Walking into the theater last June to watch the 7th installment of the 26-year-old Mission: Impossible franchise, I felt anticipation building within me as I found my seat. As movies go, the franchise perfectly defines my favorite brand of action movies: overpowered protagonists and their implausibly countless narrow escapes from death, cunning villains who have vague justifications for their plans to destroy the world, explosive action scenes that overwhelm one’s senses with motion and sound, and more.
When I heard the news, sometime last year, that there would be a 7th (and an 8th) Mission: Impossible release, I thought to myself that Tom Cruise — who co-produces and stars in every installment — could not possibly expand the franchise any more than he had with 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout. How could they expect Ethan Hunt (the protagonist of Mission: Impossible, portrayed by Cruise) to face a villain more cunning and unhinged than Solomon Lane (Mission: Impossible 5 and 6)? Realistically, how could they push the character to accomplish greater physical feats, pull off more difficult and risky plans, and escape closer near-death situations than he had already experienced?
To my delighted surprise, Cruise succeeded in producing a film that somehow surpassed all six of the preexisting installments of his franchise. The film follows Hunt, a government agent, and his team as they track down a new weapon that can threaten all of humanity in the wrong hands, racing against an all-powerful AI — “The Entity” — and its human envoy, Gabriel. Throughout the film, I continuously found myself on the edge of my seat, and several times, I had to purposefully shut my mouth, which was hanging open in awe, or blink repeatedly in order to rehydrate my dried-up contacts from staring at the screen so intently.
The film was possibly the most enjoyable movie I’ve seen all year, personally beating Barbie, Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Avatar: The Way of Water, and I am eagerly anticipating the 2nd part of Dead Reckoning, which will also be the final installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise.
