christian movie review mission impossible dead reckoning

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part One

Reviewed by: Keith Rowe CONTRIBUTOR

Potential dangers of high-powered Artificial Intelligence (AI) computer systems

The ethics of AI

Threat of desperate nations fighting over dwindling resources like food and water

Bravery / courage / self-sacrifice

Y our mission, should you choose to accept it, is to determine if this movie is worth its $290 million dollar price tag or the 10+ dollars (national average) you’ll have to shell out to see it.

The movie opens somewhere in the Bering Sea, where the Russian submarine, Sevastopol, is scuttled by its own active learning (artificial intelligence) system. Meanwhile, in the middle of the Arabian Desert, IMF agent Ethan Hunt ( Tom Cruise ) is engaged in a shootout with bounty hunters during a sandstorm. After dispatching his less-skilled attackers, Ethan is reunited with Ilsa Faust ( Rebecca Ferguson ), who has one half of a cruciform key. The other half must be found soon, because only the assembled key can prevent the planet from being annihilated by a rogue AI called The Entity. Cue the ticking time bomb story device.

Ethan encounters Grace ( Hayley Atwell ), an interested party in the key, at the Abu Dhabi International Airport. While hiding out from Jasper Briggs ( Shea Whigham ) and his team of paramilitary goons, Ethan catches a glimpse of his old nemesis Gabriel ( Esai Morales ), another seeker of the key. And, just because an action film requires lots of moving parts to conceal its tenuous story, the ironically named White Widow ( Vanessa Kirby ) is also in pursuit of the movie’s MacGuffin. As usual, Ethan is assisted by his loyal companions, Luther Stickell ( Ving Rhames ) and Benji Dunn ( Simon Pegg ).

“Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One” is the seventh film in the series and is the first part of a two-part story—a first for the franchise—which will culminate with Cruise’s final appearance as Ethan Hunt, a character he first portrayed 27 years ago. This film is also the longest “Mission Impossible” movie yet, clocking in at a bladder-taxing 2 hours and 43 minutes.

Also of note, this is the third “Mission Impossible” movie to pair Cruise with director Christopher McQuarrie , who also worked with the star as a writer or director on “Valkyrie” (2008), “Jack Reacher” (2012), “Edge of Tomorrow” (2014), “The Mummy” (2017) and a little film that came out last year called, “Top Gun: Maverick.” It’s clear from the quality of their past collaborations that the actor and director work well together.

Cruise, 61, is still on his A game—he still does his own stunts and still sprints for minutes at a time without breaking a sweat. Recently, the actor publicly expressed his admiration for Harrison Ford and said he’d also like to star in action movies when he’s 80. At this rate, Cruise will be doing his own stunts when he’s 100… and making it look easy.

But the movie’s stunts weren’t easy, especially since most of them were done practically. Though well conceived and executed, the film’s action set pieces fail to deliver a knockout punch—that one heart-stopping, death-defying stunt we’ve come to expect from these movies, like the exhilarating skydiving sequence in “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” (2018), which puts this movie’s parachute and speed-flying scenes to shame. Sad to say, but the action here doesn’t feel elevated. It does feel derivative, though.

Spoiler Alert: The opening submarine sequence feels like it was borrowed wholesale from “The Hunt for Red October” (1990), most notably the scene where the sub is struck by its own torpedo. (Sidebar: I counted two instances of “impossible” in the sub crew’s conversation… more on the movie’s dialog in a bit).

The pulse-pounding car chase in Rome starts off in a fresh vein, with Grace stealing a police car and Ethan driving a really dorky-looking police motorcycle. But then we drift into standard car chase territory when Ethan and Grace upgrade to a Bond-like, hi-tech yellow Fiat (funny how Ethan doesn’t balk at the car’s bright color when he knows every police car in the city is pursuing them). Though thrilling at times, the entire sequence comes off like one of the Mini Cooper chases in “The Italian Job” (2003) or similar high-octane chase scenes in one of the “Bourne” movies. What makes the sequence pop is its handcuff hijinks; Ethan and Grace are forced to take turns driving with one hand. It’s a fun scene, beautifully played by Cruise and Atwell.

As Ethan prepares to go Evel Knievel off the side of a mountain, Benji melts down, shouting at Ethan that he has no idea the kind of pressure he’s under. This comedic bit is a virtual remake of the scene in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” (2011) when Benji has an anxiety attack while Ethan ascends the Burj Khalifa skyscraper with fickle suction gloves. Someone should’ve told screenwriters McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen that it was funny the first time…

The series has come full circle with respect to its high-speed train sequences (and whose idea was it to name the train the Orient Express?). Though the knife fight involving Ethan and Gabriel is occasionally riveting, it isn’t nearly as daring or dazzling as the helicopter explosion that violently propels Ethan onto the back of the train in the first “Mission Impossible” (1996). Where’s the originality? Have these “Mission Impossible” movies run out of new ideas?

I’ve probably spent too much time talking about action sequences, but, at the end of the day, that’s why people turn out to see these movies. Those who only care about the action probably won’t be dissuaded by my comments, but those looking for something else, like a plot, may find the movie wanting. The story is a style over substance spectacle that builds its structure around a series of action sequences. Worse still, when the origin of the key is revealed as something that’s been obvious from the start, we realize the entire story has been one giant red herring. Yawn!

Also disappointing is that there’s very little character development in the movie. At this point in the series, shouldn’t we see more growth in Ethan and the other recurring characters?

For instance, what does Ethan learn in the movie? That women who fall into his orbit tend to meet untimely demises? Old hat! That he still has a tendency to go rogue? It’s in his DNA. That he can’t trust or outsmart a computer? Can anyone? That confronting ghosts from the past can be dangerous? Granted. That even if you don’t smoke, carrying around a cigarette lighter can come in handy?

I realize these movies will never be mistaken as high art, but adding a little meat to these bare-bone characters might’ve gone a long way toward making the material a little less campy and more adult.

Now, as promised, here’s my diatribe on the film’s dialog. In short, it’s maddeningly inconsistent. I can’t remember a time when a movie’s dialog was so bad I started squirming in my seat, but such was the case here when influential leaders from around the globe discuss the existential threat posed by The Entity. Instead of communicating with each other, the characters spout scripted sound bites to fill in expository details the audience has already guessed.

It takes nearly five minutes for the characters to say what I can sum up in six words: find the key, save the world (with apologies to “Heroes”). This is easily one of the most agonizingly tedious data dumps ever committed to film. What makes the sequence even more tragic is that these are really good actors ( Cary Elwes , Henry Czerny , Charles Parnell and Mark Gatiss , among others), whose talents are wasted on dialog any middle schooler could craft. The actors try their best to lend weight to their flimsy lines, but to no avail.

The ponderous conference mercifully ends when green gas knocks out everyone but a disguised Ethan (way too many mask gimmicks in this movie) and Eugene Kittridge (Czerny). Kittridge delivers a superb monologue that touches on some of the most salient issues in the movie, including the dangers of AI and the threat of desperate nations fighting over dwindling resources like food and water. He also predicts that the present mission will cost Ethan dearly.

Sadly, such meaningful dialog is one of the only bright spots in a film riddled with such pedestrian lines as, “There’s a bug in the system. A ghost in the machine.” Yeah, we get the point. And then there’s this revelatory statement, “Whoever controls The Entity controls the truth.” Or Ethan’s insightful newsflash, “People are chasing us!”

The movie is bookended with voice-over narrations by Kittridge, who sets the tone with an overly earnest soliloquy and wraps things up with a sermonizing summary of the stakes for the next film. These painfully prosaic stretches of dialog would’ve gone down easier with a comedic chaser, but the film only has a few funny lines. Even the reliably witty Pegg only lands a couple jokes in the movie.

So, aside from derivative action sequences and horrendous dialog, what is there to recommend the film? Well, the cinematography is quite good, and McQuarrie makes the most of his locations, particularly the golden hour cityscape in Rome, Italy, the shot of Ethan running along the ruffled roof of the Abu Dhabi airport, and the forested region in Norway where Ethan attempts his high-altitude motorcycle jump.

The movie’s acting is also an asset. Many audience members will enjoy the fervid friendship that forms between Ethan and Grace (Cruise and Atwell have tremendous onscreen chemistry). Though their witty banter is enjoyable, the romantic tension between the couple feels rushed, and inappropriate, since Ethan’s girlfriend just recently died. As a thief with a penchant for leaving Ethan in the lurch, Grace comes off as a spy movie version of Catwoman; with Ethan in the role of Batman, since he has a similar fighting style and does his fair share of flying in the movie.

A silly analogy? Probably. That means it’s time to examine some weightier topics.

Themes and Spiritual Content

As with most action flicks, this movie’s plot takes a backseat to sensational stunts and heart-pounding chases. Unfortunately, that doesn’t leave us with much to evaluate on the story front. Still, the movie has a few meaningful aspects, so let’s take a closer look at some of them.

Although the movie foregrounds the potential dangers of AI, it eschews a broader conversation on the ethics of AI. At the heart of the AI debate is the obvious fact that humans created the problem by playing God. Though the topic has been broached many times before—such as the compelling “fire sale” cyber attack storyline in “Live Free or Die Hard” (2007) or Skynet in the “Terminator” movies, the quintessential, post-singularity AI invasion cautionary tale—this movie could’ve shown some new threat to humanity, based on the latest AI research. Unfortunately, The Entity only focuses on Ethan and his team, so the movie stays surface level and fails to consider the global implications of an AI running amok—a major whiff by McQuarrie.

Rather than being a menacing presence in the film, like Ultron in Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015), The Entity barely factors into the action—only the agents doing its bidding remind us of the looming threat it poses. This is a major problem from a story standpoint, since a hero can’t shine unless he’s pitted against a really strong villain. Here, the villain (The Entity) is only seen or heard in a few scenes.

Gabriel ( Esai Morales ) isn’t onscreen enough to qualify as the movie’s main villain either. He’s characterized as a dark messiah—The Entity’s chosen one. He even speaks as if he’s a divine being, “As it is written.” Aside from these delusions of grandeur, Gabriel violates the 1st Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3) because he believes he is a god.

In Gabriel’s demented philosophy, death is a gift. Ethan says Gabriel doesn’t enjoy the killing, but the suffering. This reveals Gabriel’s bent toward sadomasochism.

The movie presents an interesting twist on the 6th Commandment, “You shall not murder ,” (Exodus 20:13). Since The Entity anticipates that Ethan will kill Gabriel, Ethan’s teammates emphatically say, “Do not kill Gabriel.” This is a refreshing alternative to the standard action movie climax, where the hero often vanquishes the villain by resorting to violence.

One of the movie’s recurring themes is the nature of truth . Ilsa says, “The world is changing. The truth is vanishing.” This assumes that lies will eventually force the truth into extinction. But the one objective truth, which originates with our Creator , will always expose lies and triumph over them. “Then you will know the truth , and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

Kittridge has a different take on the truth, “This is our chance to control the truth. The concepts of right and wrong for everyone for centuries to come.” Despite Kittridge’s egomaniacal wish, the truth is immutable and cannot be altered by the whims of humans (or AIs).

The last part of his statement is the most troubling, since we can see an erosion of decency and decorum in every strata of our society today. In a world of moral relativism, where there’s no right or wrong, anything goes. The prophet Isaiah saw this trend coming centuries ago,

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” — Isaiah 5:20

Those who seek to redefine good and evil will be met with frustration and failure. From the start, God instilled an awareness of the oppositional forces at work in the world in the human heart—there’s a reason why one of the trees at the center of the Garden of Eden was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:9).

The most disturbing dialog in the movie comes from Denlinger (Elwes), who calls out another character for his outdated ideas of patriotism. He refers to it as “old think.” Denlinger is in support of a super-state that will rule the entire world (Xi Jinping, Putin and a long list of other tyrants are licking their chops at such a proposition—as long as they’re the one in charge).

Let’s unpack Denlinger’s remarks.

Does true patriotism (not vigilantism, terrorism, or anarchism) ever go out of style?

What’s the opposite of “old think?” “New think?” “Woke think?” No thanks.

And how would a super-state operate? It certainly wouldn’t be democratic. Probably something like the One World government that’s described in the book of Revelation .

If there’s one area of the movie that’s relevant, that’s clear-eyed about our impending slide into dystopia, it’s these frightening statements made by a career politician swept up in the false promises of global equity.

Objectionable Material

Offensive Language/Vulgarities: Surprisingly, this “Mission” only has a few curse words, including: h*ll (1) and d*mn /d*mm*t (2). It’s a shame that the bulk of the movie’s swearing is irreverent in nature: g*d-d*m/g*d-d*mm*t (4). One character mouths a f-word, but we can’t hear it above the din of a party.

Alcohol/Drugs: Drinks are shown at a night club, but there’s very little imbibing in the scene.

Nudity and Sexual Content: When a man pats down a woman for weapons, he squeezes the undersides of her breasts. Then he slaps her on the butt.

At a nightclub, female dancers appear naked in silhouette, but are actually wearing tight bodysuits. In one scene, male dancers are glimpsed in nothing but their underwear.

Violence and Graphic Content: A couple scenes show dead bodies trapped under the ice. Though the tableau is unsettling, it isn’t gory.

There are too many gun battles and knife fights to list here, but the body count is exceedingly high in the film. The gunfights are filmed quickly and are largely bloodless.

The knife fights are more offensive, since we see a man stab a woman in the chest with a switchblade. Later, the same man slices another man’s throat with a knife, and we see a pool of blood forming underneath his body. One man is stabbed through the back of his hand. Another woman is stabbed near the end of the film. There’s a drawn-out knife fight atop a speeding train, but both men escape with their lives.

A man uses a Taser gun to knock out two other men. The movie has a few fistfights and high-speed car chases, which might be too intense for some viewers.

Mission Wrap-up

In the end, “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One” is overstuffed with decent (but certainly not amazing) action sequences, and is severely hamstrung by a derivative story filled with unsophisticated dialog. Still, other than standard action violence and a handful of expletives, the movie is pretty clean.

Most two-part movies start off with a slower first film which sets up an explosive climax in the second film. If that pattern holds true, I’m hopeful that the franchise will end on a bigger bang than what we get in this film.

Still, with the recent slate of glum, humdrum movies, “Dead Reckoning Part One” seems poised to be the top grossing film of the summer.

Anything’s possible, I reckon.

• Violence: Heavy
• Profane language: Moderate
• Vulgar/Crude language: Mild
• Nudity: Mild
• Drugs/Alcohol: Minor
• Wokeism: Mild
• Occult: None

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers .

• Non-viewer comments

PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.

Notice: All forms on this website are temporarily down for maintenance. You will not be able to complete a form to request information or a resource. We apologize for any inconvenience and will reactivate the forms as soon as possible.

