Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
2 hr 43 min
Dir: Christopher McQuarrie
Writers: Bruce Geller; Erik Jendresen; Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise; Hayley Atwell; Ving Rhames; Simon Pegg: Esai Morales; Vanessa Kirby
By Paul Bernardo paulieb2003@gmail.com
Okay so this is 2hr and 45min, and yes, of course you don’t need a 45min car chase, but this is what they do. I’m glad it’s what they do because you know what? If feels like an hour long movie. I mean this baby cooks. It cooks and it’s cooking with grease!
Tom loves his character, and honestly, Ethan Hunt is getting more and more like Ray Knight from Knight and Day with every installment. A polite, extremely talented super secret agent who cares about everybody and can accomplish just about anything. He goes rogue, sure, but it’s for the greater good – and after all, he is a nice guy. No, not nice, he is a helluva guy!
So we got stunts galore – but also – we have a story about the dangers of AI. Come to think of it, how relevant is that? SAG/AFTRA and WGA are actually protesting, because of AI. So this movie is super uncanny on the spot. Like, how did they know this AI thing would be a threat years ago when they were making this movie? Does Tom know something we don’t?
So yea, it’s about the dangers of AI, which is super current, but it’s got stunts. I mean stunts, and lots of them. Yea, there are the same old car chases in Europe, which Tom loves to do every time. So ho hum for that. There is a train falling, car by car, as they climb through, which is crazy, and there is that motorcycle jump that Tom does, which is crazy.
Do these things need to be there? Not at all, but are they fun? You betcha.
Now it wouldn’t be MI if there wasn’t that mask thing happening in cool ways – well yea, this movie has two of them and they are pretty cool. Not great – but pretty cool.
So it’s a basic MI movie – get this thing before they do – with unique stunts and the same crew that we know and love. Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames return as Luther and Benji. You know you love them, and you know you love how the three work together with Tom. So that’s always fun too.
The film makes sense, it’s about AI so it’s extremely accurate and current, and the stunts are pretty spectacular. So I would say, when you see this 2hr 45min runtime, just ignore. Grab your popcorn, grab your hot dog and smile. This movie has that effect on people anyway.
