Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One

 

Director Christopher McQuarrie returns to the chair for his third consecutive Mission Impossible film,  subtitl edDead Reckoning Part I.  There is a Part II which is due in 2025, though it may be renamed.  Dead Reckoning is about an AI threat called the Entity that has become sentient and attracts the interest of countries who wish to control it.  Ethan and his team set out to find and destroy it by accessing two keys which switch hands several times throughout the film. 

Dead Reckoning was about to begin production in Venice and when the shutdowns of 2020 occurred.  It re-entered production several months later starting with the big motorcycle stunt and was one of the films to help establish COVID-19 filming protocols which helped establish industry norms for filming.  Several times over the next several months filming was suspended when members of the crew tested positive for COVID-19.  Filming wrapped in the fall of 2021.  The release date was delayed by about two years from its original planned release of the summer of 2021 and it ultimately was released in July 2023. 

McQuarrie was also the sole credited writer for Rogue Nation and Fallout but here brought on Eric Jendressen (who was a writer on the excellent HBO series Band of Brothers) to help carry the load and contribute ideas.  

Spoilers below:

McQuarrie and Cruise quite famously design these films around the terrific action scenes.  The sequences are meticulously planned and then the film is built around them as they go, which is amazing given how much emotion is in the film.  McQuarrie is such a good writer and these films are cast so well they often get away with it.  For example the motorcycle stunt involves Cruise's Ethan jumping off a cliff to land on a train.  It is a little ridiculous since we see no train in the valley but McQuarrie solves this by showing Ethan in the air trying to propel himself out of the valley and then cuts to action on the train for a few moments before Ethan crashes in at a crucial moment.  Our relief overcomes our disbelief. 

I also want to give kudos to Eddie Hamilton who is editing his third consecutive Mission Impossible film and also did an excellent job on Top Gun: Maverick.  Hamilton and McQuarrie work wonders conveying information, keeping the pace up, and recognizing how to keep the audience's attention in the many lengthy exposition scenes. 

The opening submarine scene establishes how deadly the Entity in a new setting for a Mission film, a submarine.  I knew something was off in the opening submarine scene since we did see exterior shots of the boat, which hinted that the threat might not be real. 

During Ethan's briefing scene McQuarrie makes good use of the returning Henry Czenry's terrific voice as Kittridge (more on that below).  When Ilsa's name is mentioned we immediately see a cut to her in action.

The credits could have started after the briefing but McQuarrie opts to hold off for awhile, after Ethan and Kittridge's face off.  The Mission Impossible theme is so upbeat that it can only come after a victory by the tea,.

The Arabian Desert sequence is brief but intense as Ethan is fighting off bandits to get to Ilsa who as in Star Trek II, gets a fake death as a precursor to a real one later.  Some of the wide shots of the men on horses are astonishing.  Ilsa is also introduced nodding off which makes her feel more human.  The old buildings look weathered.  It is a little hard to distinguish who is who but the point is that Ethan gets one of the keys from Ilsa, the two work together again as well as ever, and have an emotional release after the battle when they embrace.  The film goes to lengths to avoid defining Ilsa's relationship with Ethan.  They seem to be intimate but are not necessarily a couple with a formal commitment. 

The debriefing scene has an eerie feel.  I read that McQuarrie wanted it to play like he was being told a ghost story.  McQuarrie gives the audience a lot of exposition here about the Entity by using a group of people in a room.  Each person has one or two lines at a time and then passes it to the next performer.  This makes it a little easier to follow than a long speech but the delivery is monotone and does not feel  natural onscreen, and is indicative of being written at the last minute.  Denlinger, the Director of Intelligence is played by Cruise's costar and onscreen rival from Days of Thunder, Cary Elwes.  I was not surprised at all when he was revealed as the traitor though he is clearly not in league with Kittridge.

