A squeeze of the brakes. A foot stepping onto a pedal. The dirt bike engine purrs then bursts forwards. An astonishing overhead drone shot tracks it towards a colossal cliff face. The bike is whisked off the end by fuel, and then pulled down by gravity. The rider, a then-59-year old man, sails onward, jettisoning himself from the bike before he soon starts falling, and falling, and falling, and, oh wow he really is still falling. The sequence, shot in near silence but for the whistles of a chilly wind, can mean only one thing: Tom Cruise is back on the big screen.
Not that he’s been away for too long – Top Gun: Maverick is definitely still playing somewhere in a cinema in the world, even if it is just Miles Teller’s basement as he reminds himself he can make a good film. But Ethan Hunt, Cruise’s stripped down on-screen persona, has not been seen since 2018, when Fallout casually strutted into the hall of fame of action films. The pandemic heavily disrupted filming of Dead Reckoning Part I, with sequences in Rome being among the few that felt like the cast and extras were able to film together. Cruise rented a cruise ship to keep the cast and crew isolated so they could continue filming and he, as producer, would not be causing thousands of people to be out of a job. It is admirable, but slightly noticeable in the film that there were spatial limitations.
When Hunt first appears, it is from the shadows of an empty safehouse, as if Hunt goes into shutdown between films. Can you imagine him eating or reading a book? He activates his mission: a key consisting of two parts needs tracking down. What does it unlock? Nobody knows! Who is after it? Everyone! An artificial intelligence known as The Entity is involved; a timely theme when Hollywood is currently striking over the usage of AI. The Entity is personified by Esai Morales’ Gabriel, a figure from Hunt’s past alluded to in noirish flashbacks. Not much is given away however, and Hunt is still a cipher to the audience. With the usual suspects of Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and Rebecca Ferguson forming his elite team, Hunt also works with newcomer Hayley Atwell’s Grace, a thief way out of her depth. Atwell and Cruise sizzle on screen together.
The screenplay is dense. McQuarrie famously scouts locations and stunts first, then writes in the story to connect these sequences. It is a ballsy system to be shooting off the cuff, but there is a pay-off in that the film’s themes and plotting are captivating. By using AI and algorithms as a threat, McQuarrie can shift from the all-out action of Fallout to a more suspense-driven sequel by enforcing ideas of fate and predetermination and shooting most of the dialogue scenes in low angles or Dutch tilts – a nice throwback to Brian DePalma’s work on the first Mission film back in 1996. The sequence in Venice is more The Third Man than Mission Impossible, and this stylistic choice is appreciated: the franchise began with the idea to have a new director per film to have a variety in styles, but McQuarrie took over for Rogue Nation and has not stopped, so for him to personally change his style each time is something to respect. There are a great deal of close-ups, with the nightclub scene recalling the works of Sergio Leone in the variety of different agendas displayed during a standoff. For cinematographer Fraser Taggert, its an exceptional ‘debut’.
Moreover, the film has a distinct comedic voice too. Mask gags galore. A Rome car chase that plays like a Roger Moore Bond. Forget Scientology, Cruise’s real religion is the audience. He is so dedicated to pleasing his customers and to thank them for choosing his film by thrilling them and making them laugh, that he has gone far above and beyond what we should expect from an actor. He spends a lot of the film running, and we know he is loving every single step of it; that he has added as much humour as possible is proof of his blockbuster learning curve.
Let’s talk about the action. The action is the juice for this film franchise. Of course, the action Cruise and McQuarrie put on the screen is better than nearly everything else available. We open with a The Spy Who Loved Me style submarine sequence and then are soon transported to the Yemen border for a desert shootout. From there we get airport cat and mousing, a monumental car battle in Rome which packs some screwball antics into the carnage with a pair of handcuffs, and then a night time chase through Venice’s dark and empty streets. The momentum builds and builds, with even lengthy exposition scenes failing to interrupt editor Eddie Hamilton’s focused tempo. Fallout solved the ‘forgettable third act’ problem of the franchise by having Cruise and Henry Cavill engage in a smashing helicopter chase. Here we get the most cinematic of all vehicle sequences: a train chase.
With an Orient Express they built from scratch so they could destroy it, the stunt crew have a blast coordinating a sustained finale that gives us the above motorbike jump, a knife fight on the roof, and a crash so visceral it was a wonder lumps of coal and steam didn’t smash through the screen. The shaking sound design overpowers some of the (inevitable) green screen, whilst Lorne Balfe’s score is as percussive as ever. It is old-school filmmaking taken to the extreme.
Even if the beats sometimes align with Fallout’s structure (the prolonged pre-credits sequence and night club middle), it doesn’t matter – I would watch a dozen more of these McQuarrie-Cruise productions. As a Part I, Dead Reckoning avoids the blue-balls that Across the Spider-verse, Dune and presumably Fast X have surprised audiences with. It is a rounded conclusion to the first film, with an ending that leaves a lot open, but feels like we have earned a break. It feels like The Two Towers; a booming last hour that gives our heroes a breather by the end, only for a final shot to remind us what is to come.
Ranking of the Mission Impossibles:
7. Mission: Impossible II
6. Mission: Impossible III
5. Mission: Impossible
4. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
3. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
2. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
1. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
For A Few Thoughts More 