks them out. Ethan rips off his disguise as the aide to confront Kittridge about what is going on.
Ethan decides that no one should have the key and goes rogue trying to locate it. His first stop is the Abu Dhabi airport to track down a potential buyer of the key. There he is joined by his two helpers, Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg). Luther is trying to use digital resources not hacked or accessible to the Entity to do his computer magic.
In the airport Ethan encounters pickpocket Grace (Hayley Atwell), who knows more about the key and its buyer than she lets on at first. They engage in meet-cute banter while trying to outwit and out-steal one another.
Luther detects a possible nuclear device in a suitcase. Benji tracks it down and deciphers a series of coded messages to deactivate it.
The search for the buyer will lead the MI team, soon joined by Ilsa, to first Rome and then Venice. Soon Gabriel (Esai Morales) and the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) are in play. Who will get the key and control the Entity?
The MI franchise always has emphasized action over intrigue. But in this installment we have a believable and frightening premise, viz. that an AI will become sentient and put humanity at risk. Certainly this theme of threat from man-made mechanical creations goes back a long way in cinema. But we are finally reaching the point in human history where the threat is becoming palpably real.
It is true that so far the Entity, other than destroying a submarine, has not done much yet. But the advantage of a cliffhanger is that we have more plot to follow. Already it has calculated for Gabriel what the odds of certain outcomes are and what course of action is the most prudent one to take.
Like most MI films, this one is a series of set-pieces in which major action, usually in the form of a pursuit over a significant amount of terrain whether urban or rural, occurs. The trend continues here in such exotic locations as under the Bering Sea, Rome and Venice.
The car chase in Rome merits mentioning as it is not a spoiler and occurs relatively early in the film, which runs for a staggering two hours and 43 minutes. In publicity materials for the movie, you can see that much of it is really Tom Cruise driving. Great cinematography and editing make this pursuit edge-of-your-seat thrilling.
MI’s reliance on physical effects in this day and age of CGI effects is noteworthy. Tom Cruise actually speed-flies and rides a motorcycle (with a parachute on his back) off a cliff. It is amazing that he can achieve all of these feats and remain uninjured.
The climax of the picture is one which I will not discuss since it is a spoiler. Suffice it to say that it alone is worth the price of admission.
As far as the acting goes, Ferguson’s performance as Ilsa is worth mentioning. She is completely credible as an operative. She dominates scenes in which she appears, even when she is only fighting.
Esai Morales as Gabriel is the ultimate suave villain. His amorality and willingness to destroy the world, but not without causing massive suffering, is hypnotically evil. He is a worthy nemesis.
Another highlight is the focus on the price Ethan has paid for being in MI. Is it really the case that anyone who gets close to him dies? There is a sense that he has been in MI too long and is having second thoughts about the direction of his life arc.
The film is inordinately long. After two hours, I began wondering if any given scene would be the stopping point. To be fair, the ending one was excellently chosen. But in a multi-part series, why not have several shorter films that are not as long?
But despite its length, this is a picture that should be seen on IMAX. Suitable for teens, I give it four and a half out of five stars.
In Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) 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 fate of the world 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 is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.
Cast: 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
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
Written by Christopher McQuarrie & Erik Jendresen
Based on the Television Series Created by Bruce Geller
With "Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part One", the franchise still excites
Summary
Another highlight is the focus on the price Ethan has paid for being in MI. Is it really the case that anyone who gets close to him dies? There is a sense that he has been in MI too long and is having second thoughts about the direction of his life arc.
The film is inordinately long. After two hours, I began wondering if any given scene would be the stopping point. To be fair, the ending one was excellently chosen. But in a multi-part series, why not have several shorter films that are not as long?
But despite its length, this is a picture that should be seen on IMAX.
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