Here is where Henry Czerny first appears on screen as Eugene Kittridge.  Czerny's careful pronunciation and slight smarminess makes him the best of Ethan's CIA rivals.  McQuarrie has clearly studied how Kittridge was used in the first film, setting up the first act sting that ultimately exposed Phelps as a traitor.  He Kittridge does something very similar to Ilsa, putting a bounty on her but sending Ethan to protect her.   Additionally Kittridge ends up playing a significant role on the train in the climax as he did in the first film. Although once again Ethan and Kittridge end up on opposite sides for much of the narrative, this time Kittridge knows Ethan is righteous, he just doesn't agree with him.  The face off between them delivers but the editing is curious.  We see shots of Kittridge shot from the left and then will cut right to one where it is from the right without going to a reverse on Ethan.  When Kittridge warns Ethan about the cost of the mission McQuarrie frames him from the left with a big picture of Ilsa on the screen which is a huge hint of what is to come. It is fun to hear Kittridge reference being "upset" again (a reference to MI).  At the close of the scene as Kittridge is on the phone with security we know Ethan has some trick planned.  Czerny has is a delight briefly in the dual role first showing Kittridge surprised and then acknowledging he has been outfoxed, then as Ethan giving his characteristic shrug as we go into the credits.  

The airport sequence is this film's version of a heist scene.  It's one of the only times Ethan is in constant contact with the team and it sets up all the players.  I really enjoy the use of technology both to track the key and to throw off the CIA pursuers. Ethan's dynamic with Grace is playful but not romantic as the two operatives of different trades try to outsmart each other.  Benji and Luther have an enjoyable puzzle with the bomb, where they act as if they are in The DaVinci Code.  However the idea of another nuclear bomb after it was a big centerpiece of the last film is overkill.  It could have been a regular explosive and none of the suspense would have been lost.  Pegg in particular is fabulous in the scene, and is as vulnerable as we have ever seen Benji.

The close of the scene in which Ethan aborts the mission makes great use of Lorne Balfe's powerful score.  The cue is called "Get Out Now" and it uses the same same three note motif from the original Mission Impossible theme played in a minor key (and is used as a motif throughout the film at a lower tempo).  The filmmakers give it center stage as Ethan tracks Grace and then runs onto the roof to escape the CIA agents, cutting out most of the dialogue.  The scene ends with a fantastic overhead shot of Ethan sprinting on the roof.  A slightly different version of the cue is later used when Ethan is running after Grace in Venice.  The overall effect is to make Ethan's running feel almost operatic.

As the film moves to Rome the team (and Luther especially) just pop up every now and then, which is different from the last couple of films in which they were constantly involved.  It feels like the actors  (Pegg, Ferguson, and Rhames) were available for a shorter time and a lot of their scenes are shot indoors in more controlled environments.

Shea Wigham is fantastic as the memorably named Jasper Briggs , who, alongside Degas (played by Cruise's Top Gun: Maverick costar Greg Tarzan Davis) is leading the "hunt for Hunt".  Briggs is much more relentless than Ethan's pursuers usually are (often the head honcho like Hunley in Rogue Nation are gung ho to catch Ethan but the people chasing him are often nameless) and Whigham makes some fun acting choices, like grabbing at people's faces, not wanting to be tricked by a mask.  Briggs and Degas are competent and often uncomfortably close to Ethan.

The police station scene gives us a fun moment to see Ethan playing an attorney wearing a vest without a jacket which is a different look and also introduces Easi Morales' Gabriel more formally.  Gabriel represents the human threat of the Entity.  Originally this role was to be played by Nicholas Hoult who eventually had to drop out.  Obviously the character was rewritten substantially since Morales is Cruise's age and Gabriel and Ethan have a past going back to when they were much younger which presumably will be explained in Part Two.  Hoult's version of Gabriel would have had a different backstory since Hoult was born in 1989.  During the pandemic I watched Ozark and really enjoyed how menacing Morales was as Del Rio.  Sadly he brought much less color to this part but I hope he gets to shine more in Part Two.

The car chase gives McQuarrie and Cruise's team a chance to do something different.  First by starting it as Ethan following Grace lets us see Cruise on a motorcycle again.    Another obstacle they come up with is Ethan and Grace end up handcuffed together but with Ethan's left hand to Grace's right which makes it hard for Ethan to drive.  Grace is not a good driver.  

