Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part 1: A Well-Written Action Adventure

At about the halfway point of 2023, two of the best action movies in recent history have been released in theaters. The first was John Wick Chapter 4, which was three hours with excellently shot action and fantastic pacing for a three-hour movie, the second is now Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part 1. While the story is a little complex, the action is shot well enough that it is consistently interesting and fun to watch.

Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part 1 follows the continued adventures of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), this time as he is forced to confront an antagonist from his past who aims to take control of a new weapon that can bring all the world’s major superpowers to their knees. Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby, and Pom Klementieff also star.

The plot of Dead Reckoning Part 1 is a little complex, especially once the true antagonist is revealed to the audience, however the movie does a great job of keeping Ethan and the team in the dark in a way that keeps the plot moving along at a well-paced clip. The real trick to making a good part one of two movie (like Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Dune Part 1, or to a lesser extent Fast X) is to keep your protagonists from being in control of the situation for the majority of the movie so it can end in a place where even a small victory feels like a major win.

The dynamic between Tom Cruise’s Ethan and Hayley Atwell’s Grace is also very entertaining and delivers a good amount of both levity and heart over the course of the movie so it does not feel like an exhausting trip of non-stop action. During a major set piece, their back-and-forth adds to the fun of the sequence and when there is a major character moment for Grace, it all feels earned because of the amount of time the viewer has spent with her.

If there is a complaint to be had with the movie, it is that the plot is a little too complex to warrant Ethan continuing to be alive after a certain point. Without spoiling it, the antagonist keeps Ethan alive but the antagonist’s motivations through the entire movie are masked in secrecy to the audience and Ethan but the most logical resolution would have been for Ethan to have been shot at a certain point in the movie and not be allowed to continue since it views Ethan as an existential threat to it. Continuing into the next sequence does not make sense because Ethan is only a wildcard at that point that could serve to ruin the plan.

With a strong sound mix and impressive visuals, Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part 1 is a must-watch theatrical experience. The entire movie is designed to be watched in a theater with the best projector and sound system and it delivers on that in a way that a lot of movies do not.

Final Rating: 9/10