Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, rated PG-13
****

In the seventh, and latest installment of the Mission Impossible film series, based on the popular television series that originally aired from 1966 – 1973, Ethan Hunt, played by four-time Oscar nominee Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick, Magnolia, Jerry McGuire, Born on the Fourth of July), and his team have the mission of saving the world from an artificial superintelligence known as The Entity. This action thriller, though a little long at two hours and forty-three minutes, was nonetheless exciting from beginning to end. It’s my favorite film of 2023 thus far. However, we won’t know just how everything ends until Part 2 arrives in theaters June 28, 2024.
The film is directed by Oscar winner Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, Top Gun: Maverick) and written by McQuarrie and Emmy winner Erik Jendresen (Band of Brothers). The film’s release was delayed multiple times, ballooning the cost of the film to an estimated $290 million.

The film opens with a tense scene involving a Russian submarine. Then, former IMF director Eugene Kittridge, played by Henry Czerny (Mission: Impossible), returns with a new mission for Ethan. Kittridge tells Hunt that there’s a rogue A.I. in the world that many are battling to gain control of. The A.I. can be manipulated with a cross-shaped key split into two halves. Both halves of the key are needed in order for it to function. One of those halves is about to be sold, and so Ethan and his team—including returning characters Luther, played by Emmy nominee Ving Rhames (Don King: Only in America), and Benji, played by Simon Pegg (Star Trek), have to gain control of the key, and determine how to use it.
There is an intense sand blowing desert shoot-out that returns Ilsa Faust, played by Rebecca Ferguson (Dune), to the series. The action then turns to the Dubai airport, where Ethan encounters other players pursuing the key, including Gabriel, played by Esai Morales (Criminal Minds). At the airport, Ethan also meets thief Grace, played by Hayley Atwell (Captain America; Ant-Man), and a few agents trying to hunt down Ethan, Briggs, played by Shea Whigham and Degas, played by Greg Tarzan Davis. Other main characters are Paris, an assassin played by Pom Klementieff and the White Widow, an arms dealer played by Oscar nominee Venessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman).
The film is rated PG-13 for violence, some adult language and also includes a few abuses of God’s name. There is no nudity or sexuality in the film. The film features an excellent musical score by two-time Emmy nominee Lorne Balfe (Genius, Restless, The Lego Batman Movie).
The film takes place in Dubai, Rome and Venice and features a sand storm, train fights, parachute jumps, motorcycle riding, chase scenes and of course Cruise running.
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One features a good cast and story along with all of the action and incredible stunts you have come to expect in the Mission Impossible series. Marred only by a few abuses of God’s name, the film provides some summer fun.