Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
Mission: Impossible, Dead Reckoning Part One is playing in theaters at the time of writing. Rated PG-13. Common Sense says 13.
STORY: B+
Ethan Hunt and company have elected to accept yet another mission. This time, every country in the world is chasing after a missing key. Whoever finds this tiny chunk of metal will gain hold of the ultimate weapon, one that would forever change the world as we know it. That is, unless Ethan Hunt finds it first and destroys it. Ethan knows no one should have that much power.
While the stakes are as high as they possibly can be, the film also gives off “merry old chase” vibes. Who’s got the key? Where is the key? Is it in this hand? That pocket? Look what’s behind your ear! Hey, why can’t anyone hold onto this key for more than five seconds? The chase is never merrier than during a surprisingly amusing car chase through narrow Roman streets and alleyways.
The plot doesn’t always make sense. If that bothers you, I’d argue that the plot isn’t the point; the vibe is. The unique blend of existential dread and frivolity somehow works together to create a disarming and rather charming tale.
PEOPLE: A
Both thrillers and caper films (this movie is both) love to assign each of their characters a job. Think of the crew from Ocean’s Eleven or the squad in Armageddon. Mission: Impossible is no different. Benji is the wisecracking technology and engineering whiz. Luther is the stoic computer dude. Ethan is the ever-sprinting Swiss Army knife of special agent spectacle.
Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Tom Cruise slip back into their familiar roles with ease. If Mission: Impossible were a band, these three would be the drums, bass and rhythm guitar. They might get an occasional chance to wander outside their groove, but their ability to stay in their lane (or lanes, for Cruise) provides the rhythm that propels the Mission: Impossible franchise forward.
As usual, all three of them are wonderful. But the person who blows me away in this film is Hayley Atwell. Unlike the aforementioned familiar fellas, she gets to be and do and feel a million different things in this movie. She gets to be a cocky, world class pickpocket. A deeply frightened woman who’s gotten into something she may not be able to get out of. A savvy, streetwise bad-butt determined to survive at any cost. Every facet of her character feels genuine. It’s like she’s shredding a sick, two hour and forty five minute long guitar solo over the rest of her bandmates.
FILM NERD STUFF: A
Tom Cruise is 61. I’m not lobbying him to continue putting his body in mortal danger just to entertain me. But I’m sure not going to ask him to stop.
If my rear is sitting in a theater seat for a Mission Impossible flick, you can bet it’s because I’m ready for some eyeball-twisting stunts. Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One delivers. The motorcycle stunt (which you can see in the trailer, a stunt Cruise reportedly performed six times) knocked the wind out of the entire audience I watched the film with. What’s remarkable is that a stunt this epic isn’t a finale, or even the end of the sequence. The action keeps going and going, growing bigger, more dangerous, and more riveting from there.
The camera placement makes sure that we know it’s actually Tom Cruise launching himself off a cliff. We can see his lips flapping against his granite jaw as he free falls hundreds of feet to the ground. We can see his chiseled face land the parachute jump perfectly. We’re under no illusion that Tom Cruise isn’t the one throwing himself off a cliff. Logically, that should be a jolting reminder that the story we’re watching is only pretend. But in reality, it imfuses the story with an authenticity that paradoxically suspends our disbelief even further.
GHOST IN THE MACHINE (Elective Class): A-
The boogeyman only comes out at night (as is my understanding). Vampires, too. And werewolves, you only have to worry about them once a month when the moon is full. Not that big a deal, really.
It doesn’t have creepy eyes, horrific fangs, or razor sharp claws coiling and ready to tear the next person it finds asunder, but AI is by far the most terrifying monster I’ve ever seen in a movie. AI doesn’t only appear after midnight, when we check texts, or update our Insta. An evil AI (if such a thing is possible … crossing my fingers and wishing for a hard “no” after seeing this movie) never sleeps.
I sometimes wonder if the current obsession with AI taking over the world is our collective consciousness’s way of processing the fact that we’ve already allowed technology to take over our lives. It’s uncomfortable to admit to ourselves that we’ve not only invited but opened the door wide open to untold, potentially devastating dangers. So we project that discomfort onto a ghost made up of ones and zeros.
I’m not versed in technology well enough to comment on whether AI might destroy the world or not. I’ve no doubt there’s the potential for truly dire consequences. But this threat is unique, different from anything we’ve either experienced or seen as a species. Its unclear nature leaves us only able to imagine what might happen. Our imaginations conjure things far more frightening than anything we will ever see on a movie screen. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One effectively uses that idea to its squirmy, spine chilling advantage.
FINAL COMMENTS:
Accept this latest mission. Otherwise, I have no choice but to seriously doubt your movie selection skills. It will thrill you no matter where you watch it, but catch this one before it self-destructs its way off of the big screen.