DEAD RECKONING
IMDb Rating
270K+
IMDb Votes
96%
Rotten Tomatoes
$571M
Box Office
Synopsis & Review
IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team — Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), and new recruit Grace (Hayley Atwell), a skilled pickpocket and thief — race against intelligence agencies, mercenaries, and a former ally turned assassin, Gabriel (Esai Morales), to secure two halves of a cruciform key before it falls into the wrong hands. The key controls access to the Entity, a rogue, self-aware artificial intelligence capable of infiltrating and manipulating every intelligence network on Earth, forcing Ethan to weigh what he's willing to sacrifice against a threat that can predict his every move.
Christopher McQuarrie's second consecutive Mission: Impossible entry scales the franchise's practical stunt work to arguably its highest point yet, anchored by a motorcycle jump off an Austrian cliff face that Cruise trained over a year to perform himself, followed by a free-fall parachute sequence, and a sustained set piece on a runaway train through the Alps. The Entity's plot works as a genuinely unsettling metaphor for AI-driven disinformation and surveillance, giving the film's globe-trotting spectacle real thematic teeth beyond its stunts. At nearly three hours the plot occasionally over-explains itself, but as pure large-scale action filmmaking — precise, tactile, and committed to real stunts over CGI — it's among the best the genre produced in 2023.
Why Watch This Movie?
The Cliff Motorcycle Jump — Filmed for Real
Tom Cruise spent over a year training to ride a motorcycle off a mountain cliff and skydive to safety for a single sequence, performed entirely with real stunts and no CGI substitution — a hallmark of the franchise's commitment to practical action.
The Highest Rotten Tomatoes Score in the Franchise's Modern Era
Critics gave Dead Reckoning near-universal acclaim, and it's frequently ranked among the very best entries of the seven-film series, continuing McQuarrie and Cruise's hot streak since Rogue Nation.
A Villain That Feels Genuinely Timely
The Entity, a rogue AI capable of manipulating global information and intelligence networks, landed in theaters right as public anxiety about AI disinformation was becoming mainstream conversation, giving the film's premise unusual real-world resonance.
Cast & Crew
Director
Christopher McQuarrie
Screenplay
McQuarrie & Erik Jendresen
Studio
Paramount / Skydance
Ethan Hunt
Tom Cruise
Grace
Hayley Atwell
Gabriel
Esai Morales
Luther / Benji
Ving Rhames / Simon Pegg
Ilsa Faust
Rebecca Ferguson
Franchise
Mission: Impossible (7th film)
Official Trailer
© Paramount Pictures / Skydance Media. Trailer embedded via YouTube.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Tom Cruise really do the cliff motorcycle jump himself?
Yes. Cruise trained in motocross, skydiving, and skiing for over a year to prepare for the stunt, which involved riding a motorcycle off a specially built ramp on a Norwegian mountainside and then parachuting to the ground below. It's considered one of the most dangerous stunts ever performed for a studio film and was filmed in a single take with multiple camera angles.
Why is it called "Part One" if there's no "Part Two" in the title anymore?
The film was originally announced as the first half of a two-part story, but Paramount later rebranded the sequel as a standalone title, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025), dropping the "Part Two" framing. Streaming and home video releases of this film have since quietly dropped "Part One" from the title as well.
Why did the movie underperform at the box office despite good reviews?
Despite a strong $571 million worldwide gross, the film's roughly $291 million production budget — inflated significantly by pandemic-related shutdowns and delays during filming — meant it was still considered a financial disappointment relative to its cost, especially arriving the same summer as Barbie and Oppenheimer.
Do I need to have seen the earlier Mission: Impossible films first?
Recommended, especially Rogue Nation and Fallout, since Dead Reckoning directly continues Ethan's relationship with Ilsa Faust and his history with recurring characters. The plot itself is largely self-contained, but the emotional stakes land much harder with the prior films' context.
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