Movie Review; Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
This movie should be called "The Mask"
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This weekend I joined the massive throngs of moviegoers and went to see the new movie everyone is talking about, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. After watching Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One I believe that Tom Cruise has been inhabited by the god of movie making and turned himself into an avatar of Cinema. Or something like that.
Tom Cruise, a man who has more than one recorded incident of being a nutcase, is in love with movies. He once claimed to watch at least one movie a day. He famously never goes to wrap parties because he is already filming his next movie. He appears to want to die while being filmed doing a stunt. He also may have single-handedly kept a number of theaters in business, movies like Top Gun: Maverick helping staunch COVID-related profit losses. He also jumped on a couch one time.
Tom Cruise, perhaps not as figurately as you think, is the last real embodiment of “the movies.” He’s really the only true movie star left. Brad Pitt no longer has the juice, and DiCaprio doesn’t really make blockbusters anymore. The other possible stars: George Clooney, Zandaya, Florence Pugh, etc., are too busy making tequila, doing ads, and (formerly) dating Zach Braff. People go to see Tom Cruise in the movies because he’s Tom Cruise, not because he’s in the next Marvel movie or Star Wars flick, but because they like watching Tom Cruise. That is a rarity of modern cinema, a holdover from the 80s and 90s. He doesn’t really do ads, except for his movies, and he’s got this whole larger-than-life thing going. He still even has his original teeth. Modern “stars” like The Rock are branded within an inch of their life that they lose all their mystique the second they get the chance to sell out.
The mystique isn’t even positive, but it is mysterious. Cruise’s mystique is, of course, mostly about just how nuts he actually is. The dead eyes, the Scientology, the failed marriages, none of those are good looks for him. But they are intriguing. People keep coming back in the hope that they’ll get a glimpse of the real Tom Cruise. That look into his soul will never come, but people keep going to the movies.
Case in point is his newest movie. Anyone looking for a hint of the real Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (that’s the last time I’m typing that whole thing out) will not find it. That does not mean the latest entry in the long-running M:I series is bad. Quite the opposite. It is not the adrenaline-filled thrill ride of its immediate predecessor Fallout, but still falls into the top half of M:I movies. Preposterous punctuation choices in the title aside, Dead Reckoning is a fun romp that movies the series forward while gesturing at its past. There are also a weird amount of references to old books. The action is fun and the cast is great. Series regulars Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames do what they’re supposed to, which is explain what’s going on to the audience. More recent cast additions Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby shine in their limited roles and newcomer Hayley Atwell gives a fantastic performance as the newest (potential) IMF agent.
Since the series got a semi-reboot with 2011’s Ghost Protocol, Mission: Impossible movies have been less about spying and more about wrapping a thin plot around whatever absolutely nuts stunts Cruise is willing to do. This isn’t a criticism, just an observation. The series has evolved with the times, taking cues from the Daniel Craig James Bond movies, the Bourne series, and even John Wick. Dead Reckoning takes from those movies, sometimes liberally, but also looks back to the beginning of the series for inspiration.
This is most evident in the action sequences. While Cruise still does his prerequisite death-defying stunt, in this case, a motorcycle leap from a mountain top, most of the scenes are far more grounded, quite literally, than in recent films. There are fights in the narrow streets of Venice, car chases through Rome, and a fun opener in an airport. Most importantly, the climax takes place on a train, The Orient Express, natch. These scenes all forgo the planes, tall buildings, and helicopters the series has become known for, making the action feel a little more real.
I do have a few criticisms of the film. This movie is part one of two and feels like it. The final train sequence, while still exhilarating, feels far more like a set-up for the next movie than a satisfying conclusion. Cruise still runs really weird. The jokes are par for a big-budget movie, which is to say, not great. Shea Whigham’s character feels truly underdeveloped, though I’m sure the second movie will correct that with some wild reveal about who he is. I’m guessing Cruise’s son or something. Cruise is looking a little tight around the edges, at and times I wondered if they’d done some digitally de-aging. He also still has those dead eyes, making the little emotional work he’s tasked with ring false.
That dead eye thing brings us back to the Cruise being an Avatar of cinema. He truly has left all his personality behind, transforming himself into the platonic action hero. It’s not quite as distracting as it might seem. Cruise, the director, and the writers all seem to realize that it’s an issue, and instead of trying to avoid the problems that come with the star of your movie being unable to emote, incorporated it into the script. One of the main themes of the movie is Ethan Hunt’s (sorry for using the character name, but here we are) inability to keep his female leads alive, something that is in the canon of the movies. Hunt is described as someone who only cares about completing his mission, not caring if those around him survive. It’s easy to believe this about Hunt/Cruise, who has no trouble seeming like a robot man hell-bent on a mission. The dead eyes help in that case. Those dead eyes also come into play when Cruise, once again, does leave a lady behind. You truly believe that all Cruise cares about is the mission. Those eyes of his refuse to betray any sense of remorse at all.
It's scenes like these that show the effectiveness of Cruise. You truly believe that all he cares about is beating the bad guy. There is no hint that he has a life outside of his missions. They tried to do that in the third M:I and it did not work. Thankfully the producers, of which Cruise is one, immediately backed away from doing that sort of stuff. Cruise is just unbelievable as a guy who has hobbies or likes to drink a beer or whatever. He is best as a soldier who only wants to complete the mission. Dead Reckoning knows that and so plays to those strengths. That’s all you can ask for in a movie.
4.5/5
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