The latest Mission Impossible film is out now in cinemas.
The Guardian: ***** “In the past I have been agnostic and a naysayer about M:I, but the pure fun involved in this film, its silly-serious alchemy, and the way the franchise seems to strain at something crazily bigger with every film, as opposed to just winding down, is something to wonder at.”
The New York Times: “The obvious effort that Cruise puts into his “Mission” stunts and the physical punishment he endures to execute them — signaled by his grimaces and popping muscles — have had a salutary impact on that persona, as has the naked ferocity with which he’s held onto stardom. It’s touching.”
The Observer: **** “The action is impressively gender neutral, with men and women killing and dying with equal relish (plaudits to Pom Klementieff, whose relentless – and largely silent – assassin, Paris, could give Grace Jones in A View to a Kill a run for her money). It all builds to a frankly jaw-dropping train-bound finale in which the heavily trailered sight of the real Tom Cruise really driving a real motorbike off a real mountaintop is only an appetiser for what is to come – one of the most audaciously extended action set pieces I have ever seen, which left my nails not so much bitten as gnawed to the bone. The fact that this is “only the beginning” is cause for celebration. Roll on Dead Reckoning Part Two.“
Forbes.com: “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 is a gripping, exciting, often quite funny, occasionally quite sad tour de force that unleashes the rambunctious action this franchise is known for in bigger, more audacious ways than ever before.”
Den of Geek: **** 1/2 “As per the Hollywood blockbuster these days, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One ends before the story is over, although it pauses more for a natural break in the action than a cliffhanger. Where the narrative goes from here is anyone’s guess, and if Cruise and McQuarrie can deliver something as purely entertaining as this with Part Two, the franchise’s stature as the American answer to 007 and one of the best action series of all time will be secured.”
Empire: **** “Every set-piece is a joy, even though there’s a slight nagging sense, here and there, of deja-vu. The same could be said of the film’s flesh-and-bones villain, Esai Morales’ Gabriel, the human face of the more abstract A.I. threat, giving Ethan someone to punch on top of trains. Gabriel is a solid but somewhat serviceable character, and certainly not as memorable as Henry Cavill’s fist-reloading bastard in Fallout. But Fallout is the highest of bars. And as Dead Reckoning Part One hurtles into its third act, everything ramps up, the stakes getting deadlier, the tension getting tenser, Mission once again proving that balls-to-the-wall action films don’t have to be mindless, or humourless, or stupid.”
The Independent: **** “The action sequences are consistently dynamic, and always adapted to their environment: a shoot-out in a sandstorm focuses on stealth and precision, while a Vespa chase down Rome’s many staircases is all cartoon chaos. It all culminates in an absolutely insane stunt in which Cruise drives a motorcycle off a cliff and then parachutes down onto a moving train. You will leave Dead Reckoning the same way you always do: wondering how Cruise could possibly outdo himself in the next one – until, inevitably, he does.”
The Daily Mail: **** “Anyway, this film doesn’t just look to the future. It also offers respectful nods to the cinematic past, not only to former Mission: Impossible features but to other great action pictures and even, going back almost a century, to Buster Keaton’s 1926 classic The General.”
The Spectator: “So brilliantly immersive is all this that it would be perfectly possible – especially for a Mission novice like me – to leave the cinema with a satisfied grin without understanding a word of the plot. But it is necessary to try, if only to make us care about the fate of the characters and to understand what Tom is so upset about.”
The FT: ***** “To that end, the star is ideal. Seven films into the franchise, it is clearly impossible to picture Ethan Hunt played by anybody else. But it’s just as hard to see anyone but Cruise doing so much to keep the whole business of high-end, mass-appeal cinema afloat. A little craggy now in close-up, he still radiates vim in long-shot, sprinting across the mothership curve of Abu Dhabi airport or down Venetian alleys, fuelled by his zeal for our big-screen entertainment. “Trust me, I won’t let you fall,” he says. And untold cinema operators mouth a damp-eyed “Thank you.””