DAVID DUNN

Your next mission, should you choose to accept…

How on Earth is a franchise like Mission Impossible still going strong? For the past 27 years, there’s been one Mission Impossible film released after another, each one defying, well, impossible odds and outdoing their last feat in spectacular fashion. By all accounts, the seventh film in the series should feel tired, exhausted, and redundant, but it doesn’t. Not only is the Mission Impossible franchise not slowing down — if anything, it’s picking up speed, much like Tom Cruise’s infamous running.

The first of yet another two-parter, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning follows Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) on another global mission where he has to save the world yet again. But this time, the big threat isn’t deadly viruses, nuclear warheads, or terrorist organizations. Instead, he’s pursuing a lethal A.I. called “The Entity,” which becomes sentient and set out to dismantle the world governments. There’s only one thing that can control it, and it’s a key broken up into two halves. Now teaming up with old allies in Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), and Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), Ethan and his squad need to race against time to find the key and destroy all traces of the Entity before it’s too late.

If this premise sounds similar to previous Mission Impossible movies, that’s because it is. Whatever you think about Mission Impossible, you at least know what to expect from them. You expect a high-stakes adventure filled with espionage, intrigue, and excitement. You expect to hear Lalo Schifrin’s iconic theme that gets your blood pumping. You expect the IMF’s many nifty gadgets to come in handy whenever Ethan gets into a pinch, which sufficed to say, is often. You expect some exhilarating fight and chase sequences that are no doubt set up so Cruise can maintain his physique. And you expect some insane stunts for Cruise to take on that have you boggle your mind and exasperatingly yell out “What on Earth were you thinking???”

All of the series’ trademarks from previous installments are here too, so Mission Impossible fans should not go into the first part of Dead Reckoning expecting it to break new ground. The good news is that it doesn’t have to. Like any other good movie, Dead Reckoning Part One understands what it is and what it isn’t and how to elicit the best reactions from its audience. One of my favorite sequences from this movie wasn’t a fight scene, but rather a chase sequence involving Ethan driving a yellow Fiat 500. Seeing him drive around in this squawky little thing while giant armored cars were chasing him around Rome was way too funny and entertaining. It was like watching a golf cart trying to evade a tank.

But the film isn’t just entertaining — it also carries with it a sinister tone that feels edgy, creepy, and a little unsettling. It’s true that stories involving A.I. are almost as tiresome as spy and action movies are, but the topic is incredibly relevant today — especially with the SAG-AFTRA strike occurring mere days before this movie’s premiere. I find it interesting that even though the Entity rarely speaks in the movie, its presence is felt throughout, and its threat looms over Ethan and his team like a dark shadow that’s about to consume them. I really, really like Dead Reckoning’s exploration of this concept, and more than anything else, I’m looking forward to seeing how writer-director Christopher McQuarrie builds upon this idea in the next movie.

I also really liked Hayley Atwell’s addition to the film. Ethan has many female accomplices, some damsels in distress like Ethan’s ex-wife Julia, while others are cunning and capable like Ilsa. Hayley teeters the line between both of those. A highly-skilled and crafty thief, Hayley is dropped into this plot like a rat trapped in a maze, and she’s just trying to get out of it before the traps inside of it kill her. She adds a welcome dynamic to this movie because she doesn’t really come from the world of international espionage — she just gets roped into it because she’s after the same thing everyone else is. Her unpredictable nature nicely contrasts with the film’s formula and offers up some surprising predicaments that Ethan has to get out of just because he’s after her.

And I really can’t overstate just how insane the stunt work in this movie really is. I don’t know how Cruise does it. I genuinely don’t. It was just two movies ago where he held onto a plane while taking off, while the last film had him and Henry Cavill base jumping in real time. Dead Reckoning Part One had him (and I’m not kidding when I say this) ride a motorcycle off of a mountain — and it feels as intense and heart-racing as it sounds. My entire theater was dead silent when that moment happened. I think I heard one person gasping, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it was my own.

Everything Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One does, it does really well, from the stunt work to the fights to the action choreography to the editing all the way down to the music. It is a technical and visual marvel for sure. What prevents it from being truly top-tier is its writing, which unfortunately begins to unravel by the third act. For one thing, there was a character death near the climax that was completely uncalled for and infuriated me to the point where I actually walked out of the theater. There were also a couple of IMF agents chasing Ethan throughout the picture that served no point except for being yet another thing for Ethan to run away from, and he’s already got more than enough to deal with for the rest of the movie.

But the worst transgression by far lies in the film’s villain named Gabriel (Esai Morales). Simply put, he was forgettable, another generic run-of-the-mill bad guy for Ethan to fight just because the script calls for it. Mind you, I don’t think Esai himself was bad in the role — he frankly did the most he could with it.

The problem is we don’t know enough about Gabriel. He supposedly has some deep tie with Ethan’s past and was allegedly responsible for some loss he experienced, but the movie never tells us or explains what happened. All it does is show a couple of quick flashback sequences, then moves on as if we got the full picture when we barely even got a good glimpse at it. Other great Mission Impossible villains such as Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jon Voight are effective menaces because their relationship with Ethan is set up very well and we clearly understand their motivations. Neither Gabriel’s past nor his motivations are explained very well in Dead Reckoning Part One. In terms of threats, the Entity he serves is far more intimidating than he ever was.

All in all, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is a solid setup for its eventual two-parter and a welcome entry to all of the death-defying stunts that Ethan Hunt pulls off. It isn’t as thrilling, emotional, and heart-racing as Fallout was, but it’s reliable popcorn entertainment that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Here’s one mission you should choose to accept.