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 by 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 the first film in the series not to be produced by Abrams's Bad Robot since Mission: Impossible III (2006). With an estimated budget of $291 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.
The Sevastopol, a next-generation Russian stealth submarine, activates an advanced AI using a two-piece cruciform key. The AI, designated "the Entity", becomes sentient and goes rogue after deceiving the submarine crew into attacking themselves with a torpedo, killing all aboard and sinking the Sevastopol in the Arctic Ocean.
World powers compete to obtain the cruciform key in hopes of controlling the Entity. IMF agent Ethan Hunt travels to the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert and retrieves one piece of the key from disavowed MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, faking her death to shield her from a bounty. In Washington, D.C., Ethan infiltrates a U.S. Intelligence Community briefing for Director of National Intelligence Denlinger, where CIA Director Eugene Kittridge explains that the Entity can manipulate cyberspace to control global defense intelligence and financial networks. Ethan reveals himself and forces Kittridge to admit to placing the bounty on Ilsa, then escapes, determined to destroy the Entity.
Ethan and his IMF teammates Benji Dunn and Luther Stickell travel to Abu Dhabi International Airport to intercept the second piece of the key. It is revealed to be a fake, although Ethan encounters Grace, a skilled thief who steals the first piece of the key from him, while Luther and Benji disarm a hoax nuclear device. Ethan is pursued by US agents but spots his mortal enemy Gabriel, an Entity liaison with ties to his pre-IMF past, and aborts the mission, scattering the team. Grace escapes to Rome and is apprehended, but Ethan rescues her from local authorities, the US agents, and Paris, an Entity operative. Grace escapes again, while Ethan rejoins Luther, Benji, and Ilsa.
Ethan and Ilsa follow Grace to Venice and infiltrate a party held by arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis. In possession of the second piece of the key, Alanna hired Grace to steal the first, and will sell the completed key to her buyer the next day on the Orient Express. Gabriel proclaims that he will possess the completed key the next day and that either Ilsa or Grace will die. Ethan attempts to dissuade Alanna from the sale, allowing Gabriel and Grace to escape. Ethan pursues Grace, but the Entity hacks into their communications and impersonates Benji, leading Ethan into a fight with Paris, whom he spares. Gabriel incapacitates Grace and kills Ilsa, devastating Ethan.
While preparing for the sale, Luther leaves for an off-grid location to prevent interference from the Entity, advising Ethan to spare Gabriel for questioning about the Entity. On the train with Paris, Gabriel kills the engine crew and destroys the throttle and brake. He meets with Denlinger, who attempts to form an alliance with the Entity, which he reveals was originally an advanced cyber weapon developed by the US. The completed key unlocks a chamber inside the Sevastopol containing the Entity's source code, allowing it to be destroyed or controlled. As this secret is known only to Denlinger, Gabriel kills him, and tries to kill Paris as the Entity has predicted she will betray them after Ethan spared her life.
Disguised as Alanna, Grace brings the key to Kittridge, revealed to be the buyer, and negotiates a $100 million sale alongside protection for herself, but pickpockets the key from Kittridge after cancelling the transfer. Ethan parachutes into the train to save Grace, but Gabriel acquires the key. Fighting Ethan atop the train, Gabriel escapes and detonates a bridge ahead. Detaching the runaway locomotive and saving the passengers, Grace and Ethan climb through the falling train cars until they are rescued by Paris, who tells Ethan about the key's connection to the Sevastopol before collapsing. Grace informs Kittridge of her desire to join the IMF, while Ethan flees the wreckage by paraglider. Having pickpocketed the completed key from Gabriel, Ethan and Benji continue their mission to find the Sevastopol and destroy the Entity.
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".[8][9]
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, a powerful rogue sentientAI who can manipulate cyberspace, allowing it to control global defense intelligence and financial networks, who enlists Gabriel as a liaison while world powers compete to control it.
