They always go rogue - him and his merry band of prankster circus freaks

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2023

#11 : Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning

The run-up to release was all about that stunt, fevered reporting about Tom Cruise’s daredevil mountain/motorcycle interfacing. In the movie itself, though, that moment — as grandiosely bananas as it is — is just another beat in a long series of knuckle-whitening thrills. McQuarrie and Cruise, the Hitchcock and Stewart of adrenaline, have now got this stuff down to a fine art. And even though the film struggles slightly to differentiate itself from previous instalments, there’s a calm mastery at work here that forces you to submit, from the Hunt For Red October-riffing opening sequence, to a high-tech airport cat-and-mouse game with multiple cats and multiple mice, to the train-set demolishing finale. Lord knows how they intend to top all this with the story’s concluding chapter, but only a fool would (dead) reckon against them. Let’s just hope Mark Gatiss, in the most ‘Is that Mark Gatiss?!’ role ever, gets more to do next time around.

The Mission Impossible series is an interesting one - anyone who watched MI2 (which is, at best, a muddled mess) must be amazed that we've made it all the way to MI7. For a lot of people MI3 is the one that saved things but I really didn't get it (despite the addition of Simon Pegg, who I really like) and MI5 is also highly regarded but I think it's got a terrible ending - so I guess it just goes to show that maybe I don't know everything. But I was always going to watch this no matter what has come beforehand...

...particularly because of "that" stunt with the motorbike, which is really very well done indeed. The car chase in Rome is also superb - the amount of stunt choreography involved is extremely impressive. And the train wreck scene at the end is also very well done - although there's possibly an argument they ran it for too long (which is me subtly saying that it goes on waaaaay too long). But yes - the action is great, exactly as you'd expect it to be and that's pretty much all you need to know.

Sorry - did you want to know details of plot, characterisation, growth or any such nonsense? Seriously? You came here for that?!? If so, just walk away now and don't come back. It's all pretty watchable because whilst it takes itself very seriously, it still manages to inject some humour - but you don't come to MI films for the same sort of thing you might go to other films for. You come for the Tom, the team and the thrills - and there's no doubt it delivers on all fronts there.

Does anyone come to films like this for the acting? Not really, I'd argue - but it takes a certain level of skill to reach the required level of "believability" (in a patently unbelievable scenario).  Also, for a Tom Cruise-lead franchise with a strong masculine vibe going on, the women are very well served across the board with Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby having stood out in several films already and Hayley Atwell is an excellent addition here - she has exactly the required mix of wide-eyed disbelief and in-on-the-joke knowing that the film calls for. Everyone else is just doing what they do - you either like it or you don't.

We watched this film as a family and there's no doubt that I was happiest with it. The main complaint (which I quite agreed with) is that the film is too long - absolutely NO-ONE needed this to be 165 minutes long. They could quite easily have lost 30 minutes and it would have made just as much sense (ie none) and been a much better film as a result - I find it weird that people who know much more about this sort of thing didn't easily see that.

I suspect that you've probably already made up your mind about this film and nothing I've seen about it would make me suggest that you should change your mind. If you like ridiculous overblown action tied to a ludicrous plot then you've probably already seen it and can't wait for the second part to come out - but if it's your sort of thing and you've somehow missed it then it's available to stream on Sky or Paramount+. Somewhat bizarrely, it doesn't seem available to rent anywhere but you can always buy it if you're desperate - and maybe if you watch it multiple times then the plot might start to make some kind of sense (but probably not, if I'm being honest).

#12 - Surprisingly enjoyable
#10 - As enjoyable as I can find these things