Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Review Part 1: When Self-Awareness Goes Wrong

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 Being over the years due to a global pandemic only to eventually hit theaters at a time when audiences are becoming more attuned to the prevalence of AI tools does much to make the film feel eerily prescient – not about the state of the technology itself but the degree to which people have in mind. In his latest appearance as Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise delivers the kind of seasoned, engaging and over-the-top performance in the seventh installment of an action franchise about an aging super-spy whose team is made up of longtime allies. in getting years.

But for all of Cruz’s pitch-perfect perfection as stunt-oriented action hero, director Christopher McQuarrie has a keen eye for crafting amazing action combos that truly feel like it would be impossible for them to survive, Dead reckoning part one He can’t stop stumbling in his own way with an over-reliance on self-referential jokes, and pre-chewed cliches.

Set some time after events Mission: Impossible – FalloutAnd Dead reckoning part one It tells the meandering and often somewhat twisted story of how Impossible Mission Force operative Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team of fellow agents are tasked with saving the world from a sentient Machiavellian AI with the power to unleash the next series of worlds. wars. Throughout the movie, no one seems to fully understand what an “entity” is – dead reckoningA very unimaginative name for his amorphous, faceless, mostly digital opponent – he or what he was originally meant to be used for. But after a mysterious accident releases the program into the wild along with the two halves of a physical key necessary to control it or destroy it, a covert international arms race kicks off with multiple world powers – including the United States – vying for their hands in hopes of shaping the future in their favour.

the Mission: Impossible Movies have always prioritized suspense, intrigue, and action before telling stories that make a lot of sense. but dead reckoning He spends a lot of time trying (and often failing) to explain things clearly – like what the entity is and how it’s unlike anything Ethan, Elsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) have ever encountered. Before — that the movie often feels firmly entrenched in parody territory.

Aside from Cruise, who gives a surprisingly contemplative and restrained performance as Hunt – who never says anything about feeling like a 59-year-old portrayed by a 62-year-old but still feels appropriately old – pretty much everyone Another in the movie is curiously stuck in a higher, more enthusiastic action-movie acting machine that tends to feel empty. This becomes particularly evident in the film’s many dramatic overdub sequences, where the over-the-shoulder looks are so sharply choreographed and executed that it’s easy to imagine the actors practicing them while listening to the most melodramatic music possible.

But while there are plenty of instances where the atmosphere deviates a bit, there are also a few moments built around new characters like Hayley Atwell’s Grace and Pom Klementieff that stand out because of how well the cast can flatter rather than round. Cruise energy. Throughout the movie, it’s apparent that while Paramount may have long-term plans for the biggest Mission: Impossible franchise, Ethan Hunt won’t always be the centerpiece, and one of the things that’s most impressive about it dead reckoning is how well she can telegraph that a changing of the guard is on its way without feeling like a hard goodbye for Cruise.

Most impressive, of course, are the movie’s action sequences — or at least, they would have been if it weren’t for the way they are dead reckoningThe ad campaign featured (and kinda spoiled) many of the more inspiring set pieces that captured Ethan and co. around the world. the same way that dead reckoningThe film’s delay ended up bringing its focus on artificial intelligence in sync with the current news cycle, and the film premiered just two weeks later X is fast — which also featured a cartoonish car chase through a bustling Italian city — creates an unfortunate sense of deja vu that’s amplified by its many nostalgic theatrics.

For all the essential work you lay down for the future of the franchise, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 (Maybe it’s true) He posits that it can play to its core audience by rehashing tunes from previous films and jazzing them up with a good stream of meta-humor meant to make you feel the joke about the whole thing. But while this approach may work for people who’ve been faithfully following the adventures of Ethan Hunt for the past 27 years, it can be a hard sell on newcomers – especially given that next year’s only half the story. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two It’s supposed to end.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 Also stars Esai Morales, Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny, Frederick Schmidt, Greg Tarzan Davis, and Shea Whigham. The movie will hit theaters on July 12.