Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Takes Tom Cruise to New Heights

Last summer, Tom Cruise dominated the box office and some will say single-handedly put butts back in the theatre with his sequel to Top Gun – Top Gun: Maverick. Well, Cruise is at it again with the seventh chapter in the Mission Impossible franchise – Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning.

This time Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the IMF team (Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg) must track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity if it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Hunt is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than the mission — not even the lives of those he cares about most.

This is the best addition to the franchise providing more thrills, stunts, romantic complications and a new villain proving to be quite the adversary.  Franchise tropes such as face changing masks, comedic quips in the midst of danger and next sequel cliffhanger are to be expected and work quite well.  However, the stunts this time around had me stressed out, clutching my pearls and unable to catch my breath.  Now, THAT is a sign of a film that has succeeded in having its audience members suspend their disbelief while becoming completely engrossed with the onscreen action and shenanigans.

As wonderful as all of that is, it is Hayley Atwell as Grace who steal this entire film.  Having been introduced to her as Agent Carter in the now defunct television series for Marvel Studios, this film welcomes all of her talents to the big screen in spades. Originally to be played by Nicholas Hoult, Esai Morales reminds audiences of why we fell in love with him decades ago in ‘La Bamba.’  He is a rare gem of an actor whose sheer presence elevates every scene to a whole other level.

One can applaud this chapter for making the women in this film more than just eye candy.  Vanessa Kirby, Hayley Atwell and Rebecca Ferguson all had characterizations that showcased and lauded not only their acting prowess, but their physical strengths in all fighting sequences. However, if I had one gripe on that tip, it would be the fact that Pom Klementieff’s character could have been a little more than the stereotypical silent Asian villian with rival fight skills who eventually succumbs to her wounds.

Speaking of stunts, the train sequence took nearly six months to a year to shoot eating up 50 minutes of the total screen time and the motorcycle hop off the crag took less than a few hours.  We all know that Tom Cruise loves his stunts and every last one wrecked my nerves in the best sense of the word. With that said, run to a theatre near you to catch this one as watching it in IMAX is the only way to go.