After all these years, it is almost hard to believe that the key to success in an intricate Mission: Impossible adventure would literally be. . . a key. Yes, that is the all important piece that must be gathered in the seventh feature of the long running franchise, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. . . with the bookend making its way into theatres in approximately one year.
Co-written and helmed once more by Christopher McQuarrie (this is his third straight effort), it is quite clear that he has the formula down to a tee. Deftly fusing high stakes action, sight-seeing adventure, perfect comedic timing, and enough drama to keep even the more serious viewers involved, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) finds himself in a, dare I say it, even more impossible situation than ever before. Chased by basically everyone, outside of his trusty team of Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), and Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), the superspy has found himself on the opposite side of an old acquaintance – Kittridge (Henry Czerny – making his first appearance since the original motion picture back in 1996). With an Artificial Intelligence that has become sentient and gone rogue, every nation in the world is hunting for this elusive super super computer. . . for if they have the key to harness its original code, they will be able to use it to gain supreme power over every other competitor on Earth.
Filmizon.com’s Nikolai Adams with Hayley Atwell, who stars as Grace in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Globetrotting around the world to find two pieces of this mysterious key, Hunt must not only evade Kittridge and his spook lackeys, Briggs (Shea Whigham) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis), as well as every other government power, but also the logically computing AI and its well selected human aids: Gabriel (Esai Morales) – a shadowy man from Hunt’s pre-1996 past; and Paris (Pom Klementieff) – a speak softly and you know the rest French assassin. It might also be wise not to ignore Denlinger (Cary Elwes), the guileful Director of National Intelligence. But perhaps the most intriguing addition to the cast is Hayley Atwell, who plays an endearingly cheeky expert pickpocket named Grace, who flits in and out of the race for this exceedingly valuable two piece prize. And lest we forget Alanna Mitsopolis, aka White Widow (Vanessa Kirby), the black market arms dealer from Fallout who is back to her old tricks again in this one.
With a runtime of two hours and forty-three minutes, you’d think the story might drag, but with that well-thought out formula mentioned above, the narrative gets the plot out of the way early, making room for graceful movement from one entertaining set piece to another. . . multiple modes of transportation and impressive locales (including right in front of the Colosseum) bringing to mind the longest chase scene (with select plot or emotional pauses) since adrenaline pumping films like Mad Max: Fury Road and Apocalypto. Of course, there are so many scenes that you could mention, like the car chase through Rome, but there are two others that come to mind: the perilous motorcycle cliff jump that has quickly become a viral video online that then leads into a parachuting scene onto a fast moving train. As if looking to outdo the all-too impressive stunt work of silent film legend Buster Keaton – 1926’s The General finds The Great Stone Face trying to keep a moving train on the tracks despite best efforts from the villains. . . only for us to eventually witness the most expensive stunt of the silent era – a train falling through a burning bridge into the watery valley below; McQuarrie envisions something that no other imagination had yet conceived through the annals of film history – a harrowing, tense, claustrophobic and nerve-racking feat to behold. Perhaps its closest comparison might be The Lost World: Jurassic Park, but this is something that must truly be seen to believe.
With no doubt that six of the seven features in the series are absolute winners, the Mission: Impossible franchise has firmly placed itself atop the action mountain. . . leaving competitors like James Bond and Fast and the Furious in the dust with their in-camera action stunts (again, what Tom Cruise does is mind-boggling), supreme storytelling, dramatic but never too weighted in grief narratives, spot on performances, and quality humour. The only real question is, what are they going to do from the top of said mountain next year with the release of Part Two. So, discover the key with this highly satisfying film. . . the only flaw is you’ll have to wait a full year to know what excitement it unlocks.