First up, it's a part one, but don't worry you won't feel short-changed or teased (unlike another lengthy summer blockbuster this year, the animated one, which seemed to stop mid sentence).
Some of the weaker Mission Impossible movies have felt fast foody and I don't really remember what happened by the end. This one, yes, a part one, is the longest of the movies yet at 163 minutes, and what that gives it time to do is develop multiple characters and allows for very long, complicated and breathless action sequences.
There is a flamboyant and noteworthy cast of women. I really thought when the casting team landed Rebecca Ferguson for Rogue Nation that they just got lucky, then they landed Vanessa Kirby for Fallout. In this movie we get both of them (playing Ilsa Faust and the White Widow), and two franchise newcomers of the same calibre. Just think about that, there are four incredible women with incredible roles in this movie, and it doesn't feel forced or inauthentic. Vanessa Kirby's welcome return proves a great decision as she is even better this time, and her White Widow has some real character development, then they've cast Hayley Atwell as Grace, another incredible decision, she is a revelation, sassy and kick-assy. Henchwoman "Paris" (Pom Klementieff - great name by the way) doesn't get as much development as the others, but has great style and gets more time towards the end.
Over to the villains: there's continuity and ingenuity when an old friend returns from the first movie and then Esai Morales completes a wildly perfect casting process, as the sensual and contained Gabriel (great name by the way, evoking the archangel, and playing on his allure and deadly sweetness). The non-human character in the movie is also pretty great without giving anything away.
Perfect villain casting was one of the strong points of the Bond franchise of old (a royalty of European arthouse actors including Max von Sydow, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michel Lonsdale, Robert Shaw etc), and that's not the only thing the Mission: Impossible crew have learned from nor the only action movies they've been watching. The "Empty Quarter" sequence for one seems very much out of the Nolan playbook (the villain offering a dilemma too), whilst the "James Bond isn't able to protect his women" motif is applied well to Ethan here.
I feel like they got everything right with this movie. Some of the dialogue and filming of dialogue is sensational, and it feels like it's an emotionally mature film too. Ethan emotes, and there's just little things, like the way Ilsa hugs him that have a great emotional intensity to them. The core team are showing their age for sure, but they've harnessed that, Luther (Rhames) is at his best and most soulful here. There is no reason for action movies to be immature and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is proof of that.
Some of the weaker Mission Impossible movies have felt fast foody and I don't really remember what happened by the end. This one, yes, a part one, is the longest of the movies yet at 163 minutes, and what that gives it time to do is develop multiple characters and allows for very long, complicated and breathless action sequences.
There is a flamboyant and noteworthy cast of women. I really thought when the casting team landed Rebecca Ferguson for Rogue Nation that they just got lucky, then they landed Vanessa Kirby for Fallout. In this movie we get both of them (playing Ilsa Faust and the White Widow), and two franchise newcomers of the same calibre. Just think about that, there are four incredible women with incredible roles in this movie, and it doesn't feel forced or inauthentic. Vanessa Kirby's welcome return proves a great decision as she is even better this time, and her White Widow has some real character development, then they've cast Hayley Atwell as Grace, another incredible decision, she is a revelation, sassy and kick-assy. Henchwoman "Paris" (Pom Klementieff - great name by the way) doesn't get as much development as the others, but has great style and gets more time towards the end.
Over to the villains: there's continuity and ingenuity when an old friend returns from the first movie and then Esai Morales completes a wildly perfect casting process, as the sensual and contained Gabriel (great name by the way, evoking the archangel, and playing on his allure and deadly sweetness). The non-human character in the movie is also pretty great without giving anything away.
Perfect villain casting was one of the strong points of the Bond franchise of old (a royalty of European arthouse actors including Max von Sydow, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michel Lonsdale, Robert Shaw etc), and that's not the only thing the Mission: Impossible crew have learned from nor the only action movies they've been watching. The "Empty Quarter" sequence for one seems very much out of the Nolan playbook (the villain offering a dilemma too), whilst the "James Bond isn't able to protect his women" motif is applied well to Ethan here.
I feel like they got everything right with this movie. Some of the dialogue and filming of dialogue is sensational, and it feels like it's an emotionally mature film too. Ethan emotes, and there's just little things, like the way Ilsa hugs him that have a great emotional intensity to them. The core team are showing their age for sure, but they've harnessed that, Luther (Rhames) is at his best and most soulful here. There is no reason for action movies to be immature and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is proof of that.