Rating of
3.5/4
Choose to Accept This
Chris Kavan - wrote on 07/16/23
Tom Cruise isn't slowing down and that's good news for the Mission: Impossible series as Dead Reckoning proves to be the action icing on your summer movie cake. A rogue AI threatens the planet and Kittridge (Henry Czerny - reprising his role all the way back from the OG Mission: Impossible) knows there's only one man who can find the fancy two-part key that holds humanity's future: Ethan Hunt.
The film does frame AI in a decidedly believable way - controlling the truth. In the fun meeting between America's top intelligence officials, they even say they ignored the threat when it was just playing around in social media with fake news - because it helped their agenda. But, of course, now that this rogue program dubbed The Entity has infiltrated things like NASA, the stock market, global banks and the military - it presents a bigger problem - or a golden ticket to whoever can control it. Of course our government wants to take over the world by using this AI to present their version of the truth - and I have to say it doesn't seem that far off from where we seem to be heading.
But that's the serious side of things. We're here to see Cruise ramp a motorcycle off the side of a mountain or race around the streets in a bright yellow Fiat 500 or scale a few falling train cars before eminent death. And he's not alone as series vets Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson are along for this ride. We also get to catch up with The White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) - still icy cold as always. New faces include Hayley Atwell as Grace, a thief with a long rap sheet who finds herself caught in the AI web, Esai Morales as someone from Ethan's past - and The Entity's willing partner and Pom Klementieff as Paris, a mostly silent - but very deadly - gun for hire.
What has made the Mission: Impossible series so enjoyable is back and on full display here: big stakes, big action scenes and enough humor to grease the wheels. Despite being a Part One, it even manages to end the right way - and not on a cheesy cliffhanger. The biggest thing keeping this from being a perfect action film is the length - at nearly three hours, not even great action can keep it from dragging in places. It can't quite pull off the film's length flawlessly. But I do like the fact they're not afraid to sacrifice a character or two along the way.
While it doesn't have the grit of the John Wick films - popcorn action can be just as enjoyable. If you've been a fan of the Mission: Impossible series up to this point, Dead Reckoning looks to be a great continuation and I'm looking forward to see how it all ends.
