Mission Impossible is one of those rare franchises that has actually managed to improve through subsequent entries. The first film, while certainly not bad was nonetheless quite flawed, with an especially confusing plot that made the action less meaningful. Later entries managed to strike a great balance between intrigue and action, delivering some truly outstanding stunt work and cementing Tom Cruise as a legendary action star.

Dead Reckoning is the seventh mainline film within the series based on the successful television series of the same name. This film is also the first two-part entry with the second film slated to be released in 2024. The film stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, an agent of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) created by the U.S. government to carry out missions too dangerous for even the likes of the CIA.

Ethan is assisted by his friends Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg). This time around our heroes have been tasked with putting a stop to a rogue AI program called “The Entity” by acquiring two halves of a special key that holds the secret to controlling it. In terms of the storyline, I found this to be one of the weakest in the series. AI can be interesting but here it’s exceedingly dull.

The program has little personality and lacks any physical form which is quite a problem for an action film as the major conflict is more often a test of physical ability between the hero and villain. The other antagonists Ethan finds himself faced with aren’t much better, since they have extremely unclear motivations and inconsistent actions. Additionally, there are large sections of this narrative that are easy to poke holes in, which makes the intrigue feel unsatisfying all throughout. These holes instantly destroy your investment in the characters.

Now you may be wondering if at least the action and stunt work is worth sitting through. Unfortunately, this is another huge letdown. Many of the sequences and set pieces are simply cut and pasted from other films and media, all of which executed them better. Our only decent stunt is one that was spoiled in the trailer and even that feels rather hollow when you compare it to Cruise’s work on the previous film Mission Impossible: Fallout.

It’s certainly a tough ask to top hanging from a helicopter, surviving head-on collisions between two trucks, or any of the other impressive feats on display in Fallout. However, I still wish there was more creativity here. Part of the problem is the cinematography which feels reliant on many uninteresting, sloppy angles and awkward cuts that pull you away from the spectacle. It also takes quite a long time to get somewhere interesting. Whereas past films ride a continual high of adrenaline, here we have lots of drawn-out character discussions that drag pacing to a standstill.

In terms of good points, there isn’t much here. The score is excellent and provides the perfect background for both espionage and action. Performances are decent from most of the cast but there is nothing super outstanding. Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames are great supporting cast members as usual but the new character Grace (played by Hayley Atwell) doesn’t add much to the team.

Instead, her inclusion in the plot feels rather tacked on for the sake of future romance options. It’s unfortunate to see the series take such a dramatic nosedive after the fantastic previous films. All the weaknesses here are only made worse by the fact that this is only the first part. I’d much rather the story have moved on from this plotline but perhaps it can still recover in the future. As it is now though I would recommend skipping this entry within the series.

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Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

4

Score

4.0/10

Pros

• Decent production value
• A few fun action scenes

Cons

• Weak plot
• inconsistent character writing
• Lack of big stunts