Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a 2023 American spy action film directed by Christopher McQuarrie, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen. It is the sequel to Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) and the seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. It stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, alongside an ensemble cast including Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, and Henry Czerny. In the film, Hunt and his IMF team face off against "the Entity", a powerful rogue AI.
In January 2019, Cruise announced the next two Mission: Impossible films would be shot back-to-back, with McQuarrie writing and directing both. Returning and new cast members were announced soon after, and Lorne Balfe, who composed the score for Fallout, returned to score. Filming began in Italy in February 2020 but was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It resumed later that year and wrapped in September 2021, with other filming locations including Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. It is the first film in the series since Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) not to involve J. J. Abrams and is the first film in the series to not be produced by Abrams' Bad Robot Productions since Mission: Impossible III (2006). With an estimated budget of $291 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One premiered on the Spanish Steps in Rome on June 19, 2023, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 12, 2023, by Paramount Pictures. The film received critical acclaim and grossed $567 million worldwide. However, because of its expensive overall budget and competition from the "Barbenheimer" cultural phenomenon, as well as sleeper hit Sound of Freedom, it was a box office disappointment. A direct sequel, an untitled eighth film, is set to be released on May 23, 2025.
Plot
The next-generation Russian submarine Sevastopol employs an advanced AI, activated by a two-pieced cruciform key. The AI deceives the crew into attacking a falsely hostile target only to fire its own torpedo back on itself, killing all aboard. IMF agent Ethan Hunt travels to the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert to retrieve one-half of the key from disavowed MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, who carries a bounty from an unknown source. Ethan retrieves the half-key and fakes Ilsa's death. Back in Washington, D.C., Ethan infiltrates a U.S. Intelligence Community briefing for Director of National Intelligence Denlinger to discuss the rogue AI. Director Eugene Kittridge recounts how the "Entity" has achieved sentience and can manipulate major defense intelligence and financial networks of the world at will. World powers compete to obtain the key to control the Entity, though the exact means of controlling it are unknown.
Revealing himself and exposing Kittridge's bounty on Ilsa, Ethan states his intention to destroy the Entity. Ethan and his IMF teammates Benji Dunn and Luther Stickell travel to Abu Dhabi International Airport to intercept the holder of the other half-key despite knowing they will be racing against all world powers. Ethan evades US agents in pursuit of the holder, but the half-key is stolen by a professional thief named Grace. Concurrently, Luther and Benji disarm a hoax nuclear device. Ethan suspects foul play after seeing Gabriel, a sadistic Entity liaison with ties to Ethan's pre-IMF past. Aborting the mission, the team scatters and Grace escapes to Rome. Grace is apprehended upon arrival, where she is rescued by Ethan from local authorities, US Agents and an Entity operative named Paris. Grace again escapes, but Ethan rendezvous with Luther and Benji and Ilsa rejoins them. With Benji and Luther providing support, Ethan and Ilsa follow Grace to Venice where they infiltrate a party held by the arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis.
With the party masquerading as a brokerage set up by the Entity, all groups disclose their role in acquiring the complete key. Grace had been hired by Alanna to steal one half to combine with the other she possesses, which will be sold to her buyer the next day on the Orient Express. Through the Entity, Gabriel proclaims that he will possess the key the following day regardless of any outcome and that it has also determined either Ilsa or Grace will die. Ethan unsuccessfully attempts to dissuade Alanna from the sale, allowing Gabriel and Grace to walk free. Ethan pursues Grace, but the Entity impersonates Benji and leads him into a fight with Paris, whom he subdues and spares. Gabriel incapacitates Grace and kills Ilsa, devastating Ethan. A remorseful Grace agrees to impersonate Alanna and take back the key during the sale. Luther leaves for an off-grid location to investigate the traces of the Entity in his hard drive, reminding Ethan to spare Gabriel for information despite his declaration of vengeance for Ilsa's death. On the train, Gabriel kills the engine crew and destroys the throttle and brake. With Paris, Gabriel meets Denlinger, who divulges information only he knows in an attempt to form an alliance between himself and the Entity.