• DVD & Streaming

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

• Action/Adventure , Drama , Thriller

Content Caution

In Theaters

• July 10, 2023
• Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt; Hayley Atwell as Grace; Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust; Vanessa Kirby as the White Widow; Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn; Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell; Shea Whigham as Jasper Briggs; Greg Tarzan Davis as Degas; Pom Klementieff as Paris; Esai Morales as Gabriel; Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge; Cary Elwes as Denlinger

Home Release Date

• October 10, 2023
• Christopher McQuarrie

Distributor

• Paramount Pictures

Movie Review

Ethan Hunt has chosen a lot of impossible missions. And he’s taken down a lot of villains. From oily terrorists to agency moles, Ethan and his team have faced and beaten a bevy of bad, bad people.

But what if your enemy isn’t a person at all?

Enter the Entity, AI programming gone very wrong and very rogue. Its origins are complex; its goals, mysterious. But intelligence services around the globe are aware it’s up to something: infiltrating national defense systems; influencing intelligence; and, occasionally, eliminating organic lifeforms for its own shadowy purposes.

ChatGPT? Try ChatGPTerminal.

Few people know the Entity even exists. And those who do? They’re terrified. But they’re also … intrigued. Charmed, even.

Sure, they don’t want the Entity traipsing through their country’s own top-secret digital apparati. But the ability to tunnel into those of other countries? If they could “capture” the Entity and somehow tame its unruly code? Well, that’d be a powerful weapon, make no mistake.

In a world in which pictures can be digitally manipulated, where voices can be faked, where facts themselves are often called into question, the Entity just might make truth itself a relic. Forget misinformation: The Entity is nix- information—a tool that can scramble (or steal) nuclear codes, obliterate elections and send armies to attack the penguins of Antarctica. In the words of one character: “Whoever controls the Entity controls the truth.”

Naturally, the U.S. intelligence community would dearly love to put a binary leash on the Entity and bring it to heel. Ethan Hunt—the Impossible Mission Agency’s talented, constantly disavowed agent—is clearly the best man to corral the Entity.

But while Ethan would like to get his hands on the Entity, too, he means to destroy it. And he’ll need some help along the way.

Yep, this time Ethan Hunt is assigning himself an impossible mission. He’s going rogue in search of a rogue AI—one that can manipulate every smartphone and satellite feed, one that even has a few human helpers to do its dirty work.

This time, he’ll need to do more than don a rubber mask or hang off an airplane. He’ll need to do the impossible.

Thank goodness he’s used to that.

Positive Elements

Ethan does a lot of stuff that would get most of us thrown in prison for several millennia, including working against his own government. But given the Entity’s ability to “lie,” if you will—the ability that makes it the ultimate prize for every government after it—destroying it seems like a higher, more moral mission. Success in this mission means preserving self-determination, autonomy and perhaps even the notion of truth itself.

And in contrast to the Entity’s binary code, Ethan’s very much a people person. When someone on his team suggests that each of them is “expendable” when it comes to this assignment, Ethan says, “I don’t accept that.” He tells a new team member that he values his teammates’ lives more than he values his own—and he, at least, seems to believe it.

The value Ethan places on people would seem to be counterintuitive both to self-preservation and the mission at hand. But against such a coldly rational enemy, that sense of love and sacrifice may indeed be a powerfully irrational, and irrationally powerful, weapon.

Ethan’s kinship with his teammates is reciprocated. Given that none of them have any real connections outside the team, they’ve all become something of a family. Benji (a technician and agent on the team) admits that nothing is more important to him than his friends. He and Luther (the computer whiz of the bunch) willingly risk their careers and their lives to help Ethan—even when he encourages them to stay away for their own safety. Ilsa—Ethan’s one-time frienemy-turned-friend-and-ally ( frienally? ) risks her life not just for her friends, but for a near stranger.

A newcomer, a talented thief who calls herself Grace, certainly doesn’t have, or even understand, that sense of loyalty and sacrifice at the movie’s outset. But she comes to understand it better. And before the credits roll, she shows an ever-greater willingness to dare and risk for a greater good.

An act of unexpected mercy produces unexpected dividends.

Spiritual Elements

Dead Reckoning Part One , as is the case with most Mission: Impossible movies, steers clear of overt spirituality. But it relies heavily on religious imagery and themes to set the stage.

The most obvious example is a mysterious two-part key that’s designed in the shape of a cross. (Because it’s bedecked in high-tech jewel-like accoutrements, it comes with the vibe of a Catholic relic.) Characters refer to it as a “cruciform” shaped key. And when characters digitally trace half of the key from one holder to another, it looks even more like a Christian cross on screen.

Another interesting touchstone: Gabriel, the main human antagonist here. He serves the Entity as its “chosen messenger” (an intentional turn of phrase, considering the angel Gabriel’s role as a messenger in the Bible), and he’s also referred to as a “dark Messiah.”

We see churches and religious buildings in some scenes. Someone holds a cross around his neck in a moment of peril and seems to say a prayer. There’s a joking reference to Ethan being a vampire.

For those so inclined, the idea of a truly sentient form of AI may spark some theological questions worth mulling and talking over.

Sexual Content

An important meeting takes place in a boisterous nightclub, where dancers on platforms writhe in outfits so formfitting that they could easily be taken as nude.

Ethan and Ilsa grow rather chummy as the movie goes on, but their affection seems to walk the line between close friends and something more. We see her hold his arm and rest her head on his shoulder, but nothing much beyond that.

Ethan and Grace flirt when they first meet each other—but it’s a ruse by both parties. Later, circumstances force them to work literally closely with one another (including a stretch of time when they’re handcuffed to each other), during which time they hold hands and comically scrape their bodies by one another (in, say, a moving car). We hear a bit about Grace’s past, which includes a failed relationship.

In flashback, we see Ethan with yet another woman with whom, we assume, he had a romance with.

Violent Content

It’s called Mission Impossible , not Mission Peaceable . No one here flinches at violence or death. And while Ethan and Grace both seem concerned about protecting innocent lives, plenty of folks—both innocent and guilty—lose theirs.

An entire submarine crew is killed in the movie’s opening moments. The sub suffers a catastrophic breech, and the bodies of the dead float in the Arctic water, bouncing against the ice above.

A chaotic chase through the streets of Rome depicts several crashing cars, imperiled onlookers and untold levels of property damage. People are shot and stabbed, often (but not always) fatally. Someone’s throat is sliced open. Loads of fights take place, featuring feet, fists and deadly weapons. A man is apparently hung. (We see his body dangle from where he was left.)

Ethan and others often use nonlethal methods to incapacitate their enemies, but it can still feel harsh. In some scenes, rooms full of people succumb to a sort of knock-out gas (leaving just mask-wearing characters conscious). Another woman is knocked out as part of a ruse.

A nuclear bomb nearly goes off. A good chunk of a train plummets off a destroyed bridge. A torpedo explodes. Characters fall, or nearly fall, from some pretty tremendous heights.

Crude or Profane Language

A handful of profanities come out to play, including one use of “b–tard” and a few each of “d–n” and “h—.” We hear what sounds like the beginning of an f-word in one scene. God’s name is misused eight times, five instances of which are paired with “d–n.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

There’s not a lot of drinking here, but we do see characters in the presence of wine, champagne and liquor.

Other Negative Elements

Obviously, Ethan and others lie and mislead as part of the mission. Others deceive and manipulate as well. Grace is a thief, and she’s quite good at her job. People drive recklessly in Rome. I mean, even more recklessly than most people already do in Rome.

There’s certainly a sense that the world as we know it is dying. We hear some references to climate change and dwindling resources, and the U.S. is presented as no better or more exceptional than any other nation. “The days of you fighting for the so-called greater good is over,” one government official tells Ethan.

Give props to Tom Cruise and the real-world team behind the Mission: Impossible movies. Built on Cruise’s considerable charisma, stunning set pieces and breathtaking real-world stunts, the MI movies represent this era’s gold standard in action movies.

Coming on the heels of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny —a fabled franchise that once ruled the cinematic action roost—the contrast couldn’t be sharper. While Dial of Destiny leans back on its nostalgic charm and CGI, Dead Reckoning Part One leans forward.

Sure, the franchise is pretty long-in-the-tooth, too: Any 14-year-old who saw, in theaters, the original Cruise-fronted 1996 Mission: Impossible movie is 41 now, maybe with 14-year-olds of her own. Her grandmother might wax nostalgic about the original Mission: Impossible TV series, which debuted in 1966.

And yet, the movies still feel fresh. Exhilarating. And Cruise—even at age 61—feels like a credible action star.

Dead Reckoning has its issues. People fight and die. Some sensuality writhes about in the background. Language can be harsh, and the moral conundrums in play here are glossed over in the movie’s rush to its next set piece. One should not mimic Ethan Hunt and rush headlong into this story, heedless of the dangers.

But let’s also give the movie props. While bullets fly and blades flash, the action isn’t particularly bloody. The movie’s sensuality is kept largely in the background. The language, overall, is milder than what we’d hear in a standard superhero flick.

Dead Reckoning Part One is intense, to be sure. But for many families, the film will be more navigable than a Tom Cruise stunt. Will Part Two follow suit? That’s something we’ll reckon with when the time comes.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

Latest Reviews

Deadpool & Wolverine

The Fabulous Four

The NeverEnding Story

Weekly Reviews Straight to your Inbox!

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (Christian Movie Review)

Verdict: A mediocre plot does little to detract from an entertaining action flick that is filled with exhilarating stunts and set pieces that live up to the hype. It’s not just a great film; it’s a reminder of why we go to the movies in the first place. 

About The Movie

Tom Cruise is not just among the last remaining bankable film stars. He’s also the embodiment of a movie-making philosophy. In recent years, he has been elevated as the savior of cinema, a hero who champions “old-school” moviemaking in an age of mind-numbing CGI spectacle. From that perspective, Dead Reckoning Part 1 may be his most persuasive manifesto. A relatively mediocre plot does little to detract from this endlessly entertaining action flick, which is filled with exhilarating stunts and set pieces that live up to the hype. It is not just a great film; it’s a reminder of why we go to the movies in the first place. 

Let’s get the negative out of the way first. With Mission Impossible movies, the plot has never been terribly consequential. It typically acts as a thread to string together a series of fun action set pieces. But even by these standards, the plot of this film isn’t very compelling. Characters globetrot to fun, exotic locations but never seem to accomplish or learn much that moves the narrative forward.    

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has competed against global powers and covert agencies, but now he  faces a new threat—technology. The story focuses on AI that has become sentient and gone rogue. It is a bold creative decision that is timely and culturally relevant (more on that below). It’s just not always interesting. Despite several exposition dumps, the faceless, disembodied adversary is never clearly explained. At times, it possesses almost godlike ability and omnipresence; at other times, it seems inexplicably inept.

But this is a Mission Impossible movie. Any time audiences start scratching their head at an inconsistent plot point, Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle off a mountain or performs some other stunt. The plot matters, but audiences watch these movies for the action—and there is plenty. My only criticism about the stunts is how the movie’s marketing campaign spoiled them ahead of time. Still, even knowing much of what was coming, the moments themselves deliver. The action in Dead Reckoning Part 1 is some of the best ever put to film.

The action is exhilarating not just because of the spectacle but because it feels tactile and real (largely, because it was ). This triumph is all the more impressive when compared to the glossy and CGI-saturated action of other recent films like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny or Fast X . Notably, this seventh Mission Impossible flick is primarily an action movie, with the clever espionage from previous entries taking a back seat. But did I mention that Tom Cruise jumps off a mountain on a motorcycle? Because he does…and it’s awesome. 

Speaking of Tom Cruise, he remains as much a movie star as ever, showcasing emotional vulnerability to supplement his age-defying action-hero persona. He is joined by several returning cast members from earlier entries in the series, but the standout is newcomer Hayley Atwell. She is a fantastic addition, fitting seamlessly into the cast. She showcases her own intelligence and capability but never sidelines Tom Cruise (the way Phoebe Waller-Bridge occasionally did with Harrison Ford in Dial of Destiny ).

Despite a lengthy 2:45 run time, the movie maintains its brisk momentum. Even the incomplete nature of being Part 1 of a two-part story doesn’t feel nearly as unsatisfying as Fast X or Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse . In the end, Dead Reckoning Part 1 is a rare film that delivers exactly what it promises—exhilarating action and a good time at the movie theater. As several other legacy series seem to be stalling out, Tom Cruise and company continue to deliver increasingly impressive entertainment. A movie franchise that continues to up the ante and improve seven films in shouldn’t be possible. But I suppose these guys know a thing or two about doing the impossible.    

For Consideration

Language: 1 F-bomb is hinted at but gets interrupted before it is fully spoken. There are a handful of other profanities (“b—d,” “d—,” “h—”). “God” is used multiple times (“G—d—” etc.).   

Violence: There is a high body count, but of a mostly bloodless variety (characters get shot, stabbed, or tossed from moving vehicles).

Sexuality: One scene takes place at a party/nightclub and features male and female dancers that move and dress suggestively. They are not nude (as far as I could tell) but wear such thin and tightfitting clothing that they almost appear to be. They are mostly in the background or in silhouette that reveals their bodily form but no distinct details. It seems that a gratuitous shot included in some of the film’s early trailers was not included in the film itself.

Engage The Film

Ai and dangerous technology.

A sentient AI may not make the most compelling villain for a Mission Impossible story, but it is nevertheless a timely one. The film has been released into a world ripe with anxiety and valid concerns about the cultural impact of advanced AI due to algorithms like ChatGPT. Leaning into these concerns, the movie suggests that the biggest existential threat we face today is technology (and those who wield it).

The sentient AI—called “the Entity”—is left largely ambiguous. As a result, the movie suggests that it is not the immense capability of AI technology that is the main problem but the selfish and corrupt nature of humans that cannot be trusted to wield the power benevolently.  

The film is more concerned with action stunts than deep cultural commentary, but the conflict is clearly inspired by real-world concerns. Multiple characters verbalize the destructive potential of controlling the world’s expanding digital ecosystem as a means of regulating morality and truth itself, shaping the way people think in subtle and subversive ways.

Interestingly, the Mission Impossible movies are famous for using various fancy gadgets. But in a contemporary environment that is reevaluating its relationship with technology, the movie reflects this new reality, exploring the possibility that the advantage of technology is quickly becoming a destructive obstacle as we become too reliant on it. The movie doesn’t provide many answers to the problem (at least, not in Part 1), but it raises some intriguing questions.  

You May Also Like

Night Swim (Christian Movie Review)

Luca (Christian Movie Review)

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Christian Movie Review)

Leave a comment cancel reply.

I agree that my submitted data is being collected and stored . *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE  – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE

"the cross of christ holds the key to defeating evil".

What You Need To Know:

Miscellaneous Immorality: One character is a thief who keeps lying and taking an object that the hero needs to stop a great evil, and two government officials turn out to be corrupt.

