by Josh Sewell
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
(Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material. Opens in theaters on July 12.)
In a summer blockbuster season that has seen numerous “sure thing” franchises flounder (The Flash, Fast and the Furious, Indiana Jones, etc.), all eyes are on Mission: Impossible. Since the first installment hit theaters back in 1996, the long-running series has been one of the most consistently entertaining. They haven’t been perfect, but there has only been one truly bad chapter (2000’s Mission: Impossible II).
There has been an increased focus on stunts in the most recent films, with directors Brad Bird and Christopher McQuarrie (who is now officially the co-architect of the franchise with star Tom Cruise) building a lot of the plots around them. So far, that has worked wonders (especially with Ghost Protocol and Fallout, two of my favorite entries), but everyone’s luck has to run out sometime.
Unfortunately, that’s the case with the (supposed) penultimate installment Dead Reckoning Part One. In the moment, it’s an exhilarating ride with a surprising amount of tension-breaking humor. But – even more than usual – if you pick at the story threads for a moment or two, the whole thing comes apart. The more I thought about it on the drive home, the less sense it made.
This time around, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team (played by Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and Rebecca Ferguson) embark on their most dangerous mission yet: tracking down a powerful weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With the fate of the world at stake, and a mysterious villain (Esai Morales) from Hunt’s past closing in, a vital race around the globe begins. More than ever, Hunt realizes nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.
Look, Dead Reckoning Part One isn’t awful by any stretch. I had a lot of fun throughout the epic 163-minute running time, mostly because Cruise never phones it in. The man might have an unusual personal life, but as an actor he commits to the material no matter how outlandish it might seem.
But it’s really hard to get past the uncharacteristically slapdash plot and the downright laughable antagonist. When Hunt and his team finally comprehend who the big bad is, I literally laughed out loud – which I doubt is the reaction McQuarrie (who co-wrote the screenplay with Erik Jendressen) and Cruise were going for.
The usual cast is also terrific (especially Pegg and Rhames), although it’s obvious that scheduling conflicts impacted some of their screen time. Aside from Tom Cruise, Ferguson has become the MVP of this franchise over the last couple of movies, but her character Ilsa Faust barely factors in this time around. I’m guessing her commitment to the Dune sequel and the Apple TV+ series Silo had something to do with that, but it’s still a massive disappointment. As a result, McQuarrie brings in some fresh faces in a valiant attempt to fill her shoes. Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter in the Captain America films) is fantastic, and so is Pom Klementieff (Mantis in the Guardians of the Galaxy series), who plays a charismatic, mostly silent villain.
When all of these weird missteps are put together, there seems to be one undisputable cause: the pandemic, which wreaked havoc on the film’s shooting schedule. I know McQuarrie and Cruise did the best they could under awful circumstances, but you can literally feel the global shutdown causing janky plot contrivances and erratic character behavior.
There are so many close-ups that I lost count and certain members of the team suddenly decide they have to accomplish a task somewhere else off screen. After a while, it’s clear only one or two people were probably on set together at the same time for most of the shooting schedule.
I’m hoping Dead Reckoning Part Two will rectify the problems I had with this installment. The good news is Dead Reckoning Part One mostly feels like a complete (if lackluster) story instead of ending on a cliffhanger, and most of the characters are in place by the end to do some really cool stuff to wrap up the series. I’ll cross my fingers that we finish strong next summer, which is when the finale is scheduled to hit theaters – although shooting is currently paused due to the writer’s strike.
Grade: C+
Book Review: Creating Back to the Future: The Musical by Michael Klastorin
(Now available.)
Depending on when you ask me, Back to the Future is my all-time favorite movie. (Some days, I lean toward Casablanca or The Apartment.) That’s why I was skeptical when I heard creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale were turning their masterpiece into a musical. Don’t get me wrong, my wife knows I love the flick enough that she surprised me with tickets as soon as we learned it was coming to Broadway. Until recently, my plan was to walk into the theater with an open – but hesitant – mind.
However, now that the folks at Abrams Books were kind enough to send me Klastorin’s account of the prolonged effort to transform Marty McFly and Doc Brown’s adventure into a live show, I’m a bit more optimistic. In addition to including the lyrics to all the original songs, the book offers fans of the beloved BTTF franchise and musical theater lovers a comprehensive look at the effort it took to translate the classic 1985 movie to the stage.
The author, who boasts a decades-long long relationship with Zemeckis and Gale, was granted unprecedented access to the cast and crew. As such, he incorporates a host of fascinating in-depth interviews and photos. There’s also a foreword by acclaimed stage actor Roger Bart (the musical’s Doc), an introduction by Gale and an afterword by Zemeckis.
The musical has been in the works for more than a decade and made quite the splash in England before the Covid shutdown hampered its momentum. It finally opened at London’s Adelphi Theatre in August 2021 and previews for the Broadway production began on June 30. (I’m seeing it later this month.)
Considering its limited audience, Klastorin’s book probably won’t dominate the bestseller lists. But if you’re a fan of Back to the Future or musical theater in general, it’s definitely worth a read. It’s a warts-and-all account rather than a rosy, “everything went perfectly” fairy tale, which leads me to believe the musical is a true creative endeavor.
