Over the past four decades, Tom Cruise has turned Mission: Impossible into one of the greatest action film series of all time, a franchise that continuously has pushed the possibilities of what a modern blockbuster could be, and found new terrifying ways to put Cruise into harm’s way for our amusement. After an intriguing start to the series with a stretch of directors like Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams, and Brad Bird, Cruise found his match with Christopher McQuarrie, who has helmed this series since 2015’s Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation. Despite the majority of the films involving Cruise’s Ethan Hunt being considered a rogue by the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), and despite the series pulling the same dang face mask trick on us over and over again, Mission: Impossible series has been consistently exciting, and because of Cruise’s dedication to bonkers stunts, this series has always felt more tactile, more real, more dangerous than your standard action film.

The seventh and latest installment in this series, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, comes five years after the last film, Mission: Impossible — Fallout, which felt like both a culmination of everything that came before it, and in many ways the pinnacle of what this series could be. Coming off that high, Dead Reckoning Part One has a lot to live up to, especially when you consider that over these last few decades, Mission: Impossible has continuously set the bar high for itself and action films in general. Compared to other blockbuster action films—especially in a year that’s given us several disappointments already—Dead Reckoning Part One is still an impressive feat from both Cruise and McQuarrie, but after the apex that was Fallout, and coming after some of the most impressive action films ever made, the newest film can’t help but feel like somewhat of a disappointment.

‘Dead Reckoning Part One’ Is the Beginning of the End and a New Beginning
Image via Paramount

Dead Reckoning Part One acts as the beginning of the goodbye for Tom Cruise as this series’ protagonist, while also setting up who could follow in his footsteps, and making this film a sort of jumping-off point for those new to the franchise. Dead Reckoning Part One has Ethan Hunt and the IMF trying to track down a sentient AI called The Entity, which would essentially give the owner power to control the world. However, this enemy that can be anywhere is unlike anything Hunt and his team have ever faced, leading Hunt to come face-to-face with Gabriel (Esai Morales), who share a past that made Hunt the man he is today. In order to stop The Entity, Hunt’s mission (don’t worry, he chooses to accept it), involves finding two keys that when combined, unlock…something that seems extremely important to The Entity.

RELATED: Watch Tom Cruise Run Through All Seven ‘Mission: Impossible’ Movies in New Video

On Hunt’s hunt for The Entity and the keys, he is again joined by Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg), and his paths cross once more with Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). Hunt also meets Grace (Hayley Atwell), a thief who gets in over her head when she gets in the way of Hunt’s goals. Dead Reckoning Part One also sees the return of Henry Czerny’s Eugene Kittridge, who hasn’t been in this series since the first Mission: Impossible, and introduces us to Paris (Pom Klementieff), who is hunting down Ethan on behalf of Gabriel, as well as Jasper (Shea Whigham) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis), who is also trying to hunt down Ethan, but for different reasons.

One of the most noticeable differences in this latest film almost right from the beginning is how convoluted and explained everything often feels. An early meeting scene has Eugene Kittridge explaining to Denlinger (Cary Elwes) and the audience exactly what the threat is, who Hunt is, and what the IMF does, and while it’s clear this scene exists for newcomers to this series, it also is far heavier on the exposition than these movies usually are. And while these movies often center around a MacGuffin that Hunt and the antagonist are fighting over, it’s never felt as Byzantine as it is here. There are double and triple-crosses, misdirection, and even a surprising amount of close-up magic, all of which make this quest for the keys more complex than it probably needs to be. Did the entire first part of this two-part movie really need to be about finding these keys? Only time will tell once Part Two is released.

Action Is Still Where ‘Mission: Impossible’ Thrives

But the story is secondary to great action sequences in Mission: Impossible, and Dead Reckoning Part One shows this series still delivers. A chase through Venice that puts Ethan and Grace into the tiniest car possible continuously builds the stakes and excitement, while also managing some pretty solid comedic moments between the two. While the film’s major train set piece that has been teased forever does use more CGI than one would expect from a Mission: Impossible film, it’s the way that McQuarrie directs this sequence that makes it work quite well, as naturally, everything that could go wrong does go wrong.

Mission: Impossible has often relied on tension in these action scenes as we watch Tom Cruise do truly mind-boggling stunts for the amusement of the audience. Yet Dead Reckoning Part One makes this tension work even better outside the extravagant set pieces. For example, one scene at an airport balances new character introductions, Jasper and Degas trying to find Hunt, while Luther and Benji have their own little side adventure. McQuarrie mixes all of these elements in a way that makes walking through an airport actually electrifying. Another scene on the aforementioned train shows us that all the mysterious allegiances and twists of character motivations happening within the train are just as captivating as Cruise’s attempts to almost kill himself to get on top of the moving locomotive. Even though the script, by McQuarrie and Erik Jendersen (Band of Brothers) can often be a bit too overwritten, it’s in these smaller-scale action scenes that build and build, adding new elements at every turn, where we can see the excitement inherent in the screenplay.

McQuarrie and Jendersen’s screenplay also excels at mixing our old favorite characters with the new. We get all the Ethan/Benji/Luther moments we’d expect, but this new cast hints that the future certainly has potential. Especially fun is Klementieff, who is gleefully malicious, as she drives over cars with joy and tracks down Hunt with viciousness. Whigham is also a hilarious addition, acting almost as if he’s seen one too many Mission: Impossible movies himself, and attempting to rip off the “face masks” of innocent civilians that get in between him and Hunt.

Tom Cruise Is Great, But the Women of ‘Mission: Impossible’ Are Even Better

Yet it’s Hayley Atwell’s Grace that leaves the biggest impression, as she certainly feels like she could be where this franchise is heading, and Dead Reckoning Part One does a fine job showing us that this series would be in good hands with her at the helm. Whether or not that will be the case down the road is yet to be seen, but along with the return of Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby’s Alanna Mitsopolis, Dead Reckoning Part One certainly makes the case that the women in Ethan Hunt’s life are far more interesting than Hunt himself. Unfortunately, while Morales’ Gabriel is being set up as the main antagonist in Hunt’s life, there’s little here to make him all that interesting of a villain, especially compared to how gripping this brand’s villains can be when they’re at their best. As an endgame villain of sorts, Gabriel is fairly underwhelming.

Dead Reckoning Part One is plenty of fun, and one of the best action films of the summer by far, but coming five years after Fallout, it’s hard for this seventh film to not feel like a bit of a disappointment. Again, comparing Dead Reckoning Part One simply to other Mission: Impossible films means you’re essentially holding it up against some of the best action films of the 21st century. There’s a bit of a franchise bloat that this series has never had before, largely because Dead Reckoning Part One often feels like it’s doing more than it needs to—be it through explaining itself, throwing in characters, or scenes that just go on far too long—yet in those consistently exhilarating action sequences, all that slips away. Dead Reckoning Part One shows that there’s still plenty of gas in the tank, but maybe we’re seeing that this series needs a shakeup to keep it as thrilling as it has been.

Rating: B+

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One comes to theaters on July 12.