After being sunk under mysterious circumstances, the Russian crew of the spy submarine Sevastopol are all recovered except something is missing: a two-piece cruciform key that unlocks the source code of the highly advanced computing system on board that is capable of hacking into and mimicking communications from any online network. The Entity. A program so powerful that every nation wants to see it destroyed, unless, of course, it is under their control. IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is tasked with recovering the key and is thrust into a globetrotting race with some of the most ruthless and powerful people – including agents from his own government – all seeking the key for their own motives. The Entity, however, has learned from the networks it has been connected to and having become self-aware, has begun to interfere in the mission to safeguard its own existence putting at risk the lives of anyone who comes too close to shutting it down. 

Still basking in the glow of the halo from Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Christopher McQuarrie, a long-time collaborator with Tom Cruise, returns to write – along with screenwriting partner Erik Jendresen – and direct his third installment in Paramount Pictures‘ Mission: Impossible series with Dead Reckoning Part 1. At 163 minutes, this is the longest entry into the franchise to date, and there have been some mixed messages about if this two-parter will close out Cruise’s chapter as Ethan Hunt. While Cruise and McQuarrie have been adamant about formulating ideas for the future of the series, the scope and structure of the film – as well as debuting so closely to the final outing of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and both films sharing quite a lot in common – audiences cannot help but feel this may be the beginning of the end. Fear not, however, as Cruise has at least one more film left in him with Part 2 slated for a summer 2024 release. 

The film is expectedly packed with action, but in a change of pace, features a much more contemplative and suspenseful cold opening aboard the Sevastopol as the crew is running some final tests on their surveillance system. Deep below the ocean waves, the Russian crew begins to target an enemy submarine that has entered their radar field, but after firing their torpedoes, the enemy has disappeared from the radar entirely. Audiences are just as confused as the control room tries to determine what is going on, and the longer they dispute about the impossibility of a malfunction, we are waiting for McQuarrie to cut to some exotic and expensive hotel room where Hunt, Benji (Simon Pegg), and Luther (Ving Rhames) have hacked into the system from afar. That cut never comes, and we begin to realize that the crew is stranded and in even greater danger now that their own torpedo has been rerouted toward them and is seconds away from direct impact. It is a dreadful opening that conjures up fears not unlike when HAL 9000 has wrestled control away from the crew aboard the ill-fated Discovery in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odessey (1968), but it is also coincidentally incredibly timely not only due to rising concerns surrounding AI technology which have driven the filmmaking industry to a halt through labor action, but also in the world news with the fatal implosion of the OceanGate Titan submersible. 

Dead Reckoning then pivots out of the ocean and into the desert with Hunt searching for his old ally, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) who has half of the key in her possession and a large bounty on her head from most nations, including the USA. The film gets off to a rough start, but thankfully this dusty sequence is over pretty quick before the film shifts back to Washington DC where Fraser Taggart gets to be at his most playful behind the camera employing lots of Dutch angles at such a tilt that they seem to be riffing on the paranoia thrillers of the 70s and 80s. It all revolves around Kittridge (Henry Czerny), making his return to the series, as his high-powered cabinet talk with utmost sincerity about the Entity and its massive powers. There is no avoiding the silliness of it all, and thankfully Dead Reckoning, despite its air of self-importance as the crown jewel of the Mission: Impossible canon, still is willing to lean into the campiness of it all resulting in some nice levity. 

While the film brings back many franchise favorites, it also introduces us to some new faces as well, and the new cast blends in perfectly with the staples, matching the chemistry and the tone. Vanessa Kirby makes her encore performance as the White Widow after the Cruciform Key, but she is not the only antagonist of the film. That title belongs to the duo of Gabriel (Esai Morales), a man with dark ties to Hunt’s past, and his number one, Paris (Pom Klementieff). Morales enjoys chewing the scenery commanding the frame with a cool and cavalier attitude whilst chaos erupts around him. His involvement in the events that led Hunt to become a member of IMF plays well into the themes of fate and destiny which the film is looking to examine, but it is an inconsequential plot choice; at least at this point in the story. This villain from the past arc feels like an excuse to pad the runtime a little to justify the two-part structure, and while thankfully the film does not spend too much time in the past, those flashbacks really pump the brakes on the action. Opposite the very mannered and collected performance by Morales, Klementieff is treating this role as her audition tape for a spot in the next Mad Max film while dressed like she is front row at a My Chemical Romance concert during their Black Parade era. To be clear, that is a compliment and across the board, Penny Rose has the entire cast dressed in a perfect way to suit their individual styles and demeanor. Returning to Klementieff, she brings a manic energy to the film, especially in the car chase through Rome as she, along with what seems to be the entirety of the city’s police force, and the perpetually day late and dollar short CIA agents Briggs (Shea Whigham) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis) are crashing through the streets in hot pursuit of Hunt. It is structured in such a way that what could have easily been a bloated car chase – as seen, for example, in Dial of Destiny (2023) – is turned into an absolute comic farce. 

