Written by Veda Kota
As an avid movie-watcher, Tom Cruise’s action films only conjure up one phrase: pushing the limits. From the actual plane footage in Top Gun: Maverick, to his insistence on doing his own stunts, Tom Cruise creates to innovate. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 is certainly no different, with Cruise and his team managing to cram an almost unfathomable amount of gravity-defying stunts into its 163-minute runtime.
The movie starts out with a stilted exchange in Russian by two agents. They are inside the Sebastopol, a submarine with access to the coveted treasure in this movie: an artificial-intelligence software called The Entity. The unnamed agents have two halves of a cross-shaped key that slide together to control this powerful tool. The movie indicates that this submarine is supposedly undetectable, but not five minutes later, the submarine gets annihilated by an enemy torpedo, ending the opening scene with a shot of the crew’s bodies in icy waters, and close-ups of the two halves of the key.
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is once again given a mission (should he choose to accept it) to retrieve one half of the key from his ally, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). The movie segues into a meeting with various intelligence agencies in the US, which Ethan infiltrates and discovers the true nature of The Entity. Deciding that it is too powerful in the hands of one government, he vows to destroy it. As Ethan, Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) pursue that goal, they meet Grace (Hayley Atwell), a cunning, smart-mouthed jewel thief also pursuing the key pieces. The movie that follows feels like a high-speed chase: no punches pulled and no expense spared to make one of the best Mission: Impossible installments in the franchise.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 on the surface appears no different from its counterparts. Death-defying stunts, a roster of devilishly smart and witty teammates, and the introduction of a terrifying villain (while maintaining consistency) are all part of the Mission: Impossible brand. Tom Cruise is 52 years old, making it all the more impressive that these stunts are his own. However, this film outshines its contemporaries by seamlessly weaving CGI and more realistic effects and maintaining a perfect balance between comedy and depth. Tom Cruise leaping off of jagged cliffs is nothing new for audiences, as Cruise has performed similar stunts before. But hanging off of a moving train and moving with the swiftness of a Nascar driver in a small yellow Fiat are scenes that simply must be seen in a theater.
There’s also the extra ethical layer the movie presents. In the wake of technologies like ChatGPT, artificial intelligence has captured the world’s attention—both for good and bad reasons. Many are unsure of how AI will shape our future, and this movie presents potentially terrifying and fatal consequences—especially concerning the power that major government institutions hold over the average citizen. As Ethan and his crew learn that the government’s idea of “for the common good” may not align with theirs, and even the loyal government agents pursuing Hunt begin to question their superiors. While Ethan, like the audience, does not have a grasp on the intricacies of the technology, he puts morality over money and transforms the way many see him. In this film, he displays himself to be a true patriot, far from the cheeky daredevil the audience has come to know him as.
Love him or hate him, Tom Cruise has once again struck gold with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1. The movie will have you hooked from the ominous opening scenes to the explosive finale, which includes Tom Cruise riding off of a large cliff in the beautiful Austrian Alps. The next installment has an insanely high bar to clear, but there is no doubt amongst fans and casual viewers alike that the Mission: Impossible franchise will live up to its reputation.
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