More Detail:

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE is another well-produced entry in this high-octane franchise starring Tom Cruise as IMF spy Ethan Hunt, in a story where Ethan must protect his team, including his romantic partner and a resourceful female thief, from a super-powerful Artificial Intelligence entity and its vicious nihilistic henchman intent on controlling the world. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE is a superlative spy thriller, with gripping action and a strong allegorical Christian message that “the Cross of Christ holds the key for defeating evil,” but it has lots of intense action violence and some foul language, including four strong profanities.

The movie begins with a Russian sub testing a new advanced, computerized stealth device under the Arctic ice. Things go wrong when the tech develops a strange computer bug that causes one of sub’s own torpedoes to go haywire and sink the sub.

It turns out that a powerful Artificial Intelligence entity hacked the double cross-shaped key, called a Cruciform key, that opens the lock to the sub’s new high-tech stealth device and controls it. The entity also has hacked nearly all the world’s digital tech but is lying dormant until it’s ready to take over everything some day in the near future. Happily, though, it’s not yet hacked into all the major countries’ intelligence apparatus, including America’s. So, all the major intelligence agencies are frantically trying to transfer everything to analog systems that the entity can’t touch.

Also happily, the two parts of the Cruciform key floated to the surface in the spring on the dead bodies of two Russian officers commanding the sub’s crew. When combined, the two parts will give a person access to the entity’s source code to shut it down, or control it. The two parts of the double-cross key go missing, but Ethan’s lover, Ilsa, has managed to steal one of the two parts. Someone put a bounty on her head, but Ethan helps her fight off a bunch of bounty hunters in the Arabian desert in Yemen. She gives Ethan the half of the key, and he tells her to pretend to be dead and hide away, to protect herself.

Ethan doesn’t turn in the half of the key to his boss, Eugene Kittridge, head of the Impossible Missions Force. However, Kittridge orders him to find the second half of the key and turn both halves into him. Kittridge says he wants the United States to control the key, which would give it access to the “source code” of the AI entity and be able to control the powerful but evil entity. Ethan, though, says he will use the source code to destroy the entity.

Ethan and his team, which includes Luther and Benji, go after the second half. They discover that their old friend, the female gangster called “The White Widow” because of her platinum blonde hair, is having a courier deliver the second half to her in Venice. There, she plans on selling the half to the highest bidder. The bidder could be one of the major nations, including the United States, or a super-rich criminal. Ethan also learns that an old nemesis, a ruthless nihilistic assassin named Gabriel, is after the second half. Ethan also learns Gabriel is actually working for the evil entity, but Gabriel secretly wants to obtain both halves of the Cruciform key so that he can control the entity through its source code.

There’s a fly in the ointment, however. A beautiful female thief, calling herself Grace, is trying to obtain the White Widow’s second half of the key, though she has no idea what it does and what it’s really worth. She too wants to sell it to the highest bidder.

Also, Kittridge has ordered an elite military team to follow Ethan and stop him from getting both halves of the key, finding the source code and destroying the entity.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE isn’t totally perfect, but it doesn’t disappoint in delivering the goods when it comes to high-stakes action and suspense, not to mention colorful characters and situations. Even better, it tells a gripping story of good versus evil. In fact, it has a strong allegorical Christian worldview with the metaphorical theme that, “The Cross of Christ holds the key to defeat or destroy evil.” Also, the hero, played by Tom Cruise, has a strong moral code that highly values life and hates evil.

That said, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE has lots of intense action violence, including murder by the ruthless human villain. There’s also lots of foul language, including one “f” word and four strong profanities linking God with a “d” obscenity. A suggestive dance scene also occurs. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for mature viewers, including teenagers and adults.

A word about the idea of an Artificial Intelligence system becoming sentient. MOVIEGUIDE® doesn’t believe this is actually possible, because are the ones who program and control these systems. Thus, an Artificial Intelligence system, including a robot with an AI system, can only do what it’s programmed to do. It can’t become sentient and go against its programming. However, MOVIEGUIDE® does believe that a malevolent person or a group of malevolent people can create and control a malicious AI system to commit deeds of mass destruction or even take global control of major technology, including, perhaps, all nuclear bombs. In effect, the mass media in the United States already does some of this today, however, because it controls and spews up much of the information and group-think that reaches 50% or more of the people. And, the mass media has accomplished this without using a super-powerful Artificial Intelligence system, simply with the help of powerful automatic pre-programmed algorithms. The danger with AI is that it will give the mass media tyrants, working with tyrannical government leaders, even more power to control everyone and destroy their enemies.

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Get the app
• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

How to Talk with Kids About Violence, Crime, and War

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

Mission: impossible: dead reckoning, part one, common sense media reviewers.

Lots of action violence in excellent spy thriller.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Plenty of the usual spy movie betrayals and killin

Ethan Hunt operates in a world of violence and des

Several main characters are White, but key charact

Characters are in near-constant peril. Shoot-outs,

Nightclub scene with "sexy" dancers in the backgro

A couple of uses of "dammit," "hell," "goddammit,"

A Fiat makes a comical extended appearance.

Parents need to know that Tom Cruise returns as Agent Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One, the first movie of the two-part seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise. In many ways, it's more family friendly than, say, your average James Bond movie: There's no drinking or…

Positive Messages

Plenty of the usual spy movie betrayals and killings, but the heroes also know it's important to look out for others' well-being, even if you don't know them -- and even if they don't know you're doing it.

Positive Role Models

Ethan Hunt operates in a world of violence and destruction but also works selflessly and sacrifices much to keep world order. He's brave, and he and his team demonstrate integrity, humility, compassion, teamwork, perseverance, and excellent communication skills.

Diverse Representations

Several main characters are White, but key characters are also played by Black, Latino, and Asian actors. Higher-ups in the intelligence agency and armed forces are ethnically/racially diverse. Women are portrayed as smart, cunning, and extraordinarily physically capable. That said, Ethan is also clearly the hero, and he does a fair amount of rescuing the female characters -- although, to be fair, many characters come to one another's aid throughout: Women save Ethan, women save other women, men save Ethan, Ethan saves men, and so on.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Characters are in near-constant peril. Shoot-outs, one with mercenaries using automatic weapons and a heroic character using a long-distance sniper gun in self-defense, resulting in a high body count. Other fatalities, including a key character. Lots of heavily choreographed action violence, including intense fight sequences with knives, swords, lead pipes, and hitting heads against a wall. Multiple stabbings. Car accidents. Explosions. Dead bodies with a close-up on faces.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Nightclub scene with "sexy" dancers in the background; a woman is briefly touched under her breast.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

A couple of uses of "dammit," "hell," "goddammit," and one "what the fu--" that cuts off.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Parents need to know.

Parents need to know that Tom Cruise returns as Agent Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One, the first movie of the two-part seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise. In many ways, it's more family friendly than, say, your average James Bond movie: There's no drinking or smoking, women are more empowered than they are objectified or romanced, and language is limited to "goddammit," "hell," and an unfinished "what the fu--." That said, the action violence and peril are nonstop (though not graphic). Both villains and heroes use guns, people die, and there are intense physical fights with knives, swords, a pipe, and a shovel. The Mission: Impossible movies are known for their astonishing daredevil stunts, which Cruise is famous for doing himself, and those are definitely here -- as is a message about the importance of doing the right thing, even when no one knows you're doing it. Ethan Hunt and his team also demonstrate character strengths like teamwork, perseverance, and courage. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (15)
• Kids say (25)

Based on 15 parent reviews

Everything you want from a summer spy thriller action blockbuster

Very intense movie for young teens., what's the story.

In MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE, Ethan Hunt ( Tom Cruise ) and his IMF team are tasked with tracking down a powerful skeleton key that's believed to open access to all digitally controlled networks. With intelligence agencies from various world governments -- as well as crime syndicates -- in a race to find and control the key, Ethan encounters dark forces from his past who are working with a new, mysterious entity that threatens the future of humanity.

Is It Any Good?

For parents who want to watch action movies with older tweens and teens, Cruise and longtime collaborator Christopher McQuarrie make it possible with this riveting thriller. Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One is a perfect example of Cruise Control, and the hands-on star and producer outdoes himself, delivering an edge-of-your-seat actioner that pulls you in immediately and never lets go until the screen goes dark. It's one long, audible gasp. Cruise clearly takes the franchise's name to heart, creating action sequences that seem impossible to pull off -- and yet he does. And "he" really does -- making sure the camera captures his face as he rides his motorcycle off the side of a mountain or climbs up a falling train or drives down the Spanish steps in Rome backward.

That particular car chase scene clearly aims to best both Bullitt and The French Connection -- and it succeeds. In those classics, audiences were entranced by Steve McQueen flying down the enormous hills of San Francisco's main thoroughfares, or Gene Hackman speeding through busy New York City traffic. Taking note, Cruise spins through the cobblestones, narrow passages, and famous landmarks of Rome in a tiny, manual Fiat. It's as exciting as it is hilarious, with the filmmakers ensuring that viewers' eyes don't glaze over during the long scene by keeping the comedy coming. Add to this the gorgeousness of the many international locations -- Arab Emirates, Austrian Alps, Venice -- and a simple story that doesn't require overthinking, and Cruise's spy thriller reminds us: This is why we go to the movies.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One . How does it compare to the violence in previous M:I movies? Is it what you expect from this type of movie?

Do you consider Ethan Hunt a role model? How do he and his team demonstrate courage , integrity , self-control , compassion , empathy, perseverance , and teamwork ? Why are these important life skills?

How does this Mission: Impossible movie compare to its biggest rival, the James Bond movies , in its depictions of women? Why does that matter?

What is a MacGuffin? How is this idea/device used in Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One ? What other MacGuffins can you identify in other films you've seen?

A villain says "the truth is vanishing." What does this mean, and why is media literacy an essential skill? What role do you think media and tech/AI play in your daily life?

Movie Details

• In theaters : July 12, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : October 10, 2023
• Cast : Tom Cruise , Hayley Atwell , Esai Morales
• Director : Christopher McQuarrie
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Topics : Adventures , Great Boy Role Models
• Character Strengths : Communication , Courage , Integrity , Perseverance , Teamwork
• Run time : 163 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material
• Award : Common Sense Selection
• Last updated : July 7, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

Mission: Impossible

The Bourne Identity

No Time to Die

Mission: Impossible 2

Mission: Impossible III

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Spy movies for kids, thriller movies, related topics.

• Communication
• Perseverance
• Great Boy Role Models

Want suggestions based on your streaming services? Get personalized recommendations

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors, mission: impossible - dead reckoning: part one.

Now streaming on:

Last summer, Tom Cruise was given credit for saving the theatrical experience with the widely beloved “ Top Gun: Maverick .” One of our last true movie stars returns over a year later as the blockbuster experience seems to be fading with high-budget Hollywood endeavors like " The Flash " and " Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny " falling short of expectations. Can he be Hollywood's savior again? I hope so because “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” is a ridiculously good time. Once again, director Christopher McQuarrie , Cruise, and their team have crafted a deceptively simple thriller, a film that bounces good, bad, and in-between characters off each other for 163 minutes (an admittedly audacious runtime for a film with “Part One” in the title that somehow doesn’t feel long). Some of the overcooked dialogue about the importance of this particular mission gets repetitive, but then McQuarrie and his team will reveal some stunningly conceived action sequence that makes all the spy-speak tolerable. Hollywood is currently questioning the very state of their industry. Leave it to Ethan Hunt to accept the mission.

While this series essentially rebooted in its fourth chapter, changing tone and style significantly, this seventh film very cleverly ties back to the 1996 Brian De Palma original more than any other, almost as if it's uniting the two halves of the franchise. It’s not an origin story, but it does have the tenor of something like the excellent “Casino Royale” in how it unpacks the very purpose of a beloved character. “Dead Reckoning Part One” is about Ethan Hunt reconciling how he got to this point in his life, and McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendresen narratively recall De Palma’s film repeatedly. And with its sweaty, canted close-ups, Fraser Taggart ’s cinematography wants you to remember the first movie—how Ethan Hunt became an agent and the price he’s been paying from the beginning.

It’s not just visual nods. “Dead Reckoning” returns former IMF director Eugene Kittridge ( Henry Czerny ) to Ethan’s life with a new mission. Kittridge informs Hunt that there’s essentially a rogue A.I. in the world that superpowers are battling to control. The A.I. can be manipulated with a key split into two halves. One of those halves is about to be sold on the black market, and so Ethan and his team—including returning characters Luther ( Ving Rhames ) and Benji ( Simon Pegg )—have to not just intercept the key but discern its purpose. The key only matters if IMF can figure out where and how to use it.

After a desert shoot-out that ushers Ilsa Faust ( Rebecca Ferguson ) back into the series, the first major set piece in “Dead Reckoning Part One” takes place in the Dubai airport, where Hunt discovers that there are other players in this espionage chess game, including a familiar face in Gabriel ( Esai Morales ), a morally corrupt mercenary who is one of the reasons that Hunt is an agent in the first place. Gabriel is a chaos agent, someone who not only wants to watch the world burn but hopes the fire inflicts as much pain as possible. In many ways, Gabriel is the inverse of Ethan, whose weakness has been his empathy and personal connections—Gabriel has none of those, and he’s basically working for the A.I., trying to get the key so no one can control it.

At the airport, Ethan also crosses paths with a pickpocket named Grace ( Hayley Atwell ), who gets stuck in the middle of all of this world-changing insanity, along with a few agents trying to hunt down the rogue Ethan and are played by a wonderfully exasperated Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis . A silent assassin, memorably sketched by Pom Klementieff , is also essential to a few action scenes. And Vanessa Kirby returns as the arms dealer White Widow, and, well, if the ensemble has a weakness, it's Kirby's kind of lost performance. She has never quite been able to convey "power player" in these films as she should.

But that doesn't matter because people aren't here for the White Widow's backstory. They want to see Tom Cruise run. The image most people associate with “ Mission: Impossible ” is probably Mr. Cruise stretching those legs and swinging those arms. He does that more than once here, but it seems like the momentum of that image was the artistic force behind this entire film. “Dead Reckoning Part One” prioritizes movement—trains, cars, Ethan’s legs. It’s an action film that's about speed and urgency, something that has been so lost in the era of CGI’s diminished stakes. Runaway trains will always have more inherent visceral power than waves of animated bad guys, and McQuarrie knows how to use it sparingly to make an action film that both feels modern and old-fashioned at the same time. These films don’t over-rely on CGI, ensuring we know that it’s really Mr. Cruise jumping off that motorcycle. When punches connect, bodies fly, and cars crash into each other—we feel it instead of just passively observing it. The action here is so wonderfully choreographed that only “ John Wick: Chapter 4 ” compares for the best in the genre this year.

