Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1

I remember in late September of 1996 i was hanging with my school friends Anders and Robert downtown in my hometown. We have bought tickets to see the latest Tom Cruise film at that time and that was Mission: Impossible. I remember as we were waiting to go to the cinema we stayed for a while in the rental VHS store Videomix where my friend Pierre worked. Since the rental store was pretty calm that evening we talked to Pierre and Anders told him about the latest VHS films he have ordered from the UK. One of the titles he mentioned was the Renny Harlin pirate adventure film Cutthroat Island ( yes the massive box office flop with Gena Davis and Matthew Modine ) that have been released in the UK on VHS. As we stood there talking Pierre mentioned that he have seen Mission: Impossible with his girlfriend and he had fun with it. We bought some candy from Pierre as well as snacks as we went to the cinema. I remember the very large Mission: Impossible cardboard poster that looked really cool inside the cinema. It turned out to be an action packed film from legendary director Brian De Palma and Tom Cruise as the character Ethan Hunt was a perfect match. Mission: Impossible ( based on the classic 1966 television series of the same name ) managed to work really well, better than i expected at that time. Mission: Impossible had some really intensive action scenes and it really felt that they captured the tone of the TV series while making it more updated into the 90´s. The sequel Mission: Impossible 2 ( M:i 2 ) released in the year 2000 from director John Woo turned up the action level to a complete different level with very familiar John Woo action style we are well known of when it comes to his film making style. The film does have a great soundtrack song from American Nu Metal band Limp Bizkt called Take A Look Around. Mission: Impossible sequels have been around for many years now and i have to say that each film have turned out to be really good so far. It´s like Tom Cruise understood what this franchise needed to be able to go on as long as it has. The previous film Mission: Impossible - Fallout is perhaps mostly known for a scene where Tom Cruise actually injured himself badly while filming in London so they had to take a break for at least 9 weeks. Either way, Mission: Impossible - Fallout turned out to be just as entertaining as we were hoping for. So here we are in 2023 with the lastest film Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 ( yes they split up the 7th film in the franchise in 2 parts ) and the questin is, does this sequel manage to deliver with so many great sequels in the past or have this franchise run out of steam completely?

The next-generation Russian submarine Sevastopol employs an advanced AI, activated by a two-pieced cruciform key. The AI deceives the crew into attacking a falsely hostile target, only to fire its own torpedo back on itself, sinking the ship and killing all aboard. IMF Agent Ethan Hunt ( Tom Cruise ) travels to the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert to retrieve one-half of the key from disavowed MI6 Agent Ilsa Faust, who carries a bounty from an unknown source. Ethan retrieve the half-key and fake Ilsa´s death. Back in Washington D.C., Ethan infiltrates as U.S. Intelligence Community briefing for Director of National Intelligence Denlinger to discuss the rogue AI. He finds out from director Eugene Kittridge ( Henry Czerny ) that the AI known as the " Entity " has achieved sentience and can manipulate major defense, intelligence, and financial of the world at will. World powers compete to obtain the key to control the Entity, though the exact means of controlling it are unknown. Ethan must detain the other part of the key plus prevent anyone to get control over the Entity.

If you are a big fan of the previous Mission: Impossible films i can tell you right now you are definetely going to have fun with this film. Especially during the really well made action sequences where Tom Cruise does exactly what you want to see him do, and that is delivering some really insane action stunts that most actors would never do. There is especially one train scene that looks really good and i had a flashback to the Steven Seagal film Under Siege 2 where he fights terrorists on a train. If you think that film looked cool in the 90´s then wait until you see the train scenes in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1. It is almost as if director Christopher McQuarrie remembered how bad the train scenes were in Under Siege 2 - Dark Territory and said:- We must show the world how real train action scenes should look like. Remember how good the car scenes were in the 1998 action classic Ronin with Robert De Niro? I can honestly say the car scenes in this Mission: Impossible sequel looks much better than in most action films in the last 25 years. If you loved technology in the previous films in this franchise you get plenty of it in this film as well. Throughout this film you really feel a real Mission: Impossible spirit how they tried to capture the right atmosphere of this franchise and try to add some refreshing details without affecting the final result in a negative way. One of the things i have to mention regarding this latest film is that even though the film is longer than 2 hours and 30 minutes, it doesn´t feel that long. And when you can make a film with that length hold the same level of quality during that playtime, that shows they really made an effort. What about the acting? I think almost the whole cast does a really good job and it´s no surprise Tom Cruise knows exactly how to portait Ethan Hunt. I seriously can´t think of any other actor who could portrait this character better than him at this point. One of the most fun performances comes from actress Pom Klementeff as the evil character Paris. Tough as hell and doesn´t take shit from anyone and i have to mention British actor Simon Pegg who is brilliant as always as the character Benji. Director Christopher McQuarrie proves once again why he is such a perfect director for this franchise and he knows how to make powerful action scenes. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 is everything that fans were hoping for and i guarantee you will have a great movie night in the company of Ethan Hunt, no matter if you prefer the 1960´s television series or the Tom Cruise films in this franchise.

Rating: DDDD