A Movie Review
While many moviegoers have already seen the eighth and final chapter of Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning in May 2025, I decided to revisit the 2023 Dead Reckoning Part One, because something is captivating about this seventh instalment. I’ve seen both, but this is one of the franchise’s most daring and entertaining entries. It links Ethan Hunt’s past and future while setting up for a compelling grand finale.
Taking a closer look at the mission: The impossible spy genre that spans seven films over three decades.
Only one person can save the entire universe when the world is in great danger. It took him only two hours and forty-three minutes to save the world, simply by his death-defying motorcycle ride off a cliff in the Alps, the car chase in Rome that went a bit too long, skydiving over jagged mountain terrain, and fighting the wrong guy atop the Orient Express train through the Alps.
If you choose to accept your mission, Tom Cruise will deliver more action scenes—scene after scene—as the superhero agent Ethan Hunt.
The seventh instalment of Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One took the global box office hit after its release on July 12, 2023, intensifying 20th-century technology. Dead Reckoning is impossibly full of action and surprises. But what surprises me the most is that the title is unclear and difficult to interpret and understand. So, what does Dead Reckoning mean, anyway? “Dead Reckoning” is a subheader that adds an ominous feeling of great fear or apprehension, a little threatening, and thoroughly moving. So, if you reckon the bad guys are dead, it’s not what it means. That is why I consulted the Cambridge Dictionary, which says, “Dead Reckoning is a way of calculating the position of a ship or aircraft using only information about the direction and distance it has travelled from a known point.”
Since “Dead Reckoning” is a navigational term, the thrilling opening scene set aboard the Russian submarine is a great way to start the movie. With vision and directorial style, it pushes the boundaries of action and suspense slightly more. However, Christopher McQuarrie explained that aside from its true meaning, the title stands for something else. It represents a direct similarity between the words, not only for Ethan Hunt but also for a few other characters. Their past lives are beginning to catch up with them, and they must deal with their choices to stay alive. In other words, so many things are coming to the surface from Ethan and the members of his crew’s past lives that they must deal with to complete their dangerous missions and save the world from various threats.
Bruce Geller created the series Mission: Impossible, a group of government secret agents known as the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) from September 1966 to March 1973 on the CBS network for seven seasons, then returned to television for another season on ABC from 1988 to 1990. The Cold War, with American and Soviet tensions, provided a backdraft, leading to the 1950s’ severe suffering after the war. The series had no action. It was all about those precision moves, spy games that you could barely follow what was going on until the plot put together the puzzles, and you began to feel the rush.
Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One movie is the seventh entry in the franchise and has a two-part finale, both of which are timely reminiscences on the dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In Part One, Ethan Hunt and the IMF team embark on the most dangerous mission to track down a terrifying form of artificial intelligence known as “The Entity” that is everywhere, has a mind of its own and endangers the world if it falls into the wrong hands. Once slotted together, two pieces of figures with a cross give a person access to The Entity. Ethan Hunt’s mission is to stop it from slipping into the wrong hands.
The movie delivers an endless rollercoaster of action, perfectly blending jaw-dropping stunts with a plot that keeps you guessing constantly. Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is at his best, running unstoppably with his upper body held upright. At 61 years old, his trim and compact physique showed no signs of slowing down. His endurance outsized his magnificent stunts, and the ensemble cast added depth to the powerful thrills. The pulse-pounding sequences and unexpected twists reaffirm the franchise’s mastery of the spy genre.
Producers Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, and Leifur B. Dagfinnsson showcase their expertise by perfectly integrating heart-stopping action sequences with a well-crafted storyline. It kept viewers engaged with its electrifying action and heart-stirring stunts. Although opinions from the public on the movie may vary, the film put together an entirely different plot that adds depth to the characters, delivering a unique blend of suspense and scenes that keep the audience guessing.
The film touches on fears and challenges by engaging the subjects of technological warfare and global uncertainty and reflecting each period’s evolving zeitgeist. It is a thrilling action movie that mirrors present-day concerns.
Till next time
Cheers
References:
Black, A. J. (2023, July 10). Mission impossible revisited: Brian de Palma’s mission impossible. Film Stories. https://filmstories.co.uk/features/mission-impossible-revisited-brian-de-palmas-mission-impossible/
Dead reckoning. (n.d.). Cambridge Dictionary | English Dictionary, Translations & Thesaurus. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/dead-reckoning
May, N. (2023) A2Review [unpublished paper]. Curtin University.
Mission: Impossible 7 director discusses dead reckoning title meaning. (2022, November 23). Digital Spy. https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a42048916/mission-impossible-dead-reckoning-meaning/
Mission: Impossible – Dead reckoning part one (2023). (n.d.). Gateway Film Center. https://gatewayfilmcenter.org/movies/mission-impossible-dead-reckoning-part-one-2023/
Paramount Pictures – https://www.missionimpossible.com/home/, Public Domain,. (n.d.). https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13498926
ninagracia.com 