The brilliance and resilience of Tom Cruise shine in this latest installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise. From its intense opening to its heart-pounding ending, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a non-stop action-packed thrill ride that will leave you breathless.

You Are Not Prepared

The trailers for the seventh film of the franchise will not prepare you for the adventure you are about to take. It’s almost a rarity these days when the best scenes are saved for the actual movie and aren’t spoiled in the trailers. Even behind-the-scenes footage of Cruise doing these death-defying stunts does not detract from the experience. In fact, they heighten it. Knowing that the actor himself does a good portion of what’s seen on screen is truly amazing.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) once again is asked to achieve the impossible. His mission is to track down and assemble a key. In the wrong hands, this key can open a gateway to destruction. But he’s not the only one tasked with finding this item. Grace (Haley Atwell) is a slippery thief who is also after the key. Soon Grace and Ethan find themselves working together to potentially save the world.

Do They Not Know What to Do With Female Characters?

Haley Atwell is a breath of fresh air to this franchise. That being said, her character is poorly written. She’s a con artist and a thief. If they would’ve played into that more instead of having her make annoying decision after annoying decision, it would have been spectacular. Mission: Impossible (and action films in general) have no clue how to handle their female characters. Every decision or action they make seems wildly unacceptable and is almost a catalyst for an audience to immediately despise them. Thankfully, these actresses know how to handle a poorly written part. They cut through the actions with charisma and charm. A way this could have been mended would have been to have Grace and Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) actually bond. This would have made a bigger impact on the film’s third act and balanced Grace’s moral scale. (It also would have made this film pass the Bechdel test). Aside from that, Rebecca Ferguson does the most she can with the few lines she’s given, and Vanessa Kirby returns as The White Widow and is just as captivating as she was in the previous installment.

The Visuals

As mentioned above, Tom Cruise created quite the spectacle when behind-the-scenes footage was released of him doing a death-defying stunt. But as I also said, you are not prepared for everything this film has to offer. This film constantly moves, and your heart is in your throat the whole time. Some slick visuals and stunts will have you on the edge of your seat, and the third act has probably one of the best train sequences I have ever seen. You are so enthralled by what’s happening that you never feel the run time which is 2 hours and forty-three minutes.

Conclusion

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a thrill from start to finish. You’ll never be bored watching this fast-paced movie with heart-pounding stunts. The chemistry between all the characters helps drive the film, and the quick jabs they take at each other make it surprisingly funny. I wish the female characters were written better, but they gave it their all, and it shows. So far, I believe this is truly the best summer blockbuster this year.