Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One reviews are in: ‘staggering stunts … nonsensical plot’

What do you get when you combine Hollywood stunt fiend Tom Cruise with the latest in AI?

According to the latest global reviews of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, it’s something between “a mess” and “muscular, extravagant and old-school”.

The blockbuster film, which hits theatres in New Zealand this Saturday, July 8, is the seventh in the franchise which started 27 years ago, and over on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, it’s received the highest score of all the films so far.

On Thursday afternoon, the Rotten Tomatoes approval score sat at 98%, just edging out the 2018 release Mission: Impossible – Fallout’s 97%. That’s also well above the series’ lowest score of 56% approval – for Mission: Impossible 2.

Stuff to Watch has rounded up what the world is saying Ethan Hunt and the IMF team’s newest mission to track down a terrifying new weapon that, if it falls into the wrong hands, threatens all of humanity.

’Staggering stunts can’t make up for the nonsensical plot’

NME has made the bold claim that the newest Cruise film is “sillier than Elon Musk’s Twitter strategy”, and the three-star review describes the blockbuster as kicking off in “much the same way as its predecessors”.

Granted, the reviewer praises the “mind-boggling” set pieces, which include Cruise being tossed from moving vehicles, the motorbike cliff jump that “doesn’t disappoint” and the hand-to-hand combat and fight scenes throughout.

The review claims the problem with the film is when it “tries to be too clever”.

“After an exciting first-third, we drift into a series of bloated exposition sessions where thinly drawn side-characters spend far too long talking up the apocalyptic [but actually quite vague] threat of AI. Even the main baddie, Esai Morales’ mononymous creep Gabriel, doesn’t really understand what’s going on.”

‘As muscular, extravagant and old-school as its star’

Over at The Independent, the four-star review hails the film as a “thrilling sequel” and praises the movie as being, “a mirror image of its star – a muscular, extravagant, thoroughly old-school work of ingenuity and craft”.

Once again the action sequences and stunts are called out as the highlight, described as “consistently dynamic” and “always adapted to their environment”, with specific mention of a sandstorm shootout and a Vespa chase in Rome as “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.”

‘Borders on lumbering and unwieldy’

Despite giving the film four stars, Games Radar admit the latest in the Mission: Impossible franchise falls short of living up to previous blockbusters in the series.

“Part One has neither the elegance and suspense of Rogue Nation, nor the momentum and crunch of Fallout. This instalment is so big that – at times – it borders on lumbering and unwieldy,” it reads.

So, the reviewer asks the reader, why the four stars?

“Because the above statement is judging Dead Reckoning by its franchise’s own gold standards. And for all the moments when the spectacle doesn’t quite hit the now-obligatory bullseye, or when the pace momentarily flags, it still leaves most action thrillers for dead.

”There’s more than enough here to ensure that no hard sell will be necessary to get punters lining up for Dead Reckoning Part Two next year.”

’Tom Cruise does it better’

The UK’s The Guardian writes that after seven films, nothing about the franchise, “from the star’s incredible stunt skills to the silly-serious tone, is showing any sign of slowing down”.

The review describes 61-year-old Cruise’s latest flick as an “outrageously enjoyable spectacle” that has “compelled my awestruck assent with its sheer stamina”.

The publication praises the impressive stunts and set pieces, which include, “the biggest train scenes since Paddington 2 and some very impressive horsemanship from Tom in the Arabian desert – in his headdress he is the seventh pillar of hunkiness”.

”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.”

’Tom Cruise will entertain the f… out of you or die trying’

Rolling Stone magazine, like most reviews, makes mention of the set pieces, such as the Rome car chase and the “climax aboard a runaway train”, but suggests the much-hyped motorcycle jump falls short of Cruise’s past stunts. And after all, the review suggests, these films are all about Cruise.

“Dead Reckoning Part One is merely the latest instalment in Cruise’s vision quest to not only keep movie-going alive, but to protect an entire decades-old definition of what a certain kind of movie is from dying.

“Whether Part Two makes good on either the macro- or micro-promise of this chapter is, not unlike Ethan Hunt’s motorcycle, still up in the air. All we know for certain is that Cruise will keep risking his life to channel that vintage ‘Wow!’ for as long as he can draw breath, should we choose to accept his mission.”

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One hits New Zealand cinemas on Saturday, July 8.