Review MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE

These days, it's hard to make a movie, and it's even harder to maintain its quality. No doubt, the famous brands like Too Fast Too Dangerous, Terminator, Indiana Jones, or even the Marvel Cinematic Universe can't keep their status as they were when they first came out. However, hard doesn't mean impossible. Among a bunch of competitors, there's one who's still holding on to the rope from this year to the next, and goes straight to the heart of the fans without any difficulties. It's Ethan Hunt, the man who does the impossible tasks. After 27 years, Tom Cruise's film industry is constantly evolving and developing. The latter half is rated higher than the previous one. This year, that achievement is re-established, when the 7th half is getting a lot of votes from the critics, and promises to become a huge hit at the box office. So, this time, Ethan Hunt's journey is really as good as what the media is talking about. However, the new film is at the top of the impossible task list, which is already overwhelming, as the film will be released right after this. As usual, let's go through some basic information about the film before we get to the review. The impossible task, the first half, still follows the super-specialist Ethan Hunt, and the well-known IMF team. Their mission is also sometimes vague, which is to prevent the bad guys from touching weapons that can affect the lives of all mankind. This time, Ethan and his team have to fight with the whole world in the dark, because everyone wants that weapon. Not only that, the villains are not only harming the main character, but also threatening the people he cares about the most. This is Ethan in a complete crisis. In addition to the familiar faces of the impossible movies, such as Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Bing Raims, or Rebecca Ferguson, the new super-specialist movies include Hayley Atwell, Tom Clementine, Cher Wickham, and more. The 7th half is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who is behind the success of the 5th and 6th half. In addition, like Fast X or Across the Spider-Verse, this impossible mission is only half of the big story. The other half is called Death Reckoning Part 2, which is expected to be released at the end of June 2024, and is said to be the culmination of the story of Ethan Hunt. That's all you need to know before you watch the movie. And now, let's move on to the most important part of the video. Needless to say, the 7th half is a great movie experience. This is shown through the two most important factors, the image and the story. Let's talk about the image first. The movie is still Tom Cruise. He is brave, but not a coward. The audience will be enjoying the eerie scenes, such as two drivers being handcuffed to each other, Ethan Hunt hitting a bull's-eye in a super narrow alley, or a gunfight in the sandstorm. In such scenes, the characters display new skills, so we don't have to wait for them to do anything else. After all, the scenes are shot in slow motion, so no matter how fast the character's actions are, the audience will not be blind. I especially like the scene of chasing in Italy, because the way the movie creates the feeling as if we are sitting in the same car with Ethan Hunt, we can't take our eyes off it. However, that's just the beginning. At the end of the movie, Ethan Hunt will make the audience have to get used to the moves that make the hero have to surrender. For example, flying a motorbike from the top of Mount Trafford, fighting with the rebels on the top of the ship, and speeding up to get out of the ship that is sliding down the cliff. It sounds like the movie of the richest hero, but in fact it's not. Because Tom Cruise has made adventurous scenes, so they look very real to experience a new level. For example, when Ethan talks in the air, you will see that his face is also blown up by the wind, or the delay of the blows. Here, I would like to express my absolute respect to Tom Cruise. To say that he is a diamond in the Hollywood movie industry may not be enough. Although he passed the age of 60, but Tom still acts like this, this is the first impossible task. He runs a lot, more than the previous movies, and speeds up on every terrain, desert, street, roof, then a ship is falling freely. This level of action may make it difficult for a young man, not to mention a man who has reached the age of 61. In the same direction, Tom's actions are also extremely bloody. I have the feeling that each period of the male actor contains all the weight of the man inside, so although they are not too professional, but still very cool. If he keeps this level, it is not unlikely that he will be in the role of Ethan Han until the age of 80, as expected. Another interesting point of the movie is that the action is not only for Tom Cruise, but also for other characters, which are the two pink balloons, Rebecca Ferguson and Paul Clemente. About Ferguson, I don't have to say much, because she still maintains her charisma and strength from the previous two movies. But with Clemente, it's completely different. If you are used to the image of Mantis who only knows how to use his sensitivity and act as a coolie for a group of mercenaries, then prepare yourself, because the actresses in this movie are extremely fierce. She doesn't talk much, mainly spending time to act for the opponent, and each blow is no less than Ethan Han. That spirit, combined with the direction of the desert, even the chaos, makes Clemente appear very scary, becoming a dangerous opponent of the main character. Through this demonstration, the Asian actress has really proven how much she can dig in, instead of just a little talk, little acting. In short, in terms of image, the first part is the quality of the story, the original film is impossible, it is the action scenes with limited time, overlapping every second. However, the scale and risks of those scenes are much larger, making the audience really worried about the character, instead of thinking like, what if it's not as successful as the first part? Therefore, I think Mission Impossible 7 is an indisputable work for those who like independent films and those who like action scenes in general. What about those who care more about the story? Is Dead Reconning a brilliant work? It can be said that the crew has tried to blow a new wind with the content of the mission impossible, which is clearly shown by the way the characters are portrayed. There is no villain like Owen Davion or Solomon Lane of the previous parts. Instead, Ethan Hunt has to face artificial intelligence. But this AI is not a good one, because it can recognize and make its own decisions, like the Matrix, iRobot and especially the 2001 A Space Odyssey. This mismatch has confused the whole world, when all the powerful countries are divided into each other, Hong is in charge of the superweapon. That gap makes Ethan Hunt's path more difficult, because he has to face many opponents. Since then, the film industry has always maintained the tension when any wrong decision of the main character can bring terrible consequences. On the other hand, this invisible villain can also scare the audience, because it is too powerful. If, as in the previous part, the villains can be taller than Ethan but still be blown away by the main character at some points, then the so-called entity in the film is not like that. It not only adjusts the main character, but also manipulates his friends to make the main character look and behave like a butterfly. The audience will see an Ethan Hunt who is more confident, more emotional, just like the computer program. Not only that, the high level of AI also allows it to create significant gaps in the story. I will not disclose the details to avoid spoilers, but you can imagine that it is the karma that he has to pay, just as the title of the film mentioned. After all, I feel that bringing in a super villain at this level, although it is a bit far from the spirit of the previous films, is still a good move, because it brings a high level of maturity. Currently, the world is also gradually going crazy about the development of the machine. The more we hear about the life of humans, the more people have to doubt what they have just read. The film industry is also in turmoil when the screenwriters are in panic because they feel that AI is more important than them. Death Reckoning, after all, is a warning about a dark future where even the most passionate people have to give up in front of the machine, and that is a really sad scene. But do you know what's even better? This is the end, the main character is not fully reconciled, but still finds a bit of hope to reverse the situation. That is a reasonable conclusion and will make many audiences look forward to the next film. In short, the villain is the biggest highlight in the story of Death Reckoning. With great power, it has done a lot, from pushing the main character into a poor environment, keeping the atmosphere of the film always as tense as a stage, making the audience unable to miss the urgent and practical messages about life today. But, to put it another way, the power of the main character cannot cover up the problems still present in the film. The first problem of the film, unfortunately, lies in the main character. Despite showing great acting skills, Ethan Hunt in this film does not have many new things. He is still in a daze, still ready to break the law as before, even though he was warned not to do so. Similarly, the actions of the villain may be scary, but they are not strong enough to push the main character into a dark corner in him. Therefore, I still find it a bit difficult to connect the main character with the villain. But this problem can be understood, because it can be a way out to be solved later. But the main characters are another story. Haley Atwell's Grace, although she is very charismatic and has a lot to show, she does not have the commitment of Ethan Hunt. The audience does not see the two of them interact enough, so when Grace stands in front of thousands of hair, forcing the male lead to help, many people will not feel convinced. In my opinion, the most wasted character in this film must be Elsa Faust by Rebecca Ferguson. She appears too little, and every moment she appears does not leave many clues about the story, so the lack of value made her stand out in the first two parts. Another drawback, which may not be a weakness, but I think it will still cause controversy, is the intensity of the film. In the previous parts, the dialogues are often edited to make the film more direct and focus on the action scenes. In this part, the characters talk to each other a lot, mainly to explain about the artificial body and the risks they are facing. Perhaps because of that, the film has a length of up to 2 hours and 43 minutes, the longest in the whole series. For some audiences, the way of doing it may slow down the film, but others may think that way to serve for the events later. For me, this choice is reasonable because I really want to know more about this force after what it did in the opening scene. What about you? What do you think about the film's dialogues? Please leave your comments below. In general, I feel that the characters haven't fully explored their potentials in this film. In terms of the content, even if it's the same, it still needs a strong voice actor with enough thinking and planning power. Therefore, I really hope that the film crew can take advantage of it and dig deeper into Ethan, Grace or Alana to create a perfect ending. That's all. I still think that Death Reckoning 1 is a high-quality film. The film has upgraded the image to an unbelievable level and tells a story that goes back to the last seconds. In terms of my personal experience, I'm ready to rate Death Reckoning as one of the top 3 unbeatable mission films so far. It's not a simple thing, especially with the 7th part in a film that has done a lot of extraordinary things. Therefore, I think that the film by director Christopher McQuarrie deserves to be given a chance by everyone, from Tom Cruise's fans to those who just want to have fun after a long day of work. Oh, and feel free to enjoy the film. Although it's only half of the story, the film is not boring and even opens up more promising scenes. Actually, before I stepped into the box, I was a bit doubtful about the quality of Death Reckoning after seeing a lot of recent projects being updated before its release, but when it comes to the climax, it doesn't get to that point. But Tom Cruise has proven that I'm just worrying for nothing. Right now, I can say that Unbeatable Mission is truly a treasure of Hollywood and I can't wait for this 60-year-old man to bring more miracles in the future.