Film Review - Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning: Part One (2023)

Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One is the newest MI film and once again Christopher McQuarrie returns to direct and co-write the script, this time the IMF is up again a mysterious program known as The Entity, an AI program that has become rogue and various groups want to control it as it has the power to control anything it touches but Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team (Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson and Ving Rhames) want to find it so they can destroy it.

Dead Reckoning Part One is my favourite MI film after 2015’s Rogue Nation which is still my favourite of this series and the reason I feel this is the case is that this movie has a much better sense of storytelling than 2018’s entry Fallout did where I felt half of the script was the characters saying “I’m Working On It” or a variation of that theme whereas here this has much more of the danger and intrigue that Rogue Nation had and while this is only Part One this felt satisfying and not too long despite its 163 minute runtime.

Also this movie has some fun action sequences the highlight being the climax on board the Orient Express which is tense and exciting and full of surprises as it plays out, there are also some very good hand to hand fights with knives and fists that are also exciting to watch and McQuarrie has gotten better at directing action since Rogue Nation where he hadn’t quite gotten a handle on that kind of thing yet but hey these things take time to learn.

And lastly the film has 2 excellent newcomers to the cast in Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff and they bring a real breath of fresh air to a series that now risks becoming stale despite its excellent quality film wise (only 2000’s Mission Impossible 2 is a dud here), Atwell is very charming as this thief character Grace and she displays a lightness of touch that is good to watch while Klementieff as a cold assassin makes the most of her limited role and is a big part of the hand to hand fight scenes and why their so memorable.

But I’m now starting to feel that after Part 2 of Dead Reckoning opens next year that it might be time for Christopher McQuarrie to vacate the directors chair for a film or 2 don’t get me wrong his partnership with Cruise which began with Bryan Singer’s 2008 film Valkyrie has been hugely beneficial for both men but he’s done 4 of these films by the time the Dead Reckoning story is fully finished and after seeing what Joseph Kosinski did with Top Gun Maverick last year I’d like to see him get a chance to direct an MI film.

And so that was Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One and it’s a very fun time at the cinema even if the series as a whole could do with some new blood once Part 2 is finished, 3 and a half out of 5.