I live on the other side of the country but it was great to know Tom and the team came across to Australia to promote the film. He got a warm welcome everywhere he went from what I saw, on the red carpet and various talk shows. At work today a lot of people, like me, were getting ready to see the movie tomorrow. Launching on a Saturday is going to be a smart business decision, I think. When I was booking tickets there weren’t many spare seats.
This is the first MI movie to not have JJ Abrams involved since all the way back on MI:2, for what it’s worth.
I thought it was still a Bad Robot production?
Looking at posters, trailers, etc - the only production companies I see listed are Paramount, Skydance, and TCProductions…
Just saw the movie, and it’s very good. It’s a simple story, but one with a rich mythology and grand scale. I can see why they chose to make it a two parter. Gabriel is possibly my favourite villain in the franchise, being someone both fearsome and interesting.
The plot itself is timely and introduces chaos into the team dynamic which helps keep things fresh and off balance. Cruise himself delivers what you expect, with the set piece on the train being my favourite. The conclusion to that had my hands sweating. All in all, fans of the series will appreciate Dead Reckoning Part One, and I feel it sets the stage for something even greater.
Good grief!
Unless something has been incorrectly typed up of course…
I did see that but my gut tells me it’s incorrect.
I’ve just got to think that JJ and Bad Robot are big enough that had they been involved they would have made the credits in the poster and/or trailers, as they did with the other films.
At the end of the day… it’s a minor thing. Not sure why I bothered to post it to be honest
It is the problem with Wikipedia and IMDb, both can be edited by anyone. The comedian Dave Gorman had a hilarious bit on this in an episode of Modern Life is goodish.
In „The Office“ Michael Scott claims Wikipedia „gets you the best information because everybody can add what they want“…
I’m going to catch it again later today. It’s a slower burn than other Mission Impossible films, and that’s apparent from the get go. They know it’s one big story told over two films and thus take their time to establish the threat, what it could mean to the world, and on a smaller scale how the mission will impact upon Ethan and his friends. But the action does come, and when it does you’re going to enjoy it.
For a film over two and a half hours long I honestly didn’t feel the runtime. It breezed by, and transported me to a world of intrigue. Walking out of the theatre and back into the banality of the real world was a testament to the experience Cruise and the team managed to create in there.
Dead Reckoning is really good but not quite as good as Rogue Nation or Fallout. The action is good but it’s hard to beat the bathroom brawl and helicopter climax from Fallout. Hayley Atwell is the standout new cast member and steals the movie. I was already a fan of hers from the Captain America movies and the Agent Carter TV series but now I love her even more. Also great seeing Shea Whigham, Cary Elwes and the return of Henry Czerny.
I think the Mission: Impossible series is now in a place similar to Bond where the majority of them are of a consistent quality that it simply comes down to personal preference when deciding which film you like more than others.
One complaint I have which is not against the film itself but the marketing. We’ve seen the big cliff jump so many times in the trailers, TV spots and behind the scenes promos that it lacks a bit of impact when you finally see it. Should have simply teased it without showing the whole shot.
Still a good time to be had and I think the film will please just about everybody.
I am slightly curious how much Covid affected the budget. It’s a detail that is oddly ignored that the reason The Flash and Indiana Jones had such high budgets was a deadly pandemic with not exactly young lead actors. Given MI7 had the same concerns (who remembers Cruise’s epic telling off to the person breaking the covid protection rules?), I’m curious how much else MI7 had to account for and how much it affected them given Cruise’s more unique position in the production.
According to Simon Pegg - What McQ is like making Mission Impossible movies;
Strangely, it works.
OK, film watched in IMAX and I’ve had 24 hours to ruminate. Up front I will say I enjoyed it. I didn’t think it was the best film of the series, it’s a strong entry but not without its flaws. As is has become with these films the stunt work is the main attraction and they certainly deliver some showstoppers. Other elements, such as story and characters (who aren’t Ethan Hunt) come in behind.
Everything else is some degree of spoiler so…
Summary
We need to talk about the Entity. The more I think about it the more I think making the ‘villain’ a rogue AI was a weird decision, it’s like there’s no human left who can challenge ‘the embodiment of chaos.’ Given the Entity is omniscient and without form it almost feels like Tom Cruise is trying to take on God, and since the principal human villain is called Gabriel I don’t think this is too extreme of an interpretation.
Sadly the villains hurt the film for me, it’s all a bit too nebulous and ill defined so there’s not much to latch onto. Even Gabriel is a bit to vague at the moment, maybe we’ll learn more about him in part 2 but for now they overplayed the mysterious aspect.
Pom Klementieff probably works best for me. Impressive as I find mute henchmen and femme fatales to be overused tropes but combining them ends up working pretty well. Also, her character is called Paris, which was also the name of Leonard Nimoy’s character on the Mission:Impossible series. I don’t think this means anything, it’s just odd.
The Abu Dhabi airport sequence was unintentionally hilarious as there are a lot of shots where it’s quite obviously Birmingham. Obvious to me anyway as I passed through New Street on the way to the cinema.
The way the strike team talk up Ethan was a little much, however I did like the way he started pulling at that guys face when he thought it was a mask.
Carey Elwes is in this! I had no idea going in so that was a nice surprise. I fact that meeting scene has a lot of familiar faces.
There’s a chase scene where the hero and leading lady are handcuffed together, where have we seen that before?
But in the end this was just the first half, so part 2 will really make or break it.
I read the first few words…I need to see this film. It sounds like you need to see it before you have an opinion and even that had caveats!
I had the exact same thoughts about God and the nebulous.