*indicates that the film is also available to rent, buy, or stream on various platforms. Please note that these presentations may differ from those included in these home video releases.
“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One” * (2023, Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment) Seventh (!) title in the action-espionage series pits secret agent/professional risk taker Tom Cruise against a small and colorful army of killers and terrorists as they all pursue a key that controls a sentient and powerful artificial intelligence. If you’ve been paying attention to this long-running franchise (I have not), you will undoubtedly be pleased to know that what appears to be its hallmarks – astonishingly elaborate stunts and complicated plots involving countless moving parts and players – are all in play here, and two of the former – a pursuit in an Abu Dhabi airport that coincides with the disarmament of a nuclear device and a vehicle chase through Rome anchored by a series of increasingly smaller cars – are handled with extraordinary care by director Christopher McQuarrie, the core cast (Cruise, Ving Rhames, and Simon Pegg as the IMF) and newcomer Hayley Atwell as a savvy thief pulled into the fray. You should also know that the dialogue (by McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen) is risible to the point of hobbling a small army of talented actors, including Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Carey Elwes and Henry Czerny; only Pom Klementieff, as an almost entirely silent killer, escapes unscathed, Additionally, the other action sequences, which include an assault on the Orient Express, hurdle by without generating much excitement or suspense, which are the twin engines on which the “M:I” series is supposed to run. Both make “Dead Reckoning’s” 164-minute running time an occasional challenge leavened only by the aforementioned high points; one hopes that these issues will be ironed out for the second part, due in 2025 (but perhaps they’ve always been part of the series?). Paramount’s two-disc Blu-ray includes commentary by McQuarrie and Eddie Hamilton and behind-the-scenes featurettes on the film’s six marquee stunt sequences, the most notable of which is the preparation required for Cruise to ride a motorcycle off a cliff in Norway and parachute to the valley below. Continue reading