The cinematography by Fraser Taggart is different from Fallout and establishes geography well.   Looking at Taggart's imdb credits he was a second unit director of photgraphy on many high profile films include Rogue Nation and Fallout who was promoted for this film.  There is one extended shot after the car crash in Rome and Grace and Ethan are getting their bearings while the camera shows all the threats around them.  He also clearly uses cameras staged on both the sides of the cars on location and on the front of the motorcycle to show the actors are on location and not in a studio.

A recurring theme is established with Briggs and Degas catching up with Ethan and having to let him go due to a bigger threat.  Here it is represented by Pom Klementieff, who is so sweet as Mantis in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, has a blast playing Paris, a largely silent French assassin who gleefully destroys everything in her path to get at her prey.  

Balfe uses a fun staccato beat (apparently after McQuarrie was inspired by the Top Secret Drum Corps band that performed at Queen Elizabeth's jubilee) that uses bongos.  Ethan who knows Grace is not innocent but not a villain keeps trying to keep her calm while getting his bearings at all the chaos around them.  The switch from the series standard BMW to a small Fiat adds another comedic twist as the car is hard to control and seems to go wherever it wants.  The car falling down the Spanish steps has great sound design and there is a shot of the actors getting thrown around inside the car which sets up the funny reaction Ethan and Grace's realizing they have switched seats.

The final act of the chase is the best in which Grace can barely control the car and Cruise makes the inspired choice to put Ethan's feet on the dashboard as if to brace himself for a crash  The escape (with Ethan steering the car backward from the passenger seat into a tunnel to escape being surrounded is the right time to use the old MI score.  Hatwell blowing Grace's hair out of her is the perfect punctuation, which is then imitated by Vanessa Kirby playing Grace later.

The scene at the Doge's Palace in Venice is visually appealing with its postmodern blue lights but it feels like it has been written on the fly.  It feels contrived that all these characters end up in the same room threatening each other.  Gabriel has some ridiculous lines as if he is a talking program that make almost no sense.  Gabriel forcing Ethan to choose between the two women's lives provides drama but it feels more like McQuarrie was choosing which of them to kill.  There is a nice logic in the Entity wanting to have one of them killed to throw off Ethan's judgement (he'd seek revenge against the man instead of the larger goal of going after the Entity) but I have a problem with the dilemma.

For starters I like Hayley Atwell and think she is charming as Grace, a thief who has gotten in over her head.  But there is a definite sense that Ilsa, who we all like much more, is killed to make way for Grace who has not earned that status among the team.   Grace almost gets Ethan killed by leaving him handcuffed to the steering wheel on a train track.  In contrast Ilsa has saved him multiple times.  Ilsa has also never been a damsel in distress and until this film never needed to be rescued, but is framed as if she would have survived if only Ethan could have arrived on time.

While I like Vanessa Kirby, I did not find her White Widow so engaging that I felt we needed to see her again.  I'd rather her mother (Max played by the fabulous Vanessa Redgrave) had returned to the series somehow.  Kirby is best in the film when she is playing Grace impersonating her.   Also, does the White Widow (referred to here by Alana) really not know Ethan's true identity?  It is cheekily hinted that Ethan slept with her to end her vendetta with Ilsa, referenced in Fallout. 

The multilayered chase after the meeting in Venice is fabulous as McQuarrie and Taggert and the production designer Gary Freemon use Venice different than in any other film.  Casino Royale staged a chase and gunfight using St. Mark's Square and the canals in the middle of the day.  McQuarrie uses the elaborate hallways of the palace and the confusing assymetrical narrow alleyways to maiximum effect.  Gabriel fights with the two women separately on a smaller bridge and while Ilsa puts up a good fight with her sword and even tries her signature move to wrap her legs around an opponents head Gabriel ultimately stabs her.  I do not quite see how Ilsa could not defeat Gabriel but Ethan later can as she is clearly as good a fighter as Ethan.  If she had to contend with henchmen on top of Gabriel it might have made more sense.  The grey palate of Ethan mourning on the rooftop contrasts nicely with the warm moment Ethan shared there with Ilsa just the night before,

The scene afterwards in which Grace becomes part of the team has some warmth, especially as Grace realizes she can belong to something perhaps for the first time in her life.  But there is an odd moment in which Luther asks Ethan if he will be able to resist killing Gabriel, as if he can foresee this exact circumstance.  Rhames, whose deep voice usually delivers more than is on the page which makes him such a magnetic performer, opts for a flat almost disinterested delivery as if he and Ethan did not know each other well.  

