Thursday, July 20, 2023

Incarnation of Chaos: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Notable Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Cary Elwes

 

Just before the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) team heads off on a train to ride towards their destiny in the final act of the seventh (and not final) Mission: Impossible film, Hailey Atwell’s new character Grace asks Tom Cruise’s now iconic Ethan Hunt if he will be on the train. He looks at her, and thus to an entire packed IMAX audience in my theater, and says that he will. He will be there. You can count on it. 

 

It’s Tom Cruise’s modus operandi at this point. After a billion-dollar grossing Top Gun: Maverick and a marketing campaign for this latest Mission: Impossible film that saw him and director Christopher McQuarrie taking pictures with their tickets to see every new film in theaters, he’s going to be there. You can count on it. 

 

It’s seemingly the warcry of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, a film that so adamantly sticks to its franchise guns and formulas that it’s no wonder it was opened two days earlier than originally planned. It’s going to be there for the fans. You can count on it.