Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One review: Impossible action, but dead story

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One review: Impossible action, but dead story

What: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Mission Impossible 7) - This film is perhaps the best example of what happens when everyone knows about the big stunt because we saw too many publicity videos already! We go to watch the film, and everyone is screaming and clapping when the big stunt comes on. The suspense, the magic is gone!

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One movie review

But it’s Tom Cruise! And no matter what he does, he keeps the fans glued to the screen. And yes, this film has been shot so you can feel the awesomeness of the scene only on the big screen. The breathtaking night sky of Venice comes on for just a few seconds, but it will make you want to travel to Europe just to take in the stunning beauty of the Alps and the meadows and yes, Rome. The car chase shown in the Eternal City is shot so well, you will be glued to your seat, heart in your mouth.

And yes, the stunt where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) - agent extraordinaire of the IMF (Impossible Missions Force, not the World Bank!) - jumps off the mountain, ends up to be a predictable thing simply because the lead up to the stunt is so forced! Simon Pegg, who plays Ethan’s teammate Benji Dunn, who usually talks to him while he’s running blind through alleys and mountain roads keeps telling him to go straight, go straight. So the mountaintop does not come as a surprise. Visually, it is breathtaking, but as a story device, you are irritated by it.

That brings us to the story. Ethan is again pushed into a mission that will get him to cool parts of the world chasing after a key. Of course, there is an unknown enemy involved and everyone is double crossing everyone else. And when watching, you’re thinking AI and sentient programs are not new… In fact, Keanu Reeves did that years and years ago (1999) in The Matrix. So, you settle down to watch the action.

Here too, the action seems like you’ve seen it before. Don’t get me wrong, Tom Cruise makes it amazing, you’ve seen most of the stunts before, alas. John Wick goes to the Arabian desert, so does Tom Cruise. John Wick drives into traffic in Paris (what a fabulous scene in John Wick 4), Tom Cruise does the same in Rome. And yes, the train scene! Even Citadel has a train crash scene. And Indiana Jones too. And before you want Tom Cruise to save himself (and the girl) from toppling over a bombed-out bridge, your brain is wondering if Salman Khan is going to make an appearance! We saw all this in Pathaan! Are they using the same stunts team? What’s going on Hollywood?