Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Theatrical release poster

***Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One*** is a 2023 American action spy film directed and produced by Christopher McQuarrie, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Erik Jendresen. It is the sequel to Mission: Impossible – Fallout and the seventh installment in the *Mission: Impossible* film series. The film stars Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Esai Morales, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff and Henry Czerny.

In January 2019, Cruise announced that the seventh and eighth *Mission: Impossible* films would be shot back-to-back with McQuarrie writing and directing both films. Returning and new cast members were announced soon after, and Lorne Balfe, who composed the musical score for *Fallout*, returned to score the film. Filming began in Italy in February 2020 but was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It resumed later that year and concluded in September 2021 with other filming locations, including Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. Unlike the previous three films, Bad Robot Productions was not involved in the production.

*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 positive reviews from critics and has grossed $567 million worldwide. However, due to its expensive overall budget and competition from the "Barbenheimer" cultural phenomenon, it was a box office disappointment. A direct sequel, *Dead Reckoning Part Two*, is set to be released on June 28, 2024.

## Premise

Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their dangerous mission to track down a terrifying weapon that threatens humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious and a powerful nemesis named Gabriel, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.

## Plot

The next-generation Russian submarine *Sevastopol* employs an advanced AI for testing a new navigation system that uses dead reckoning. The AI tricks the crew into firing a torpedo and then turns the torpedo back on the submarine, sinking it and killing all aboard.

IMF agent Ethan Hunt travels to the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert to retrieve half of a cruciform key from Ilsa Faust, on whom the IMF has placed a bounty. He then infiltrates a meeting of leaders of the U.S. Intelligence Community in Washington, D.C., including CIA Director Eugene Kittridge and Director of National Intelligence Denlinger, to discuss the rogue AI. Calling it the Entity, they recount how it has achieved sentience and infiltrated the major defense, intelligence, and financial networks of the world. World powers compete to obtain the key to protect their national security and control the Entity, though the exact means of controlling it are unknown. Believing the Entity poses too great a threat to humanity, Ethan seeks to destroy it.

He and his teammates Benji Dunn and Luther Stickell travel to Abu Dhabi International Airport to intercept the holder of the other half-key. Ethan evades U.S. agents as well as Gabriel, an Entity liaison with ties to Ethan's pre-IMF past, while the half-key is stolen by a professional thief named Grace. Luther identifies a suspicious piece of baggage; Benji finds what appears to be a nuclear explosive, but finds it empty after narrowly defusing it. Ethan pursues Grace to Rome. After a lengthy chase, Grace escapes again, while Ethan reunites with Benji, Luther, and Ilsa.

With Benji and Luther providing support, Ethan and Ilsa infiltrate a party held by the arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis in Venice, hoping to find who hired Grace and learn of the key's purpose. Grace encounters Gabriel and learns that Alanna hired her to steal the half-key. Ethan unsuccessfully attempts to dissuade a fearful Alanna from selling it. Gabriel reveals that the Entity has infiltrated the party and determined that one of Ethan's allies, either Ilsa or Grace, will die. They all scatter afterward, with Ethan subduing but sparing Gabriel's subordinate, Paris, while Gabriel subdues Grace and kills Ilsa, devastating Ethan. A remorseful Grace joins Ethan's team, and they prepare to board the Innsbruck-bound *Orient Express*, where Alanna will meet with her buyer. Luther leaves for an off-grid location to investigate isolated traces of the Entity in his hard drive, warning Ethan not to kill Gabriel out of vengeance, as only Gabriel knows how to use the key.

On the train, Gabriel kills the engine crew and destroys the throttle and brake. He meets Denlinger, who proposes an alliance between himself and the Entity. Denlinger explains that the complete key unlocks the chamber housing the computer of the *Sevastopol*, which contains the early version of the Entity that can be used to control or destroy it, once and for all. Gabriel kills Denlinger and, suspecting Paris will betray him after Ethan spared her in Venice, attempts to kill her as well. Impersonating Alanna, Grace brings the complete key to Alanna's buyer, revealed to be Kittridge. Though tempted to betray Ethan for $100 million and protection for herself, Grace decides against it, pickpockets the key from Kittridge and flees. Ethan parachutes off a cliff onto the train to save Grace from her pursuers, but Gabriel acquires the key.

