Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

One of the many, many astonishing things about the latest Mission Impossible entry is perhaps my lack of surprise at how utterly brilliant it is.

This is testament to Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise and their now three-film (in the MI series at least) love affair. What began with Rogue Nation in 2015 will eventually stretch to four Mission Impossible films with Dead Reckoning Part 2 due next year, quite possibly the final film of a truly extraordinary franchise.

Every film has upped the stakes, be it Tom Cruise hanging off the side of a plane, hanging off the side of the world's tallest building, or in this case driving a motorbike off the top of a cliff. You've probably already seen the stunt that, unsurprisingly, Cruise performed himself on day one of filming, whether you've actually sat through the whole film or not.

As far as the plot goes, the IMF have to track down two parts of a connecting key that is also being hunted by an AI 'entity' with the help of Esai Morales' villain Gabriel. Rebecca Ferguson is back as Ilsa Faust, as are MI regulars Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames along with newcomer Hayley Atwell, a thief that we're introduced to during a classic MI scene at Abu Dhabi airport, reminiscent somewhat of Paul Greengrass' Waterloo Station sequence in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007).

The film opens unusually with a Hunt-less section on board a Russian submarine that sets the scene for what presumably will end up being a huge piece of Part 2, and with the crew speaking English with Russian accents one can't help but be reminded of the opening sequence of The Hunt for Red October (1990).

The protracted pre-credits segment continues post submarine episode, for nearly half an hour or so and by the time it arrives you need it just to catch your breath.

From there, the film is utterly relentless, throwing action piece after action piece through Rome, Venice and to the Austrian Alps and that bike set piece, and it still doesn't stop there, culminating in a jaw dropping half hour or so aboard the Orient Express, both inside, outside and on top of the train.

Since walking out of J.J Abrams really impressive M:I III (2006) thinking the series had hit its peak, I've done the same with every subsequent film, and Dead Reckoning Part One maintains this outrageous output, although how they top this next year, I have no idea. 8.3/10