Originally published to 8newsnow.com on July 8, 2023.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One may be a mouthful, but the newest addition to the 27-year-old movie franchise comes equipped with consistency and relentless energy. The two-hour and 43-minute extravaganza does not stop. Dead Reckoning is an all-out sprint (literally, this is a Tom Cruise picture, after all) to the finish line.

All the usual suspects are here. There are telephoto shots of Tom Cruise doing his best Usain Bolt impression. There are messages that self-destruct. There are our old Impossible Mission Force friends Luther Stickell and Benji Dunn, portrayed by Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg, respectively, whose familiarity allows Dead Reckoning to advance a complicated plot at a breakneck pace. With all that same, Dead Reckoning manages to be different. The film is a fresh, pulse-pounding entry into a flailing 2023 summer blockbuster season in dire need of the kind of escapism it provides.

The advertising blitz leading to the release of Dead Reckoning was vague about the film’s plot details, but without giving away the story, the subject matter is prescient. The story’s villain just a year ago may have seemed like that of a 2000s-era James Bond movie. In 2023, however, Dead Reckoning taps into the basest fears of viewers experiencing modern technological change. The narrative of the seventh Mission: Impossible film seems possible, if not probable, and while it can at times verge into silly, the actors play the scenarios so straight-faced that it’s hard as a viewer not to treat them similarly.

The ladies of Dead Reckoning are the most valuable players in the film. Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Pom Klementieff all hit the ground running and provide compelling foils, allies, and everything in between for the IMF. Klementieff, in particular, shows a side unseen in her previous entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Mantis. Her quirky, stone-cold killer is a welcome addition to the group of substantial actors.

Then there’s Tom Cruise, the superstar of Dead Reckoning. What can be said about Cruise that hasn’t already been said? He certainly has his detractors, but it’s challenging to find an argument against him being on the movie star Mount Rushmore. The man is here to entertain, and all of Dead Reckoning is a testament to that. Cruise runs, jumps, rides, quips, and emotes with the same conviction we’ve come to expect from his recent offerings. There is no “phone it in” for Tom Cruise, and it results in a compelling and convincing performance that elevates the film to heights (literally) that other big-budget movies don’t always reach.

There are nitpicks. The dialogue can be corny at times. The characters habitually look off into the distance and dramatically utter the movie’s plot, seemingly directly to the audience at times. The main villain, and by proxy the story in general, while modern, is a little on the nose. Those taking this thrill ride should know that Dead Reckoning is part one of two, and expectations should be tempered to match that. Every loose end does not necessarily receive a tie-up here.

These gripes, however, are minor complaints about a film that doesn’t take itself seriously enough to warrant them. The film is here to entertain, and it does, with exquisite style and substance. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is the movie of the summer so far and earns a recommendation.