The Orient Express takes up the entire third act (as the much shorter train sequence did in MI).  I find it incredibly exciting as Gabriel plans to obtain the key and escape, Kittridge shows up as Alana's buyer and in a clever line appears not to fall for Grace's disguise.  Grace has to choose whether or not to betray Ethan and ultimately makes the harder choice, which is a key moment for her character that Hayley Atwell does not get to play due to the disguise.

The train is pretty empty, which is indicative of the film being made during the pandemic but the sound design and the fights (along with the ongoing threat of Briggs and Degas) and the switches all keep us engaged.  The highlight is when the train crashes and Ethan and Grace need to keep moving from one car to the next going through several obstacles.  Paris' rescue of them comes as a surprise but is also set up by Ethan sparing her earlier.  Pom Klementieff's performance is touching as is her softly communicating in French.  Ethan leaves Grace with Kittridge which leaves Kittridge recognizing that Ethan respects him and it sets the stage for what should be an intriguing next chapter.  Ethan's exits the train by speed flying, which is similar to paragliding, over the countryside combines a dangerous stunt with both a narrative reason and a relaxing view.  Kittridge's closing narration is ostensibly to Ethan but since Ethan cannot possibly hear it I suppose it is to the audience.  If you look and listen closely to Kittridge's closing narration hints, it hints toward a future sacrifice though McQuarrie may be setting us up as a red herring.  

The film could have closed on a cliffhanger but Ethan actually has both halves of the key which is needed to make use off the Entity so while a threat still exists, the story does provide some closure.  Contrast this with Fast X which ended on a cliffhanger in which the survival of most of the major charaters is at stake.

Until now I have not mentioned Cruise's performance.  Cruise as Ethan is playful in the opening scenes, really determined to stop the Entity, and often trying to get his bearings and problem solve.  Cruise does not break any new ground as Ethan this time but is it's always comforting to see Ethan at work.  

Overall I find the film to be fantastic thought there are a few minor quibbles:

Although the Entity is an ominous threat it is also pretty vague.  It is hard to see what the rules of the Entity are.  For example, could it have taken control of the self driving car that Benji was in which is clearly being used by a computer.

Ethan's escape from the car is a little unclear at first until we see he is holding the steering wheel. Ideally we should have seen him exit the car.

The film is could have shown Ethan and Ilsa kissing or in bed but also through dialogue established the undefined portion of their relationship.  I feel like Ilsa was pushed aside for Grace.  There is room on the team for two women as there are plenty of men.

If Gabriel was acting on behalf of the Entity when he killed Ilsa to distract Ethan did he not realize he was putting a huge target on his back?

Cruise, McQuarrie and the production team serve up an excellent entry in the series.  As a whole experience I do not think it quite equals Fallout but it is still a terrific ride.  

The film did not perform as well as the previous few entries.  Because the budget went up due to the Covid-19 related delays there is a question as to how profitable the film was.  The main reason appears to be that Barbie and Oppenheimer both opened a week afterwards and overperformed.  Oppenheimer also took over a lot of the IMAX screens that Mission Impossible would have had to itself.  I hope it is that people are not taking the series for granted because the team behind it is working harder than ever to deliver thrills.  Barbie and Oppenheimer were both entertaining and very different films and certainly deserved their piece of the market share but Mission Impossible still has a lot to offer auidences.  I hope the next film gets the audience it deserves. 

I am eagerly awaiting Dead Reckoning Part II or whatever the next Mission film is ultimately subtitled.  ****