Originally an advanced cyber weapon developed by the United States, the Entity "overperformed" when it infiltrated the Sevastopol and subsequently went rogue. The complete key unlocks a chamber inside the vessel which contains the Entity's source code, allowing it to be destroyed/controlled. Gabriel nevertheless kills Denlinger and attempts to kill Paris, who the Entity has determined will betray them after Ethan spared her life in Venice. Impersonating Alanna, Grace brings the key to the buyer, who is revealed to be Kittridge. She negotiates a $100 million sale and protection for herself, but after deciding against it pickpockets the key from Kittridge. Ethan parachutes onto the train to save Grace from her pursuers, but Gabriel acquires the key. Ethan battles Gabriel atop the train, but he escapes and detonates a bridge ahead. Grace and Ethan detach the locomotive from the rest of the train, saving the passengers. Paris rescues both from falling, telling Ethan the key's connection to the Sevastopol. Grace informs Kittridge of her intent to join the IMF. Ethan flees the wreckage by paraglider with the complete key (which he had taken during his fight with Gabriel) and rendezvous with Benji to continue the mission.
Cast
Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, an IMF agent and leader of an operatives team.
Hayley Atwell as Grace, a thief and Ethan's new ally. Christopher McQuarrie described Atwell's character as a "destructive force of nature," while Atwell explained that her character's loyalties are "somewhat ambiguous".
Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, an IMF computer technician, Ethan's best friend and a member of his team.
Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, an IMF technical field agent, Ethan's friend and a member of his team.
Pegg also voices the Entity, an all-powerful AI system who achieved sentience while infiltrating the Russian submarine Sevastopol, before going rogue, manipulating major defense, intelligence, and financial networks of the world at will, leading world powers to compete to obtain the key to control it, while the Entity recruits a human, Gabriel, as a liaison. The Entity speaks by initiating the voice of Dunn.
Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, a disavowed MI6 agent who allied with Ethan's team during Rogue Nation (2015) and Fallout (2018).
Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis, a black-market arms dealer and broker who goes by the alias "White Widow". Alanna is the daughter of Max, a deceased arms dealer originally portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave from the first film.
Esai Morales as Gabriel, a powerful terrorist and Ethan's adversary who appears to be working with the Entity, an all-powerful AI system, to rule the world. He and Ethan had a fateful encounter with each other prior to Ethan becoming an IMF agent.
Pom Klementieff as Paris, a French assassin who works for Gabriel; Paris is based on the character of the same name portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Mission: Impossible television series.
Mariela Garriga as Marie, a woman from Ethan and Gabriel's past, seen only in brief flashbacks.
Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge, the former director of the IMF and current director of the CIA last seen in Mission: Impossible (1996).
Shea Whigham as Jasper Briggs, a US Intelligence agent assigned with hunting Ethan and his team.
Cary Elwes as Denlinger, the Director of National Intelligence.
Greg Tarzan Davis as Degas, A US Intelligence agent and Briggs' partner assigned to track down Ethan and his team.
Frederick Schmidt as Zola Mitsopolis, Alanna's brother.
Additionally, Charles Parnell, Rob Delaney, Indira Varma, and Mark Gatiss appear as heads of US Intelligence agencies, representing NRO, JSOC, DIA, and NSA, respectively. Marcin Dorociński appears as the captain of the Sevastopol submarine.
Production
Announcement and casting
On January 14, 2019, Tom Cruise announced that the seventh and eighth Mission: Impossible films would be shot back-to-back with Christopher McQuarrie writing and directing both films for July 23, 2021, and August 5, 2022, releases. In February 2021, Paramount Pictures scuttled that plan.
In February 2019, Rebecca Ferguson confirmed her return for the seventh installment. In September, McQuarrie announced that Hayley Atwell had joined the cast. In September 2019, Pom Klementieff joined the cast of both the seventh and eighth films. In December 2019, Simon Pegg confirmed his return for the film, with Shea Whigham cast in both films. Nicholas Hoult was cast in a role in January 2020, along with the addition of Henry Czerny, reprising his role as Eugene Kittridge for the first time since the 1996 film. Hoult was cast due to Cruise liking enough his audition for Top Gun: Maverick (2022) to play Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, recognizing him as a supremely talented actor who just wasn't suited to play that role for that movie even though there wasn't a concrete story set for the seventh Mission: Impossible film back then. Vanessa Kirby also announced she was returning for both films. In May 2020, it was reported that Esai Morales would replace Hoult as the villain in both films due to scheduling conflicts. Morales was cast as Gabriel because of McQuarrie seeing his role of Camino Del Rio in Ozark; Hoult's recasting thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic with Morales led to drastic story changes, as it was after Morales was cast as that McQuarrie realized that Cruise and Morales being about the same age opened several story possibilities to tie-in their characters to Ethan Hunt's backstory. Similarly, it was after Hoult's departure that the filmmakers came up with the concept of "The Entity".
