Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

The latest Mission: Impossible film is a part one of two story but finishes in a satisfying way rather than annoying and you won't feel hard done by.

It's another great big screen action film that we've come to expect. It feels huge the whole time however I must say I while the set pieces were stellar, the hand to hand combat scenes were not great and a big step down from the last film (Fallout).

Thebeginning is slow with a lot of expository being dumped (more than you'd usually see) but once it gets going it is pretty nonstop.

This is a good chapter and Haley Atwell shines but it is nowhere near my favorite of the series.

7/10

Mi rankings

Mi6 Fallout Mi3 Mi4 Ghost Protocol Mission: Impossible Mi4 Rogue Nation Mi7 Dead Reckoning part one.

Remember that classic MI scene where they broke in at CIA, and Cruise was hanging from the ceiling using wires? It's not a huge setpiece, but that scene is a nailbiting example of ingenious problem solving.

In 'Dead Reckoning' there's none of that. Here it's keys changing hands every 10 minutes that is suppose to pass as suspense. And of course the only true selling point: the stunts performed by Tom Cruise.

But I want and expect more than that.

A large part of the film is devoted to people sitting or standing in a room, explaining what the plot is. Endless talking and explaining. We are told in several scenes the same information we just heard. Worst one is Benji, who is merely there to repeat things for someone in the cast, to make sure everyone in the audience knows what is going on. That is sloppy writing. One of the biggest no-no's as a screenwriter is resolving to "so what you are saying is, that..." info sharing. Benji does this all the time. And he is as incompetent as usual. And he is supposed to be a part of a small and unique team that is saving the world? Really?

I hope MI:8 isn't just another Tom Cruise stunt reel where it looks like they make the story up as the go along, as long as all marks are checked in the end (running, face swapping, dealing with heights etc), and where character development takes a backseat. Bigger is not always better. And the action ALWAYS has to serve the story, not the other way around.

The arms race of big-budget action movies is on full display in this Tom Cruise production (yes, he gets a possessive credit for the movie in the opening credits, which don't show up on screen until 28 minutes into the overlong film). I found the derring-do scenes exciting to watch but was not thrilled by the pointlessness in toto.

Of course, an action movie requires action, though even here there are several intrinsically dull and static scenes of the actors carefully and deliberately reciting the dialogue exposition establishing the basic details of an AI-themed end of the world (unless Cruise can save the day) scenario. Especially with the feature climaxing on a train, I would vastly prefer a less pretentious, suspense/thriller with more small-scale issues, as in the classic "The Narrow Margin" by Richard Fleischer or its remake by Peter Hyams.

I had trouble recognizing Hayley Atwell, the dexterous leading lady, who I had admired in more full-figured (even her face is different) form in "The Duchess" and "Agent Carter". The more emotional scenes between friends and dire enemies are the highlight, as all of Tom's running, flying, biking and fighting are merely a given. Outdoing everyone else's stunts and one's own time after time is a pointless exercise.

The lavish Italian party segment only reminded me of a better (and more visceral) sequence from one of the John Wick movies, and the hokey final perils on the falling train cars was merely the same kind of showing off that made the recent "Uncharted" film so silly.

Around 1970 (after "Easy Rider' was such a hit) movie budgets were capped and the resulting films were all the better for it. If the comic-strip movies were reduced to Saturday matinee level and scale, and the ridiculous spending in the hundreds of millions ceased, I think overall storytelling and quality films could make a comeback.

4 considerations for those with high expectations and who want to avoid severe disappointment:

1 THE NEW ACTORS LACK CHARISMA

I NEED a vicious bad guy, to really pull me into the thrill of the moviie, but none of that! There isnt even one bad guy in particular, because there are now numerous supposedly "bad" guys / girls and they all FAIL to impress me.

Haley Atwell is not my cup of tea either. She unfortunately does get a lot of screentime.

2 IT LASTS TOO LONG

There is WAY too much superfluous (explanatory) talk that really slows down this movie. It lasts WAY too long because of it ( 2hours and 43 minutes). Half an hour could have been easily cut out of it!

I started looking at my watch, halfway through...and I got BORED. There I said it. I say it again, I got blipping bored. That's the last thing I want to experience during an action movie!

3 THE STUNTS DONT LOOK REAL

There is such a heavy layer of ADDED CGI effects, that the REAL stunts actually stop looking real at all. The real stunts look WAY more impressive in the behind the scenes footage, than they do in the actual movie.

4 THE JOKES FALL FLAT

Simon Pegg looks like a really old man now and he somehow has lost his usual wit and charm, which were a delight in the earlier MI movies. Without a witty Simon Pegg, GONE are the jokes as well. I didnt laugh out loud once. I smirked a few times...

This MI movie is definitely one of the worst editions, if not the very worst, because it BORED the heck out of me. THAT has never happened to me before watching a MI movie!

Despite this disappointing conclusion I still wanna thank you for reading my 2001 th review on Imdb.

Woeful script, weak story, shoddy pacing and lengthy exposition reveals how badly COVID hit this production. How the franchise can go from the near perfect cinematic heights of 'Fallout' to this, is so disappointing. Hayley Atwell shines, but even Cruise fails to rescue it. Simon Pegg with no funny lines.. how is that possible? I mean, by action movie standards it's ahead of most, but this isn't any action franchise therefore the disappointment hits hard. I think McQ and Cruise need to rewatch Fallout before they finish up on Part 2. One other thing, having read the bulk of reviews, there are some seriously overrated journalists out there, quite a lot of them by the looks of it. Real cinema fans want rate this one above a 6 or 7, I'd understand if it were lower too.