Can't wait for part 2! Tom Cruise's mission, should he choose to accept it was to bring us a kick ass action movie (he accepted fyi). Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One had some of the best stunt work I've seen in modern filmmaking, all thanks to the steadfast dedication of Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie. Having watched some of the bts videos for this film, I can honestly say that it's amazing that Cruise, a man in his early 60's (hence the reason everyone calls him the vampire of Hollywood, right alongside Keanu Reeves, Paul Rudd, and Salma Hayek). I lost track of the amount of gasps, oohs, and aahs among my audience during the entire climax, from Tommy C's mind-blowing jump that would make Evel Knievel cringe to the very end of the third act (hint: it made the train ride home somewhat nerve racking lol). It would be criminal to not view this fantastic action film on the biggest screen possibly.
This movie was meant to be seen in IMAX. Another great sequence was the car chase in Venice, a much more sophisticated version of what we normally get from the Fast and Furious films. Throughout the scene, viewers are treated to great chemistry between Cruise and franchise newcomer Haley Atwell (best known for the MCU, Tom Cruise's next stop lol). She was a great addition to the film, initially portaying a foil to Cruise and the gang, but ultimately being forced to work with them. The film also had a very interesting story, complete with the usual dose of espionage and intrigue. In particular, the primary antagonist of the film was very different than previous entries: this time, a sinister AI, simply referred to as the entity (pretty foreshadowing, if you ask me).
Also, I submit that this film has the best opening of the series, with a nice callback to the original, including the return of CIA director Kittredge, who we haven't seen since the first film. As to the very few negatives of this movie, it probably could have been a little shorter (it clocks in at nearly 3 hours and unlike John Wick: Chapter 4, does not quite warrant that runtime) and not every single joke lands (though I still chuckled quite a bit). Overall, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is a solid 9/10 (not quite as good as personal favorite MI film, Fallout, but pretty darn close) and is my favorite film this year, ranking closely behind the aforementioned John Wick: Chapter 4. Anyway, great movie! (Lol)