Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One : Review

This follow up to Fallout sorely misses the usual McQuarrie/Cruise pizzaz

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Mission Impossible - a series I hold very dear to my heart - has made an excellent case against franchise fatigue, consistently adapting to the ever-changing landscape of the modern world and improving upon each entry. The past three films in particular - Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation and Fallout have proved that this franchise is reliable as it is rare. Yet I’m sat here asking ‘What the hell happened with this one?’

Dead Reckoning sees tom cruise attempting to outrun his final threat: the impending, very real, A.I invasion but this time he unfortunately cannot outrun the equally inevitable franchise slump. Dead Reckoning part 1 is a far cry from all that McQuarrie and Cruise achieved with Fallout, a film that finally gave genuine consequence and depth to Ethan Hunt. This sequel on the other hand felt nothing but slapdash and sloppy. A plot that seems an incredibly appt stepping stone for the franchise is translated into a bafflingly terrible screenplay abundant in retcons and plot holes. The dialogue is hammy, the tone is all over the place and the very pulse that has invigorated this franchise for the past thirty years is entirely absent altogether. 

Far from helped by from what has to be some of the worst cinematography i’ve seen in a long time - it succumbs to the typical mid shot curse i always criticise these big studio films for but even on a technical level it is just so appalling. Practically none of the eyelines match in the conversation scenes and though there’s a clear attempt to pay homage to the look of depalma’s original - as a whole it lacks the clear craft and precision that fallout championed. Even the grandiose stunts and set pieces feel overwrought and unsatisfying, lacking the usual slick editing and choreography that strengths their need to support the story.

Now this may seem like overly critical nonsense - but these are the key things that mission impossible as a series doesn’t miss. i admire and respect all that Tom Cruise is doing to keep this franchise (and cinema as a whole) at the top its game - but McQuarrie has really let him down with this one. It feels too heavily staged around thrills that ultimately mean nothing without emotional stakes behind it. cruise’s battle against a.i is evidently handled far better in real life than it is here. His final mission, should he chose to except it, is to rediscover the spark that dead reckoning has so devastatingly lost.