Posted by Another impossible mission turns out to be possible.
While the world is going crazy over (and moving on from) Barbenheimer, I’m still playing catch up on the many movies I want to see this summer. I’ve already come to terms with not seeing Indiana Jones until it starts streaming on Disney+ or wherever.
Anyway, I’ve always enjoyed the Mission Impossible movies. I’ve got to say though – after M:I:3 I don’t really remember the latest ones as much. I mean, what number are we on now anyway? Is this no.7 or 8? I do remember finding the latest movies the best of the lot, but I just can’t seem to tell them apart. Perhaps I’m just basic and I need a number in a sequel title to remember it. For that reason, I wished I had watched a recap before this movie as I wasn’t always sure who everyone was.
My journey to watch Dead Reckoning Part One was itself representative of the movie I was going to watch. I was running late so felt like I was in a high-speed car chase to make it on time. Granted, for me high-speed is 32mph, but still. You’ll be glad to know I made the movie just in time to have 5 mins to catch my breath in my seat. But sods law, as soon as the movie started my bladder decided it wanted in on the action. I held on for one and a half hours but could hold on no longer so most likely missed out on an important detail of the movie as I ran to the toilets and back.
So, there you have it. Insight into my urinating habits.
Wait, I haven’t even reviewed the movie yet. What is it about Tom Cruise movies that gets me so distracted?
Oh great, I’ve only just mentioned his name. Now I’ll going to go into my annual Tom Cruise rant.
I get he’s a great action movie star. For starters he does his own stunts… which is either admirable or just bat-shit crazy. There was so much hype about his stunt for this movie that when it actually happened onscreen it was a bit underwhelming. The hype just made the action sequence feel like it was shoehorned in for the sake of Crazy Tom’s appetite to get as close to death as possible. The train wreckage action sequence at the end was much better.
What I also found distracting about Crazy Tom was how he’s starting to look his age in this movie. I don’t recall feeling this in the latest Top Gun movie, but Crazy Tom just seemed… old. Maybe I should just go easy on the old guy, he is obviously passionate about making these movies. The outburst video of him losing his shit on set shows that. And then I remember all the weird scientology stuff and we’re back to Crazy Old Tom and his dinosaur teeth.
I’m sorry to people who love him. Don’t worry though – you’ll still get your fix of Crazy Old Tom running in his trademark stance in this movie.
Ok ok ok, I guess I should probably talk about the movie more. You know what? It’s actually pretty good. I enjoyed it and it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. There can sometimes be one too many betrayal scenes but that’s part of the parcel with these films. It’s a fun ride taking you from one action set piece to another around the world… Oh and as a Brummie I appreciate the scenes shot at Grand Central in Birmingham. And who can forget the welcome Crazy Old Tom had in Brum? Getting his car stolen and later recovered in Smethwick. Can’t get more Brummie than that.
And we’re back onto Crazy Old Tom. I give up.
Hopefully I’ll get to see Oppenheimer in the coming days, but before that I’m taking the OddDaughter to watch her first movie in a cinema so stay tuned for a special sort of review for that.
Verdict
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a pretty good movie following a consistent pattern of solid M:I movies over the last couple of decades. Ignore my ranting about Crazy Old Tom – this movie is worth a watch. A proper popcorn flick.