Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

7/23/2023

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) - Cruise franchise loses steam, altitude

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A familiar array of characters, tense situations and peak stunt moments are teased on this poster for Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

A secret AI super computer is going rogue, sinking a state-of-the-art Russian submarine. Control of 'the entity' is a matter of world domination rights. Two split keys are central to that control, and IMF agent Ethan Hunt and Co. will naturally need to secure both of them...

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is written by Erik Jendresen (Band of Brothers (2001, miniseries)) and co-writer/co-producer/director, New Jerseyite master filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie (The Way of the Gun (2000)), whose 5th feature it is. It is the 7th film in the Mission: Impossible franchise, following its strongest entry, masterpiece Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018), also by McQuarrie.

After some increasingly thrilling M:I films, the franchise finally loses its grip here in a mammoth epic length first part of a two-parter, predictably committing the familiar sin of going overboard.

Dead Reckoning has exciting action sequences, co-producer/star Tom Cruise's (Valkyrie (2008)) driving off a mountain on a motorbike being its hype centerpiece, but the film's one really memorable action set-piece is the one near the end, set on the Orient Express, whereas entries 4 (Ghost Protocol, 2011), 5 (Rogue Nation, 2015) and especially 6 (Fallout, 2018) all had 2 or more truly memorable action sequences. The new film has a Rome-set car chase with built-in tongue-in-cheek humor that mirrors a big city chase scene from one Pierce Brosnan-led Bond movie (you guess which.) The fiercely antagonistic CIA operatives of the preceding film have turned into amiable more or less bumbling fools in the shape of Shea Whigham (Fancy Dance (2023)) and Greg Tarzan Davis (Top Gun: Maverick's (2022)). The 'Entity' AI McGuffin plot devise, a Venice section that doesn't come with a clear explanation (except for the obvious one that a franchise of this magnitude naturally at some point has to go to Venice it seems...) and the quaint Orient Express choice for the finale setting (you'll wonder if that train actually still exists, it's so 20th century) - it all reeks of Hunt's bigger brother opponent in the spy franchise business, Mr. 007. And so does the inflated runtime.

Lorne Balfe (Black Adam (2022)) is back scoring the film but the percussive, muscular sound of Fallout are evaporated. SPOILER Rebecca Ferguson's (The Snowman (2017)) Ilsa Faust gets knocked off. Esai Morales (SuperFly (2018)) is the villain, though he looks so much like a handsome male model, it's hard to find him too intimidating. An androgynous Pom Klementieff (Westworld (2020, TV-series)) and flustered Hayley Atwell (Chicken/Egg (2017, short)) are game as fellow new characters. The rubber face changing scenes and Cruise running scenes are there, but mostly because they have to be, it seems, and not because clever writing makes them necessary in the plot. Another issue for the talk-heavy script is that, despite all the 'Entity' talk in Dead Reckoning, it is missing a scene that illustrates for us why the thing is so powerful and dangerous, ('Russian sub down' doesn't cut it, as they're the enemy, and they're already on a submarine...) It remains a mysterious McGuffin in an overlong first part picture. We have to hope that the second part, set for next summer, is a more original and compelling work.

Mission: Impossible franchise: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) - Cruise and Bird's phenomenal action spectacle

Mission: Impossible III (2006) - Cruise steers Abrams' flawed MacGuffin debut

Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) - Cruise and Woo deliver red-hot action spectacle
Christopher McQuarrie: Top Gun: Maverick (2022) - Magnificent; a soaring vehicle (co-writer)

Top 10: Best franchise movies

2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2018 in films - according to Film Excess

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) - McQuarrie and Cruise succeed with another masterly M:I thrill ride

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) - Cruise and McQuarrie's mega-movie masterpiece
Jack Reacher (2012) - Highly entertaining, dark hero-vehicle for Tom Cruise

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 291 mil. $

Box office: 273.8 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say

[Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One premiered 29 June (Rome) and runs 163 minutes. Shooting began in February 2020 but was shut down due to the China Virus pandemic, and begun again in September 2020, finishing in September 2021, as both Part 1 and Part 2 were shot back-to-back. It took place in Norway, Italy, UAE and England. Corona shutdowns and other problems made the film's costs balloon, becoming the priciest film of Cruise's career. He earns 13 mil. $ from each of the films, and a back end percentage. The film opened #1 to a 54.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America. McQuarrie returns with Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 2 (2024), also set as Cruise's return. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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7/23/2023

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) - Cruise franchise loses steam, altitude

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