‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ review: Summer’s best movie

The new movies “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” have a lot in common.

Both are part of decades-old American franchises that have been led by the same stars from Day 1 — Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford, respectively. Both concern a mysterious object that’s been split in two and needs to be recovered before it falls into the wrong hands. And both feature an extended action chase aboard a moving train.

But the similarities end there, because the competing films diverge in the most important way. Unlike the totally unnecessary “Indy 5,” the seventh “Mission: Impossible” chapter is actually good.

More than that, I reckon “Dead Reckoning” is one of the best movies of our so-far lacking summer.

Once again, good ol’ reliable Ethan Hunt (Cruise) accepts his mission and bats it out of the park.

Director and co-writer Christopher McQuarrie, back after 2018’s superb “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” does not set his sights upon reinvention, or on flipping the script.

And why bother? The series has an ironclad formula that works. The director continues, however, to freshen up the pacing and humor for the 2020s.

For instance, an early meeting scene at the CIA happily reintroduces Henry Czerny’s bone-dry Kittridge from the first film as the CIA director, who disarms us with shrewd self-awareness.

Kittridge reveals to the stone-faced room the existence of Ethan Hunt and the uber-secret IMF.

“The International Monetary Fund?” replies a confused suit.

“No, um, the Impossible Missions Force,” Kittridge replies, deadly serious.

The officials then bombard him with questions about how a completely unknown man could possibly be allowed to blow things up in foreign countries on covert missions in service of the US Government.

“IF he chooses to accept his mission,” Kittridge says.

Spoiler alert: He does.

This time, Hunt (Cruise) has gone rogue — one of his favorite pastimes — but he is tracked down and tasked with locating a key that could give nefarious forces access to a dangerous artificial intelligence device referred to as “The Entity.” Think ChatGPT, but with nukes. All the while, Hunt is on the run from multiple foes who are trying to gun him down.

If I had a quibble, it would be that technology can make for a thorny and cerebral on-screen antagonist, unless it’s physically manifested a la “The Terminator.”

“Mission: Impossible” prioritizes people over plot, though — “Dead Reckoning” continues its run of engaging, eccentric characters. Hunt is back in business with sister act Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames), ever the perfect comedic foils to Cruise’s intensity. 

Rebecca Ferguson returns as former MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, who’s in hiding, and the fabulous Vanessa Kirby pops in for a bit as semi-maniacal arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis from “Fallout.”

New to the crew is the terrific British actress Hayley Atwell as Grace, a skilled pickpocket who becomes entangled with Hunt after a dizzying encounter at the airport.

And the baddie is Gabriel (Esai Morales), an identity-less killer who not only wants the key to the Entity but holds the key to Hunt’s pre-IMF past. (“Dead Reckoning” is a two-part story, and we’ll learn more about those fuzzy origins in the second one, out next year.)

The team jets to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Rome and Venice, Italy; and Austria. And McQuarrie and Cruise keep ratcheting up the breathtaking reality of the stunts at every locale.   

The aforementioned train scene, in which a bridge is destroyed and the locomotive dangles perilously, is heart-stopping. And the car chases in Rome should come with the disclaimer: No ancient ruins were harmed during the making of this movie.

But the showcase stunt this time around has Cruise riding a motorcycle over a cliff before opening his parachute and safely landing. A shot of his windswept face is shown midair, just to prove incontrovertibly that it’s the actor taking the risk.

In a manner both exhilarating and nostalgic, the scene summons memories of James Bond’s opening ski jump from 1977’s “The Spy Who Loved Me.” (Of course, Roger Moore, who was 11 years younger than Cruise at the time, let his stunt double jump off the mountain.)

I thought a lot about 007 during “Dead Reckoning.” Following the unprecedented events of “No Time To Die,” the 60-year-old behemoth franchise will likely be rebooted — more so than usual — in the next chapter, to try and stay relevant. “Indiana Jones,” we’re told, is finished for good. 

But seven movies and 26 years on, Ethan Hunt’s mission is more satisfying than ever.