Frequently collaborator and contributor Vinni Misa recently saw the latest Tom Cruise starrer from Paramount Pictures and now we have our Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One Review!

Check out the trailer for “Dead Reckoning” down below:

Just like last year’s Top Gun: Maverick, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One offers another thrilling cinematic experience. Hollywood’s favorite daredevil Tom Cruise, once again pushes the limits of camerawork and stuntwork as he does another death defying stunt for the sake of cinema. The film follows Ethan Hunt as he is forced to confront both the past and the future as his former colleague is working for a sentient AI villain. The film rewards longtime fans as it is filled with callbacks to past Mission: Impossible films, most especially to the very first film in 1996. I don’t wish to divulge much about the film any further as all I wish to say is that this film is meant to be viewed in the cinema as Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie intended it to be.

Earl’s Take

I’m actually surprised to see that they made something so relevant and pervasive as the true antagonist for the series. There are some aspects of the film that I’m not a fan of including an apparent fridging of a character but there’s still a lot of good for this picture. After Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise is back to conquer movie theaters once more and he kinda does with this 7th installment for the Mission: Impossible film franchise. He’s still dreamy and looks good running and he’s certainly putting more weight to his role as IMF agent Ethan Hunt for this one. We’re also seeing the chemistry with the people on screen from his team consisting of Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) as well as femme fatale Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) and newcomer Grace (Hayley Atwell).

But lets go back to that whole fridging thing because it bothered me. One character who has become a strong part of the Mission Impossible film franchise for a number of years already bit the bullet. I don’t mind this if it wasn’t for the fact that she was convenientely taken out of the picture for good to accommodate a new character. That’s just BS man. That character who we won’t spoil but is pretty obvious anyway, has been shown to handle herself. But she was written to take that bump big time and that just rubs me the wrong way. They could have treated the character with more respect.

Vanessa Kirby also gets a significant boost in her role her being able to show her acting chops. Series regulards Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames are also a sight for sore eyes here especially Pegg’s Benjie who continues to provide the necessary humor and quips to break the tension and monotony. It’s also nice that he’s getting better in this job as when we first see him a few movies ago. Definitely a good step forward.

The action sequences were beautiful especially if you watch it on an IMAX screen. That really blows it up. Actually I enjoyed all the action scenes for “Dead Reckoning” however compare it to what they effing did in Fallout, this pales in comparison for me. Spectacular yes but not as brilliant but I chalk it up to the fact that this has a “part one” on it. Maybe they’ll pull out all the stops in Dead Reckoning Part Two.

I also have to tip my hat to the references to the very first Mission Impossible movie which, at this point in time, is wildly ignored by the current state of the franchise. It’s nice to know that we’re visiting Ethan’s past before becoming an IMF agent and leading this awesome superspy life. What I did wish however is to see even more references popping out.

Esai Morales as Gabriel was also a neat addition. Him being the physical villain is something nice to see. He looks the part of the villain but is also trained on the same level as Cruise’s Hunt. He doesn’t give off terrorist vibes much like Henry Cavill’s performance in “Mission Impossible Fallout” but he does make up for being cunning and ruthless. Even when cornered in one scene, he’s giving off sleazy bad guy vibe which I like. They managed to write him as a bad guy without taking the focus away from the film’s true enemy, The Entity.

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One Review Verdict

8/10

Highly recommend you see this film as we get further hyped for Part Two but beware that there are lapses and plot holes here and there but that’s something you can ignore and just enjoy. Tom Cruise still has it, he’s still got the charisma and his team is still on point. Didn’t like how they handled one character but as it stands, its a promising future for this IMF team.

Special thanks to Paramount Pictures and SM Cinemas and Columbia Pictures Philippines!

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