The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- John Furner
The most dedicated actor in the history of cinema continues a nearly three-decade-old franchise with its latest sequel that moves from marginal blockbuster status to ultra-high definition theaters in a specially packaged three-disc set sure to impress fans of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, Limited Edition SteelBook (Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 163 minutes, $44.99).
Once again testing the limits of human physical endurance by performing many of the movie’s death-defying stunts, Tom Cruise returned as super-agent Ethan Hunt of the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) to find the keys to stop a sentient computer program that has evolved into a self-aware entity threatening to control humanity.
Ethan aligns with team members and tech specialists Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) as well as thief Grace (Hayley Atwell) to battle the entity’s chosen avatar, assassin Gabriel (Esai Morales), a former nemesis of Ethan before he joined the IMF.
As a conspiracy unfolds to steal the keys, Ethan visits locations around the world while delivering director Christopher McQuarrie’s patented action scenes such as a harrowing car chase on the streets of Rome (in a tiny yellow Fiat 500 no less); a ride atop the Orient Express, with close quarters combat in the Austrian Alps; a claustrophobic, John Wick-style alleyway brawl; and a skydiving cliff jump from a motorcycle.
Unfortunately, a big problem with this usually nail-biting action film is its lack of resolution as the title suggests. Audiences will have to wait until 2025 for answers.
Also, filling out the longer run time required a few too many extended dialogue scenes stuck in between the extreme moments, which destroyed the roller coaster-style pacing that one usually expects in a “Mission Impossible” film.
4K in action: As one would expect from a Cruise-micromanaged “Mission Impossible” film, the stunning visual presentation in 2160p takes viewers around the world to appreciate sights such as running on top of an Abu Dhabi airport terminal roof (described as looking like a steel sand dune); Ethan running through corridors lined with yellow candles in Venice’s Doge’s Palace; or appreciating a desert firefight on horseback amid a sandstorm on the salt flats of Abu Dhabi.
Colors and detail are eye-popping throughout, but I am disappointed that we never get an IMAX-sized, screen-filling moments tied to the bigger action scenes, instead the widescreen aspect ratio remains throughout.
Best extras: Most important, always, the 4K and Blu-ray disc offers an optional commentary track with Mr. McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton that starts with the pair enthusiastically breaking down, nearly shot by shot, the opening sinking of a Russian submarine.
The welcomed level of detail carries on throughout as the creators explore the story; international locations; sound design; reshoots; character themes; the opening titles; and shooting at the height of COVID. They also discuss editing minutiae (a two-frame dissolve versus a hard cut, for example) among production specifics, combining talk on the technical as well as aesthetic and dissecting the visual language of the film when possible.
A second Blu-ray disc includes seven featurettes (almost 30 minutes) briefly covering scenes in Abu Dhabi, Rome and Venice; the train sequence; Mr. Cruise speed flying; and his insane jump performed from a mountainside while driving a motorcycle.
The elegant and striking steel packaging offers a glossy slightly orangish-red background both inside and out with black lettering and grey-and-black illustrations of our hero in action.
Specifically, the front features the movie title dangling in midair with a train car bursting from it and Ethan Hunt hanging on to its outer rail. The back is even simpler, Ethan skydiving above a mountain range with his motorcycle falling to its doom.
Remove the discs inside to find a larger image of Ethan clutching the edges of a crumbling bridge on one side and a train car free-falling on the other.