There’s also something fascinating thematically here about a movie star battling A.I. and questioning the purpose of his job. Blockbusters have been cautionary tech tales for generations but think about the meta aspect of a spy movie in which the world could collapse if the espionage game is overtaken by a sentient computer that stars an actor who has been at the center of controversy regarding his own deepfakes. There’s also a definite edge to the plotting here that plays into the actor’s age in that Ethan is forced to answer questions about what matters to him regarding his very unusual work/life balance, a reflection of what a performer like Cruise must face as he reaches the end of an action movie rope that’s been much longer than anyone could have even optimistically expected. Cruise may or may not intend that reading—although I suspect he does—but it adds another layer to the action.

Of course, the most important thing is this: “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” is just incredibly fun. It feels half its length and contains enough memorable action sequences for some entire franchises. Will Cruise save the blockbuster experience again? Maybe. And he might do it again next summer too.

In theaters on July 12 th .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

Now playing

Trigger Warning

Robert daniels.

Simon Abrams

Sorry/Not Sorry

Matt zoller seitz.

Customs Frontline

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

Kinds of Kindness

Film credits.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material.

163 minutes

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt

Hayley Atwell as Grace

Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell

Simon Pegg as Benjamin 'Benji' Dunn

Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust

Vanessa Kirby as The White Widow

Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge

Esai Morales as Gabriel

Pom Klementieff as Paris

Cary Elwes as Denlinger

Shea Whigham as Jasper Briggs

• Christopher McQuarrie
• Erik Jendresen

Cinematographer

• Fraser Taggart
• Eddie Hamilton
• Lorne Balfe

Latest blog posts

Prime Video Has What Batman Fans Need in Caped Crusader

SDCC 2024: Back Bigger and Better

The Hard Road: Alex Cox on Crowdfunding, Success, and a Life in Independent Filmmaking

Fantasia 2024: The Chapel, The Beast Within, FAQ

Advertisement

Supported by

‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One’ Review: Still Running

In this franchise’s seventh entry, Tom Cruise’s mission includes increasingly improbable leaps, chases and stunts. Luckily for us, he chooses to accept it.

• Share full article

By Manohla Dargis

I don’t know if anyone has ever clocked whether Tom Cruise is faster than a speeding bullet. The guy has legs, and guts. His sprints into the near-void have defined and sustained his stardom, becoming his singular superpower. He racks up more miles in “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” the seventh entry in a 27-year-old franchise that repeatedly affirms a movie truism. That is, there are few sights more cinematic than a human being outracing danger and even death onscreen — it’s the ultimate wish fulfillment!

Much remains the same in this latest adventure, including the series’ reliable entertainment quotient and Cruise’s stamina. Once again, he plays Ethan Hunt, the leader of a hush-hush American spy agency, the Impossible Mission Force. Alongside a rotating roster of beautiful kick-ass women (most recently Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby) and loyal handymen (Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames), Ethan has been sprinting, flying, diving and speed-racing across the globe while battling enemy agents, rogue operatives, garden-variety terrorists and armies of minions. Along the way, he has regularly delivered a number of stomach-churning wows, like jumping out a window and climbing the world’s tallest building .

This time, the villain is the very au courant artificial intelligence, here called the Entity. The whole thing is complicated, as these stories tend to be, with stakes as catastrophic as recent news headlines have trumpeted. Or, as an open letter signed by 350 A.I. authorities put it last month: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from A.I. should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war.” In the face of such calamity, who you gonna call? Analog Man, that’s who, a.k.a. Mr. Hunt, who receives his usual mysterious directives that, this time, have been recorded on a cassette tape, an amusing touch for a movie about the threat poised to the material world by a godlike digital power.

That’s all fine and good, even if the most memorable villain proves to be a Harley Quinn-esque agent of chaos, Paris (Pom Klementieff), who races after Ethan in a Hummer and seems ready to spin off into her own franchise. She tries flattening him during a seamlessly choreographed chase sequence in Rome — the stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood, is also a racecar driver — that mixes excellent wheel skills with scares, laughs, thoughtful geometry and precision timing. At one point, Ethan ends up behind the wheel while handcuffed to a new love interest, Grace (Hayley Atwell, another welcome addition), driving and drifting, flirting and burning rubber in what is effectively the action-movie equivalent of a sex scene.

Despite the new faces, there are, unsurprisingly, no real surprises in “Dead Reckoning Part One,” which features a number of dependably showstopping stunts, hits every narrative beat hard and, shrewdly, has just enough winking humor to keep the whole thing from sagging into self-seriousness. This is the third movie in the series that Cruise and the director Christopher McQuarrie have made together, and they have settled into a mutually beneficial groove. On his end, McQuarrie has assembled a fully loaded blockbuster machine that briskly recaps the series’ foundational parameters, adds the requisite twists and, most importantly, showcases his star. For his part, Cruise has once again cranked the superspy dial up to 11.

Over the years, McQuarrie has loosened up the star, who generally seems to be having a pretty good time. Still, it must be exhausting to be Tom Cruise, who famously performs his own stunts. A smattering of creases now radiate around his smile, but time doesn’t seem to have slowed his relentless roll. The most arresting set piece here finds Ethan smoothly sailing off a cliff via a motorbike and a parachute. Improbable, yes? Impossible? Nah. Like the other large-scale, stunt-driven sequences, this showy leap at once underscores Cruise’s skills and reminds you that a real person in a real location on a real motorbike did this lunatic stunt.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘mission: impossible — dead reckoning part one’ review: tom cruise amps up the electrifying action but story is strictly secondary.

Hayley Atwell joins returning cast Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby in Christopher McQuarrie’s high-octane opening salvo of the two-part Ethan Hunt thriller.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Send an Email
• Show additional share options
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Whats App
• Print the Article
• Post a Comment

It says a lot about Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One , the first chapter in the $3.5 billion franchise’s two-part seventh installment, that detailed footage of one of the film’s most spectacular stunts was released in full online last December. The extended clip showcased the meticulous planning and execution of a sequence in which Tom Cruise as superspy Ethan Hunt drives a motorcycle off a cliff and plunges 4,000 feet into a ravine, separating from the bike and BASE jumping the final 500 feet to the ground.

Related Stories

Marvel reveals 'fantastic four' movie title at comic-con, steve zahn joins 'silo' for season 2 at apple tv+, mission: impossible — dead reckoning part one.

The movie’s sustained adrenaline charge is both its strength and its shortcoming. Comparing part one of Dead Reckoning with Brian De Palma’s terrific 1996 opener, which upgraded the CIA’s covert Impossible Missions Force from its 1960s television origins to the big screen, is an illuminating insight into how audience expectations have changed in the past 27 years — or perhaps more accurately, how the major studios have reshaped audience expectations.

Working with screenwriters David Koepp and Robert Towne, De Palma assembled the nuts and bolts of an admittedly convoluted story with patience and care. He allowed his characters space to breathe while building to stylishly choreographed action sequences that bristled with the director’s customary Hitchcockian flair.

Notable among them was a nail-biting CIA heist operation in which Cruise’s Hunt was lowered into a state-of-the-art Langley security vault to copy a highly prized classified document. It set the tone for a series driven by jaw-dropping stunts, redefining the actor’s career at the same time.

His Ethan has become more careworn, jaded, emotionally bruised; he’s acquired the gravitas that comes with loss. And the passionate, hands-on commitment with which the actor approaches each stunt, emphasizing practical execution over effects, has only intensified through the years. No one can accuse Cruise of being a performer who fails to deliver what his audience wants. Which includes running. So much running.

In that sense, Dead Reckoning Part One works like gangbusters. If something has been discarded in the storytelling craft along the way, it’s unlikely that the core fanbase will mind. But McQuarrie, who co-wrote the screenplay with Erik Jendresen (an Emmy winner for Band of Brothers ), invests so much in the almost nonstop set-pieces that the connective narrative tissue becomes virtually disposable.

Sometimes it feels as if he’s boiled down the most thrilling elements, not only of the Mission: Impossible series, but of the Bond and Bourne movies, and threaded them into a sizzle reel. There’s less sense here of a story that demanded to be told in two parts — this one running two-and-three-quarter hours — than of McQuarrie and Cruise having a bunch more jaw-dropping stunts they plan to pull off and new travel-porn locations on which to unleash mayhem.

The A.I. development harnesses the power to make everything from people to vessels of war undetectable, to turn allies into enemies, commandeer defense systems and manipulate the world’s finance markets. It has become a monster with a mind of its own that knows everything about everyone and can be controlled only with a cruciform key made of two bejeweled parts lost in the Russian submarine disaster that opens the movie.

As the motivation for a globe-hopping hunt to find the two halves of the key and slot them together to tame the A.I. renegade before Gabriel can get his paws on it, it’s a serviceable plot. But it’s elaborated in numbing scenes lumped in among the fun stuff, with Ethan and his associates trudging through leaden exposition dumps, intoning gravely about “The Entity,” as it’s come to be known. Ominous statements are batted about like, “Whoever controls the Entity controls the truth,” which I guess is tangible enough as a threat to world order.

But when we get to see the digital mega-brain at work, looking like a giant fibrous, pulsating cyber sphincter, the whole thing becomes a bit silly. And if after the first half-hour or so you’re still following the plotting intricacies of how the parts of the key got to wherever they are, whether they’re real or fake, who has them and how the IMF crew plans to get them back, congratulations.

Besides, the strong cast, high-gloss production values and constant wow factor of the action offer plenty of distraction from the storytelling deficiencies. And the fact that Gabriel aims to wound Ethan by harming the people he cares about gives the film a few genuine emotional moments, even if McQuarrie seldom lingers long over them.

In a nice full-circle touch, Henry Czerny is back as Kittridge, Ethan’s prickly CIA boss. Seen previously in the De Palma film, he brings with him a personal history with Ethan and a deep knowledge of the agent’s past that add tension when Hunt once again goes rogue in the new mission. Returning from Fallout is slinky arms dealer Alanna, known as the White Widow ( Vanessa Kirby ), the daughter of Redgrave’s Max, representing another link back to the first film.

In her strongest screen role, Rebecca Ferguson continues bringing smarts, sharp moves and personal — if not sexual — chemistry with Cruise to her character from Rogue Nation and Fallout , MI6 agent Ilsa Faust. She’s first encountered here holed up in the Arabian desert with a $50 million bounty on her head. Ethan’s loyal core backup remains trusty field agent Benji ( Simon Pegg ), supplying the wisecracks and whipping up those masks; and expert hacker Luther ( Ving Rhames ), who somehow gets through awkward mouthfuls like, “Ethan, you’re playing four-dimensional chess with an algorithm!”

Among the various figures trailing them — both U.S. Intelligence agents and Gabriel’s hit squad — the most memorable is an ice-cold killer known as Paris (Pom Klementieff), a deadly force behind the wheel of an armored truck and a ready-made action figure with her bleach-blond mop, pleated plaid mini and snug leather jacket.

Paris is in hot pursuit in one of the stand-out set-pieces, on the tail of Ethan and Grace amusingly squeezed into a yellow Fiat 500 on a wild ride through the cobbled streets of Rome that conveniently takes in almost every major tourist attraction before capping it off with a doozy of a sequence on the Spanish Steps. A swanky party at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice yields more suspense on the city’s bridges and in its canals. And the early desert action segues to a tense race against the clock at Abu Dhabi Airport, the undulating roof of the new Midfield Terminal giving Cruise a challenging new course to sprint.

In terms of sheer entertainment, the movie has plenty to offer. Editor Eddie Hamilton keeps his foot on the accelerator with breathless pacing, and cinematographer Fraser Taggart’s dynamic camerawork keeps the visuals fluid and exciting. Much of the propulsion is also due to Lorne Balfe’s pounding score, incorporating a thunderous remix of the classic Lalo Schifrin TV theme music.

For a series now well into its third decade — and continuing next summer with Dead Reckoning Part Two — Mission: Impossible has remained remarkably consistent, with ups and downs but never an outright dud. Some of us might lament the madly busy overplotting at the expense of more nuanced character and story development, but that’s endemic to Hollywood studio output these days, not just to this franchise. And as one of the few relatively grownup big-budget alternatives to comic-book superhero domination, I’ll take it.

Full credits

Thr newsletters.

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Jimmy kimmel, john mulaney both pass on hosting oscars ceremony, josh hartnett reveals why he once walked away from hollywood, ‘mountain queen: the summits of lhakpa sherpa’ review: netflix doc tells 10-time everest climber’s inspiring personal story, hollywood flashback: when clint eastwood saved the day, box office: ‘deadpool & wolverine’ lands 6th biggest opening of all time with $211m, makes r-rated history, ben whishaw’s ‘good boy,’ johnny sibilly’s ‘great canyon’ to open vancouver queer film fest (exclusive).

Find anything you save across the site in your account

The Extravagant Treats of “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One”

Like the beat, beat, beat of the tomtom, a pounding of the drums tells us that another installment of “ Mission: Impossible ” is under way. Most of us know the trills and thrills of Lalo Schifrin’s original score, which remains the most exciting theme tune ever composed for TV. (Paddling furiously in its wake is that of “Hawaii Five-O.”) For the ensuing movie franchise, the tune has been repeatedly stretched and tweaked—or, in the case of the second film, lacerated by Limp Bizkit. Now, as the seventh chapter of the saga begins, we hear no melody at all: nothing but the rhythm, thudding forth. But it’s enough. We brace ourselves, and adopt the Mission position. Here we go.

The new movie, which is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, runs for two hours and forty-three minutes, and its full title is “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One,” which takes about half an hour to say. If Part Two, which is due to be released next June, is of similar dimensions, we’ll be landed with a tale that is more than five hours in the telling. Concision junkies will have to look elsewhere. The first sign of swelling, in this latest adventure, comes with a gathering of U.S. intelligence personnel, which goes on and on. It’s eventually halted by a guy who throws smoke bombs around, unleashing clouds of pretty green gas—a mild surprise to those present, who were presumably expecting coffee and a selection of pastries, but by this stage any interruption is welcome.

The topic of the meeting is the Entity, which is discussed at such length, and in tones of such grandiloquent awe, that I understood it even less at the end than I did at the start. In the world of “Mission: Impossible,” villainy gets bigger and more abstract by the movie. In “ Rogue Nation ” (2015), we had the Syndicate. In “Fallout” (2018), we had the Apostles. Now we get the Entity. (What next? The Intimation? The Word in Your Ear?) It seems to be a species of A.I.—“an enemy that is everywhere and nowhere,” we hear, with “a mind of its own.” Access to it is granted by a cruciform key, in two sections; collect the pair, slot ’em together, and the Entity lies within your grasp. Any government or terrorist outfit possessing it will wield unquenchable power, and the one person who can stop it from slipping into evil hands is, of course, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), Frodo Baggins having taken early retirement.

