Rating of
3/4
Another solid entry in the series
Matthew Brady - wrote on 12/31/23
"We live and die in the shadows, for those we hold close, and for those we never meet."
If you were following the production of Dead Reckoning, then you know the mission to finish the film was beyond hellish. The entire filming was struck with bad luck. If not, don’t worry - I will fill you in. If you already know or don’t care - skip the next paragraph.
So, this movie and The Batman were hit the hardest during filming due to the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. The original plan was to shoot Parts 1 & 2 back to back, but with delays messing up the filming schedule and the budget ballooning to $291 million, making it the most expensive MI film to date. Nicholas Hoult was initially cast as the villain but had to drop out due to his commitments with the TV show The Great. So many crew members contracted COVID-19 that production had to stop for weeks until it eventually started again. Of course, this led to the famous audio rant from Mr. Cruise himself, who yelled at two crew members for not following the rules. Whether you think he was in the right or wrong, it does, however, give us an idea of how stressful it was trying to make a blockbuster during a global pandemic. With the film set in different locations worldwide and the long filming hours, self-isolating during those long months must have been extra tiring.
But in the end, it was all worth it.
It's 2 hours and 43 minutes long, yet you never feel it. It's got solid pacing - the mark of a good movie. It follows the same formula as the previous films, where a mission goes wrong, and our MI crew must fight all odds to stop a world-ending event, where some people still don't trust Ethan Hunt for whatever reason, despite being right every single time in the past. And yet, it's so entertaining to watch.
Director Christopher McQuarrie is the saviour of this franchise, as every entry feels fresh, exciting, and cinematic. McQuarrie understands cinema, the visual language, and the slick rhythm of pace and flow.
While the action did not blow me away like Fallout, it's still fantastic. The last action scene involves train carriages one by one falling off a destroyed bridge. It was the most thrilling thing I have seen. The Rome Chase scene had plenty of thrills and comedy to go around. Funny enough, Fast X filmed a chase scene in the same area in Rome, but the comparison between the two movies is night and day. Fast X looked phony with the overuse of CGI, and it was not thrilling enough. Dead Reckoning, on the other hand, was done more practically and looked so much better. It made better use of the area for the action set pieces. Another comparison is that these two action franchises have been going on for a while now, but one is getting better with each installment while the other is getting dumber.
How about the stunt of Cruise throwing himself and his motorbike off a cliff, which the trailers showed to death in the marketing, and it still managed to take my breath away when I saw it in IMAX; not many modern movies do that. Movies like this remind us why we go to the cinema. For the thrill, for the experience.
I cared about the MI crew. In Dead Reckoning - there is room for emotional depth and always an enjoyable collaboration.
A newcomer to the series, Hayley Atwell, is a standout and gave an excellent performance. The funny thing is, she isn't a 20-something newcomer to the film scene or anything like that, as she has already starred in big movies before this, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And yet, this feels like a breakout role. Those movies did her dirty.
Pom Klementieff is another newcomer to the series, as the silent but deadly henchman. Most of her character is a mystery but intriguing screen presence.
With the main threat being AI, it never felt timelier than ever, even though the script was finished before all the AI mess started to take effect. What is even more perfect for the film's message is that this came out around the Writers and Actors strike, with one of the reasons the strike happened was that movie studios are pushing AI to take over people's jobs. This movie feels like a big middle finger to AI and higher-ups using it.
Director Christopher McQuarrie's love for cinema, style, mixture of genres, stunt work, language, and flow with pacing has benefited this series ever since he took over this franchise. The action was exciting, and the score was fantastic. It has been nearly 30 years since this franchise started, and it keeps improving.
I do have issues with the film. I admire the real stunt work from behind the scenes, but the use of CGI overshadows the realness of the stunt work, and it’s easy to think most of it was on a computer. As I said earlier, it’s nowhere near as great as Fallout, as I thought the action scenes and pacing to be better.
Other than that, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is a solid entry in one of the best action franchises.