Ethan overpowers Gabriel atop the train, but the latter escapes and detonates a bridge ahead. Grace and Ethan detach the locomotive from the rest of the train, saving all the passengers. A revived Paris rescues them from falling off the bridge and reveals the key's connection to the *Sevastopol*. Ethan flees the train with the complete key, which he had pickpocketed from Gabriel during their skirmish. Grace informs Kittridge that she has chosen to join the IMF.

## Cast

* Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, an IMF agent and leader of an operatives team.
* Hayley Atwell as Grace; Christopher McQuarrie described Atwell's character as a "destructive force of nature", while Atwell explained that her character's loyalties are "somewhat ambiguous".
* 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.
* Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, an IMF computer technician, Hunt's best friend and a member of his team.
* Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, an IMF technical field agent and a member of Hunt's team.
* Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, a former MI6 agent who allied with Hunt's team during *Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation* (2015) and *Mission: Impossible – Fallout* (2018).
* Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis, a black-market arms dealer aka "White Widow", Alanna is the daughter of Max, an arms dealer originally played by Vanessa Redgrave from the first film.
* Pom Klementieff as Paris, a French assassin who works for Gabriel. Klementieff's character shares the same name as Leonard Nimoy's character from the original *Mission: Impossible* television series.
* 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 the heads of the 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, Cruise announced that the seventh and eighth *Mission: Impossible* films would be shot back-to-back with McQuarrie writing and directing both films for July 23, 2021, and August 5, 2022, releases.

In February 2021, Paramount scuttled that plan, but Ferguson confirmed her return for the seventh installment. In September 2019, McQuarrie announced on Instagram 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 of 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. 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.

Angela Bassett confirmed that she would return as Erika Sloane in December 2020, but was later removed from the film due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. In March 2021, McQuarrie revealed on Instagram that Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss and Cary Elwes had joined the cast. That same day, Greg Davis was also confirmed to have joined the cast.

### 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, similar 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. In October 2020, across Norway, when the previous installment was filmed in Preikestolen, 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 halted 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 production crew members for not following the COVID-19 rules on set was released online. Cruise was likened to his character Les Grossman from the 2008 film *Tropic Thunder* 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 Switzerland with a train going 60 miles (97 km) an hour through a bridge being blown up, as a reference to the climactic train wreck scene in the 1926 silent film *The General*. 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 filming 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. The shore of Buttermere lake at Crag wood was also used for the landing scene at the end of the film.

### 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 [pʲilxɔvʲit͡skʲɛ] [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 devastated and 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. And 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".[*better source needed*] 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.

Ultimately, 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 returns to provide the visual effects for the film, after doing 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, the composer Lorne Balfe was confirmed to be returning to compose the score for the seventh and eighth *Mission: Impossible* films, after scoring the sixth. Balfe's music from the teaser trailer was digitally released by Paramount Music on June 23, 2022 as a single.

## 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.

### 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 first debuted in front of IMAX screenings of *Avatar: The Way of Water*. The full preview was released online four days later, on December 19, 2022.

In Japan, the movie received a collaboration project with the movie *Spy × Family Code: White* from the anime series *Spy × Family*. 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 anime.

### Home media

*Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One* will be released for digital download on October 10, 2023, while the Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD versions are slated for release on October 31, 2023.

## Reception

### Box office

As of September 24, 2023, *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. In September 2023, it was revealed through U.K. tax filings that Paramount had received a total of £57 million ($71 million) in COVID-19 insurance payouts related to the movie.

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

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 416 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's consensus reads: "With world-threatening stakes and epic set pieces to match that massive title, *Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One* proves this is still a franchise you should choose to accept." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 66 critics, indicating "universal 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 said: "Tom Cruise and co gear up for another high-stakes mission, but it’s diminishing returns amid all the ambitious action".

### Accolades

*Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One* received a nomination for Most Anticipated Film at the 6th Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Film Awards.

## Sequel

Main article: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two

A direct sequel has been filmed and is scheduled to be released on June 28, 2024, after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was announced 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.