Film Talk: Cruising in with an action-packed seventh Mission: Impossible
He will always be the subject of one my favourite stories in filmmaking.
Once upon a time a few years pre-Covid, the legendary Tom Cruise and ascending star Annabelle Wallis were on set in London, filming a scene for 2017’s The Mummy.
Excited about working with Hollywood’s nicest man, Wallis had supposedly pulled no punches in telling her friends, and – eager to catch a glimpse of the immortal Top Gun heartthrob – a small gang of them had arrived on location.
Having spotted Wallis, they reportedly waved excitedly while the slightly embarrassed leading lady did her best from a distance to shoo them away. Yet she was not the only actor whose attention they had drawn. Sauntering toward Wallis with his trademark smile, Cruise politely enquired as to who the gaggling group of women across the street were.
Apologising, and explaining to Cruise that they were just some friends of hers, Wallis watched as our boy Jerry Maguire’s gazillion-dollar grin grew wider.
Looking across the road to the assembled fangirls, Cruise coolly waved, causing the knees of every one of them to give way and high-pitched screams to fill the air. He smiled a final flawless smile, and leaned towards his co-star’s ear. “They’re my friends now,” he whispered to Wallis, and walked off with a wink as the perfect personification of cheek and charm.
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (yes, really...) is as synonymous with Hollywood blockbusters as it is possible for one actor to be, and this week the beaming behemoth has returned for a seventh turn in possibly his most famous role to date. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is in cinemas now, But does the ‘Cruise missile’ hit his target? This is his mission, and we choose to accept it...
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE (12A, 163 mins)
Released: July 10 (UK & Ireland)
In the summer of 1996, Tom Cruise accepted the mission to reimagine a beloved 1960s TV series as a high-octane blockbuster film franchise replete with self-detonating task briefs, latex face masks, high-tech gadgetry and daredevil acrobatics under the auspices of the amusingly monikered Impossible Missions Force (IMF).
The series ratcheted up a gear in 2011 with the fourth instalment, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, which memorably featured a sequence in which Tom Cruise’s IMF alter ego, Ethan Hunt, clung to the exterior of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, using suction cups.
Cruise performed the heart-stopping stunt himself.
Since then, Christopher McQuarrie has been behind the camera, working closely with Cruise to develop jaw-dropping practical stunts such as Hunt hanging on to the exterior of an Airbus 400 as it takes off.
In Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the saga’s giddily entertaining seventh outing, Cruise performs daredevil antics on two and four wheels and in the air for our gob-smacked pleasure.
The most advanced digital effects cannot replace the pulse-quickening thrill of watching the actor (58 years old when production began) ride a motorcycle off a cliff, trade punches on top of a fast-moving train or slalom a vintage yellow Fiat 500 through the crowded streets of Rome. It’s a blast that brings the series full circle with a retrofitted plot tethered to tragic events in the 1996 picture.
The 163-minute running time feels considerably shorter, culminating in a delirious set piece on the Orient Express that will leave audiences salivating for Part Two, scheduled for release in June 2024.
Ethan Hunt (Cruise) enlists the help of fellow IMF operatives Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) to track down two halves of an interlocking 3D key that can regain control over a rogue artificial intelligence that is responsible for sinking a Russian nuclear submarine in the film’s nail-biting opening sequence.
A shadowy figure from Ethan’s past, Gabriel (Esai Morales), also seeks this key and he is willing to kill to acquire it with the help of a sword-wielding assassin (Pom Klementieff).
Opportunistic thief Grace (Hayley Atwell) unwittingly picks a pocket that marks her for death and Ethan engages two more fiercely intelligent women – former MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) and illegal arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis aka the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) – as he seeks to save the world from cyber-armageddon.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a ridiculously entertaining romp that ruthlessly mines timely concerns about artificial intelligence while Cruise sprints breathlessly from one audacious set piece to the next.
McQuarrie’s script, co-written by Erik Jendresen, marks every legacy character including Hunt as expendable with affectionate nods to iconography from the series. Lalo Schifrin’s propulsive theme tune is lovingly appropriated by composer Lorne Balfe for spectacular, edge-of-seat moments that enhance Cruise’s credentials after yesteryear’s aerial acrobatics in Top Gun: Maverick.
Your mission to see the best film of the summer so far, should you choose to accept it (and you really should), begins here.
THE TUNNEL TO SUMMER, THE EXIT OF GOODBYES (12A, 83 mins)
Released: July 14 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Two misfit teenagers experience summer love – at a cost – in a bittersweet animated sci-fi romance directed by Tomohisa Taguchi, which is inspired by Mei Hachimoku’s award-winning novel of the same name.
Kaoru (voiced by Ouji Suzuka) is a shy teenage boy living in a small town in rural Japan.
He is drawn to combative new girl Anzu (Marie Iitoyo), who transfers to his school and rudely rebuffs offers of friendship from classmates… except for Kaoru.
They join forces when Kaoru stumbles upon the entrance to the Urashima Tunnel, an urban legend that supposedly grants wishes if you dare to step into the shimmering portal.
The teenagers learn that time moves faster inside the tunnel and can cost them hours or perhaps even days of their lives back in the real world.
Regardless, Kaoru enters the tunnel in the hope he can bring his younger sister back from the dead and rebuild his relationship with his alcoholic father.
SQUARING THE CIRCLE (15, 101 mins)
Released: July 14 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Music art design studio Hipgnosis, spearheaded by creative dynamos Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell, was responsible for some of the most defining album covers of the 1970s beginning with Pink Floyd’s second LP, A Saucerful Of Secrets.
The duo conjured striking images for the likes of AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney and Wings.
The most recognisable Hipgnosis album covers include Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, Paul McCartney and Wings’ Band On The Run and Led Zeppelin’s Houses Of The Holy.
Director Anton Corbijn’s first feature documentary charts the evolution of the brand during a decade of excess using previously unseen footage and new interviews featuring Peter Gabriel, Noel Gallagher, David Gilmour, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and Roger Waters.
A KIND OF KIDNAPPING (15, 84 mins)
Released: July 14 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas) and available to download on major digital platforms from July 24
Politics is a grubby business in a darkly comic British thriller directed by Dan Clark, which collected multiple awards at the most recent edition of the Manchester International Film Festival.
Cash-strapped 30-something couple Brian (Jack Parry-Jones) and Maggie (Kelly Wenham) turn to crime to keep themselves financially afloat and they kidnap London politician Richard Hardy (Patrick Baladi). Unfortunately, no one seems keen to pay a ransom for a man with dreams of becoming prime minister.
Brian and Maggie eventually admit defeat and prepare to let Hardy go but the sleazy politician proposes to use his current predicament to his advantage and he enlists the couple as accomplices to build on a wave of public sympathy and boost his approval rating.
PINOCCHIO: A TRUE STORY (U, 94 mins)
Released: July 14 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Vasiliy Rovenskiy directs a Russian computer-animated reimagining of Carlo Collodi’s 19th-century novel, which has English language dubbing for UK audiences.
Kindly carpenter Geppetto (voiced by Tom Kenny) is delighted when his handiwork gives birth to talking puppet Pinocchio (Pauly Shore) but the old man is powerless to prevent the inquisitive tyke from joining a travelling circus.
The Machiavellian owner Mangiafuoco is a hustler, who woos locals out of their homes so his larcenous accomplices Basilio the cat and Alice the fox can steal their belongings during the performance.
Pinocchio is naive to Mangiafuoco’s true intentions and his wooden heart swells when he meets young gymnast Bella.
The puppet must prove his innocence in Mangiafuoco’s grand scheme and win Bella’s affection to achieve his desire of becoming truly human.
