FILM FRENZY

Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Photos: Paramount)

By Matt Brunson

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE
★★★ (out of four)
DIRECTED BY Christopher McQuarrie
STARS Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell

Arnold Schwarzenegger may have falsely billed himself as Last Action Hero, but there’s no denying Tom Cruise’s status as Last Movie Star.

Say what you will about Cruise as a human being away from the silver screen — and I’ve seen the Scientology docs and have plenty to say, little of it nice — but it’s absolutely astounding and rather admirable how he’s been able to remain a top box office draw for approximately 40 years. Among those still out there toiling, only Clint Eastwood has a comparable (certainly longer) track record, as the other A+-listers from bygone eras have either retired, turned to television, relegated themselves to supporting parts, or accepted steady employment in straight-to-video / straight-to-streaming low-budgeters. Cruise, however, is still consistently commanding the money and the marquees. Last year’s Top Gun: Maverick stands stateside as the fifth top-grossing film of all time (even when the figures are rightly adjusted for inflation, it’s still an impressive #32), leading Steven Spielberg to (idiotically) tell Cruise that he “saved Hollywood’s ass.” And even his rare U.S. underachievers, like that godawful Mummy movie, at least manage to make bank overseas.

Cruise is poised to enjoy another super-size-me hit with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh in the film franchise that began back in 1996. This has been a remarkably consistent series in terms of quality, with only that dopey Mission: Impossible II preventing a perfect record. (That was the one helmed by John Woo, and the one whose shooting schedule cost Dougray Scott the star-making role of — ouch! — Wolverine.) Everyone has his or her favorites — the consensus of both Rotten Tomatoes critics and IMDb moviegoers has 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout ranked as the best (the one co-starring Man of Wood Henry Cavill), although I would go with 2011’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (the one featuring a climb up the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa) followed by 2006’s somewhat underrated Mission: Impossible III (the one with Philip Seymour Hoffman as the Bond-worthy villain). Based on the early returns, I expect Dead Reckoning Part One to emerge as the new fave — if not with me then with the masses.

As with most espionage and action endeavors, certain formulaic steps must be taken, usually involving the search for a MacGuffin desired by all, a few car chases, a couple of hand-to-hand scuffles, a switching of sides by a hero and/or a villain, and an ultimate sacrifice. Good movies know how to make the predictable unpredictable; bad ones only bore. In most regards, this franchise delivers the goods and then some. I’ve always grown fidgety with the car chases in this series, and the centerpiece one here is no exception: With some judicious trims to this segment, we could have had a movie that didn’t clock in at a series-record 163 minutes (indeed, none save Brian De Palma’s original have been under two hours). Then again, cinematic car chases have almost always bored me, so your, uh, mileage may vary. The rest of the action? Thrilling stuff, with the best saved for last. It involves a train — yes, it’s utterly preposterous (do the laws of science not work in the M:Iverse?), but it’s also utterly exciting and breathtaking.

The plot in this one involves a rogue AI known as The Entity, which has the power to infiltrate and sabotage any intelligence network in the world. (I imagine it also has the power to replace screenwriters in Hollywood, but I suppose that plotline is being saved for Dead Reckoning Part Two.) A special key tied to The Entity becomes the focal point, as everyone tries to gain possession of both halves. That would include Impossible Missions Force agent extraordinaire Ethan Hunt (Cruise) as well as a shadowy figure named Gabriel (Esai Morales). In the usual “Oh, come on!” coincidence, Gabriel turns out to be the man whose murderous actions in the distant past were directly responsible for Ethan joining IMF. Next, we’ll learn that they were adoptive brothers who grew up together (wait, wrong spy franchise).

As I noted in my review of 2015’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, this series is “as bro-centric as any spy game out there — the males remain from picture to picture while the females get swapped out like hotel linen.” Ironically, it was in that very Rogue Nation that a female keeper emerged in Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who was introduced in that picture, remained for Fallout, and is back in Dead Reckoning Part One. But don’t pop those self-destructing champagne bottles just yet — as the billing reveals, she’s been demoted, with leading lady status now shifting to franchise newcomer Hayley Atwell. She plays Grace, a professional pickpocket who gets inadvertently involved in the serpentine spy shenanigans. She’s a decent character, but she’s no Ilsa Faust. She’s also no White Widow, the cocky arms dealer introduced in Fallout and again played by Vanessa Kirby with the right measure of bark and bite.

As for the seasoned regulars, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are back yet again as fellow agents Luther and Benji, and their presence is the gift that keeps on giving. They offer dramatic (or, more to the point, comedic) counterpoint to Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, keeping him loose and limber and ready to save the world again in next summer’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two.