Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (non-spoiler) review

[David Vaughn]

I was able to score tickets to a prescreening of the movie for a 7/10/23 showing in the best theater in my local cineplex with laser projection and "JBX" sound (essentially Dolby Atmos, but I don't think they want to call it that because of the royalties they may have to pay?). My one complaint about the audio is it's mainly just loud, but not necessarily defined and precise as I'm accustomed to in my home. 

As for the film itself, it's a hell of a ride. The premise of the film is built around AI and its potential pitfalls if it falls into the wrong hands. This sends Ethan and his team on a whirlwind race that traverses from Africa and Europe with him not only pursuing the "Bad Guys," but elements of his own government have their own agenda as well. The screenplay takes great pains to explain the technology on multiple occasions so the non-techie audience can understand what's going on, which can get a bit repetitive, but not annoyingly so. Hailey Atwell joins the franchise as a mysterious foe who may have an agenda of her own and she does a good job of melding with the long-term cast.

The film runs about two hours and forty minutes, which is a tad long, but I can't say I was bored at any point. There are a few action sequences that go on for much too long such as a seemingly never-ending car chase in Rome and a runaway train somewhere in Europe.

Where the film really shines though is in its practical effects, which are a blast to watch. While there is some CG in the film, most of action you see is real such as Cruise jumping his motorcycle off a cliff and freefalling quite a ways before pulling his chute (you've probably have already seen the clip for it). 

Like most action movies these days, you need to greatly suspend your belief and just roll with it and if you have that ability, you'll definitely enjoy this film. I'm not sure where this will ultimately end up in ranking the franchise's films, it is near the top due to the adrenaline factor, but I'll reserve judgement until I see the conclusion (it is a two-part film), which is supposed to hit theaters next June but may ultimately be delayed due to the writer's strike. 

Overall, I give the film 4.5/5. 

[Barry]

Dave, since it is part 1, is ther a clifgfhanger ending? Or what?

[David Vaughn]

Dave, since it is part 1, is ther a clifgfhanger ending? Or what?

Yes and no...it ends at a good point with the first part of the story resolved, but sets things up well for Part 2. 

[SRW1000]

The film runs about two hours and forty minutes, which is a tad long, but I can't say I was bored at any point. There are a few action sequences that go on for much too long. . .

This part sounds similar to John Wick Chapter Four.  I don't know if it's a case of where the filmmakers think they need to extend the action sequences, but in movies that are this long, a little less would be a little more.  Especially if there's a strong story behind it.

I'll be looking forward to watching this as soon as it hits home release.

Glad you had a great time at the theater!

Scott

[David Vaughn]

This part sounds similar to John Wick Chapter Four.  I don't know if it's a case of where the filmmakers think they need to extend the action sequences, but in movies that are this long, a little less would be a little more.  Especially if there's a strong story behind it.

I'll be looking forward to watching this as soon as it hits home release.

Glad you had a great time at the theater!

Scott

There's plenty of story, but it is overpowered by the action (which is extremely well shot). 

[bmoney]

Oh dang I didn’t know it was a two parter. Let’s gooo

[Paul Heroy]

Thanks for the preview David.

Definitely interested and will probably see it in the theater but having just seen the Bourne movies and complained about endless chase scenes in the last one, I completely agree that less is more there. 

[David Vaughn]

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/mission-impossible-tom-cruise-franchise-box-office

[David Vaughn]

The movie only did an estimated $80 million since its opening, which is under expectations. 

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1896449537/?ref_=bo_hm_rd

It's worldwide gross is good at $255 million, so it should turn a profit, but another disappointing weekend for Hollywood. Looks like the Patrons are on strike as well. Curious how Barbie/Oppenheimer performs next weekend. 

[SRW1000]

MI's performance has to be a disappointment, especially considering how well Top Gun Maverick did last year, and with a respectable A CinemaScore.

The outlier here is Sound of Freedom.  It actually grossed over 35% more than the prior weekend, jumping from third place up to second against a major release, which is highly unusual for any movie.

