Review | Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One movie review: Tom Cruise impresses in hugely entertaining blockbuster
- Dead Reckoning – Part One features nods to past Mission: Impossible films, from set pieces to old characters who reappear, while neatly setting up part two
- Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell go on a global hunt for a mysterious key, and perform the usual ludicrous stunts in an absorbing, if at times unwieldy, adventure
4/5 stars
Tom Cruise is back as super-spy Ethan Hunt for this seventh outing in the Mission: Impossible franchise.
An absorbing, if at times unwieldy, adventure, Dead Reckoning – Part One has the feel of a film that is not only setting up the conclusion to the entire series but also giving nods to earlier Mission: Impossible films.
In particular, there is an extended set piece on the Orient Express trans-European train that recalls Hunt’s climactic fight in the Channel Tunnel between the UK and France in the first Mission: Impossible film, directed in 1996 by Brian De Palma.
His latest mission sees him go rogue – as always, looking for a cruciform key that will unlock … well, that would be telling. Much has to do with the “entity”, a sentient computer program that is capable of penetrating everything from banking systems to the intelligence community.
Hunt hooks up with his usual team, including Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames), as well as newcomer Grace (Hayley Atwell), a deft thief who has been hired to steal the key.
