Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 Review: A super-charged thriller that helps the spy series ‘Cruise’ to new heights

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 released in India on July 12

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1
Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, Cary Elwes, Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Rating: 3.5/5

This seventh entry of the long-running, super-successful action-spy-thriller franchise, written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, loosely based on the television series created by Bruce Geller, has Ethan Hunt (a 60-plus Cruise) and his IMF team trying to track down a dangerous weapon (an AI-linked two-part cruciform Key), before it falls into the wrong hands. The weight of the world's (India receives a mention too) future is on Hunt's shoulders. Studded with thrillingly realised death-defying action set pieces and flashy spectacle, the screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen, which reworks crucial elements from ‘JAG', ‘Citadel', ‘Fast X', James Bond movies, and many other spy thriller series, raises the wholesome participation of Cruise to mythic levels.

IMF Agent Ethan Hunt and his trusted associates, Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) embark on a new mission aka an artificial intelligence technology called "The Entity," which has the power to distort the truth via digital warfare, that threatens the future of human civilization.

An over-extended car chase sequence, the heart-stopping adrenaline-gushing, mind-boggling action-centered episode on a running train, and many more, have Ethan trying to evade multiple threats. A shifty Grace (Hayley Atwell) ditches Ethan many times over, Ilsa (Rebecca Fergusson) returns for her swan song, and Alanna Mitsopolis, aka The White Widow (Vanessa Kirby), gets to play a crucial role in augmenting the ensuing mayhem.

The Entity as an antagonist, though propounding monumental stakes, is not a very strong one. The other assembled villains including an action-bound Gabriel (Esai Morales), are not close to intimidating enough. The film's 163-minute runtime spends a lot of time trying to explain away the significance of a digital war through AI and this exposition feels all too flaky to be effective. The pursuit of the key is interesting because it involves superbly structured and shot, bombastic set-pieces that involve cat-and-mouse games. Immersive camerawork, slick editing, familiar signature theme music, and Lorne Balfe's attention-grabbing score keep the interest going. It's mainly the constant twists, shifting allegiances, death-defying grit, and action at a pulsating, clarity-inducing speed, that keep this thriller afloat even though there are quite a few chinks including unresolved dilemmas, pacing issues, and a franchise-record-breaking runtime.