‘We live and die in the shadows, for those we hold close, and for those we never meet…’
It’s over forty years since Tom Cruise landed his first leading role in ’80s teen classic Risky Business. Since then, he’s starred in an outrageous amount of successful blockbusters, worked with everyone from Kubrick to Spielberg and proved instrumental in bringing cinema back from the brink following the huge success of Top Gun: Maverick in 2022. He’s outlasted all of his peers. He’s survived controversy and public shaming. And in 2023, he gifted the world the latest instalment in the incredibly popular Mission: Impossible franchise. He’s one of the only actors capable of carrying a non-Marvel franchise. To be succinct (at last) – Tom Cruise is the greatest movie star of his generation and maybe of all time. And Dead Reckoning only confirms this fact…
The beauty of this franchise is that despite each entry featuring loads of characters that are constantly changing allegiance, each film still stands on its own two feet. You could go into Dead Reckoning having seen none of the previous entries and still have a good time. This seventh movie sees Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his usual team of IMF agents (Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson etc) searching for a mysterious key that unlocks the chance to change the world forever. Also in pursuit are shady presumed terrorist Gabriel (Esai Morales), dangerous assassin Paris (Pom Klementieff) a returning Vanessa Kirby as the enigmatic White Witch and Henry Czerny as former IMF chief Kittridge. Newcomer Hayley Atwell makes the biggest impression, however, as master thief Grace. In her hands, the character is complicated, authentic and frequently hilarious – an excellent performance.
Speaking of performances, little Tommy Cruise is as captivating as ever. Lots of running. Lots of shouting. Crucially, he still looks and sounds the part. This never feels like an old man going through the motions. Cruise somehow still appears to be in the prime of his life – both physically and as an actor. He is a man who instinctively knows what audiences want. It’s a wonder that he has never tried his hand at directing. Not that returning writer-director Christopher McQuarrie needs replacing mind, he once again illustrates here that he knows his way around an action sequence. A car chase here. A train-top fight sequence there. It’s all high-octane exhilarating stuff.
The clumsily titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is one of the better films in a very consistent franchise and it sets the scene nicely for the eighth and final entry due in 2025. I’ll be there.