Studio: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: 10/31/2023
Rating: PG-13
Film Grade: B+
The Story: Guided by artificial intelligence, an experimental Russian submarine is making its way through various foreign territories using a stealth mode that should make it undetectable by adversaries. Things go terribly wrong when another sub unexpectedly appears on their monitoring systems and disaster quickly follows.
Once again Ethan Hunt is recruited, this time to retrieve a key that is crucial to finding out who, or what, threatens human civilization.
My Take: The Mission: Impossible series has had some ups and downs over the years, and this installment ends up toward the top end of the list. If you’ve seen the earlier movies, you know what to expect: We have a MacGuffin propelling the story, a team that uses their individual strengths to accomplish the mission, amazing tech devices, world-wide locations for the different acts, and incredible stunt work.
Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie returns to the franchise, and hits all those notes with flair. There’s enough action in here to fill two films, which does lead to the almost two-hour and 45-minute run time. This is becoming increasingly common in recent action movies, which some might find wearing as they stretch well beyond the two-hour mark.
There is some particularly clunky expository dialog at the beginning of the film, but other parts really set the stage for some thought about AI and what it might bring to the future. What does it mean to society if the digital world can be changed, subtly and substantially? Might we already be seeing signs of this today? While the movie doesn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on the subject, it is an underlying element that elevates it above a standard action movie that some of us will find particularly thought-provoking.
Performances are strong throughout, with returning favorites and Hayley Atwell joining the action as a sly new player. The movie is built on Tom Cruise’s role, as one would expect, but the other players are given their own chances to shine. Once again Cruise performs much of his own stunt-work, some of it looking absolutely breath-taking, while a few others feel like we’ve seen them before.
Video: This is an incredible-looking movie. The title sequence alone is so sharp, clear, and crisp that it’s hard to fathom a better image. Colors are deeply varied, contrast is precise, adding palpable depth to various scenes even is a simple 2D presentation. There are demo scenes throughout. One of the top video features of the year for me, they did an outstanding job capturing the film’s various vistas and transferring them to disc.
Credits reveal a large amount of digital effects were used in the movie, but nothing stood out as feeling out of place or artificial. There are a substantial number of lens flares, but that’s an intentional choice by the creative team, and are almost expected in this series at this point.
Audio: The Atmos soundtrack isn’t quite as impressive as the visuals, but still really good. The bass stands out, and your subs will get a workout at a number of points that may just prompt a grin as your seat shakes. Overheads are used frequently for music, and occasionally for sound effects; wides are used sparingly even in scenes that would benefit from them, but when used, they do add an extra sense of envelopment. The other surround speakers are active much of the time, engaging the audience in the action.
Special Features: None were included with the 4K rental disc, other than a commentary track, and another that isolates the musical score.
Bonus features are included on the Blu-ray disc, which isn't included with the rental. They include:
- Abu Dhabi—Explore the exotic filming locations in the desert and at the international airport and discover how each thrilling sequence was shot.
- Rome—Take a behind-the-scenes look at the thrilling car chase through Italy's historic capital, as Tom Cruise's driving skills are pushed to the limit while handcuffed to Hayley Atwell!
- Venice—See the breathtaking city of Venice as it's never been shown on film. Plus, witness the cast's dedication and commitment to their training as they prepare to get "Mission Ready."
- Freefall—An extended behind-the-scenes look at one of the biggest stunts in cinema history. Watch never-before-seen footage of the rigorous training as Tom launches a motorcycle off a cliff.
- Speed Flying—Join Tom and the crew as they explain the various training techniques involved in pulling off the dangerous speed flying stunts in the film.
- Train—See how the climactic train sequence was captured on film. From building an actual train from scratch to crashing it using practical effects, you don't want to miss this!
- Deleted Shots Montage—Director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton share some of the breathtaking, never-before-seen footage that didn't make the final film.
- Editorial Featurette: The Sevastopol—Director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton take viewers through the intense opening scene.
Final Verdict: It’s a mystery to me why this movie didn’t perform better at the domestic box office, since it has all the elements of earlier successes. Maybe it’s because only half of the story? Maybe it’s the runtime? Maybe it was just unfortunate timing with the Barbie/Oppenheimer films being released soon after this one hit?
Regardless, it’s a solid entry in the franchise. A little longer than it needs to be, but it does hit all the right notes, and is entertaining throughout. I don’t know if we can fully judge how good it is until Part Two is released, but this will definitely have fans looking forward to the next installment.
I’ll be adding this to my library soon.
Fun Dialog: “. . . they, they tend to just get in the way.”
My Review System:JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup
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