Impossible Immersion

Description

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a 2023 American action spy film directed by Christopher McQuarrie from a screenplay he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen. It is the sequel to Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) and the seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. It stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, alongside an ensemble cast including Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga and Henry Czerny. In the film, Hunt and his IMF team face off against the Entity, a powerful rogue AI.

In January 2019, Cruise announced the next two Mission: Impossible films would be shot back-to-back, with McQuarrie writing and directing both. Returning and new cast members were announced soon after, and Lorne Balfe, who composed the score for Fallout, returned to score. Filming began in Italy in February 2020 but was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It resumed later that year and wrapped in September 2021, with other filming locations including Norway, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. With an estimated budget of $291 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.

Dead Reckoning Part One premiered in Rome on June 19, 2023, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 12, by Paramount Pictures.

The film received critical acclaim and grossed $571.1 million worldwide. Despite being the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2023, its overall budget and competition from the « Barbenheimer » phenomenon resulted in the film becoming a box-office disappointment. Dead Reckoning Part One was nominated in two categories at the 96th Academy Awards and the 77th British Academy Film Awards. A sequel, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, is scheduled for release in May 2025.

The Sevastopol, a next-generation Russian stealth submarine, activates an advanced AI using a two-piece cruciform key. The AI, designated « the Entity », becomes sentient and goes rogue after deceiving the submarine crew into attacking themselves with a torpedo, killing all aboard and sinking the Sevastopol in the Arctic Ocean.

World powers compete to obtain the cruciform key in hopes of controlling the Entity. IMF agent Ethan Hunt travels to the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert and retrieves one piece of the key from disavowed MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, faking her death to shield her from a bounty.

In Washington, D.C., Ethan infiltrates a U.S. Intelligence Community briefing for Director of National Intelligence Denlinger, where CIA Director Eugene Kittridge explains that the Entity can manipulate cyberspace to control global defense intelligence and financial networks. Ethan reveals himself and forces him to admit to placing the bounty on Ilsa, then escapes, determined to destroy the Entity.

Ethan and his IMF teammates Benji Dunn and Luther Stickell travel to Abu Dhabi International Airport to intercept the second piece of the key. It is revealed to be a fake, although Ethan encounters Grace, a skilled thief who steals the first piece of the key from him, while Luther and Benji disarm a hoax nuclear device.

Ethan is pursued by US agents but spots his mortal enemy Gabriel, an Entity liaison with ties to his pre-IMF past, and aborts the mission, scattering the team. Grace escapes to Rome and is apprehended, but Ethan rescues her from local authorities, the US agents, and Entity operative Paris. Grace escapes again, while Ethan rejoins Luther, Benji, and Ilsa.

Ethan and Ilsa follow Grace to Venice and infiltrate a party held by arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis. In possession of the second piece of the key, Alanna hired Grace to steal the first, and will sell the completed key to her buyer the next day on the Orient Express.

Gabriel proclaims that he will possess the completed key the next day and that either Ilsa or Grace will die. Ethan attempts to dissuade Alanna from the sale, allowing Gabriel and Grace to escape. He pursues Grace, but the Entity hacks into their communications and impersonates Benji, leading Ethan into a fight with Paris, whom he spares. Gabriel incapacitates Grace and kills Ilsa, devastating Ethan.

While preparing for the sale, Luther leaves for an off-grid location to prevent interference from the Entity, advising Ethan to spare Gabriel for questioning about the Entity. On the train with Paris, Gabriel kills the engine crew and destroys the throttle and brake. He meets with Denlinger, who attempts to form an alliance with the Entity, which he reveals was originally an advanced cyber weapon developed by the US.

The completed key unlocks a chamber inside the Sevastopol containing the Entity’s source code, allowing it to be destroyed or controlled. As this secret is known only to Denlinger, Gabriel kills him, and tries to kill Paris as the Entity has predicted she will betray them after Ethan spared her life.

Disguised as Alanna, Grace brings the key to Kittridge, revealed to be the buyer, and negotiates a $100 million sale alongside protection for herself, but pickpockets the key from Kittridge after cancelling the transfer. Ethan parachutes into the train to save Grace, but Gabriel acquires the key. Fighting Ethan atop the train, Gabriel escapes and detonates a bridge ahead.

Detaching the runaway locomotive and saving the passengers, Grace and Ethan climb through the falling train cars until they are rescued by Paris, who tells Ethan about the key’s connection to the Sevastopol before collapsing. Grace informs Kittridge of her desire to join the IMF. Ethan flees the wreckage by paraglider with the completed key, which he pickpocketed from Gabriel during the fight, and rendezvous with Benji to continue the mission to find the Sevastopol and destroy the Entity.