Ethan assembles his usual gang, consisting of Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), who has been on call since the first “Mission: Impossible” (1996), and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg). Also in the mix is Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who made her début in “Rogue Nation.” To my eyes, it was with the arrival of Ferguson that the franchise truly took flight; her manner was tranquil even at the height of tension, her character’s fealty was elusive, and she was splendidly unimpressed by the hero. That impressed him. Make no mistake, Cruise is in control of these movies—“A Tom Cruise Production,” the opening credits of “Dead Reckoning” announce—but he has the wit to realize how dreary that dominance would become if Ethan were not, at regular intervals, unmanned by women.

Hence the amazing Grace (Hayley Atwell). She is a thief, whom Ethan bumps into at the Abu Dhabi airport. The thing about bumping into Grace is that, post-bump, you will find yourself bereft of valuables, for her fingers are feather-light. Although she has a sheaf of passports, like Jason Bourne, she is new to mayhem, never mind to brutality, and Atwell does a lovely job of suggesting that Grace’s natural state is one of criminal innocence—wide-eyed yet without a flake of ditziness, and far too schooled in common sense to be a femme fatale. Observe how she pauses, with a frown of uncertainty, before putting on one of those rubber masks which more seasoned habitués of “Mission: Impossible,” when switching identities, don and doff like gloves. Ever practical, she ties her hair back before clambering onto the outside of a speeding train, and, as she and Ethan are harried through Roman streets by multiple vehicles, exclaims, “Is there anyone not chasing us?” An excellent question. The chase concludes with a merry plea. “Don’t hate me,” she says, leaving Ethan bewitched, bothered, and be-handcuffed to a steering wheel. Nice.

The cuffs are a Hitchcockian clue, and the whole movie is clamorous with echoes of earlier works. (“Dead Reckoning” was a Humphrey Bogart thriller from 1947—tangled, surly, and steeped in postwar bitterness.) On the trusty comic principle that huge blockbusters deserve dinky modes of transport, Ethan and Grace scoot through Rome in a Fiat 500, the color of ripe lemons, recalling Roger Moore’s Citroën 2CV in “For Your Eyes Only” (1981), or, indeed, the tuk-tuk driven to exhaustion by Harrison Ford in the latest “ Indiana Jones .” The climax of McQuarrie’s film, set on and atop a train, alludes with pride to the first “Mission: Impossible” and winds up saluting “The General” (1926), Buster Keaton’s runaway masterpiece, as a locomotive takes a deep dive through a broken bridge.

Cruise has none of Keaton’s dreamy stoicism, but both actors, trim and compact, define themselves by the outsized magnificence of their stunts. In addition, each of them is most at ease when in haste. They run unstoppably yet with an oddly formal poise—torso held upright, like that of a waiter with a tray, above the pumping pistons of their legs. Watch Keaton sprint along the crest of a hill, a century ago, in the finale of “Seven Chances,” or Cruise in full flow on the roof of an airport, in “Dead Reckoning.” Relentlessness of this order ought to be chilling. Not so. Instead, we are stirred and amused by a preternatural sight: men as little machines.

There is a devout podcast, “Light the Fuse,” which peruses “Mission: Impossible” in all its incarnations. Should you wish to hear an interview—nay, a two-part interview—with a former marketing intern on the third film, here is your opportunity. As the podcast approaches its two-hundred-and-fortieth episode, one has to ask: why do these movies continue to suck us in? Perhaps because they are as fetishistic as their fans. Precision is everything. I have lost count of the objects, friendly and hostile, that click, lock, or shunt into place. The bass flute that turned into an assassin’s rifle, in “Rogue Nation,” somehow stood for the cunningly wrought design of the entire narrative. Likewise, on a larger scale, the main attraction of “Dead Reckoning” is a motorbike-and-parachute leap that was previewed, unpacked, and explained online, many months ago, the purpose being to demonstrate that Cruise, the nerveless and unfading star, had performed the maneuver himself. Here is a motion picture equipped with auto-spoilers, eager to stress that at the heart of its fantasy lies something risky and real.

It was after “Rogue Nation” that I searched my conscience and discovered, as I sorted through the rubble, that I was looking forward with greater gusto to the next helping of “Mission: Impossible” than I was to the upcoming James Bond. For somebody reared on 007, this was tantamount to apostasy. I felt like a mid-Victorian Protestant admitting, in shame and confusion, to the lure of the Catholic faith. The change of allegiance was merely hardened by “No Time to Die,” the most recent Bond flick, in 2021, which foundered in an agony of self-involvement. Who wants a hero who expires under the sheer weight of backstory? Where’s the fun in that?

By contrast, retrospection has played a blessedly small part in the emotional legend of Ethan Hunt. We gaze back, in remembrance of stunts past—“Oh, my God, that bit in the fourth one where he climbed a skyscraper with magnetic suckers on his mitts,” and so on. Ethan’s own impulse, though, is forever onward, and to complain that his character lacks depth is to misinterpret the laws of dramatic physics. He is mass times velocity plus grin. If he has a history, it tends to self-destruct from film to film; which of us honestly remembers, let alone cares, that he got married in “Mission: Impossible III” (2006)? Does he remember? That’s why the plot of “Dead Reckoning” is a cause for concern—not because of the metaphysical fluff (“Whoever controls the Entity controls the truth”) but because of Gabriel (Esai Morales), a smooth devil who craves the cruciform key. Thirty years ago, apparently, he crossed paths with Ethan, who declares, “In a very real sense, he made me who I am today.” I don’t like the sound of that. Let us pray that Part Two will not require Ethan to follow the example of poor 007, forsaking crazy capers to lick his psychological wounds.

For now, how does Part One stack up? Well, as I say, it’s too talky by half. A funky soirée at the Doge’s Palace, in Venice, brings together Ethan, Ilsa, Gabriel, Grace, and the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby), the arms dealer with a hypnotizing stare whom we first encountered in “Fallout.” All the interested parties, in other words, yet the result is just not interesting; I vaguely hoped that Miss Marple would show up, reveal the killer’s name, and hit the dance floor. Soon afterward, a fight breaks out in an alleyway, during which Ethan beats a woman’s head against a wall—a spasm of nastiness that has no place in a saga as strangely anesthetized as “Mission: Impossible.” There isn’t the faintest shudder of sex in “Dead Reckoning,” so why does McQuarrie allow such violence to sour the spirited action?

But let’s be fair. Despite its longueurs and shortcomings, this movie is still a bag of extravagant treats. A submarine attacked by an invisible foe beneath the Arctic ice. A grand piano suspended directly over Ethan and Grace, and prevented from dropping only by a slowly weakening clamp. Rebecca Ferguson wearing a sniper’s eye patch. A nuclear bomb that asks the person trying to defuse it whether he is afraid of death. And, best of all, in Rome, the Fiat 500 rocking and rolling down the Spanish Steps—which, as we are charmingly assured in the closing credits, were not harmed in the making of the film. Thank God. Or thank Tom Cruise. The choice is yours. ♦

New Yorker Favorites

The hottest restaurant in France is an all-you-can-eat buffet .

How to die in good health .

Was Machiavelli misunderstood ?

A heat shield for the most important ice on Earth .

A major Black novelist made a remarkable début. Why did he disappear ?

Andy Warhol obsessively documented his life, but he also lied constantly, almost recreationally .

Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker .

By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Reaches a New Pinnacle for Action Filmmaking

The seventh Mission: Impossible film is cinematic magic without an ending. Is anyone complaining?

In the 27 years since Tom Cruise first dangled from the ceiling of a Langley vault, the Mission: Impossible franchise has become the standard for impeccable action filmmaking, and incidentally, the last bastion for practical effects. This is especially true with the Christopher McQuarrie-directed films, in which Cruise found the perfect collaborator willing to indulge in his daredevil instincts. But ever since McQuarrie’s takeover of eight years ago, Mission: Impossible has also become the “stunt franchise,” and lost one of its most interesting aspects: the wild variety that came with a different auteur (John Woo! Brian De Palma! Brad Bird!) putting an extremely unique (sometimes extremely divisive) spin on each movie. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One attempts to split the difference.

The first half of a two-part story, Dead Reckoning Part One is an exhilarating blockbuster, distilling pure spectacle into a two-and-a-half hour feature. It’s also the first time Mission: Impossible is deep in conversation with itself. McQuarrie departs from his action-first style to pay homage to Brian De Palma’s first Mission: Impossible — all intense close-ups, canted angles, and heightened, pulpy paranoia. This creates a sense of full-circle continuity the Mission: Impossible films rarely have, but it also feels like McQuarrie is playing in another director’s sand box when he should be doing what he does best: delivering Tom Cruise’s latest death-defying stunt in the most breathtaking, jaw-dropping way possible. It’s in those moments that Dead Reckoning Part One transcends anything any other action tentpole can even dream of touching.

Ethan Hunt and his team are back, and facing their most sinister (and timely) foe yet.

The plot of Dead Reckoning Part One might involve the timely threat of an evil AI, but it’s otherwise time-tested. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his Impossible Mission Force team are pitted against “The Entity,” a sentient weapon at the center of a worldwide arms race, with every powerful nation trying to get their hands on the two-part key that can control it. Ethan believes The Entity must be destroyed, which turns him into public enemy No. 1 and forces him to go rogue once again. With a skeleton crew consisting of Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames), and the occasional helping hand from the ever-elusive Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson, magnetic but alarmingly underused), Ethan finds an unlikely new ally in Grace (Hayley Atwell), a thief with an agenda of her own.

There are a number of action sequences that deserve mentioning — including one thrillingly fun (and surprisingly funny) car chase that rivals John Wick: Chapter 4 for this year’s best Buster Keaton-inspired action — but the standout is the film’s climactic train scene. The brilliance of this sequence is that it’s not just one setpiece, it’s actually three setpieces in one. That the sequence does not peak at the moment that Tom Cruise rides his motorcycle off a cliff to parachute onto a speeding train is a testament to just how far the Mission: Impossible films have pushed the envelope when it comes to stunts. Each new twist threatens to stop the heart, and each new fall, or explosion, or screeching turn around the bend rattles your teeth so hard you can feel your pulse behind your eyes. Despite a surprising amount of CGI used for the sequence, it’s the cinematic magic that McQuarrie and Cruise have managed to concoct since getting together in 2015, and it’s never been better.

The three-part train sequence is one of the greatest achievements of the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Still, outside of that magnificent train sequence — in all its moving parts, including the nail-biting sequence when Cruise and Atwell scramble through falling train carriages that feels like an homage to James Cameron’s Titanic — Dead Reckoning Part One struggles to come together. The Cold War-esque dread that McQuarrie attempts to conjure results in 70 percent of the film becoming an exposition dump. (McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendresen try to liven this up by having the information delivered by several somber-faced characters at once.) But it’s the movie’s almost comical level of self awareness that saves it. Characters still call Ethan Hunt things like “a mind-reading, shape-shifting agent of chaos,” and the movie can never get enough mileage out of the absurd thrills of having some random man pull off his mask to reveal he’s Tom Cruise. Cruise is exceptional at this part — as much credit as he gets for pulling off each amazing stunt, not enough can be said for how good he is at playing an extremely determined guy who is very, very tired.

Vanessa Kirby’s “White Widow” is given an expanded role in one of the more entertaining sequences of the film.

Matching Cruise’s energy is franchise newcomer Shea Whigham, who brings a salt-of-the-earth attitude to the movie as the agent tasked with bringing Ethan Hunt in, and steals the scenes as the regular dude in ludicrous situations. Esai Morales’ villain Gabriel brings an interesting flavor to the film, as a chilling, all-knowing figure who may have a tie to Ethan’s past. But it’s his henchwoman played by Pom Klementieff (doing a slinky audition for Harley Quinn) that matches the heightened weirdness that Mission: Impossible has become known for. However, the film’s MVP is Hayley Atwell, whose double-crossing thief is an inspired addition to the team. Atwell takes to the action like a pro, and has a tense dynamic with Cruise that escalates the stakes in entertaining ways.

Despite the components all working great separately, something struggles to connect. It might be because Dead Reckoning is a movie very much structured around its setpieces (mind-blowing though they are), while the story clearly came later. Or it might be because there’s no central heist tying those sequences together. The most likely culprit is that subtitle: Part One. Dead Reckoning is very much a set-up film, feeding us bits and pieces of a larger plot, but not giving us the satisfaction of a clear endgame . It feels like a feature-film version of holding our breath right before Tom Cruise leaps off that cliff: it’s thrilling stuff, but we’ll have to see where he lands.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One opens in theaters on July 12.

This article was originally published on July 5, 2023

• Science Fiction

Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One Christian Movie Review & Parent Guide will give you the information you need before taking your children to it. Be aware, while this movie is rated PG-13, it is very intense with non-stop violence and extreme action.

Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One 2023 Christian Movie Review

Synopsis from the movie studio:.

In Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan’s past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.

My Synopsis:

In this 7th Mission Impossible film, Ethan Hunt is called to another mission, but he is not just fighting the bad guys this time. In fact, he is on a mission to stop the Entity that is always one step ahead of him. This Entity is AI (artificial intelligence) programming that wants to take over the world. It seems to be able to predict what is going to happen.

Ethan needs to find a key which is called “the key to world domination.” When he finds this key, he is to turn it over to the US government. However, he realizes that every government wants this key, everyone is after him, and whoever gets the key will control the world. 

Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning – What Parents Want to Know

Language: .

There is not much in the way of foul language. However, there is the use of d-mn and g-d d-mn. Someone says, “What the…” and it appears they are going to say the f word, but are cut off.

Violence: 

Almost constant action and violence is present in this film. In fact, it is a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat almost the entire time type of movie.

The film begins with a submarine explosion and you see dead bodies floating in the sea. Next is an intense action scene in the desert with a dust storm and machine guns.

People are shot and killed, or stunned with a stun gun, or shot with tranquilizing darts. You see a man’s feet and legs hanging after he has been killed.

Additionally, there are excessive amounts of fist fights, knife fights, and discussions on war and controlling the world using AI. A man stabs another man in the hand.

Furthermore, there are extreme chase scenes through the streets of Rome involving cars, motorbikes, SUVs, and a huge armored vehicle. 

A person has their throat slit, and you see them lying in a pool of blood. Another person is stabbed in the heart and dies. 

Moreover, a person almost gets run over by a train. A man says, “Your secretary is no longer with us,” as a way of saying he killed her.

Of course, there is the obligatory running across the top of a train and fight that ensues on the roof of the train. (After just watching Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny , I do have to say, I really appreciate the real action scenes in this film versus the CGI in Dial of Destiny).

But wait, there’s more….a train is careening through the mountains, and there are bombs set up on the bridge ahead. An intense survival scene ensues as characters try to jump from one train car to another as each car slides off the cliff. (This is where I laughed – watching these scenes was utterly unbelievable!)

Sexual Content: 

Some dancers in a nightclub almost look naked. However, they are wearing nude-colored outfits.