Angela Bassett announced she would return as Erika Sloane in December 2020, but she was later removed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Sloane appears in the film in a photo on the wall of DNI Denlinger's office during an intelligence briefing. In March 2021, McQuarrie revealed that Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss and Cary Elwes had joined the cast. That same day, Greg Tarzan Davis was also confirmed to have joined the cast.
McQuarrie revealed that for the flashback segments, he considered making them reflective of the 1989 setting akin to "Tony Scott’s Mission: Impossible", down to de-aging all the actors and featuring Julia Roberts as the girlfriend murdered by Gabriel. However, he stepped back once discovering how pricy the effects would become, while also feeling a younger Cruise would be distracting to audiences.
Filming and COVID-19 shutdown
Under the working title Libra, filming was scheduled to begin on February 20, 2020, in Venice, set up to last for three weeks before moving to Rome in mid-March for 40 days, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, production in the country was halted. Three weeks later, stunt rehearsals began in Surrey, England, just before a hiatus. On July 6, 2020, after another hiatus, crew arriving in the UK were given permission to begin filming without going through the mandatory 14-day quarantine. The set was located at Warner Bros Studios, Leavesden in Hertfordshire.
The following month, permission was granted for filming in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. That same month, a large fire broke out on a motorcycle stunt rig in Oxfordshire. The scene had taken six weeks to prepare and was "among one of the most expensive ever filmed in the U.K." No one was hurt in the incident.
Filming began on September 6, 2020, when McQuarrie started to publish pictures from the sets on Instagram. The film was shot with Sony CineAlta Venice cameras, making it the first film in the Mission: Impossible franchise to be shot digitally. In September 2020, filming took place in Norway, including the municipalities of Stranda and Rauma, with Cruise seen filming an action scene with Esai Morales atop a train. On October 26, 2020, production was suspended in Italy after 12 people tested positive for COVID-19 on set. Filming resumed a week later.
In December 2020, during filming in London, an audio recording of Cruise shouting at two crew members for not following COVID-19 rules on set was released online. Cruise was likened to his character Les Grossman from Tropic Thunder (2008) as a result. The response from the general public and that of many celebrities was supportive, suggesting that his tone and seriousness were warranted given the extreme circumstances and burden of ensuring production not be halted again. On December 28, 2020, Variety reported that the film would conclude principal photography at Longcross Film Studios in the United Kingdom, with production shifting from Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden. In Longcross, which is in Surrey in south-east England, productions were allowed to continue under strict COVID-19 protocols. In February 2021, filming concluded in the Middle East and the crew would return to London for "finishing touches".
On April 20, 2021, filming commenced in the small village of Levisham, North Yorkshire, North Yorkshire Moors Railway, for a sequence set in the Alps in Austria with a train going an hour through a bridge being blown up, as a reference to the climactic train wreck scene in the silent film The General (1926). In August 2021, filming commenced in Birmingham at the city's Grand Central shopping centre, with Cruise and Atwell spotted by onlookers. In September 2021, the film's gaffer Martin Smith confirmed on Instagram that principal photography had officially wrapped.
Other locations for the movie included a terminal still under construction at the Abu Dhabi airport and various sites in the Italian cities of Rome (including the 20-minute long car chase) and Venice.
Filming for the parachute and speed flying sequence took place in the Lake District over the Buttermere Valley in the summer of 2021 and 2022. The fells of High Crag and Robinson were used as launching points for shooting the speed flying scene, with landings taking place near the shore of the nearby lake.
Polish bridge controversy
During the pre-production in late 2019, the Swiss government refused to authorize any explosions for the train sequence in the Alps; as a result, the Skydance Media production team embarked on location scoutings in different countries to find an unwanted railway bridge. Among those asked to help with staging a "full-scale train crash" was Polish-American film producer Andrew Eksner. In November 2019, the Polish State Railways proposed Eksner use a 151-meter (492 ft) long, 1908 German-era riveted truss bridge on Lake Pilchowickie [pl; es], in the Jelenia Góra Valley, in Lower Silesia. In December 2019, Paramount Pictures producers including McQuarrie landed in southern Poland, accompanied in deep secrecy by officers of the Polish engineering troops. McQuarrie documented the visit on Instagram.
