Part 1’ Review – Are You Not Entertained?

Tom Cruise ups the ante yet again with insane stunts and world building. This franchise doesn’t know how to slow down.

Ethan Hunt and his IMF team must track down a dangerous weapon before it falls into the wrong hands.

“If you choose to accept.” These are the famous last words of this entire franchise. One that has spanned roughly 30 years. Movie franchises just don’t do this. Span 30 years and really only get stronger. The last two entries in the Mission Impossible franchise have been some of the best action movies of the last ten years. Coming off the massive success of Fallout and riding the extreme high of last years darling Top Gun: Maverick. People were excited to see Tom Cruise do crazy shit at the movies again. 

Ever since he took over this franchise (starting with 3) things have changed. This has become his pet project and he does all his stunts, goes to places no other actor is wiling to go, all to just have the audience be entertained for a few hours. You have to hand it to the man, he loves his craft and just wants to make people happy, and get butts back in the theatre. It was the perfect pairing of Cruise and director turned friend Christopher McQuarrie. They understand each other and push one another to new heights each time they work together. 

This time around Ethan and his team are fighting against the most powerful weapon they’ve ever come across, AI. It’s Mission Impossible so clearly this isn’t just the run of the mill AI, this is a world ender. Toss in some assassins’, old foes and new companions, and we have ourselves a real winner here. I’m going to start off by saying that Pom Klementeiff who plays the silent assassin Paris is the best part of this movie. She does so damn much with her just body and facial expressions and I was so impressed with her performance. One chase sequences in Rome in particular that really blew me away. So kudos to Pom because I don’t think we really get many performances like that these days in big action movies, so it was refreshing to see that old movie troupe brought back to life.

The whole team is here Ethan (Tom Cruise) , Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames) ,and  Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). Hayley Atwell joins the fun as Grace one of the new recruits and the cast is once again in top form. The best part of these movies is always the ensemble that they get. How much fun they have while making these movies and how they never ever lean into the fact that everything happening is utterly absurd. One of the strongest aspects of these movies is how serious they take themselves, because if they don’t believe what’s going on, how can we?

You can tell that this franchise isn’t so much losing steam but coming close to the final curtain. You can only do so much and go on so many missions before you burn you and the audience out. I think they set up the epic conclusion very nicely and I would be shocked to see the franchise go past Dead Reckoning Part 2. I have a feeling where things are going and some how Cruise is going to do his most ludicrous stunt work yet. There’s only so many stories you can tell before things start to feel dry. So it’s time to go big or go home.

My only gripe with the movie was the lack of fights. I really thought after the unbelievable bathroom fight in Fallout that they would try to one up themselves here but that moment never really came. There is one alleyway sequence but it didn’t have the same raw power and emotion that came with the bathroom scene. Perhaps they are saving it for the sequel.

The movie never drags and you are just amazed by all the stunt work throughout the film. These characters and this franchise will be missed, but I think they have a perfect swan song on the horizon that should please everyone. The biggest failure of this movie? The release date. Paramount chose the worst possible date for this movie to come out and now it will end up being a box-office bomb rather than hugely successful. I feel bad for everyone involved. 

Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part 1 = 82/100    

Published by Wannabe Movie Critic

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Ever since I can remember, I have loved movies, pop culture and everything geek and nerd related. So I have decided to start writing my thoughts on things that I love.

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