“Your days of fighting for the greater good are over”, Eugene Kittridge (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, 2023)
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is the seventh film in the Mission Impossible series and the third consecutive Mission Impossible film directed by Christopher McQuarrie after McQuarrie directed Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018).
With a lineup of directors including Brian De Palma, John Woo, JJ Abrams and Brad Bird, Tom Cruise finally found his ‘mate’ with Christopher McQuarrie after he directed Rogue Nation.
This seventh film had many obstacles because it began the shooting process at a time when the world was being hit by a pandemic and the production budget increased to US$290 million (almost the same as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate) due to restrictive procedures. and various delays.
Synopsis
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back on his latest most dangerous mission to track down an artificial intelligence program codenamed Entity. Ethan must find the location of the AI before the AI program falls into the wrong hands.
The enemy of the IMF in Dead Reckoning Part One is the super-sophisticated AI
This time, Ethan Hunt and his team encounter an enemy in the form of an artificial intelligence program that has gone rogue and is acting to its own ends.
Artificial Intelligence, which is named after this Entity, is capable of entering any digital network and is then capable of sabotaging and manipulating the data so that the information ultimately no longer knows who can be trusted.
This time, the entity becomes a formidable and dangerous foe for the IMF amid humanity’s reliance on the digital world.
Entities can infiltrate all high digital base technologies, especially those used by Ethan and his friends so that they become useless and can even be used against them, such as blocking Internet networks or spoofing messages and voice on cell phones.
Likewise with the sophistication of predictions that the Entity possesses so that it can calculate every possible move or tactic of the IMF team so that the IMF team has to act more carefully and smarter than before.
Dead Reckoning Part One takes us to various locations from the desert near the Yemeni border, to Abu Dhabi International Airport, United Arab Emirates, Rome and Venice, Italy and Austria to follow various leads in an attempt to stop the Entity a time. and for all
Ethan Hunt’s past begins to come to light
On this manhunt, Ethan reunites with his old team, namely Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benjamin “Benji” Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a former MI6 who has worked with the IMF since Rogue. Nation and Fallout. united Join again to complete the impossible mission this time.
The two-part Mission Impossible movie not only heightens the tension of fighting non-human enemies, but also injects a ‘personal’ story for Ethan Hunt’s character. This plot is entered through flashbacks that have so far been sketchy and involve Ethan’s past with Gabriel (Esai Morales).
Ethan Hunt’s past is linked to a woman named Marie (Mariela Garriga), a past that explains Ethan’s motivation for eventually joining the IMF.
Dead Reckoning Part One also introduces a new character named Grace (Hayley Atwell), an expert thief hired to steal key pieces that can reveal the Entity’s secrets. There are also Jasper Briggs (Shea Whigham) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis) who are trying to hunt down Ethan for different reasons.
Credit to the first Mission Impossible movie.
This McQuarrie-directed film also seems to give a nod to its predecessor films, especially the first Mission Impossible film directed by Brian De Palma which was released in 1996. It begins with the appearance of the annoying character Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny).
This is Czerny’s first appearance after more than 30 years ago when in the film he was still the director of the IMF and now operates as director of the CIA.
Aside from Kittridge, there is also another character who still indirectly crosses over to the first film, namely Alana Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby), an arms dealer better known by her nickname ‘White Widow’ daughter of Max Mitsopolis (Vanessa Redgrave), Alana previously also had a moment with Ethan inside. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018).
In addition to character appearances that still intersect with the first Mission Impossible, there’s still an epic action scene on the train that builds to the climax and McQuarrie’s preference for using intense oblique camera angles.
Dead Reckoning Part One also provides elaborate and skillful action sequences and scenarios.
From the chase of the yellow Fiat 500 through the narrow streets of the eternal city of Rome, to the climactic action on a series of speeding trains, preceded by the action of Ethan Hunt with a parachute jump from the top of a cliff. rocky to get into the train.
The series of storylines is set at a moderate tempo and flows neatly and is easy to follow, interspersed with action and moments of ice-breaking drama and comedy.
Balanced with plenty of intimate moments that aren’t just mere action.
More than just offering high-octane action sequences, the seventh Mission Impossible film also offers intimate moments and emphasizes the bond of friendship between Ethan and his team, which is more than just colleagues.
Like the conversation between Ethan and Luther that is full of warmth and brings out the emotional human side of a life of hard espionage, full of intrigue, lies and deceit.
Or also the intimate and personal moments that took place in Venice between Ethan and Ilsa, where their gestures and looks showed concern and love for each other.
Although Ethan appears as the main character, he can share moments with other characters in such a way that he doesn’t always seem overbearing. Hayley Atwell, as a newcomer to the new Mission Impossible series, seems pretty impressive and is able to balance the chemistry with other characters that have come before.
There is also the appearance of Pom Klementieff who looks eccentric as Harley Quinn as an assassin who always accompanies Gabriel named Paris. As an assassin, Klementieff seems cold and has minimal dialogue and gives few surprises to the story.
The first of the two parts of the film also emphasizes Ethan’s ‘vision’ of the truth and he is not afraid of breaking the law or some rules for the greater good.
Ethan is more loyal to the principles he believes in and to his friends than to his organization or government. Ethan stresses the principle of not clinging to blind nationalist sentiments, but the importance of collaboration for the common good.
Conclusion
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a film that offers epic action sequences mixed with intimate moments and tension-breaking humor.
Tom Cruise, at the age of over 60, can provide a fascinating action experience. It is expected that later, all the clues about the mysterious past of Ethan Hunt and that have never been shown in any of the Mission Impossible series will be answered in the second part.
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Czerny, Vanessa Kirby, Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales
Duration: 163 minutes
Score: 9.4/10
WHERE TO SEE
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Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
