“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” (2023) directed by Christopher McQuarrie, starring Tom Cruise / Z-View

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie, Erik Jendresen based on Mission: Impossible created by Bruce Geller

Stars: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Frederick Schmidt, Mariela Garriga, Cary Elwes, Charles Parnell and Indira Varma.

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team have accepted a mission to retrieve a two part key that will ultimately help them control/destroy artificial intelligence that has become sentient.  The AI is known as Entity and all world governments hope to find the keys.  Also in the race to get the key is Gabriel (Morales) who is using Entity to predict Ethan’s moves before he makes them.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)

If you’re a fan of Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible films, Dead Reckoning Part One should not disappoint.  Cruise is back doing what he does best.  The rest of the team also returns, although all may not survive.  We also get the tropes we’ve come to expect: chases, fights, crazy stunts, perfect disguises from masks that come off with a single pull and more.

A lot has been made of Tom Cruise’s motorcycle leap/parachute jump.  Perhaps too much has been shown in advance, but my favorite stunts involved the train scenes at the end.  It was also announced that a team member doesn’t survive.  There were several scenes where it could have been different characters.

I enjoyed Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.  I’m not a fan of two-part movies, but there is a resolution of sorts to hold us until Part Two opens.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) rates 4 of 5 stars.