There is some flirting between a man and a woman, but both are only interested in getting information from the other person.

Spiritual: 

There is very little spiritual content outside the mysterious key with two parts. When both parts are placed together, they look like a cross.

The bad guy’s name is Gabriel. He is called the “Dark Messiah.” It appears his mission it to gain control of everyone and everything. He says he “sees death as a gift.” He also “predicts” that one person will die, and says, their “fate is written.”

Other Content: 

There is a lot of lying, deceit, stealing, and evil people wanting to control the world. One character is a thief and is shown with multiple passports with different identities. 

One character that is from the US government is found to be acting in his own interests.

Positive Elements:

Ethan values his friends and the people closest to him. In fact, he is willing to risk his life for them. In a passionate speech, Ethan says, “But I swear, your life will always mean more to me than my own.” Additionally, he seems to always do the right thing.

Another team member says that nothing is more important to him than his friends.

Viewing Recommendations: Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One Christian Movie Review

I left the theater knowing that my husband would love this movie, and I did enjoy parts of it. However, it was just too intense with the non-stop action for me to enjoy it fully.

There are a few scenes where I laughed out loud (in parts that weren’t supposed to be funny) at the absolute absurdity of the scene. 

While the movie’s plot was fascinating, and Tom Cruise embraces his role of Ethan Hunt, be aware this movie is not for children. Several children were in the movie theater, and it pains me to see that. 

Before you say, “My child can handle it,” I ask you to consider the following. The pre-frontal cortex of the brain is the last area to develop in children and may not be fully developed until a person is in their 20s. Furthermore, repeated exposure to violent imagery can cause reduced functioning of the control center (pre-frontal cortex). This can create a reduced ability to control emotion and aggression. Read more about the effects of watching violence on developing brains .

About the Movie – Mission Impossible 7

Rating: PG-13 for Intense sequences of violence and action, some language, and suggestive material

Runtime: 2 hours, 43 mins.

Release Date: July 12, 2023

Genre: Action/Adventure

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Written by: Christopher McQuarrie, Erick Jendresen

Based on Mission Impossible by Bruce Geller

Produced by Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie

Editor: Eddie Hamilton

Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Cast of the Movie:

Ethan Hunt played by Tom Cruise

Grace played by Hayley Atwell

Ilsa Faust played by Rebecca Ferguson

Denlinger played by Cary Elwes

Alanna Mitsopolis played by Vanessa Kirby

Luther Stickell played by Ving Rhames

Benji Dunn played by Simon Pegg

Gabriel played by Esal Morales

Eugene Kittridge played by Henry Czech

Paris played by Pom Klementieff

Jasper Briggs played by Shea Whigham

Frequently Asked Questions:

What is the big armored vehicle seen in the chase scenes in the streets of italy.

There is speculation that it is a Hummer H2 modified for the movie. 

Additionally, Tom Cruise drives an electric Fiat 500 while handcuffed. Read about the vehicles featured in other Mission Impossible films.

Where can I stream Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning?

Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One was released into movie theaters on July 12, 2023. It will not be streaming at that time.

Where can I stream the Mission Impossible TV series and the first 6 movies?

Of course, since Paramount holds the rights to Mission Impossible, they have all things Mission Impossible, on Paramount Plus, including the original television series.

Can I watch Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning on Netflix or Max?

When Mission Impossible begins to stream, you can expect to find it on Paramount+ and it should be available to rent on Amazon.

Where was Dead Reckoning filmed?

Filming was done in Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, Norway, and Abu Dhabi. 

Do I have to watch the other movies to enjoy this movie?

You can enjoy and understand this movie without watching the other Mission Impossible movies.

Does Tom Cruise do his own stunts?

Yes, Tom Cruise does most of his own stunts. In this latest movie, he drives a motorcycle off a cliff and parachutes to the ground.

How Many Mission Impossible Shows and Movies have there been?

Mission impossible television series: 1966-1973.

It has been almost 60 years since the Mission Impossible series (1966) was created. This television series aired on CBS from September 1966 until March 1973. These 50-minute episodes showcased secret government agents and their special assignments. 

Each episode began with a taped message given to the IMF (Impossible Missions Force). The messages end with “As always, should you or any of your IM force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.”

Mission Impossible Television Series: 1988-1990

This continuation television series begins 15 years after the original series ends. Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) is called out of retirement and forms a new team. The series was short lived due to the time slot which it aired, and it never really caught on a second time.

Mission Impossible Movie Series:

Finally, the Mission Impossible movies starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. The movies began in 1996, six years after the last TV series.

Hunt leads his own IMF team. Because of the success of Mission Impossible movies starring Tom Cruise, there have been 6 movies before now. 

1996 – Mission Impossible

2000 – Mission Impossible 2

2006 – Mission Impossible III

2011 – Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol

2015 – Mission Impossible Rogue Nation

2018 – Mission Impossible Fallout

2023 – Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One

2024 – Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part Two

Reviewing movies for parents from a Christian perspective since 2005. Know Before You Go!

Christian Homeschooling mom – 30 years and counting

Autism Mom & Disney enthusiast

Related Posts

Teaching with Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Schooling with disney’s pinocchio movie plus review, leave a comment cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The scary question at the heart of the Mission: Impossible movies

In Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, Tom Cruise once again leads a franchise that’s all about trickery, subterfuge, and the nature of reality itself.

by Alissa Wilkinson

In the very first scene of the very first Mission: Impossible film, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is interrogating a Russian guy. We don’t know it’s Hunt, though, because — in perhaps the most iconic running bit in the M:I universe — he’s wearing an extremely lifelike rubber mask. Two minutes into the scene, he walks over to the Russian, drugs him till he passes out, and then pulls off the mask, dramatically revealing the face of a slightly flushed and rumpled Cruise. (It’s hot under all that latex.)

Shortly after that first reveal, the walls of the room fall outward into a warehouse, which makes for a bigger reveal: The whole scene was faked. Not only was the now-immobilized Russian hoodwinked, but the audience was tricked into believing their senses. For us, the moment is delightful; for the laid-out man, not so much.

That opening parry for Mission: Impossible, created and produced by Cruise as a spy-action franchise for himself, showed up in movie theaters in May 1996, with Brian De Palma (of Carrie and Scarface ) in the director’s chair. Compared to the latest installment in the franchise, frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One , the 1996 version is much sweatier, darker, and kind of erotic. (A Brian De Palma movie indeed.)

The omnipresent unmaskings , of which there have been at least 15 or 20 by now, are still a mainstay of the films. What’s so great about those reveals, in particular, is that you’re rarely actually expecting them. Dead Reckoning Part One plays with this a little, but for the most part, through all the films, any guy at any time could rip his face off and you’d still be like, “Wow, I did not see that coming.”

The new version is like its predecessors, employing a trope borrowed from the TV show that spawned the film: trickery around every corner, a sense that you can’t quite believe what you see. Dead people turn out to be not-dead people. Walls of rooms keep falling apart to reveal they’re constructed in some warehouse somewhere. Everyone could be a rogue agent or maybe not, and the movie sure isn’t going to wink at you about it till it’s good and ready.

That those twists and turns keep surprising us seven movies in points to what’s truly delightful about the Mission: Impossible franchise, and what makes it, in my opinion, both the most inventive and the most satisfying long-running franchise in Hollywood. On one level, M:I is wonderful because the convoluted plots are pretty much beside the point; if they can be said to have a consistent theme, it is “Tom Cruise likes almost dying on camera.”

And yet once you’ve watched them all, you can detect a kind of meta-theme to the M:I movies. It stems from a simple moviegoing fact: Most of us believe that what we are seeing in a movie is how things actually happened in the world of the movie. It’s why a movie like A Beautiful Mind or Big Fish or The Irishman is so memorably affecting; we are trained to believe our narrators, and when it turns out that what we’ve been watching is not quite what actually happened, it’s thrilling. New meaning emerges from the mismatch.

Mission: Impossible plays on this expectation, though there’s no specific perspectival narrator. The thrill comes from occasionally discovering that what we’ve been watching is an elaborate fake-out. Sleight of hand is everywhere. Don’t trust your senses, Mission: Impossible exhorts us — they’re easily manipulated.

This is underlined, in another meta-heavy way, by what makes the films so distinctive: Cruise’s incredible, literally death-defying stunts, every film seeming to take them to a new level. He climbs up sheer rock walls , leaps across rooftops , fights cliffside , and hangs off the side of a flying Airbus A400M . Each time a new Mission: Impossible movie is released, it’s accompanied with marketing material that mainly leans on explaining that yes, Tom Cruise did actually climb the Burj Khalifa . Personally I, and I suspect Cruise, will not be satisfied until Ethan Hunt is in outer space. (Oh, he’s doing it .)

Why emphasize that he’s actually doing these stunts (albeit with cables and nets — you could never afford to insure the production otherwise) as the lynchpin of the M:I marketing? First, of course, because it is pretty badass. But the second reason is obvious: While action is a mainstay of American cinema, particularly in superhero movies, we all know they’re flying around on soundstages and are CGI’d within an inch of their lives. It’s all spectacle, but with no reality.

With Mission: Impossible , however, our deceiving eyes don’t quite extend to the stunts. Yes, there are tricks of the camera and computer going on. But Tom Cruise is actually driving a motorcycle off a cliff and then plummeting down . That’s real — real enough to gasp and hold your breath and get a little shaky. It’s as much a mainstay of the movie as the mask trickery, and that subtle play with what we’re seeing, with the real and the unreal, suggests the movies might be doing this very much on purpose.

I’d already formed that thought and pitched it to my editor before going into Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One , and about 10 minutes in, I started silently fist-pumping. This movie’s Big Bad is something everyone calls “the Entity,” which is not a person, or even a shadowy cabal of persons, but an AI that’s become sentient and is out to take down humanity.

There’s arguably a tad too much explanation about the Entity throughout the movie that bogs it down a little, but the irony is so bold you sort of have to respect it. At the same time that Hollywood’s workers are battling to make sure their bosses don’t replace them with AI to cut costs and please shareholders, one of the summer’s biggest movies is about how AI wants to wipe us all out. It’s of a piece with recent blockbusters that are straightforwardly about how our digital doppelgangers want to kill us, algorithms are out to destroy originality , and continually repurposing nostalgia IP is how a culture dies . The call is coming from inside the house, et cetera.

But the reason I loved the Entity plotline — which, like most of the characters, will clearly be developed and wrapped up in Part Two (due out next June) — so much is that it shows what Mission: Impossible has been about all along.

Thus the Entity’s greatest threat is its ability to change reality — well, in a manner of speaking. It’s not that the digital threat can change the physical bones of reality. The Entity’s danger to humanity lies chiefly in the fact that the world is fully networked, everyone passing currency and information and even warfare along digital pathways that a sentient AI would have no trouble hacking and manipulating. In a highly mediated world, where we encounter everything and everyone through screens, the way reality is represented to us suddenly becomes, effectively, reality. If a story or a myth is floated around the internet and people come to believe it, does it even really matter, in a practical matter, if it’s true? If, as in the 1964 film Fail Safe , a country’s government thinks it’s under attack and launches a missile back at the supposed aggressor who then counterattacks, how much does it matter to the civilians on the ground that there was never an attack in the first place?

If a story or a myth is floated around the internet and people come to believe it, does it even really matter if it’s true?

This is exactly what the humans of Dead Reckoning fear: that the entity will create reality by manipulating it, and we’ll just wipe ourselves out as a result. It’s a problem that humanity caused, of course, by getting itself so digitally intertwined and creating an AI in the first place. But now it’s out of our hands, and whoever controls it — if it can be controlled at all — is, in effect, God.

All of which weaves seamlessly into the broader Mission: Impossible narrative. What’s impossible about these missions? They’re famously difficult to pull off, with death-defying stunts that require Hunt and his buddies to precisely understand their surroundings, down to the millimeter and the temperature and pull of gravity. It’s thrilling to watch, and thrilling to experience, for sure — but it’s a reality that waits for us. In the future, the way we trust our senses will be radically altered. You know, because you’ve felt it, too.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One opens in theaters on July 13.

More in 2023’s big summer movie season, explained

The dark — and often misunderstood — nuclear history behind Oppenheimer, explained by an expert

This summer’s biggest hit? The Barbie marketing team.

Oppenheimer’s secret city, explained

Most popular, oil companies sold the public on a fake climate solution — and swindled taxpayers out of billions, trump proposed bombing mexico and it somehow wasn’t a big story, j.d. vance didn’t have sex with a couch. but he’s still extremely weird., biden’s new supreme court reform proposals are mostly useless, do bigger highways actually help reduce traffic, today, explained.

Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day.

More in Culture

How Marvel managed to upset Palestinian — and Israeli — fans 

The art and science of swearing

Think like an Olympian

The good, the bad, and the weird of the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony

Arson attacks underscore the security and terror threats to the Paris Olympics

The controversy over Sabra, a new movie character, explained.

And why you feel bad swearing around your friends’ kids, according to a philosopher.

More of a mathlete than an athlete? A gold medal mindset can help you do almost anything better.

Four winners and six losers from the day.

Officials say Paris will be the “safest place in the world” for the Olympics. Here’s what they’re up against.

The rumors were easy to believe, especially when the potential VP has such terrible ideas about sex.

Venezuela’s Maduro just tightened his grip on power. What comes next?

Who is Noah Lyles? For this sprinter, the Paris Olympics could be everything.

The ugly calculus behind MAGA’s racist and sexist attacks on Harris

What if colon cancer screening didn’t involve poop?

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Where to watch.

Images & Screenshots

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Review

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes
• Movie Reviews

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part 1 review: Tom Cruise hunts for franchise's action crown

Cruise outdoes even his own daredevil achievements in the latest entry in the franchise.

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine , The Hollywood Reporter , and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight , is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

For over a decade now, Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie 's mission has been to up the ante on action movies. Following the smash success of 2022's Top Gun: Maverick (which McQuarrie co-wrote), the two are back together as star and director in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One , the latest in their Mission: Impossible team-ups that began with 2015's Rogue Nation . While the title (in theaters July 12) might feel unwieldy, the film itself is anything but, its nearly three-hour running time passing as quickly as it takes a message to self-destruct.

Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, the leader of the Impossible Mission Force, in the first of what is being billed as a potential two-part farewell to the character. When a sentient AI force nicknamed "the Entity" is at risk of falling into the wrong hands, Hunt is tasked with retrieving a two-part key essential to controlling (or destroying) it. With his reliable team, Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji ( Simon Pegg ), and now-mainstay Ilsa Faust ( Rebecca Ferguson ), Hunt sets out to track down the key and destroy it. A too-smart-for-her-own-good pickpocket, Grace ( Hayley Atwell ), adds chaos to the mix, as Ethan pursues a shadowy foe from his past, Gabriel ( Esai Morales ).

The golden key is a solid movie McGuffin, with the ramifications of "the Entity" feeling eerily timely in a world where the role of AI in our lives is a hot button subject (particularly among those currently on strike in the film industry ). But as always, it's the action sequences, Cruise's death-wish level stunts, and chemistry of the core ensemble that will keep audiences strapped in for the adrenaline ride.

After the high-water mark of 2018's Mission: Impossible — Fallout , it seemed nigh impossible for Cruise and McQuarrie to outdo themselves. While Dead Reckoning is not a better film in totality, its action and thrills are next level. A car chase through a foreign city has become a signature centerpiece of the films, and this time it's in Rome, complete with a tumble down the city's iconic Spanish Steps and the terrifically funny inclusion of a Fiat (itself a winking nod to the Mini-Cooper chase of the original The Italian Job ).

One might wonder — how many ways can you reimagine a car chase? But the Mission: Impossible franchise seems to have no shortage of inventiveness in that department. From the types of vehicles used to the added wrinkle of handcuffed drivers to the locale itself, the chase sequence in Dead Reckoning will keep audiences on the edge of their seats. McQuarrie puts us in the cars with our heroes, catching us equally off-guard as they are when a sudden obstacle appears. There's some much-needed injections of levity among the thrills, as McQuarrie wisely understands the value of undercutting tension to give the audience a breath so he can more effectively ratchet it back up.

Cruise is never more likable than he is as Ethan Hunt, a highly skilled agent whose greatest weakness is his love for his found family, the fellow members of his IMF team. McQuarrie is adept at balancing the character's (and the actor's) ability to hurl himself into danger, while also never failing to remind us of his humanity. (To whoever put Cruise in glasses, a vest, and rolled-up sleeves in an Italian library, my thirst for stern academics salutes you — the man has never looked hotter.)

In the last decade, Cruise has made a point of executing stunts himself, forgoing the use of visual effects whenever possible. Dead Reckoning features what Cruise calls his riskiest stunt yet and the culmination of his years of motorcycle riding onscreen. In the climax, Ethan pursues a train, attempting to climb aboard while it's in motion. This necessitates that he ride a motorcycle off an extremely high cliff to free fall until he pulls his parachute. To say it's anything short of miraculous would be a lie. It's quite literally jaw-dropping. It's hard to know whether to gape or to grab one's face in abject terror as we watch the moment unfold. Only Cruise would try something so perilous for the sake of our entertainment — and it's hard not to be impressed by the foolhardiness and bravery of such a move.

Besides the Roman car chase and death-defying cliff jump, Dead Reckoning abounds with taut, nimbly drawn sequences — from a Lawrence of Arabia- esque sand dune shootout to an airport cat-and-mouse game to hand-to-hand combat amidst the canals of Venice. It all comes to a head in the film's climax aboard the Orient Express that blends the suspense of North by Northwest with audacious action, namely a largely practical effects-laden crash and subsequent escape attempt. McQuarrie set out to pay tribute to the likes of Buster Keaton and David Lean with the crash sequence, and he achieves his goal and then some.

As is now the norm with this franchise, Dead Reckoning both offers new faces and brings back some familiar ones too. Vanessa Kirby returns with her odd combination of skittishness and ice-pick precision as the White Widow, as does Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, one of the best female characters in an action franchise ever. Here, Ilsa gets a Venice-set sword fight that is breathtaking in its skill and balletic grace, enhanced by Fraser Taggart's cinematography that somehow consistently blends visceral danger with travelog.

Perhaps most welcome is Henry Czerny as the government's Eugene Kittridge, a role he has not returned to since 1996's original Mission: Impossible. His dry repartee with Ethan hasn't lost a step in the years between, as he wrestles with trusting Ethan's skills and his own position within U.S. intelligence. He's somehow both oily and noble, his loyalties and values brilliantly opaque.

Both Shea Whigham and Pom Klementieff are superb additions. Whigham has a reputation for elevating everything he touches, and that's no exception here as he provides abundant humor and a moral foil for Ethan as Jasper Briggs, a government agent intent on taking Ethan into custody at any cost. Klementieff features as assassin Paris, who largely exists with wordless menace and snarling bravado. She has the versatility and expressiveness of a silent film star, her presence no less engaging and frightening for her scant dialogue.

But the real jewel in the crown of this ensemble is Atwell, who plays the mercenary Grace with a doe-eyed confusion that belies her deep intelligence. Grace, as she quickly learns, is in way over her head with the IMF. But isn't that the name of the game? They're not the Impossible Mission Force for nothing. In some ways, Dead Reckoning seems to be setting up Grace as a potential successor to Ethan, and Atwell imbues her with her best Peggy Carter sass and know-how. She's scrappy and resourceful if out of her depth, and it's her narrative arc and Ethan's directive about choices that provide the thematic heart of the film.

Ethan Hunt, and the members of his team, have always been told that their missions are contingent on whether or not they choose to accept them. Choice, then, is vital in the fight between good and evil and the shifting scales of world domination that make up the global stakes of the franchise. Dead Reckoning, though given the label "Part One," is thankfully a complete film unto itself — but it also sets up the purported "culmination" of the series (or at least, Hunt's role within it) that is to come in Part Two next year.

The fact that McQuarrie and Cruise routinely set and then raise the bar for the gold standard of action movies is the lure of the franchise — but it's the characters, their foibles, their wit, and their deep humanity that are Mission: Impossible's secret weapon. Ethan Hunt and the franchise at large remind us that our choices are what define us, if we only choose to accept the path laid before us. Grade: A-

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly 's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content:

• Mission: Impossible star Simon Pegg calls Tom Cruise bike stunt a 'nail-biting experience'
• 'I want to wreck a train!': Behind the scenes of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
• Tom Cruise rides off a cliff, trashes train in new Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One trailer

Related Articles

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

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

• Christopher McQuarrie
• Bruce Geller
• Erik Jendresen
• Hayley Atwell
• Ving Rhames
• 1.4K User reviews
• 361 Critic reviews
• 81 Metascore
• 17 wins & 66 nominations total

• Luther Stickell

• The White Widow

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia The frequent delays caused by COVID-19 ballooned the budget to $291 million, making it the most expensive Mission: Impossible film (surpassing Fallout, $178 million), the most expensive film of Tom Cruise 's career (again surpassing Fallout), and the most expensive film ever produced by Paramount (surpassing Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) , $217 million). The insurance company Chubb originally gave Paramount only £4.4 million (about $5.4 million) for the delays, arguing that the cast and crew could still fulfill their duties to the production despite being infected with COVID-19. Paramount sued Chubb in 2021, and the two companies settled in 2022. In 2023, Chubb gave Paramount a £57 million (about $71 million) payout for the COVID-caused delays, reducing the film's budget to about $220 million, which still makes it the most expensive film for Cruise, Paramount, and the franchise.
• Goofs Steam trains, especially moving at high speeds, need to be continuously provided with fuel, in this case coal. With the engineers killed and the controls opened all the way, the locomotive would have gradually slowed down and come to a halt as the pressure in the boiler dropped. That train would never have reached the bridge for that distance with no coal provided. Since the early 1900s, when firebox coal consumption exceeded the efforts of two men, the trains have used mechanical stokers. The coal would continue feeding without one missing coal shoveler.

Ethan Hunt : [describing the person Grace has used as a mule to carry an item] A man. Middle aged. A man waiting his whole life to be noticed by a woman like you.

• Crazy credits Disclaimer as one of the last entries in the end credits scroll: "The Producers wish to express that in no way, shape or form were the Rome Spanish Steps used to drive a moving vehicle down. This segment of the film was re-created with a set built on a Studio backlot."
• Connections Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Most Anticipated Franchises Returning in 2023 (2023)
• Soundtracks The Mission: Impossible Theme Written by Lalo Schifrin

User reviews 1.4K

• Darksidecrew
• Jul 9, 2023

Everything New on Prime Video in July

• How long is Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One? Powered by Alexa
• July 12, 2023 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning
• Helsetkopen, Møre og Romsdal, Norway (motorcycle jump)
• Paramount Pictures
• Skydance Media
• TC Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $291,000,000 (estimated)
• $172,135,383
• $54,688,347
• Jul 16, 2023
• $567,535,383

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 43 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Digital

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed.

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

• Entertainment
• Action Movies

'Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One' PEOPLE Review: Tom Cruise's New Stunts Are Stunners

Tom Cruise's new action blockbuster, 'Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One,' gives new meaning to the word 'cliffhanger'

Tom Gliatto reviews the latest TV and movie releases for PEOPLE Magazine. He also writes many of the magazine's celebrity tributes. 

Does Tom Cruise ever worry — as you might on occasion — that maybe he shouldn’t have eaten something past its sell-by date? Who could ever say or know? He’s not a movie star you identify with or empathize with. You simply get out of his way. 

Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One is another colossal but expertly engineered vehicle, like 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, that knows exactly how to deliver the maximum Tom Cruise experience. Two hours and 36 minutes long, Reckoning spends too much time on expository blather, but you can just tune that all out as you watch Cruise being put through his paces (and his paces are faster and better than yours) in two phenomenal action scenes.

One is a breathless, battering car chase through the streets of Rome (partly in a tiny yellow Fiat). The other, even better, involves a train barreling out of control while Cruise, holding onto a motorcycle for dear life, plunges down toward the rogue choo-choo from a high, high cliff. If you have vertigo, it's a potential barf-bag moment.

According to production notes, Cruise rehearsed for this particular stunt by completing more than 500 skydives and 13,000 motocross jumps. That probably answers the question about whether he worries about sell-by dates.

In the course of Dead Reckoning, number 7 in the M:I franchise, Cruise’s agent Ethan Hunt suffers some genuine sorrow — he all but clutches his heart after one key twist — and even loses his cool, but mostly he sizes up every situation with that same wily, cocky Tom Cruise look, as if he could outplay and outfox doomsday itself. Which, actually, is Ethan’s assignment here: His new enemy is a near-omniscient AI program — nameless, faceless and (one hopes) odorless — that basically wants to hack the entire world. It’s so colossal a threat, Dead Reckoning will spill over into a second installment in June 2024.

Hayley Atwell is the major new addition to the franchise. She plays Grace, a thief who keeps trying to steal a key — part of a key — that’s crucial to stopping the AI nemesis. If you admired the gravity and intelligence that this British actress brought to the ABC Marvel series Agent Carter or to STARZ’s adaptation of Howards End, you may be puzzled by her first, flirtatious scenes with Cruise: She’s glossy and empty-eyed, with a faint smile on her lips. She looks as hollow-headed as a Team America puppet.

However, she’s giving precisely the one-to two-note performance that’s required here — the same could be said for returning players Vanessa Kirby, arrogant and kittenish as Alanna (she occasionally crinkles her nose), and Rebecca Ferguson, noble and watchful as  Ilisa. Anything more would distract from the bold, cold mechanisms of the action. Their performances all interlock and flow with the narrative seamlessly, unlike Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s more idiosyncratic performance in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. 

As summer action blockbusters go, for that matter, Reckoning is certainly the more impressive of the two movies: Harrison Ford’s return was like a gift from an old friend making a surprise visit out of the dusty past — if his gift had gotten a bit banged up from all that time in the saddle bag and the wrapping paper was torn, so be it. Cruise is more like some new form of man rocketing in from the future, combining a primal will to survive with a gleaming indestructibility. He’s like the evolutionary union of Bear Grylls and Buzz Lightyear. 

In the long run, neither of these films deserves to be as well-remembered (or taken as seriously) as the year’s third ginormous action fantasy, John Wick: Chapter 4, a dreamlike quest for both redemption and death in which Keanu Reeves, his dank black hair framing his face like a broken-winged raven, serves as the tale’s woeful knight. It’s the martial-arts equivalent of The Lord of the Rings.

At the moment, though, Tom Cruise is running in a straight line down the middle of a long air-terminal rooftop, pumping his arms like a windup toy. No one will catch him. Only an idiot would try.

In theaters July 12, rated PG-13

Related Articles

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• 78% Deadpool & Wolverine Link to Deadpool & Wolverine
• 95% Dìdi Link to Dìdi
• 76% Twisters Link to Twisters

New TV Tonight

• 90% A Good Girl's Guide to Murder: Season 1
• 100% Batman: Caped Crusader: Season 1
• -- Futurama: Season 12
• -- Women in Blue: Season 1
• -- Unstable: Season 2
• -- Hotel Portofino: Season 3
• -- Betrayal: The Perfect Husband: Season 2
• -- Unsolved Mysteries: Season 4
• -- Cowboy Cartel: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• 80% Star Wars: The Acolyte: Season 1
• 68% The Decameron: Season 1
• 50% Those About to Die: Season 1
• 100% Supacell: Season 1
• 77% Presumed Innocent: Season 1
• 75% Lady in the Lake: Season 1
• 79% Time Bandits: Season 1
• 93% The Boys: Season 4
• 89% Sunny: Season 1
• 89% House of the Dragon: Season 2
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• 79% Time Bandits: Season 1 Link to Time Bandits: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming

25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

Batman: Caped Crusader First Reviews: A Solid Throwback with Top-Notch Performances

Weekend Box Office: Deadpool & Wolverine Sets New Record with $205 Million Opening

• Trending on RT
• Paris in Movies
• Comic-Con Trailers
• Cosplay Gallery
• Vote: Most Anticipated August Movie
• Upcoming Marvel Movies

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Where to watch.

Watch Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One with a subscription on Prime Video, Paramount+, rent on Fandango at Home, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Apple TV.

What to Know

With world-threatening stakes and epic set pieces to match that massive title, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One proves this is still a franchise you should choose to accept.

With a terrific cast and some beautifully shot stunts, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One might be the best action movie of the year.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Christopher McQuarrie

Hayley Atwell

Ving Rhames

Luther Stickell

Rebecca Ferguson

Movie Clips

More like this, related movie news.

Vague Visages

Movies, tv & music • independent film criticism • soundtrack guides • forming the future • est. 2014, review: christopher mcquarrie’s ‘mission: impossible – dead reckoning part one’.

