Ethan Hunt and his IMF team must track down a dangerous weapon before it falls into the wrong hands.
It is now the seventh chapter of the Mission Impossible franchise, and for a while, it made sense to keep pumping out sequels. As each film progressed the quality improved significantly. There could be a numerous amount of reasons for such an outcome, but one may attribute it to having a new director at the helm of each new film. That stopped being the case with part 5, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, with director Christopher McQuarrie returning. Instead of a continued upward trend in popularity, the quality dipped down a small amount. Now that’s a subjective opinion, but that’s why you’re here. Dead Reckoning is a worthy sequel, but I wonder if the director has overstayed his welcome.
Dead Reckoning Part 1 is a great film, but it’s easily not the greatest in the franchise. Some of the elements that make these films stand out so well aren’t present during this latest sequel. These are ongoing stories of good vs evil. There’s always some maniac with delusions of world supremacy or destruction, who wants to claim it all. It’s a story that can never get old if the execution is pulled off efficiently, and it’s also a reflection of life. Now of course most audiences want to see the protagonists win and see our heroes save the day. It’s always a race against time watching Ethan Hunk (Tom Cruise) press the button, seconds before the world explodes, and it’s a sigh of relief when he does. We get to see the good guys win! Yay! With all that being said, Mission Impossible films usually do something a little different than the average action, adventure, thriller film. Not only do you get to see the protagonists win, there’s always some form of flashback providing a visual scenario of what it would look like if the antagonists won. It’s the best of both worlds and a large amount of why these films are so beloved. That aspect is completely missing from Dead Reckoning, and it sure is a disappointment. I was crushed while watching this due to it being part of my expectations. The formula of “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” was ignored this time around and that’s not a good thing.
This still doesn’t mean that the film isn’t enjoyable, because it is. From the start, the film is still able to present a new worthy threat to world implosion that gets your nerves tingling. This time it’s some form of advanced AI that can control all global systems in nearly every aspect of life. Any superpower in the world would love to possess this amount of control and power, and everyone is after it. The dialogue at times, can become slightly complex, but it’s entertaining, to say the least. Especially when you have returning characters from the past who the fans love. Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) is still cool, calm, and collected, while Benji (Simon Pegg) provides the comic relief while still maintaining a level of seriousness that’s appreciated. Ethan Hunt is still a badass even though the hand-to-hand fighting this time around was dialed back to some degree. These three are a great team, and it’s a pleasure seeing them work together again to preserve peace on this planet. Grace (Hayley Atwell) is the newcomer this time around, and she possesses her own level of skill to add to the bunch. Her character is also a burden which creates a new challenge for the group. She can be a bit annoying at times, but given the circumstance she’s in it’s hard to blame her. There are other characters who return in other small supporting roles. Some help the film, while at other times it seems pointless.
The antagonist of the film is another dilemma the film had to overcome. Initially, he was described as the boogeyman who everyone should be afraid of, but when finally revealed I’m still wondering where the hype came from. He’s someone from Ethan’s past, and if you weren’t around during that time the level of severity may not strike you instantly. He was decent at best, but the audience barely knows the history that links him to Hunt. This is an aspect of the story that most likely won’t be present until part two of Dead Reckoning, but I want to see it now. This absence of backstory makes the film feel empty, but at least the film was marketed to let you know there’s more to come.
As far as the action is concerned these films never miss. They’re still balls to the wall crazy, and Tom Cruise is crazy for doing his own stunts but surely respected. Usually, during some top-of-dog car chase highway scene the protagonist is in the latest sports car or bike weaving in and out of traffic and dodging other vehicles by mere inches. The camera angles and movements put you right there in the action making you feel like you’re in the car yourself. All of that is present in the film but flipped upside down for something new. Ethan isn’t in the best car or vehicle. He’s in your least favorite and handcuffed to another human, which is hilarious, different, and suspenseful. Just another added flavor to the franchise that wasn’t present before. That’s only one scene though. The train sequence at the end was oh my goodness gracious good. I can’t wait to see the behind-the-scenes footage to witness how such a stunt was pulled off. Rest assured if you want great action you’ll get it in this film.
However, my biggest issue with the film is the plot/story. Sometimes it just doesn’t add up. Earlier I mentioned that the dialogue would get complex at times, and it does to the point of confusion. You may start to ask yourself, “Does any of this make sense, and what was the point?” Too many times during this film I asked, “What was the point of this meeting?” If character A was trying to accomplish task 1, why didn’t they do this instead of that? It became an unnecessary jumbled mess at times. In addition to that, on multiple occasions the bad guy could have won if they just used a small pistol to eliminate their enemy. This was a missed opportunity at least three times during the film where they could’ve just shot them, but instead ran away just to have a knife fight later on top of a train. It gets ridiculous during certain moments.
This is Christopher McQuarrie’s third Mission Impossible film, and the man should be proud of himself, but his last film Mission Impossible Fallout is far superior to this one. I’m not sure what happened but all of the I’s were not dotted and a few T’s weren’t crossed. I’m thinking the best portions of the film will be in part 2, and I’m looking forward to it. This time I can’t say that I’m upset or that this was a bad film, but what I can say is that I wanted more and am a bit let down.
Official Teaser:
Official Trailer:
Final Trailer:
