The ‘Mission‘ may never end up being quite as ‘Impossible‘ as the title might lead you to believe, but it’s no exaggeration to say that the Mission Impossible series continues to be the singularly most enjoyable and exciting action movie series still hitting cinemas. Now, the seventh installment in this franchise has been released with Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One (which as much a mouthful as you’d think). I’ve been eagerly anticipating this movie for the past year and a half, and I went out to see it last weekend. So…how is it?
Really great, obviously! But, I’ll go into a bit more detail than that.
In the grand scheme of the Mission Impossible franchise, I wouldn’t say that this is my favorite one yet. In fact, I’d actually rank it below the big three entirely (that being Fallout, Rogue Nation, and Ghost Protocol). It’s still super good, of course, but it felt like it was missing a little something. I suppose it’s missing an entire second half, considering this is only ‘Part One’. And, unlike this year’s earlier Across the Spiderverse, this film doesn’t quite stand enough as it’s own complete story with fulfilled arcs. That’s not inherently bad, it just means admitting you’re only getting half the full experience until “Part Two” releases.
I think the “Part One” nature of the movie is a blessing a curse, actually. On the one hand, the length of this film and the promise of a follow-up allows the dramatic and emotional scenes to go on for far longer than they’d be permitted in your typical action blockbuster. There’s some great character work in this film, and a lot of poignant moments land that much harder because the scenes are given time to marinate in the audience’s mind. It’s easier to follow along with the plot progressions in this film thanks to the slower dialogue scenes as well.
But, conversely, this length stretches out the action scenes as well, partially to the film’s detriment. As impossible as it might be to think about given the nearly three-hour runtime of this film, there’s only three major action set-pieces (a car chase, a party escape, and a train heist). While the train heist is fine, both the car chase and party escape felt as if they were a touch too long to keep my attention enraptured from start-to-finish, and I feel this is because the director pushes these scenes to the limits since they could afford to stuff so much into this “Part One”, but couldn’t overload it and run short on action for “Part Two”.
That slight bit of aimlessness is really my only hang-up with this movie, and I think it’ll get a lot easier to review this duology once “Part Two” has been released (which…could be a while, given the recent actor strike). Again, I want to stress that this is still a good movie, and a very enjoyable one. I, and the other patrons in my theater, all had a great time, and my hype for this movie over the past year definitely didn’t feel misplaced. I’m very excited for the prospects of “Part Two”, based upon the lingering threads left over after this film’s climax.
But enough about negatives and vague ambiguous statements! What about the movie is most worthy of praise?
Sparse as they may be in the grand scheme of things, the action sequences are still incredible to watch unfold. It’s strange that we live in an era of cinema where this is something praiseworthy, but I honestly can’t excitedly exclaim enough about how amazing it is to watch action scenes shot so fantastically. The Mission Impossible series is really good about this, but it still blows my mind how immaculately these sequences are framed, edited, and shot. Everything is always crystal clear and exciting, without any viewer confusion or action-obfuscating shaky-cam. It really grounds the action, which pairs nicely with the abundance of practical shots and top-notch stuntwork.
There’s a brilliant shootout moment during the car chase sequence that had me on the edge of my seat. There’s a great, suffocatingly claustrophobic alleyway showdown during the party escape, and a very well done knife battle on a bridge to cap the event off. And, as I alluded to earlier, the entire train section (long though it is) is a lot of fun and has some of the film’s most noteworthy action beats and character interactions. I also really like the in-media-res opening scene on the submarine, which was sufficiently tense.
Combined with great acting performances from everyone involved, as amazing a soundtrack as you’d come to expect from the Mission Impossible franchise, just the right amount of comedic relief between suspenseful action sequences, and a genuinely terrifying central villain integral to the plot, Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One (still a mouthful) hits all the right beats to be a great action flick and another solid addition to this franchise!
The Contrarian Corner 