 sees the Marvel star Hayley Atwell as a co-protagonist, here portraying Grace){kind=link}
After the extraordinary blockbuster success of Mission Impossible 6 – which turned out to be the most profitable in the history of the saga, the first part of the seventh film was released in theatres in July 2023. Alongside Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (Part 1) sees the Marvel star Hayley Atwell as a co-protagonist, here portraying Grace: a seductive thief, orphaned at an early age. Following a bit-coin treasure, the woman accidentally finds herself embroiled in a dangerous international intrigue. She will eventually be safe only by accepting “the decision”: the one to become a secret agent in the IMF (Impossible Mission Force). In other words, a ghost. The usual trio with Luther Stickell, Benji Dunn and of course Ethan Hunt, will become a foursome. We will see them facing the final challenge of the second part of the film, which is yet to be released.
But let’s take it one step at a time.
The Part One opens with the Russian submarine Sebastopol, victim of a cyberbug that can sabotage the whole on-board computer, and that leads to the death of all his passengers. What is more relevant to the strategic events is not so much the body counts, but what two of them carry around their neck in the way of a pendant. From the deep end of the Arctic sea and now silhouetting against the ice of the Polar Cap are two halves of a golden key. These will be the one key to the new potentially destructive world geopolitical balance. And to the whole movie.
Once reunited the two parts, it will be able to open the heart of the real antagonist of the movie, much more insidious as it is invisible. And it is everywhere. And it has a specific and a very dangerous intelligence: the artificial one. It is called “The Entity ”: an artificial intelligence originally designed to sabotage digital systems, and now out of control. In fact, not only did it spread into all major intelligence networks and military and defence systems, but also it became sentient.
Whereas the major world powers want to gain control of it to create a new supremacy that this recent and most dangerous weapon could easily enable, not everyone feels the same way. Leading the tiny group of the opposition that wants to end this threat and destroy the Entity special agent, Ethan Hunt. Since the moment he is sent at loose reins in the Arabian Desert in order to look for one half of the key, his search becomes a deeper quest. He needs to find out the nature of this object, what it opens, who’s behind it, and later on where he can find the heart of this imperceptible enemy and complete his self-assigned mission of eliminating it.
After conquering the first half from Ilsa Faust, deuteragonist of Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015) and Mission Impossible: The Fallout (2018), he will have to focus on grabbing the second one, and then holding them together. A task which gets more difficult as the two pieces keep getting misplaced in roguish ways.
We are talking about an intricate chess game with many players. We have the CIA director Eugene Kitteridge, and Jasper Briggs with the enforcers of the Community, then the Roman police, and The White Widow (an arm dealer interpreted by the wonderful Vanessa Kirby). But mostly and more disturbingly, accompanied by his Tarantinesque assassins crew, we have Gabriel; in a way the metaphorical embodiment of the Entity as he is its cruel emissary.
Everyone chases Ethan and Grace, who after the first deceitful encounter at the airport, are now a solid team. They run from old tiny cars, to fancy trains (nothing less than the Orient Express), they jump on ferries or parachutes from a motorcycle, they escape in the claustrophobic alleys of Venice and Rome, and go all the way to the Austrian Alps.
The first part of this seventh episode is pure adrenaline, and for the hardcore fans of the saga even a little melancholic. In fact, the seventh Mission Impossible is the last that will see Tom Cruise wearing the shoes of the character is now more renowned for. The second half of Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning, whose release is announced for June 2024, and then we will have to wait and see who will be able to hold up such a legendary legacy.
But let’s not think too forward, this mission is still to be accomplished. The key is now in the good hands of Ethan, the Sebastopol buried under the sea waiting to be reached, and the Entity lost its first battle. But there’s still a war to be fought.
With a brilliant cast and crazy VFX, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (Part 1) is not just an action or entertainment movie, but is tinged with a more bitter note. It picks up on a contemporary and searing subject of discussion, as it fantasizes over fears that are actually very concrete in a real world which is leaving AI an increasingly worrisome place.
Place, or is it freedom?
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