Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning

It’s remarkable that it’s taken seven “Mission: Impossible” films to finally ask a question that lingers beneath every gravity-defying stunt and whispered code phrase: how does someone actually get into this line of work?

We’ve seen Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) at the height of his powers — the consummate field agent, as capable of disarming a nuclear warhead as he is at leaping from a moving motorcycle. We’ve watched Benji (Simon Pegg) evolve from a desk jockey to a trusted operative. And we’ve glimpsed Ethan training the next generation. But “Dead Reckoning” finally introduces us to the moment before all of that — the point at which someone, in this case Grace (Hayley Atwell), crosses the threshold into the IMF’s murky, high-stakes world.

Grace is the audience’s proxy in this installment, and in many ways, her arc is what gives “Dead Reckoning” its emotional compass. She begins the film not as an idealist or soldier, but as a thief — a survivor — and she finds herself pulled into a conflict where the stakes extend far beyond personal gain. Watching her grapple with the moral weight of the IMF’s mission, and with the notion of loyalty itself, provides the film with a surprisingly intimate throughline amidst the chaos.

This is a film of setups — the first half of a two-part conclusion — and director Christopher McQuarrie plays it like a master tactician, arranging characters and motivations as if on a chessboard. Familiar faces return: Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), and Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby) are all back, joined by a host of new players, including Esai Morales as the enigmatic Gabriel, Pom Klementieff as his near-silent enforcer, and Hayley Atwell, who brings charm and unpredictability in equal measure.

There’s also a thread of narrative nostalgia, with Henry Czerny returning as Kittridge — the calculating agency head from Brian De Palma’s original 1996 film — now surrounded by a new intelligence cohort that includes Cary Elwes and Shea Whigham. It feels deliberate, as if the film is tying its own story into a full-circle knot.

And yet, “Dead Reckoning” doesn’t feel like a mere “Part One.” McQuarrie ensures that this film tells its own story — of betrayal, of technological dread, and of faith in human judgment — while laying the groundwork for something larger.

The antagonist this time isn’t a person, but a force: a sentient artificial intelligence known only as The Entity. This faceless, omnipresent threat can erase people from video, mimic voices in real-time, and upend every tool the IMF has ever relied on — surveillance, communication, digital intel. It’s a chillingly relevant premise in an era defined by deepfakes, disinformation, and algorithmic warfare. But where the idea is potent, its execution is less so. The Entity, by nature, lacks presence. And its human emissary, Gabriel, while effective in theory, lacks the gravitas or menace to fully anchor the film’s existential threat.

There’s a void where a great villain might have been — one with charisma or philosophical weight. Esai Morales does what he can, but in a franchise that gave us the iciness of Philip Seymour Hoffman and the mind games of Sean Harris, he feels underdeveloped. The stakes are there, but the embodiment of those stakes is somewhat lacking.

What holds the film together, as always, is the beating heart of Ethan Hunt. Cruise doesn’t just perform stunts — he commits to the role with a sincerity that is increasingly rare in action cinema. Ethan’s mantra, that the lives of others will always mean more to him than his own, resonates throughout the film. Whether he’s reassuring Grace or threatening a villain with divine fury (“There is no place on Earth where you or your god will be safe from me”), we believe him — because we’ve seen what he’s willing to do.

Ving Rhames, long a steady presence in the series, is given more room here to reflect, to ask the film’s deeper questions aloud. What does it mean to fight an intelligence that knows everything? What does human instinct even matter in a world where the enemy can predict your every move? He becomes the voice of the film’s conscience, grounding the spectacle with gravitas.

And the spectacle, of course, remains astonishing. Whether it’s the intricate tension of a cat-and-mouse game in Abu Dhabi’s airport, a handcuffed car chase through the tight alleys of Rome in a tiny yellow Fiat, or the grand finale aboard the Orient Express as it barrels through Venice — each sequence is expertly staged and edited. The film’s centerpiece — a motorcycle jump off a mountain ridge followed by a BASE jump onto a moving train — is not all CGI magic, but a practical stunt executed by Cruise himself. It’s not just thrilling; it’s awe-inspiring, a reminder of what real commitment to the craft of moviemaking can still achieve.

“Dead Reckoning” may be setting the table for the final course, but it delivers a complete, satisfying meal in its own right. It asks questions about identity and trust, about the role of human judgment in an age of algorithmic certainty. And most importantly, it continues to evolve the emotional stakes of this long-running series.

VIEWED ON
Friday, May 23, 2025
Vudu