That brings its total gross to almost $85M against an estimated $14.5M budget.  It'll be interesting to see what the results are next week.

[TRainH2O]

Thanks for the non-spoiler review, David.

I'm looking forward to this one. Hopefully it hits Blu-ray by Christmas. 

[bmoney]

I don’t think people are going to the movies as they used to. Streaming releases are so quick 

[Barry]

 Good Morning Mr. Vaughn:

The man in the photo on the bottom is Tom Cruise, who has taken over the Mission Impossible franchise.
 
Seriously, MI, when it was first on, was my favorite TV show. In the era of James Bond action shows, Mission Impossible was more of a whodunit, a mystery.  What the heck were they doing?  And I loved the music!
 
Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were the stars ands each week they played a different role. The acting as outstanding, as well as the writing, the editing  and especially the music by Lalo Schifrin.
 
In that era, MI was a very expensive show to produce.  CBS only paid part of the bill, about $230,000 to Desilu when I started, but the episodes cost about $30,000 more to produce. This money would be returned to Desilu when the show became syndicated. But losing this amount on MI, then Mannix and Star Trek, about a million a week in today’s money, they sold Desilu to Paramount.
 
To cheapen the show, Landau was not rehired for the fourth season, and this caused his wife to leave.  Sadly, so did the writers.  Leonard Nimoy and Leslie Ann Warren replaced them, and both soon left, and the show went downhill awfully fast. Originally, the team faced international threats, but those sets were expensive, so Paramount had them go after domestic crime and, for me it just didn’t fit.  But I loved the first three years.
 
In watching the first movie, I was very disappointed that they made it an action adventure film and it did not have the qualities of the original.
 
I saw the new one on Tuesday in a Dolby Theatre with about ten other people.  It is fine action adventure but every fight, chase and whatever seemed too long.  I did enjoy that they brought back some elements of the original.  Not a bad movie at all, I give it a good rating.   But I would love a movie more like the original.

Please dispose of this reply in the usual manner.
 
 
 

[tripplej]

love the opening theme!

[David Vaughn]

Good Morning Mr. Vaughn:

The man in the photo on the bottom is Tom Cruise, who has taken over the Mission Impossible franchise.
 
Seriously, MI, when it was first on, was my favorite TV show. In the era of James Bond action shows, Mission Impossible was more of a whodunit, a mystery.  What the heck were they doing?  And I loved the music!
 
Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were the stars ands each week they played a different role. The acting as outstanding, as well as the writing, the editing  and especially the music by Lalo Schifrin.
 
In that era, MI was a very expensive show to produce.  CBS only paid part of the bill, about $230,000 to Desilu when I started, but the episodes cost about $30,000 more to produce. This money would be returned to Desilu when the show became syndicated. But losing this amount on MI, then Mannix and Star Trek, about a million a week in today’s money, they sold Desilu to Paramount.
 
To cheapen the show, Landau was not rehired for the fourth season, and this caused his wife to leave.  Sadly, so did the writers.  Leonard Nimoy and Leslie Ann Warren replaced them, and both soon left, and the show went downhill awfully fast. Originally, the team faced international threats, but those sets were expensive, so Paramount had them go after domestic crime and, for me it just didn’t fit.  But I loved the first three years.
 
In watching the first movie, I was very disappointed that they made it an action adventure film and it did not have the qualities of the original.
 
I saw the new one on Tuesday in a Dolby Theatre with about ten other people.  It is fine action adventure but every fight, chase and whatever seemed too long.  I did enjoy that they brought back some elements of the original.  Not a bad movie at all, I give it a good rating.  But I would love a movie more like the original.

Please dispose of this reply in the usual manner.
 
 
 

I only watched a few episodes of the TV show and I don't really remember specifics of them. I've liked all the MI films, although I thought the second was the weakest of the bunch. We do agree that the action sequences go on for far too long in this one, which is its biggest flaw.