Grade: B+
(Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material. Opens in theaters on July 12.)
In a summer blockbuster season that has seen numerous “sure thing” franchises flounder (The Flash, Fast and the Furious, Indiana Jones, etc.), all eyes are on Mission: Impossible. Since the first installment hit theaters back in 1996, the long-running series has been one of the most consistently entertaining. They haven’t been perfect, but there has only been one truly bad chapter (2000’s Mission: Impossible II).
There has been an increased focus on stunts in the most recent films, with directors Brad Bird and Christopher McQuarrie (who is now officially the co-architect of the franchise with star Tom Cruise) building a lot of the plots around them. So far, that has worked wonders (especially with Ghost Protocol and Fallout, two of my favorite entries), but everyone’s luck has to run out sometime.
Unfortunately, that’s the case with the (supposed) penultimate installment Dead Reckoning Part One. In the moment, it’s an exhilarating ride with a surprising amount of tension-breaking humor. But – even more than usual – if you pick at the story threads for a moment or two, the whole thing comes apart. The more I thought about it on the drive home, the less sense it made.
This time around, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team (played by Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and Rebecca Ferguson) embark on their most dangerous mission yet: tracking down a powerful weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With the fate of the world at stake, and a mysterious villain (Esai Morales) from Hunt’s past closing in, a vital race around the globe begins. More than ever, Hunt realizes nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.
Look, Dead Reckoning Part One isn’t awful by any stretch. I had a lot of fun throughout the epic 163-minute running time, mostly because Cruise never phones it in. The man might have an unusual personal life, but as an actor he commits to the material no matter how outlandish it might seem.
But it’s really hard to get past the uncharacteristically slapdash plot and the downright laughable antagonist. When Hunt and his team finally comprehend who the big bad is, I literally laughed out loud – which I doubt is the reaction McQuarrie (who co-wrote the screenplay with Erik Jendressen) and Cruise were going for.
The usual cast is also terrific (especially Pegg and Rhames), although it’s obvious that scheduling conflicts impacted some of their screen time. Aside from Tom Cruise, Ferguson has become the MVP of this franchise over the last couple of movies, but her character Ilsa Faust barely factors in this time around. I’m guessing her commitment to the Dune sequel and the Apple TV+ series Silo had something to do with that, but it’s still a massive disappointment. As a result, McQuarrie brings in some fresh faces in a valiant attempt to fill her shoes. Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter in the Captain America films) is fantastic, and so is Pom Klementieff (Mantis in the Guardians of the Galaxy series), who plays a charismatic, mostly silent villain.
When all of these weird missteps are put together, there seems to be one undisputable cause: the pandemic, which wreaked havoc on the film’s shooting schedule. I know McQuarrie and Cruise did the best they could under awful circumstances, but you can literally feel the global shutdown causing janky plot contrivances and erratic character behavior.
There are so many close-ups that I lost count and certain members of the team suddenly decide they have to accomplish a task somewhere else off screen. After a while, it’s clear only one or two people were probably on set together at the same time for most of the shooting schedule.
I’m hoping Dead Reckoning Part Two will rectify the problems I had with this installment. The good news is Dead Reckoning Part One mostly feels like a complete (if lackluster) story instead of ending on a cliffhanger, and most of the characters are in place by the end to do some really cool stuff to wrap up the series. I’ll cross my fingers that we finish strong next summer, which is when the finale is scheduled to hit theaters – although shooting is currently paused due to the writer’s strike.
Grade: C+
(Now available.)
Depending on when you ask me, Back to the Future is my all-time favorite movie. (Some days, I lean toward Casablanca or The Apartment.) That’s why I was skeptical when I heard creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale were turning their masterpiece into a musical. Don’t get me wrong, my wife knows I love the flick enough that she surprised me with tickets as soon as we learned it was coming to Broadway. Until recently, my plan was to walk into the theater with an open – but hesitant – mind.
However, now that the folks at Abrams Books were kind enough to send me Klastorin’s account of the prolonged effort to transform Marty McFly and Doc Brown’s adventure into a live show, I’m a bit more optimistic. In addition to including the lyrics to all the original songs, the book offers fans of the beloved BTTF franchise and musical theater lovers a comprehensive look at the effort it took to translate the classic 1985 movie to the stage.
The author, who boasts a decades-long long relationship with Zemeckis and Gale, was granted unprecedented access to the cast and crew. As such, he incorporates a host of fascinating in-depth interviews and photos. There’s also a foreword by acclaimed stage actor Roger Bart (the musical’s Doc), an introduction by Gale and an afterword by Zemeckis.
The musical has been in the works for more than a decade and made quite the splash in England before the Covid shutdown hampered its momentum. It finally opened at London’s Adelphi Theatre in August 2021 and previews for the Broadway production began on June 30. (I’m seeing it later this month.)
Considering its limited audience, Klastorin’s book probably won’t dominate the bestseller lists. But if you’re a fan of Back to the Future or musical theater in general, it’s definitely worth a read. It’s a warts-and-all account rather than a rosy, “everything went perfectly” fairy tale, which leads me to believe the musical is a true creative endeavor.
Grade: B+
Reach out to Josh Sewell on Twitter @IAmJoshSewell
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