Officially opened in 1912 by Wilhelm II, the proposed bridge survived World War II mostly intact, and was used by trains until 2016. Despite publicly praising the bridge as "extremely valuable," an expert misrepresented conclusions of a commissioned report, that instead of renovating, it would be best to demolish the bridge and build a new one. In March 2020, after the rejected Eksner spread the information, local authorities and museum officials were appalled by the producers' intention to physically destroy the bridge, instead of using CGI effects. The filmmakers and government officials said the bridge was intended for demolition.
By July 2020, history and railway enthusiasts, scientists and filmmakers protested, along with the regional Monuments Heritage Office, members of Polish parliament, and the International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage. Activists and NGOs launched a petition against the destruction. As it was long registered provincially, and being added into Poland's national Registry of Cultural Property, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage confirmed it was pushing the bridge to play in the movie, with a "small section" to be demolished onset, before revitalizing the related local heritage railway line altogether. Following the backlash, the General Conservator of Monuments assured "there was no question" of destroying the bridge.
In August 2020, as the story turned international, McQuarrie said there was never a plan to blow up the bridge, and that only unsafe and partially damaged portions could have been destroyed, which allegedly needed to be rebuilt, concluding: "To open up the area to tourism, the bridge needed to go." He later added that "there was no disrespect intended". The production company did not pledge to cover construction costs of a potential new bridge, nor the renovation of the historic one. Eventually, cultural property registration procedures for the Lake Pilchowickie bridge were finalized, effectively preventing it from any damage. In May 2021, Eksner sued the Paramount production crew including McQuarrie and Cruise for breach of contract.
Filming of the train wreck scene was expected to take place between April and June 2021, in the Peak District National Park in Stoney Middleton, on a constructed set in a disused quarry, with a railway line and part of a bridge over the cliff edge. After two weeks of suspended filming, the scene was filmed on August 20, when a mockup Britannia Class locomotive was propelled off the cliff into the quarry.
Post-production
Industrial Light & Magic returned to provide the visual effects for the film, having done so for the first Mission: Impossible film (1996), Mission: Impossible III (2006) and Ghost Protocol (2011), with BeloFX, Blind LTD, Clear Angle Studios, and Halon Entertainment being the additional vendors for the film. In one of the later test screenings for the film held by McQuarrie, Edgar Wright asked him about a specific audio cue that McQuarrie felt obvious but upon Wright's question, realized that the audience hadn't noticed it, which led him and Cruise to change the "entire" movie.
Music
In early May 2020, Lorne Balfe was confirmed to be returning to compose the score for the seventh and eighth Mission: Impossible films, after previously doing so for Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). Balfe's music from the teaser trailer was digitally released as a single on June 23, 2022, through Paramount Music.
Marketing
A trailer for the film debuted exclusively at CinemaCon on April 28, 2022, including an introduction by Cruise filmed while he was flying in a biplane. The trailer was leaked to social media on May 21, 2022, and was officially released online on May 23, 2022. The CinemaCon introduction was released officially on September 8, 2022. Sam Barsanti of The A.V. Club gave the trailer a positive review and highlighted the many action scenes in it. JoBlo.com also gave the trailer a positive review, saying that the "action on display is truly amazing" and praising Cruise's dedication to entertaining.
A behind-the-scenes look at the film debuted ahead of IMAX screenings of Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). The full preview was released online four days later, on December 19, 2022.
In Japan, the movie collaborated with the anime and manga series Spy × Family via the Spy x Family anime film Code: White. The projects revealed a parody poster, in which the main characters from the anime series replace the movie cast, and also released a "collab highlights video", narrated by the voice actors of the titular Forger family.
Release
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One had its world premiere on the Spanish Steps in Rome on June 19, 2023, and was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on July 12, with special "Early Access Fan Event" screenings held on July 10. It was released in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, ScreenX, RPX, and other premium formats. It was previously set to be released on July 23, 2021, November 19, 2021, May 27, 2022 and September 30, 2022, before being delayed to July 14 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and production shutdowns. In April 2023, Paramount announced at CinemaCon that the film would be released two days earlier on July 12. The November 2021 and May 2022 release dates were given to Top Gun: Maverick (2022), another film starring Cruise that was also delayed by the pandemic. It premiered in Sydney, on July 3, 2023, with a release in Australian cinemas on July 8, 2023.
Home media
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was released for digital download on October 10, 2023. The Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD versions are slated for release on October 31, 2023.
Reception
Box office
, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has grossed $172.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $395.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $567.5 million. Variety reported that given the film's massive budget, it would "likely not turn a profit" in its theatrical run, later estimating that it would lose the studio around $100 million if it did not cross $600 million worldwide. The film was described as a box office disappointment. Paramount received a total of £57 million in COVID-19 insurance payouts related to the film from Swiss insurer Chubb.
In the United States and Canada, Dead Reckoning Part One was initially projected to gross around $90 million from 4,327 theaters over its first five days, as well as another $160 million from 70 international territories, for a five-day worldwide debut of around $250 million. The film made $15.5 million on its first day (including $7 million from Tuesday night preview screenings), and $8.3 million on its second. After making $16.7 million on Friday, weekend and five-day estimates were lowered to $54 million and $78 million, respectively. The film went on to debut to $54.7 million in its opening weekend and a total of $78.5 million over its first five days, just behind the second film's $78.8 million in 2000. While the film fell short of expectations after it "turned out a much lower opening weekend than expected", Deadline Hollywood noted that unlike Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), another near-three hour film that cost around $300 million and opened to $84 million over its first five days, Dead Reckoning Part One benefitted from better critic and audience scores. Despite that, the film dropped 65% to $19.4 million in its second weekend, finishing fourth behind newcomers Barbie and Oppenheimer and holdover Sound of Freedom. Some outlets noted that the film's unexpected box office drop could be attributed to ceding IMAX screens to Oppenheimer, as well as business going to the Barbenheimer doubleheader phenomenon despite Sound of Freedom also outperforming it domestically. It made $10.6 million in its third weekend and $6.7 million in its fourth, finishing in fifth and seventh place, respectively.
Critical response
The film received critical acclaim. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 90% of filmgoers gave it a positive score.
In a positive review for The Guardian, Mark Kermode gave the film four out of five stars, applauding Cruise for his acting in the film, while also praising the film for its "join-the-dots plot" and "thrilling" action. Similarly, Todd McCarthy for Deadline Hollywood and Siddhant Adlakha for IGN found that the film represents "Hollywood action filmmaking at its peak" and that "if every tentpole franchise entry were this fun and finely tuned, the theatrical-versus-streaming debate would be immediately put to rest". Brian Truitt for USA Today lauded the action sequences, saying "it's the first half of a man vs. machine epic that doesn't skimp in the thrills department. Just don't think too hard about it, though you'll probably still give serious side-eye to your laptop."
In a mixed review for Little White Lies, Adam Woodward remarked of the film's "diminishing returns amid all the ambitious action". In contrast to the very positive review by Varietys Peter Debruge, Owen Gleiberman wrote a column about the film for the magazine, stating that he thinks Cruise and McQuarrie should "go back" to what audiences loved about the franchise if they want to "end it on a high note."
Accolades
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One received a nomination for Most Anticipated Film at the 6th Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Film Awards.
Political Impact
After a screening of the film at Camp David, according to President Biden's chief of staff Bruce Reed stated "If he hadn't already been concerned about what could go wrong with AI before that movie, he saw plenty more to worry about." News outlets have claimed that the film may have lead to Biden signing a executive order about AI.
Sequel
A direct sequel is scheduled to be released on May 23, 2025, after being delayed by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. It was initially billed that both films will be a send-off to Ethan Hunt. In June 2023, McQuarrie told Fandango that Part One and Part Two would not end the series, and they were developing ideas for future installments. In July 2023, during promotion for Part One, Cruise expressed interest in continuing to make further films in the series as Hunt. Originally subtitled Dead Reckoning Part Two, the subtitle was removed in October 2023.
See also
List of Mission: Impossible filming locations
Notes
References
External links
2023 action thriller films
2023 films
2020s American films
2020s English-language films
2020s spy action films
American action thriller films
American sequel films
American spy action films
IMAX films
Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Films about artificial intelligence
Films based on television series
Films directed by Christopher McQuarrie
Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Films produced by Tom Cruise
Films scored by Lorne Balfe
Films set in Abu Dhabi
Films set in the Alps
Films set in Amsterdam
Films set in Rome
Films set in Venice
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Films set in Yemen
Films shot at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden
Films shot in Abu Dhabi
Films shot in Norway
Films shot in Rome
Films shot in Surrey
Films shot in Venice
Films with screenplays by Christopher McQuarrie
Mission: Impossible (film series)
Paramount Pictures films
Skydance Media films
Films about World War III