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Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) just can’t catch a break, pinballing from one global catastrophe to another with barely a moment to draw breath. Whether he is skydiving from thousands of feet up or scaling a mile high skyscraper in an audacious act of counterterrorism, this one-man mission impossible force has spawned a franchise that shows no sign of letting up. With the advent of Dead Reckoning Part One, which is available now to own on digital or good old-fashioned physical media, this unstoppable force delivers its most outlandish mission yet, trying to track down and eliminate The Entity. An intangible threat in an on-line society rife with artificial intelligence, that calls for an unsanctioned intervention from Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames), Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) and Ethan.
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After 8 collaborations with Tom Cruise either as writer, director, or a combination of both Christopher McQuarrie has forged a working relationship with him that has made quite an impression. Besides those 5 Mission movies, the last of which has been pushed back to 2025 due to strike action, this Oscar winning screenwriter (The Usual Suspects) has had a hand in Top Gun: Maverick, Edge of Tomorrow, and Jack Reacher to name a few. Between them the Mission Impossible franchise has become a force of nature that overcame COVID, singlehandedly saved cinema, and then served up a Top Gun sequel that should have won them both an Oscar.
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What becomes immediately apparent with Dead Reckoning is the increased scale of this joint venture from Cruise and McQuarrie. Coming in hard with a hefty running time, much of the first half hour is taken up with new introductions, whistle stop tours of far-flung locations, and those headlining regulars delivering the cinematic goods. Of the new additions Grace (Hayley Atwell) makes the biggest impact injecting some fresh blood into proceedings and giving Ethan a real run for his money. Atwell seems to relish playing opposite Cruise unlocking all the potential of Agent Carter that Marvel failed to capitalise on.
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From that infamous base jump through to the Fiat 500 sequence in Rome, Dead Reckoning gives audiences everything they have come to expect from the franchise while kicking things up a notch. What will surprise some is the darker elements that get thrown into the mix later on, as Simon Pegg really steps up to the plate and digs deeper into Benji than he has done before. There is a real sense of risk embedded in this film that comes through most strongly in the latter stages, that touches on the morality of these characters in a very visceral way.
For the first time Ethan looks outmatched, this team feels unprepared and outgunned, and those friendships audiences hold so dear come under fire. This is why Dead Reckoning deserves a place alongside those other Mission Impossibles, because Cruise and McQuarrie still deliver.
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is now available to Download & Keep, you can purchase on 4K UHD™ + Blu-ray™ SteelBooks®, 4K UHD™, Blu-ray™, DVD and VOD available from the 6th of November.
