MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING PART 1 (2023)

I'm going to say it, Tom Cruise is The Last Action Hero. You may not be a massive fan of his off camera work, but it's non-stop bangers on the silver screen. The Mission Impossible franchise, in my eyes, always took a little bit of a back seat to the Marvel Movies, Fast and the Furious franchise and Star Wars. But I need to start sitting up and taking notice. These last few have been absolute bangers. The storylines are ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than most of the action franchises out there, at least in this universe they're questioning some real world concerns surrounding AI and turning the adrenaline fuelled spy volume all the way up to eleven.

The stunts are ridiculous, but it's almost what we expect when watching these movies now. Tom Cruise driving a motorbike off of a cliff six times in a day for the film to get the perfect camera angles is insane. Them having to build a luxury train so they can destroy it is ludicrous. But it's because they moved away from CGI, went back to the basics or actually having to blow stuff up, that it felt authentic. It felt like it did in the early 90's with those action packed movies that would have us leaving the theatre in disbelief.

Where the film let's itself down is some of the scenes are drawn out. Because it's giving us action sequences that last ten to twenty minutes, it's really noticeable when there isn't any action going on. A daring airport heist situation going for fifteen minutes, can't then go into a nightclub scene where a dozen or so characters have to explain so much of the plot, to then another twenty minute car chase. When you do that, you highlight the low points and the problem is you can't avoid them as you need them to progress the story, IF you don't include the dialogue in the action sequences.

But that's just a minor little detail, because there wasn't too much I had a problem with. Do I think the characters are a little interchangeable? yes, kind of, I can't really tell you who is who at this point and when they reference characters to previous films I do think to myself, 'who the hell is that?' Having said that, it's not going to stop you from enjoying this. I don't think it's the best Mission Impossible movie in the franchise, but it's pretty damn close and it has me tingling with excitement for Dead Reckoning Part 2.

Tom Cruise really is in a league of his own at the moment.

Rating: 🍿🍿🍿🍿

#hotandbuttery #MissionImpossibleDeadReckoning