Ethan Hunt and his IMF team must track down a dangerous weapon before it falls into the wrong hands.

Say what you like about Tom Cruise, but I’m not sure there’s any actor around doing what he does and doing it as well today, with the latest example of his dedication to pushing the boundaries of cinema coming in ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’. The seventh instalment in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ series (and the first of a two-parter, filmed back to back) is an audacious, ambitious and wildly entertaining movie that once again sets a new benchmark for action cinema, with Tom Cruise showing yet again that there is seemingly no limits to the type of stunts he’ll pull. I can hardly wait to see what he and director Christopher McQuarrie have up their sleeve for ‘Dead Reckoning Part Two’!

Now that I’ve caught my breath, let’s talk a bit about the premise of ‘Dead Reckoning Part One’. It begins with an eerie sequence on a Russian sub where an advanced piece of technology appears to turn on the crew, before we join up with Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his regular cadre of friends (Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson) to undertake a new mission to intercept two parts of a key that it is believed has the ability to unlock a sinister AI known as ‘The Entity’. This takes them across the globe encountering friends and foes alike, and sometimes individuals who could be either, with a series of audacious stunts forming the centre piece of each moment. On the face of it, these movies aren’t doing anything different than any other modern action blockbuster, but it’s the sheer chutzpah and confidence that sets ‘Mission: Impossible’ apart, not to mention the key ingredient that the majority of these stunts are real with visual effects used to compliment and not entirely replicate the action.

The ’Mission: Impossible’ series for many years was seen as a bit of a subpar ‘James Bond’, but that hasn’t been the case for a number of years now – certainly not since 2011’s ‘Ghost Protocol’ which really supercharged just what Cruise and these movies are capable of, before McQuarrie came on board as Cruise’s main filmmaking partner and really took them to the next level. This is a near 3 hour movie but it feels far shorter, with the opportunities to pause for breath few and far between as the filmmakers hold you in the palm of your hand. Where other series (‘Fast & Furious’, ‘Indiana Jones’, not to mention Marvel) are starting to feel tired, ‘Mission: Impossible’ has never been stronger and this is one of the best movies yet.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, Cary Elwes, Greg Tarzan Davis and Frederick Schmidt

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt9603212/