Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning (2023) Dir: Christopher McQuarrie
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Last year, I watched every film in this franchise aside from this one. I really enjoyed doing it, bit still had to wait until now to finally see this penultimate installment. The Christopher McQuarrie directed films have all been pretty good, and thoughts seemed to be in alignment about this one too, which was exciting to see.
What I was greeted with was one of the franchise's weaker cold opens; it was, by franchise standards, fairly dull and slow-paced. I was a little underwhelmed, in truth. Unfortunately, that became the theme of my viewing experience. I wasn't even that big on the premise, if I'm being totally honest.
I might be in the minority when I say that I didn't feel that this was particularly well shot, especially the action scenes. The camera was all over the place, and never gave the audience enough time to actually appreciate the choreography of the fights - it was almost vertigo-inducing at points. It felt like I was watching an imitation of a 'John Wick' film, but with 'Mission: Impossible' characters.
One word that keenly described the film was bloated. A lot of the scenes went on for way too long, particularly a car chase, which takes up what felt like half of the film. In truth, so much of this was comprised of scenes that needed cutting down and secondary characters who didn't really need to be there. One major plus, in regards to characters, was the inclusion of a number of strong and interesting female characters, who contributed to the plot to varying degrees.
This being the first part of a two-part finale meant that the film felt way too long, the story felt extremely overblown, and the ending felt anticlimactic. There were a lot of exposition dumps, scenes that went on for too long, characters that felt pretty unnecessary, and a human antagonist who felt so very shoe-horned into Ethan Hunt's backstory.
Tom Cruise showed elements of the quality that has made his franchise protagonist a popular presence in these films, but I've certainly seen more compelling and believable acting from him - and that's just in this franchise. This felt like I was watching Tom Cruise more than I was watching Ethan Hunt.
Hayley Atwell was an interesting inclusion, and while I enjoyed a fair amount of what her character did, she definitely isn't among my favourite secondary character that's ever been introduced. Atwell's acting was fine, but the attempted chemistry with Cruise was very forced.
Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg very much felt like they were background meat in this one. Their characters have always been more supportive in nature, but I was hoping for them to have some sort of significance beyond being tech guys. If anything, their characters have run their course - they don't provide much of note.
I was hoping Rebecca Ferguson would have a significant role in this film, but she was instead designated a fairly small role, with barely any lines of dialogue. For what it's worth, she was very good. I rate her very highly as an actress, and my disappointment at her role is testament to how good she's been.
Esai Morales suffered from a lack of presence, especially when compared to previous villains of the franchise, like those of Henry Cavill and Philip Seymour Hoffman. His acting was fine, but his character felt pretty shallow. I hope he gets to do more in the finale, and I hope his character feels like more of a threat.
Vanessa Kirby deserved a bigger role, but she delivered excellently when she was on-screen at least. The trio of Pom Klementieff, Shea Wigham and Greg Tarzan Davis essentially played henchmen, of sorts, who, while not unlikeable, were rather unnecessary to the plot as a whole. Aside from them those worth mentioning were Frederick Schmidt, Henry Czerny, Cary Elwes and Mark Gatiss.
Overall, I can't quite believe that I'm saying this, but I really didn't like this film all that much. I can't help but feel a sense of immense disappointment, especially when casting my mind back to how much I enjoyed some of the other films in this franchise, particularly its direct predecessor. It has its positives, but not enough of them. It's too much of a 'part one', and not enough of a 'Mission: Impossible'.
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