Vague Visages’ Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One  review contains minor spoilers. Christopher McQuarrie’s 2023 movie stars Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell and Esai Morales. Check out the VV home page for more film reviews , along with cast/character summaries, streaming guides and complete soundtrack song listings.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One , a continuation of Tom Cruise’s collaborations with filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie, inches closer to the finish line . The last several installments have evoked the TV show heritage of the franchise with endings that fully resolve their plots while still leaving room to move forward — an adventure of the week vibe, if you will. Because the seventh film is the first of two parts , its conclusion is slightly more pronounced without a reset to reaffirm the status quo. Nonetheless, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a fantastic showcase for Cruise’s dedication to death-defying stunts.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has a darker start than its immediate predecessors, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation  (2015) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout  (2018), and it’s also more intentionally funny. The connection between Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his teammates remains more sincerely sympathetic than the James Bond franchise, more thoroughly articulated than the John Wick series and more tensile than the Fast & Furious films. The age of Cruise’s franchise, however, shows in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, as the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) members will all look like a geriatric crew of The Expendables’ protagonists if producers don’t wrap up the series soon. Meanwhile, Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell remains the tech genius and emotional core of the team.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Review: Related — Know the Cast & Characters: ‘Nimona’

Rebecca Ferguson returns as the enigmatic ex-MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, starring in a sort of dramatically choreographed due l against the eye-catching Gabriel (Esai Morales). Despite drawing on a never-before-seen connection, this dynamic adds weight to the male antagonist’s fanatical-messianic presence and Hunt’s vendetta against him. Pom Klementieff adds more peril as Paris, a brutal and menacing co-henchman who, despite a lack of dialogue, conducts maniacal violence quite impressively; a different performance from her character Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). Vanessa Kirby returns from Mission: Impossible – Fallout   as The White Widow, a callous and sophisticated black market arms and information dealer (also the daughter of Max from 1996’s Mission: Impossible ) who likes to play in grey areas between nation-states, continuing to highlight the murky moral waters and unsure alliances at play in diplomacy and espionage, thus strengthening the film’s tone.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Review: Related — Soundtracks of Cinema: ‘Nimona’

Hayley Atwell makes her franchise debut as Grace, an expert thief drawn into the story through the familiar plot device of a job looping a character into shenanigans outside her comfort zone . Grace’s arc echoes Ilsa’s as Ethan’s unconsummated love interest, though the romance is initially less clear, as she is simply caught in the middle of an IMF mission. Still, Ilsa and Grace are different enough that the latter character’s skillset and personality provide more of a fish-out-of-water and improvisational vibe, rather than slotting her in as a mere replacement.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Review: Related — Know the Cast & Characters: ‘Hijack’

It’s interesting to compare the sexlessness of the contemporary Mission: Impossible romances with the franchise’s early films. This may be the one area where the Fast & Furious franchise edges Cruises’s series, though Hunt’s penchant for longing looks and deep hugs reinforces that this is a self-imposed discipline for the wellbeing of the character’s love interests — sexual austerity for the sake of the greater good.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Review: Related — Soundtracks of Television: ‘FUBAR’

The singular hero concept in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One  is also thematically tied around the compromised choices people make to join the IMF. One end of this informs the exposition, while another is a recruitment conversation that feels nearly cult-like (one of the odder scenes in the film). It fits the framing, but in being part of a narrative about Hunt’s dedication, it is therefore focusing on Cruise — a longtime member of a secretive and controversial religious sect, and it’s simply written somewhat jarringly in its evangelism, if not entirely out-of-place. The only other real problem is that the last big set piece goes on long enough for the CGI to show. This may be forgivable, however, given the adhesive it adds to the various character relationships .

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Review: Related — Know the Cast & Characters: ‘Extraction 2’

Like several recent studio films, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One  finishes without resolving everything, but it does so more spectacularly and satisfyingly than most. McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendresen had the decency to conclude a primary struggle while allowing further problems to hang provocatively. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One  is the best franchise film since the fourth installment and possibly the best yet, tying continuity from Mission: Impossible to Mission: Impossible – Fallout , and setting up an extraordinary follow-up film, irrespective of whether another franchise installment comes later.

Kevin Fox, Jr. (@ KevinFoxJr ) is a freelance writer, editor and film critic. His work has appeared in Paste Magazine and People’s World. Kevin has an MA in history, loves audiovisual entertainment and dreams of liberation. Check out his Substack at kfjwrites.substack.com .

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Review: Related — Soundtracks of Cinema: ‘The Mother’

Categories: 2020s , 2023 Film Reviews , Action , Adventure , Drama , Featured

Tagged as: Action , Adventure , Christopher McQuarrie , Drama , Kevin Fox Jr. , Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Prime Video just got one of the best action thrillers — and it’s 96% on Rotten Tomatoes

'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One' is big and loud

When I heard that "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" had just landed on one of the best streaming services , I was thrilled to revisit what’s been praised as one of the best action thrillers in recent years. As a fan of the franchise, I’ll happily watch Ethan Hunt and his team tackle their latest mission once more.

Having watched it, I can confirm that the movie truly delivers on its promise when it comes to incredibly dangerous but thrilling action. From the opening scenes, you’re thrown straight into a very interesting narrative that deals with AI. But that’s a story you’ll have to experience yourself if you haven’t already seen this latest installment… 

While "Dead Reckoning" has been on Paramount Plus since January, it has now found another home on Prime Video . So, if you're new to the franchise or just need a refresher, here are more details about "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One". 

What is 'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One' about? 

"Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" follows Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team as they face a new and formidable threat: an all-powerful artificial intelligence known as "The Entity." This rogue AI has the potential to control or destroy global information systems and create chaos worldwide.

To neutralize this threat, Ethan must locate two halves of a special key that, when combined, can control The Entity. The mission takes Ethan and his team across various international locations, leading to high-stakes action sequences and sophisticated espionage. Along the way, they come across old allies and new enemies, including a mysterious assassin named Gabriel (Esai Morales) who has a personal vendetta against Ethan. 

This movie sets the stage for the concluding chapter in "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two”, which is set to release in May 2025 . 

'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One' is enjoyable chaos

This "Mission: Impossible" movie is praised for its intense (but very cool) action sequences, with carefully choreographed stunts performed by the one and only Tom Cruise. I’m totally on board with this praise considering the movie blew me away when I first watched it. For example, there’s a scene that involves a high-speed chase on a moving train that is nearing a broken bridge, and everything about it was so extreme. 

Sign up to get the BEST of Tom's Guide direct to your inbox.

Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.

Aside from the action, there are so many other strong points in the movie. Its complex plot, involving espionage and focus on advanced technology, is filled with twists and turns that you just won’t expect. Of course, most of the narrative revolves around the potential dangers of artificial intelligence through its antagonist, The Entity. This AI can control and disrupt global information systems, manipulate data and spread misinformation, leading to chaos that you can’t help but enjoy.  

Despite the fast-paced action and intense plot, the movie still finds enough time to develop its characters, exploring their motivations and relationships, which allows us to feel more emotions throughout. 

I also can’t forget about other characters like Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), two of Ethan’s closest friends who show growth through their support for him and their individual contributions. New allies, such as Grace (Hayley Atwell), is first introduced as a thief hired by a mysterious individual, but her views start to change when she becomes entangled in Ethan’s mission. 

So yes, everything about “Dead Reckoning” is fun and chaotic. However, look too deep and you might find a few minor problems that lurks beneath the action. Repeated plotlines and scattered storytelling are some examples, but if you go into this movie looking for a brilliant thrill ride, you’ll definitely find it. 

What critics said about 'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One'

"Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" is actually the second highest-rated movie in the franchise. It has a high score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes from over 400 critic reviews, with audiences giving it 94%.  

What stands out about this action thriller is primarily the stunts performed by Cruise himself. Thelma Adams from AARP Movies for Grownups said: "Kudos to Cruise for knowing his audience and how to please it. He nails a nearly impossible mission: becoming the summer’s box office savior riding a sequel, again, while performing stunts that would terrify actors half his age." Meanwhile, ABC News’ Peter Travers stated that: "So what if the plot is the usual tangle to set up the stunts. Tom Cruise does the impossible and nobody does it better."

Dylan Roth from the Observer praised the movie for its genuine thrills: "Dead Reckoning delivers all of the high-speed, high-altitude, captured-in-camera thrills that fans have come to expect."

Audiences were just as pleased, saying it’s a “high-octane adventure” with an "intricate plot, great action scenes and a sprinkle of comedy to balance it all out."

Stream 'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One' on Prime Video now

If you haven’t had a chance to catch "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" yet, now’s the perfect time to stream it on Prime Video. Having seen it myself, I can assure you that it’s an exhilarating ride filled with pulse-pounding action and surprising emotional depth. 

The movie not only lives up to its impressive Rotten Tomatoes score but also delivers a fun story that fans and newcomers will enjoy. Still not convinced? Here’s how you can binge-watch the ‘James Bond’ movies in order . And don’t miss these best Netflix movies before they leave this month . 

Watch "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" on Prime Video now. 

More from Tom's Guide

• OpenAI launches SearchGPT in direct threat to Google — what you need to know
• 'The Boys' season 5: Everything we know so far
• Best movies on Amazon Prime Video in July 2024

Alix is a Streaming Writer at Tom’s Guide, which basically means watching the best movies and TV shows and then writing about them. Previously, she worked as a freelance writer for Screen Rant and Bough Digital, both of which sparked her interest in the entertainment industry. When she’s not writing about the latest movies and TV shows, she’s either playing horror video games on her PC or working on her first novel.

This crime thriller show just crashed Prime Video's top 10 — and it’s 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

New on Prime Video and Freevee in August 2024 — all the new shows and movies to watch

Sony Bravia 9 review

Most Popular

• 2 TCL just unveiled a secret weapon to take down Samsung’s The Frame TV
• 3 Google Photos may make it easier to hide unwanted faces — what's new
• 4 Google Pixel 9 just tipped to steal this Apple Intelligence feature
• 5 Oura Ring new upgrade just leaked that surpasses the Galaxy Ring

Select your cookie preferences

We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie notice . We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements.

If you agree, we'll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie notice . Your choice applies to using first-party and third-party advertising cookies on this service. Cookies store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Click "Decline" to reject, or "Customise" to make more detailed advertising choices, or learn more. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences , as described in the Cookie notice. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy notice .

• Rent or buy
• Categories Categories
• Getting Started

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning

Customers also watched

Cast and Crew

Other formats

1761 global ratings

How are ratings calculated? Toggle Expand Toggle Expand

• UK Modern Slavery Statement
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell on Amazon Business
• Sell on Amazon Handmade
• Associates Programme
• Fulfilment by Amazon
• Seller Fulfilled Prime
• Advertise Your Products
• Independently Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Make Money with Us
• Amazon Platinum Mastercard
• Amazon Classic Mastercard
• Amazon Money Store
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Payment Methods Help
• Shop with Points
• Top Up Your Account
• Top Up Your Account in Store
• COVID-19 and Amazon
• Track Packages or View Orders
• Delivery Rates & Policies
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Amazon Mobile App
• Customer Service
• Accessibility

• Conditions of Use & Sale
• Privacy Notice
• Cookies Notice
• Interest-Based Ads Notice

• Stranger Things Season 5
• Deadpool and Wolverine
• The Batman 2
• Spider-Man 4
• Yellowstone Season 6
• Fallout Season 2
• The Last of Us Season 2
• Entertainment

Cillian Murphy’s Peaky Blinders movie adds Dune star Rebecca Ferguson

Tommy Shelby is set to cross paths with Lady Jessica.

Per Deadline , Dune  star Rebecca Ferguson  has been cast in Netflix’s Peaky Blinders   movie. Ferguson joins Cillian Murphy, who will reprise his role as the iconic gangster Tommy Shelby. Ferguson’s character details are being kept under wraps.

Ferguson continues her ascent as one of Hollywood’s top leading heroines. The Swedish actress is best known for playing Ilsa Faust in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation , Mission: Impossible – Fallout , and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One . Ferguson portrayed Lady Jessica in  Dune  and  Dune: Part Two , with the latter being the second-highest-grossing movie of 2024 so far.

Tommy Shelby returns. A Peaky Blinders Film starring Cillian Murphy is coming to Netflix. “It seems like Tommy Shelby wasn’t finished with me…It is very gratifying to be recollaborating with Steven Knight and Tom Harper on the film version of Peaky Blinders. This is one for… pic.twitter.com/eBSYnKqGpA — Netflix (@netflix) June 4, 2024

In June, Netflix greenlit the untilted Peaky Blinders  movie with a script by series creator Steven Knight. Tom Harper, who helmed three episodes in season 1, will direct the Peaky Blinders movie.

“It seems like Tommy Shelby wasn’t finished with me… It is very gratifying to be recollaborating with Steven Knight and Tom Harper on the film version of Peaky Blinders,” Murphy said in a statement to Netflix. “This is one for the fans.”

While plot details remain hidden, the  Peaky Blinders  movie will be set during World War II. Knight told Deadline that the movie will be an “ explosive chapter ” in the story that will show the gang at war.

Peaky Blinders  follows the life and times of Shelby’s street gang in Birmingham between 1919 and 1934. Premiering in 2013,  Peaky Blinders  ran for six seasons, with the final episode airing in April 2022. The British crime drama aired on BBC One and BBC Two. However, the show grew in popularity globally once it began streaming on Netflix.

The  Peaky Blinders  movie enters production later this year. No release date has been set.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Shawn Levy’s Star Wars movie finds a writer
• Find out who will play the Baroque Works agents in Netflix’s One Piece season 2
• Until Dawn cast adds 4 rising stars to film adaptation of horror video game
• Minecraft animated series in development at Netflix
• Netflix’s Knives Out 3 gets a new title and release date
• Streaming Services

All roads lead to Alaska in Netflix's trailer for the third and final season of Sweet Tooth.

Which came first -- the hybrids or the Sick? That's the question posed in the opening moments of the Sweet Tooth season 3 trailer. After defeating General Abbott in the season 2 finale, Gus (Christian Convery) continues his journey to Alaska to find his mother, Birdie (Amy Seimetz), who has been working to discover the genesis of the Sick. Joining Gus on the adventure are Jepperd (Nonso Anozie), Becky (Stefania LaVie Owen), and Wendy (Naledi Murray). Dr. Singh (Adeel Akhtar), who yearns to find a cure, eventually joins Gus, though his true intentions remain unclear.

Don't mess with Jessica Alba. The action heroine faces corruption and violence at every turn as she fights to survive in the latest trailer for Netflix's Trigger Warning.

Alba stars as Parker, a Special Forces commando called to return to her hometown after the death of her father. Parker inherits her father's bar, which brings her into contact with Senator Swann (Anthony Michael Hall), a powerful and corrupt man in her hometown. Parker believes her father's death was no accident and raises her concerns with the senator's son, Jesse (Mark Webber), her former boyfriend and sheriff. Yet, Jesse warns Parker to stop her investigation and "stay out of it."

Who better to play a sinister and disturbing character than Nicolas Cage? The Oscar-winner sounds legitimately terrifying in the chilling trailer for Longlegs, Neon's upcoming horror movie from director Osgood Perkins.

Longlegs stars Maika Monroe as Lee Harker, an FBI agent assigned to work on a cold case involving a serial killer played by Cage. The cryptic trailer never shows Cage's face, but his sadistic voice can be heard as he stalks and frightens Monroe's Harker. While speaking about his character to The New York Times, Cage said, "I play […] a possessed Geppetto. He makes these dolls, and these dolls infiltrate families and get the families to do terrible things.”