Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Review - Tom Cruise's Signature Spy Action Thriller Sets the Path For A Better Follow-Up

Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie's pair bring another thrilling adventure in the MI series with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. If I am not wrong, then Cruise and McQuarrie's collaboration (in any way) hasn't gone wrong except for "The Mummy" (2017). Rather, Christopher McQuarrie is responsible for writing and directing one of the best films in Tom's filmography. Mission Impossible 7 is anything but a failure. My faith in this pair remains intact as they deliver what's promised. Actually, they don't do anything else, and that's the major issue here. All those previous 6 films of MI have made us acquainted with almost everything that's possible in a modern spy-action drama, so naturally they were out of new conflicts this time. MI 7 is an utterly honest and trademark Mission Impossible film, but that's all there is to it.Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One starts off with an unknown "AI" device deceiving and destroying a submarine. Ethan Hunt is given a task to find a key from his friend, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). In the next scene, we travel from the ocean to an Arabian desert, where Ethan confronts Ilsa and eventually gets the key. The key has to be traded, so Ethan shakes hands with a pickpocket, Grace (Hayley Atwell), who is actually working for the opposite party. After quite a thrilling SmackDown session at the airport, Grace takes the key to Venice, and as expected, Ethan, Luther (Ving Rhames), and Benji (Simon Pegg) follow her there to get it. Ilsa, who was supposed to be dead (for how long? Nobody knew anyway) joins the party as they meet at Alanna's, aka The White Window's (Vanessa Kirby) den, where they also encounter the mastermind behind the entire thing, Gabriel (Esai Morales). Gabriel has some plans written that Ethan has to deal with, but it's pretty difficult this time since the AI thing, the Entity, knows it all. Will Ethan and his team get what they want? Or is it just the beginning of a massive war?Mission Impossible 7 has fewer thrills compared to its predecessor, Mission Impossible: Fallout, which is arguably the best MI flick. Actually, MI 6 has raised the bar so high for contemporaries that it's very difficult to match the kind of thrill, suspense, and excitement with a similar set of characters and surroundings. MI 7 suffers from an insufficiency of novelty and unusualness. It's been so many MI films that we have seen the face mask, so it's an impossible mission for the writers if they think they can provide some thrill with it. We know that whatever happens, the hero can't die or even get hurt. So it's impossible to imagine that Hunt might not get out of that situation. Grace's character is annoying at times, but it's more frustrating to see even a smart character like Hunt not knowing it. In almost every Spy film over the decades, we knew that someone in the agency would have the hunger to conquer the World. After all, the hero has to outsmart the villain, but are we really getting those smart villains? Even those escapes aren't as thrilling as they were until the time of the Ghost Protocol. MI 7 goes through all those mainstream elements you have been seeing for years or may be anticipating from a regular spy thriller.Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt, and he still believes it in 2023, just like he did in 1996. He was far younger and more dynamic then, though. He is unlikely to lose that charm, but the character isn't. Ethan definitely needs some updated theories to deal with his opponents instead of going back to the old house and going back in time. Cruise and his action team deliver enough entertainment despite repetitive flaws. Like I said, Hayley Atwell's character may not be that good, but that doesn't mean Atwell is bad. I kinda expected her face to suit this kind of role, but is it the replacement for Rebecca Ferguson they are looking for? "I am the reason why she is dead," followed by "No. She is the reason why you are alive." Sounds nice; indeed, it does. But is it worth it? That I doubt, but nonetheless, she is fine. Ving Rhames has one or two sentimental speeches, while his character demands modern features. Who knows, he might have saved them for MI 8.. Simon Pegg is pretty good, be it in character or in presentability. Vanessa Kirby could have done better, and so could Henry Czerny. Pom Klementieff and Cary Elwes are okay, but Shea Whigham is a new shining sword (put down at the end, sadly). I don't see how Gabriel's character fits the bill with that backdrop, but Esai Morales was convincing enough for that.Coming to technical aspects, Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is a well-shot and well-edited movie. The cinematography of the car chase sequence and that so-hyped chute jump is superb. Except for the middle portion and a few sentimentally boring scenes, Eddie Hamilton hasn't done anything wrong while cutting the film. The background score and production design are beautiful. Christopher McQuarrie is now 3 films old in the MI universe, and so he is getting used to some things, just like us viewers. This is the first two-part chapter in this franchise, and the experience is not at all bad or even mediocre. It does not feel incomplete because it adds enough entertainment for any solo film. McQuarrie could have attempted some new ideas, though. The James Bond franchise did try the same when needed, so why not MI? It's just that the same characters and the same franchise start feeling a little boring after a while. Jack Sparrow in 2003 was fresh, and that's why he attached us; he couldn't do it in 2017. The same goes for Bond, Potter, F&F, and even the legendary Star Wars. How can a comparatively smaller series like MI get away from this rule? Isn't it time to stop? I'd like to believe that Ethan Hunt still has enough fuel left. All he needs is a smart driver. Christopher McQuarrie could be that, if he can really handle the machine. The next film in the franchise will be very important. This one is nothing great; it's fairly good, and it also sets the path for a potential better follow-up.