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 liaison assassin 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's becoming an IMF agent.[10]
In February 2019, Rebecca Ferguson confirmed her return for the seventh installment.[21][22] In September, McQuarrie announced that Hayley Atwell had joined the cast.[23] In September 2019, Pom Klementieff joined the cast of both the seventh and eighth films.[11] In December 2019, Simon Pegg confirmed his return for the film, with Shea Whigham cast in both films.[24][25]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.[26][27] Hoult was cast because Cruise liked 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.[28]
Vanessa Kirby also announced she was returning for both films.[29] In May 2020, it was reported that Esai Morales would replace Hoult as the villain in both films because of scheduling conflicts.[30] Morales was cast as Gabriel because of McQuarrie seeing his role of Camino Del Rio on Ozark; Hoult's recasting thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic with Morales led to drastic story changes since it was after Morales was cast 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".[28]
Angela Bassett announced she would return as Erika Sloane in December 2020, but she was later removed because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.[31][32] 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.[16] That same day, Greg Tarzan Davis was also confirmed to have joined the cast.[14]
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 pricey the effects would become, while also feeling a younger Cruise would be distracting to audiences.[33] McQuarrie had also chosen to have Ilsa Faust die in the film while working on Top Gun: Maverick (2022) with Cruise, which he had co-written. He felt the decision would show the "stakes have to be real" and described Ilsa and Ethan's relationship as being "doomed to be together and yet doomed never to be together".[34]
Filming
Under the working title Libra,[35] 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,[36][37] but the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy halted production in the country.[38] Three weeks later, stunt rehearsals began in Surrey, England, just before a hiatus.[39] On July 6, 2020, after another hiatus, crew arriving in the UK were permitted to begin filming without going through the mandatory 14-day quarantine. The set was located at Warner Bros Studios, Leavesden in Hertfordshire.[40]
The following month, permission was granted for filming in Møre og Romsdal, Norway.[41] 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.[42]
Filming began on September 6, 2020,[43] when McQuarrie started to publish pictures from the sets on Instagram.[44] 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.[45] 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 protocols on set was released online.[46] Cruise was likened to his character Les Grossman from Tropic Thunder (2008) as a result.[47][48] 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.[49][50] 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 southeast England, production was allowed to continue under strict COVID-19 protocols.[51] In February 2021, filming concluded in the Middle East and the crew returned to London for "finishing touches".
On April 20, 2021, filming commenced in the small village of Levisham, North Yorkshire, at North Yorkshire Moors Railway,[52] for a sequence set in the Alps in Austria with a train going 60 miles (97 km) an hour toward a bridge being blown up,[53][54] as a reference to the climactic train wreck scene in the silent film The General (1926).[55] In August 2021, filming commenced in Birmingham at the city's Grand Central shopping centre, with Cruise and Atwell spotted by onlookers.[56] In September 2021, the film's gaffer Martin Smith confirmed on Instagram that principal photography had officially wrapped.[57]
Other locations for the movie included a terminal still under construction at the Abu Dhabi airport[58] and various sites in the Italian cities of Rome (including the 20-minute-long car chase)[59] and Venice.[60]
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.[61] The train scene with the motorcycle jump was shot in Norway, with the fight scenes agreed on with the Norwegian government.[62]
Officially opened in 1912 by Wilhelm II, the proposed bridge survived World War II mostly intact,[68] and was used by trains until 2016.[69] Despite publicly praising the bridge as "extremely valuable,"[70] an expert misrepresented conclusions of a commissioned report,[71] that instead of renovating, it would be best to demolish the bridge and build a new one.[72][73] In March 2020, after the rejected Eksner spread the information,[55] local authorities and museum officials were appalled by the producers' intention to physically destroy the bridge, instead of using CGI effects.[64][74] The filmmakers and government officials said the bridge was intended for demolition.[69]
In August 2020, as the story turned international,[82][83] 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."[84] He later added that "there was no disrespect intended".[85] The production company did not pledge to cover construction costs of a potential new bridge, nor the renovation of the historic one.[69] Eventually, cultural property registration procedures for the Lake Pilchowickie bridge were finalized, effectively preventing it from any damage.[86] In May 2021, Eksner sued the Paramount production crew including McQuarrie and Cruise for breach of contract.[87]
Filming of the train wreck scene was expected to take place between April and June 2021 on a constructed set in a disused quarry in the Peak District National Park in Stoney Middleton, with a railway line and part of a bridge over the cliff edge.[88] After two weeks of suspended filming,[89] the scene was filmed on August 20, when a mockup Britannia Class locomotive was propelled off the cliff into the quarry.[90][91]
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.[92][93][94] 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.[95]
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).[96] Balfe's music from the teaser trailer was digitally released as a single on June 23, 2022, through Paramount Music.[97]
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.[98] The trailer was leaked to social media on May 21, 2022,[99] and was officially released online on May 23, 2022.[100] The CinemaCon introduction was released officially on September 8, 2022.[101] Sam Barsanti of The A.V. Club gave the trailer a positive review and highlighted the many action scenes in it.[102]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.[103] A behind-the-scenes look at the film debuted ahead of IMAX screenings of Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).[104][105] The full preview was released online four days later, on December 19, 2022.[106] 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.[107][108][109]
Release
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One had its world premiere at the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome on June 19, 2023,[110] and was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on July 12,[111] with special "Early Access Fan Event" screenings held on July 10.[112] It was released in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, ScreenX, RPX and other premium formats.[113] It was previously set to be released on July 23, 2021,[114] November 19, 2021,[115] May 27, 2022,[116] and September 30, 2022,[117] before being delayed to July 14 by the COVID-19 pandemic and production shutdowns.[118][119] In April 2023, Paramount announced at CinemaCon that the film would be released two days earlier, on July 12.[111] 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.[115][116] It premiered in Sydney on July 3, 2023, and released in Australia five days later.[120]
Home media
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was released for digital download on October 10, 2023, while Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD versions were released on October 31, 2023.[121] The Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray releases include behind-the-scenes and editing featurettes, a deleted scenes montage and an audio commentary.[121] It began streaming on Paramount+ on January 25, 2024, with Part One removed from the title because the sequel abandoned its original title.[6]
Reception
Box office
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning grossed $172.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $398.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $570.6 million.[4][5]Variety reported that given the film's massive budget, it would "likely not turn a profit" in its theatrical run,[122] later estimating that it would lose the studio around $100 million if it did not cross $600 million worldwide.[123] The film was described as a box-office disappointment.[122][124][125] Paramount received a total of £57 million ($71 million) in COVID-19 insurance payouts related to the film from Swiss insurer Chubb.[3][126]
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.[2] 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.[127] After making $16.7 million on Friday, weekend and five-day estimates were lowered to $54 million and $78 million, respectively.[128] 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 Mission: Impossible 2's $78.8 million in 2000.[129] While the film fell short of expectations after it "turned out a much lower opening weekend than expected",[130][131][132]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.[133] 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.[134][135] At the time, it had the biggest second weekend decline of any Mission: Impossible film, breaking the previous record held by Mission: Impossible 2.[136]
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 (which Cruise and McQuarrie also promoted) despite Sound of Freedom also outperforming it domestically.[137] It made $10.6 million in its third weekend and $6.7 million in its fourth, finishing in fifth and seventh place, respectively.[138][139] After finishing its box office run, it became the second-lowest-grossing installment of the franchise domestically, only behind the $134 million gross from Mission: Impossible III (2006).[140]
Critical response
The film received generally positive reviews.[b] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 433 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."[150]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 66 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[151] 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.[128]
In a positive review for the Guardian, Mark Kermode gave the film four out of five stars, applauding Cruise for his acting while also praising the film for its "join-the-dots plot" and "thrilling" action.[152] 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".[7][153] 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."[154]
In a mixed review for Little White Lies, Adam Woodward remarked of the film's "diminishing returns amid all the ambitious action".[155] In contrast to the very positive review by Variety's Peter Debruge,[156]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."[157]
After a screening of the film at Camp David, President Joe 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 led to Biden signing an executive order about AI.[187]
A sequel, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, is scheduled to be released on May 23, 2025, after being delayed by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[188][189] It was initially billed that it and Dead Reckoning Part One would be a send-off to Ethan Hunt.[190] In June 2023, McQuarrie told Fandango that the two films would not end the series and that they were developing ideas for future installments.[191] In July 2023, during promotion for Dead Reckoning Part One, Cruise expressed interest in continuing to make further films in the series as Hunt.[192] Originally subtitled Dead Reckoning Part Two, the sequel's subtitle was removed in October 2023,[188] and retitled to The Final Reckoning in November 2024.[193]
Notes
^Retroactively retitled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning on streaming services after its sequel abandoned its original subtitle, Dead Reckoning Part Two, which later became The Final Reckoning.[6]
^ abMadrjas, Jakub (July 29, 2020). "Posłowie i samorządowcy bronią mostu w Pilchowicach" [MPs and Local Government Officials Defend the Bridge in Pilchowice]. Rynek Kolejowy (in Polish). Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
^Hildebrand, Kathleen (August 4, 2020). "Filmdreh in Polen – Tom Cruise vs. Denkmalschutz" [Film Shoot in Poland – Tom Cruise vs. Monument Protection]. Süddeutsche.de (in German). Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.