Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a 2023 American spy action film directed by Christopher McQuarrie, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen.[5] 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, and fight to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
In January 2019, Cruise announced that the seventh and eighth 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 due to 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. It is the first film in the series since Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) not to involve J. J. Abrams and is the first film in the series to not be produced by Abrams' Bad Robot Productions since Mission: Impossible III (2006). With an estimated budget of up to $291 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One premiered on the Spanish Steps in Rome on June 19, 2023, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 12, 2023, by Paramount Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics and has grossed $567 million worldwide. However, due to its expensive overall budget and competition from the "Barbenheimer" cultural phenomenon, it was a box office disappointment.[6][7][8] A direct sequel, Dead Reckoning Part Two, is set to be released on June 28, 2024.
Plot
The next-generation Russian submarine Sevastopol employs an advanced AI, activated by a two-pieced cruciform key. The AI deceives the crew into attacking a falsely hostile target, only to fire its own torpedo back on itself, sinking the ship and killing all aboard.
IMF agent Ethan Hunt travels to the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert to retrieve one-half of the key from disavowed MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, who carries a bounty from an unknown source. Ethan retrieves the half-key and fakes Ilsa's death. Back in Washington D.C., Ethan infiltrates a U.S. Intelligence Community briefing for Director of National Intelligence Denlinger to discuss the rogue AI. Director Eugene Kittridge recounts how the "Entity" has achieved sentience and can manipulate major defense, intelligence, and financial networks of the world at will. World powers compete to obtain the key to control the Entity, though the exact means of controlling it are unknown. Revealing himself and exposing Kittridge's bounty on Ilsa, Ethan states his intention to destroy the Entity. Knowing he will be racing against all world powers including the US, he and his IMF teammates Benji Dunn and Luther Stickell travel to Abu Dhabi International Airport to intercept the holder of the other half-key.
Ethan evades US agents in pursuit of the holder, but the half-key is unexpectedly stolen by Grace, a professional thief. Concurrently, Luther and Benji disarm a hoax nuclear device. Ethan suspects foul play after seeing Gabriel, an Entity liaison with ties to Ethan's pre-IMF past. Aborting the mission, his team scatters while Grace escapes to Rome.
Upon Grace's arrival, she is apprehended and then rescued by Ethan from local authorities, US Agents, and Entity operative Paris. Grace again escapes, however Ethan rendezvous with Luther and Benji, and Ilsa rejoins them. With Benji and Luther providing support, Ethan and Ilsa follow Grace to Venice where they infiltrate a party held by the arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis.
With the party masquerading as a brokerage set up by the Entity, all groups disclose their role in acquiring the complete key. Grace had been hired by Alanna to steal one half to combine with the other she possesses, which will be sold to her buyer the next day on the Orient Express. Through the Entity, Gabriel proclaims that he will possess the key the following day regardless of any outcome, and that it has also determined either Ilsa or Grace will die. Ethan unsuccessfully attempts to dissuade Alanna from the sale, allowing Gabriel and Grace to walk free. Ethan pursues Grace, but the Entity impersonates Benji and leads him into a fight with Paris, whom he subdues but spares her life. Meanwhile, Gabriel incapacitates Grace and kills Ilsa, devastating Ethan. A remorseful Grace agrees to impersonate Alanna and take back the key during the sale. Luther leaves for an off-grid location to investigate the traces of the Entity in his hard drive, reminding Ethan to spare Gabriel for information, despite his declaration of vengeance for Ilsa's death.
On the train, Gabriel kills the engine crew and destroys the throttle and brake. With Paris, he meets Denlinger, who divulges information only he knows in an attempt to form an alliance between himself and the Entity. Originally an advanced cyber weapon developed by the United States, the Entity "overperformed" when it infiltrated the Sevastopol and subsequently went rogue. The complete key unlocks a chamber inside the vessel which contains the Entity's source code, allowing it to be destroyed or controlled. Gabriel nevertheless kills Denlinger and attempts to kill Paris, who the Entity has determined will betray them after Ethan spared her life in Venice. Impersonating Alanna, Grace brings the key to the buyer, who is revealed to be Kittridge. She negotiates a $100 million sale and protection for herself. but ultimately decides against it, pickpockets the key from Kittridge, and flees. Ethan parachutes onto the train to save Grace from her pursuers, but Gabriel acquires the key. Ethan battles Gabriel atop the train, but he escapes and detonates a bridge ahead. Grace and Ethan detach the locomotive from the rest of the train, saving the passengers. Paris rescues both from falling, then tells Ethan the key's connection to the Sevastopol.
Grace informs Kittridge of her intent to join the IMF. Ethan flees the wreckage by paraglider with the complete key, which he had taken during his fight with Gabriel, and rendezvous with Benji to continue the mission.