Mission Impossible – Death Wages Part One (2023)

He does a great job, Mission Impossible. Paying for Death, Part One, for the first time placing agent Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, in front of a disembodied enemy: artificial intelligence with the potential to compromise computer systems from around the world. globe. But the super agent will have to figure it out, first of all, with his personal demons and ghosts.

The Essence and the Tired Spy

It took quite some time to finally see it on the big screen. Mission Impossible – Death Wages Part One, the first chapter of a diptych that should conclude (barring hypothetical speculation) the spy-action saga that began back in 1996. Waiting primarily due to the pandemic, which put the film world (and beyond) on hold as filming began, then cascading slowing down all subsequent stages of production and post-production; milestones known to have affected both this film and its already completed sequel, filmed back to back and expected for 2024. However, the anticipation (as often happens in such cases) increased the hype and curiosity, at least for the many fans of the brand, which from the symbol of the disappeared model of the television series (60s) has become the emblem of a new understanding of the cinematic, technological and spy story capable of developing along with her main character. Of course, the author’s approach to the first film of Brian De Palma is clearly far away, but the saga, more than ever, today goes hand in hand with its main character: in fact it is Tom Cruise

also the producer, in order to dictate the time and manner of the show, again adapted for him, again entrusted as director to that Christopher McQuarrie, who with the star (since Operation Valkyrie AND Jack Reacher) has an established relationship.

Disembodied Enemy

People Ethan Hunt, aged and tired, has a more difficult task than usual: the super spy actually has to face a disembodied enemy for the first time, an artificial intelligence that was originally designed to infiltrate and sabotage computer systems, but evolved until it became sentient. . To stop the “Entity”, as the system is called, you need to take possession of the two halves of the key, which should neutralize its work: in this case, no global computer system is safe, and any information is potentially false, or corrupted by the organization for its own purposes. Thus, Ethan must be reunited with those he trusts. Luther AND Benji (played again by Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg, respectively), as well as old friend Ilse Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) and new ally, master thief Grace. But the man is tormented by ghosts from the past, which will inevitably interfere with the fulfillment of his mission.

A ghost movie?

From a simple retelling of the plot Mission Impossible – Death Wages Part One a characteristic immediately emerges that represents, in a certain sense, its added value: that is, the ability to intercept, ahead of its time (we recall, the film was shot in 2020), the use of AI and their possible side effects on information, politics, economics, and in general on all aspects public life. Flirting with science fiction (also in iconography: see the long episode set during a party in Venice, with set design between abstract and futuristic), a blockbuster like McQuarrie’s thus becomes a mirror of an important own fear of modernity, embodied in a villain, who, for the first time, doesn’t have a body that the protagonist can handle. But in the end everything Mission Impossible – Death Wages Part One it is, in a certain sense, a film about ghosts: primarily about the personalities of Hunt himself, in whom we discover a trauma buried in the past and associated with an ancient sense of guilt; and, more generally, the memory of an institution (the IMF itself) that may need to rethink its purpose and raison d’etre in today’s context. But it is Hunt himself who, above all, appears here as a tormented and in a sense “out of time” character: himself resigned to being a ghost – but this is certainly not new in the saga – but above all worried about being (again) responsible for the danger to others. The fear that will accompany him throughout this new mission.

Long wait

Long (perhaps too long: 163 minutes at times seems excessive), brilliant, sprawling in both temporal and spatial sense (locations range from the prologue in the depths of the Baltic Sea to gloomy Amsterdam, crossing Namibia, Italy – in particular, Rome and Venice, and subsequently the mobile location of the Orient Express), Mission Impossible – Death Wages Part One however, the trademarks of the saga remain unchanged; trademarks translated into strong doses of action, into notorious reckless stunts in which the protagonist throws himself again with bounty, in a rhythm that knows how to give the right hyper-realistic action sequence without encroaching on the deliberate and displayed abstraction (as in the saga of John Wick). There is also the necessary ironic component, smoothly mixed with action (as in a long drive in a Fiat Cinquecento through the streets of Rome) in addition to the main philosophy of the spy genre: that is, nuances and characters in chiaroscuro, figures that can be trusted, then not (a new ally protagonist, with a face Hayley Atwell), villains are not without motivation (a noble opponent with a face Pom Klementieff). Sometimes you get tired of it a lot of what the movie brings to the screen, but we’re nonetheless fascinated by the (re)construction of the character – and his supporting actors – more than ever thorough and multifaceted. We take a breather only at the end, when the narrative breaks off as announced, leaving us waiting for the second half of the diptych: a formula that, admittedly, we don’t particularly care about, but which now seems to be the norm for some blockbuster. Therefore, we cannot but dispose ourselves to wait willingly.

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Form

Original name: Mission Impossible – Death Wages Part One
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Country/year: USA / 2023
Duration: 163′
Type: Adventure, Action, Thriller, Espionage
Throw: Pom Klementieff, Rebecca Ferguson, Rob Delaney, Shea Whigham, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss, Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Henry Czerny, Frederic Schmidt, Isai Morales, Greg Tarzan Davis, Mariela Garriga, Wing Rames, Cary Elwes, Joachim Chobanu, Yennis Chung
Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie, Eric Jendresen
Photo: Fraser Taggart
Assembly: Eddie Hamilton
Music: Lorne Balfe
Director: Tom Cruise, Leifur B. Dagfinnsson, Christopher McQuarrie, Marco Valerio Pugini
Production house: Paramount Pictures, New Republic Pictures, TC Productions, Skydance Media, Bad Robot
Distribution: Photos eagle

Release date: 07/12/2023

Trailer

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