That is the most impressive part about this film, which, in essence, is an extended first act that is nothing but a MacGuffin chase, that each major set piece is carefully layered in its construction so that they each have their own identity and arc. It was also such a smart move on behalf of the writing team to physicalize the main object as they did. At a certain point, Tom Cruise running after yet another thumb drive is really hard to get invested in, but they play with this concept just enough that they do not need to tinker much with the execution – a sizzle real of stunts with brief moments of a plot – but it feels fresh and new and exciting while not abandoning the formula that audiences have come to know and love with this franchise. Even though the goal is always the same, audiences get to play along as much of this film is like the carnival game where the prize is hidden beneath one of the three moving cups and we have to guess who has the key when the action breaks. The excitement also comes in because not only are there two halves of the key to keep track of, but a third counterfeit half is also in the mix.  

What results is an absolutely charming sequence at the Abu Dhabi International Airport where Hunt meets newcomer Grace (Hayley Atwell), a petty thief who is in far over her head. It plays out like a screwball romantic comedy, complete with sleight of hand magic that is a pure delight. This chemistry is magnified later on when the two reunite in Rome, and it is so nice to see that McQuarrie and Cruise – possibly having learned from the mistakes made in No Time to Die (2021) by sidelining Ana de Armas after she was in the most electric scene of Daniel Craig’s farewell outfit – realized what they had when casting director Mindy Marin put Atwell’s name up for consideration. It is a herculean ask of an actor to come in during the seventh installment of a franchise that has been steadily building a core team around the charismatic Cruise, but Atwell does so with incredible grace, and, because she adds something new to the formula, there are times where she even wrestles attention away from Hollywood’s most notorious modern daredevil. 

One of the most impressive things about Dead Reckoning is the massive finale set aboard the Orient Express, but while everyone converges on the luxury steam engine, Hunt is zipping through the Alps on a motorbike, removed from it all. There is a clear deconstruction of expectations at play here, but most importantly it all appears to be in the service of moving the franchise forward unlike the malicious and petulant breaking of pattern that was shown by J.J. Abrams in Mission: Impossible III (2006) who is notably not included as a producer on Dead Reckoning; the first film in the series without his involvement since making his directorial entry. Train sequences are always exciting by the constant movement, and this one is mostly handled by Grace impersonating the White Widow to identify the key’s buyer and more importantly, clues to what the key is used for. While the deal is being labored over as she tries to buy Hunt time to infiltrate the train, it makes little difference as Gabriel has already adjusted the timeline to fit his own nefarious ends in some of the most sinister scenes of the film which McQuarrie continually returns to when he feels audiences may forget just how dangerous this well-dressed man is. It is a culmination of everything that came before it as the multiple story threads get knotted together, and in a classic example of danger on a train, these feuding characters quickly find themselves all fighting for their collective safety as the train speeds towards a bombed-out bridge with no chance of slowing down before annihilation.

Thankfully, though, Hunt is now aboard to save the day but the danger is well and truly felt because McQuarrie does not make it easy on him. The derailed train, dangling over the ledge and shedding its weight car by car, Hunt and Grace have their most heroic moments together at long last as they climb upwards racing against gravity. As with all the set pieces, there are multiple phases and aspects baked in so they do not become stale, and this sequence is a perfect example of this practice in a microcosm as each train car is a totally new environment with new dangers to overcome. There is never a moment once the film gets started where it is not firing on all cylinders and the beats – both emotional but especially the action – land with total accuracy. 

Across the board, editor Eddie Hamilton deserves as much praise as any of the actors or the writers on Dead Reckoning as it is an absolute feat. He navigates through the dense action in a way that is thrilling, and audiences never feel lost in the commotion even with multiple characters executing across multiple arcs all at once. Even as just half of a larger story – and with full disclosure when one takes a step back, Dead Reckoning is absolutely treading water narratively – the film still finds a way to settle on a satisfying conclusion, easing to a close with a poignant voiceover that gently guides audiences back into reality. But for the lion’s share of the runtime, with Lorne Balfe’s score playing off of Danny Elfman’s iconic themes, the only impossibility here is to not get swept up in the action and drama of the piece.