Movie Review: Take the Leap with Tom Cruise in ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One’ 

American actor Tom Cruise waves to fans during a red carpet event for the film "Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" in Seoul on June 29, 2023. (AFP)
American actor Tom Cruise waves to fans during a red carpet event for the film "Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" in Seoul on June 29, 2023. (AFP)
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Movie Review: Take the Leap with Tom Cruise in ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One’ 

American actor Tom Cruise waves to fans during a red carpet event for the film "Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" in Seoul on June 29, 2023. (AFP)
American actor Tom Cruise waves to fans during a red carpet event for the film "Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" in Seoul on June 29, 2023. (AFP)

Wondering if you should choose to accept the latest “Mission: Impossible” entry? Maybe you’re sick of all the bombast at the movie theater lately? Well, put it another way: Do you really want to disappoint Tom Cruise?

On the first day cameras were rolling for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One,” Cruise drove a motorcycle off an actual 4,000-foot Norwegian cliff and then parachuted down. He did it for you. The least you can do to repay him is watch his movie, right?

If you do give in, you’re in for a treat — a heart-pounding, never dragging, mission accomplished that takes audiences from the frozen Bering Sea to the rooftop of Abu Dhabi International Airport and the narrow alleyways of Venice.

It’s got plenty of facemasks being ripped off, a car chase through Rome, a shoot-out in the desert, a sword fight on a bridge and an intense, runaway train sequence that may top anything the franchise has ever produced.

“This is getting exciting,” one character says early on and you’ll heartily agree.

Christopher McQuarrie returns for the third time as director of the spy series — he also helped write Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” — and he’s brought back love interest/spy Rebecca Ferguson, comic relief buddies Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby as The White Widow and Henry Czerny as slimy Eugene Kittridge.

Newcomers include Esai Morales as a very bad baddie and Pom Klementieff as his psychotic aide. Hayley Atwell also makes her impressive debut, playing a master thief and possible romantic partner for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. (If that makes too many love interests, you’d be right.)

The bad guy isn’t a guy this time, it’s a haywire form of conscious artificial intelligence that has infiltrated every nation’s computer systems and represents a Hollywood fever dream of this emerging technology. (And maybe a swipe at CGI, too.)

This AI can foul up every digital device with “the power to bring the world to its knees” — or at least to a pre-internet, analog state. It’s “an enemy that is everywhere and nowhere.” The filmmakers aren’t too keen in giving too many specifics, leaving it an existential threat and giving it the very non-threatening nickname, The Entity.

“Dead Reckoning,” as the “Part One” in the full title suggests, is another action franchise going epic with several-part arcs — like “Spider-Verse” and “Fast & Furious” already this year — and uses a two-part special key as the plot device that everyone desperately needs, like in “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.”

The key here is sought by Cruise, our thief/love interest, a US Special Operations team, Morales’ nasty Gabriel and the arms dealer The White Widow. It soon gets swiped, pickpocketed and seized, jumping from owner to owner like an unwanted Secret Santa office gift.

What’s so special about this key? Somehow, the AI needs it and one estimate of its worth is $100 million, which seems pretty cheap, to be honest. “The fate of the world rests on finding whatever the key unlocks,” we are told. Rhames’ Luther warns his friend: “Ethan, you’re playing fourth dimensional chess with an algorithm.”

If other “Mission: Impossible” outings have sometimes felt that Hunt is, well, a little robotic, this time the filmmakers allow some humanity to peek through. Cruise shows some delightful annoyance at having to sit in the passenger seat as his car careens backward through Rome, like an exasperated Drivers’ Ed instructor after a long day. He also shows a tender side in Venice as he cuddles Ferguson in the twilight and they hold hands on a gondola.

Speaking of that car chase in Rome — the second time this year that the iconic Spanish Steps have been shattered by a brash, hulking US franchise — we get the delightful image of Cruise and Atwell handcuffed together scooting along in a tiny, vintage yellow Fiat 500.

“Is anyone NOT chasing us?” she asks.

All the interested parties come together at one of those big, elegant Eurotrash dance parties with dark lighting, thumping rave music and writhing dancers on platforms that only Hollywood seems to love, a sequence most recently bettered by “John Wick: Chapter 4” in Berlin.

Then a movie that started filming pre-pandemic and has a two-and-a-half-hour runtime, culminates with Cruise’s motorcycle leap, a breathless fight sequence on top of a steam train and then a derailment that forces the good guys to climb through railcar after railcar vertically as they dodge debris, bad guys and even, in a sly move, a falling piano.

Are you possibly not going to accept this mission? Tom Cruise basically flew for you. It would be rude to leave him hanging.



Nate Bargatze Will Host the 2025 Emmy Awards

Nate Bargatze Will Host the 2025 Emmy Awards
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Nate Bargatze Will Host the 2025 Emmy Awards

Nate Bargatze Will Host the 2025 Emmy Awards

Stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze will host the 77th Emmy Awards, CBS announced Wednesday.
One of the most popular stand-ups currently working, Bargatze will emcee the Sept. 14 ceremony at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
While the Oscars have found success with Conan O'Brien, set to return in 2026, and the Golden Globes with returning host Nikki Glaser, the Emmys have had a harder time finding a regular host, The Associated Press reported. The last four Emmys have been hosted by Eugene and Dan Levy, Anthony Anderson, Kenan Thompson and Cedric the Entertainer.
“Nate is one of the hottest comics in the business with a remarkable and hilarious brand of comedy that deeply resonates with multi-generational audiences around the globe,” said Cris Abrego, chair of the Television Academy.
Bargatze, while yet to emcee a major awards show, is among the most sought-after entertainers, releasing three Netflix specials including December's “Your Friend, Nate Bargatze” and hosting “Saturday Night Live.” With more than 1.2 million tickets sold in 2024, according to Pollstar, he was the top-earning comedian of the year.
“It’s a huge honor to be asked to host such an iconic awards show and I’m beyond excited to work with CBS to create a night that can be enjoyed by families around the world,” Bargatze said.
Last year's Emmys, hosted by the father-son Levy duo, reached 6.87 million average viewers, according to Nielsen, up 54% from the previous year.