2023 - MISSION IMPOSSIBLE DEAD RECKONING PART ONE, ??

Of the three big action films this summer, this was probably the best of the bunch.  Furious X was plagued by a glut of supporting players, a ridiculous villain and a bunch of very obvious computer generated action scenes.  Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny had an 80 year old hero and a nasty streak to it that the film couldn't overcome. What all three of these films do have in common is their extraordinary running time, they all come in at a bloated two hours plus.

Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning at least has a sense of humor something which the other two films didn't even remotely possess.  To sit through these kinds of action films and not have a couple of lighthearted moments shows a failure to understand how to entertain an audience looking for some escapism.

The action scenes in Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning are for my money better thought out and staged.  The car chase scene is entertaining compared to the boring Furious X car chases and the large scale action piece on the train is certainly more thrilling than the overblown time travel climax in the Indiana Jones movie.  However this Mission Impossible film lets these scenes go on and on and on which ultimately dilutes the thrills.

Finally, there is absolutely no excuse for the lengthy running time on this current Tom Cruise action epic.  This film could have easily lost a good thirty to twenty minutes which would at least made it more playable for the audience.  The formula for these films is also starting to look like it's out of gas. This is essentially the same movie as the last six Mission Impossible films.  The sixty year old Tom Cruise may be getting a little old for this action hero stuff.  There was clearly a lot of digital cleanup going on with his face. 

The film was written by Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen, the running time is 164 minutes.