Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I

Official Australian release date: 8/7/23. Viewed: 8/7/23.
Director: Chris McQuarrie
Actors: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg  
Genre: Action / Adventure         
Rating: M

‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I' (M:I7) is another strong entry in the action/spy series, with Ethan (Cruise) looking slightly older, but not less determined to save the world. I believe the sequel to this film will be his last outing – but we’ll see. This time, there’s some Skynet-like sentient-AI that’s manipulating nefarious types to take over the world, so the IMF team are out to get the two halves of key that can stop it.

Isla (Ferguson), Benji (Pegg) and Luther (Rhames) are back, as well as CIA boss Kittridge (Czerny), with Grace (Atwell), a thief, being the newcomer. The bad guys that keep thwarting them are Gabriel (Morales) from Ethan’s past, and Paris (Klementieff). The consistency of having McQuarrie as director of the two previous films helps, with everything feeling assured and this working as a really solid follow-up to ‘Fallout’.

There’s some funny moments, some sincere ones, and some of Ethan running, as contractually-obliged. The whole final scene on the train is excellent, with so many things happening, but there’s plenty of good set-pieces throughout, including a good car chase. However, the piece-de-resistance is the motorbike off the cliff into a BASE jump is something else. The fact Cruise did it for real, multiple times, is crazy and inspiring.

Overall: Can’t wait until the next (final?) one!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars

 

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Official Australian release date: 29/6/23. Viewed: 2/7/23.
Director: James Mangold
Actors: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Ethan Isidore  
Genre: Action / Adventure         
Rating: M

‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ (or Indiana Jones 5) comes 42 years after the original, and while not in the same league as ‘Raiders’ or ‘Last Crusade’, it is up there with ‘Temple of Doom’. This film is directed by Mangold (‘Logan’ and ‘Ford v Ferrari’), who knows how to film a car/train chase. This time, it’s 1969 and we have an older Indy (Ford) trying to find the eponymous “dial” (more like an ancient ballerina box) with his goddaughter, Helena (Waller-Bridge).

She brings some good humour and a nice presence to balance Indy, as well as another pre-teen offsider, Teddy (Ididore), while Voller (Mikkelsen) and Klaber (Holbrook) are good as the modern-day Nazi bad guys. There’s a few slow moments early on (aside from the opening train scene), but the film really hits it’s stride in the 2^nd & 3^rd acts.

As with most Indiana Jones films, you have to suspend a bit of disbelief, but the plot-point for the final act is pretty dumb. There’s a few cameos, the iconic score from John Williams, some good wise-cracks and a mostly-satisfying ending. Mostly though, it feels comfortable and a mostly-exciting adventure film, as it should be.

Overall: Solid farewell to an icon

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars