Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning - Part 1 (2023)

[Lyle Romer]

This was my first experience of a presentation in IMAX........with Laser! I was impressed with the presentation. Black levels were great and on par with Dolby Cinema to my eyes. There was a small amount of light from aisle lighting (AMC) at the bottom corners but, since this movie was letterboxed to some ratio that didn't seem like 2.35:1 but was wider than the screen ratio, the light mostly was in the letterbox part. Sound was pretty good but I think the Atmos systems in the Dolby Cinema auditoriums are a bit better.

As for the Movie, I really enjoyed it. The action sequences and stunts were very well done and some things that weren't in the trailers really keep you on the edge of your seat. Doing things with real people performing stunts and practical effects really add to the intensity of the action.

The plot is clever and "current" and the performances were good. It is somewhat annoying that it is a 2 part so there wasn't a real ending. Unlike Indian Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the long runtime worked. There weren't any scenes where I was thinking "this could have been cut" while watching.

I give it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. I might have given an even higher rating if it was stand alone and not part 1 of 2. I highly recommend it but would advise trying to see it in a true premium theatre before Oppenheimer takes over all of those screens on Friday.

Edit to add:
I did notice some laser speckle but it wasn't too bad and not distracting for this movie. If I had been bored by the movie it might have been more intrusive.

[Jon Dent]

It was a lot of movie to take in but it was a good ride.

The stunts were great and the action scenes were chaotic and tense, although a bit incoherent at times due to shaky cam and fast editing. But what struck me the most is just how fun a lot of them are. Sure, some are serious and have some pretty big story stakes, but others feel like Cruise and McQuarrie trying to one up each other after watching a full day of Loony Tunes and old Batman episodes.

For instance (SPOILER ALERT):
"Good thing we got out of that speeding locomotive and detached the cars"
"Well, what if we blow up a bridge and send the engine into a ravine, FOR REAL!"
"Oh, and then our car goes over the edge and we have to CLIMB OUT!"
"Oh yeah? What if the next car goes over too?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, and what if there's an enormous grand piano hanging over your heads?"
"What if the next one has exploding gas ovens and a slippery floor from frying oil spilling everywhere?"
"DUUUDE!!!"

And the ultimate:
"Betcha won't ride a motorcycle off that cliff over there"
"Hold my beer and tell LRH that I'm coming home"

[Mike Blakesley]

You forgot: "Let's drive a tiny car backwards down the Spanish Steps of Rome and through a tunnel while being chased by about a thousand other cars"
and
"Let's park the car across a subway track with no conceivable exit and then have you miraculously dive out of the car to safety WHILE THE TRAIN IS CRASHING INTO THE CAR!"

Seriously, there are a lot of "yeah, right" moments in this movie, but it's such a fun ride that you don't care very much. It's enough to know that it's really Tom Cruise on that motorcycle going off that cliff (although the cliff isn't real -- watch the behind-the-scenes on that stunt) and when he's screaming "I'M TRYING TO GET AWAY FROM THIS MOUNTAIN!!" you can make a fairly sure bet that the line wasn't necessarily scripted.

The story is a bit convoluted, and revolves around tracking down a missing item -- in this case, it's not a bomb or a weapon, but half of a two-piece key, and there are a few interesting twists: Nobody in the movie knows what the key unlocks, and there is no way to verify if either half of the key is genuine outside of inserting the two halves into each other. How to put all these missing pieces together? It seems.... impossible!

The movie also has the longest gap between the opening frame and the opening credits that I've ever seen -- if this was on film, it would be near the end of the second reel before the opening credits kick in. This fact, along with the zippy pace the movie operates at, make it seem shorter than it actually is. The credits sequence is unique; I think it's the only one I've ever seen that actually shows scenes from the movie you are about to watch. The credits are a trailer for the movie you're watching! (Maybe the same thing has happened in some James Bond films, I'm thinking.)

Tom Cruise is his usual self here, which isn't a bad thing. The only negative about the movie is its predictability, because you know that of course they're going to put the two halves of the key together and verify that both halves are real, and of course they're going figure out what it unlocks and solve the.... OK, wait, that last part doesn't happen until the next installment, which will come out next year or maybe later, depending on how long everybody in Hollywood stays on strike.

The sound mix was nice and made great use of the surrounds. The music score with the familiar themes was fun to hear. I loved the action sequences with the train. I would have loved the motorcycle jump over the cliff, except I've seen it to death already thanks to the trailers and the behind-the-scenes featurette that came out months ago. The supporting cast is equal to the task, especially the now-required badass women who can drive, shoot and fight just as well as the men. (Tom would have dropped to his death if not for one of these ladies coming to the rescue at the very last possible second... doesn't anyone show up early anymore?)

This movie is not setting the world on fire as much as I hoped it would. I think around here, people are much more excited for "Sound of Freedom" which is coming in right after M:I7 is done. I will not be surprised if that movie outgrosses this one. I don't know if they overhyped it, or people got enough of Tom Cruise in last year's Top Gun movie, or people were turned off by the "Part One" aspect, or they heard the movie was nearly three hours long, or what. But our crowds have been underwhelming since day one, and that's in spite of virtually everyone coming out talking about how much they liked the show. It's an oddity.

But I thought it was great. 4 out of 5 stars. Maybe the word of mouth will help it out in the next week.

[Jon Dent]

Yeah I forgot about those parts. It's a lot of movie.....

"Blockbusters" in general haven't done well this year, Mario and Guardians 3 aside. I doubt there's a singular reason why.

We'll be playing Sound of Freedom in a few weeks too. I have to admit it makes me leery. The movie itself almost doesn't matter in what's become a political movement, complete with all the extreme viewpoints and fanaticism that entails. Our first announcement used the word 'tentative' because we were trying to rearrange our schedule to bring it in and someone strongly implied that we were cowards who were afraid to do the right thing. That straight pissed me off.

[Mike Blakesley]

"Blockbusters" in general haven't done well this year, Mario and Guardians 3 aside. I doubt there's a singular reason why.

I can give you a complete list of the reasons why.

1. The window
(end of list)

The studios and NATO like to say that "45 days seems to be the sweet spot, and an even shorter window works for movies that aren't out-of-the-gate hits." Unfortunately there are two sweet spots: One for theaters, and one for the studios. The studios think 45 days is soon enough that they only have to advertise the movie one time and it'll sell well on streaming. OK fine, that's great for them. For theaters, it sucks. Every time the window has gotten shorter, we've lost people. We lost people who wouldn't want to wait 90 days or 6 months, but they don't mind waiting 3 or 4 or 5 weeks. Every time a movie comes out on video quickly, we lose more and more people. The best way to bring a lot of them back would be to make the window longer again, (6 months would be ideal) and then ADVERTISE that it's not going to be out on video for 6 months. How likely is this to happen? There are two chances.... slim and none.

I am really hoping that Disney's lackluster 2023 season will have them rethinking their stupid 3-week minimum playtime. We skipped Indiana Jones and Elemental because of it. And people are asking for both of those films. If they would come to their senses, we'd have played the movies, and all of us would have made more money.

[Lyle Romer]

I can give you a complete list of the reasons why.

1. The window
(end of list)

The studios and NATO like to say that "45 days seems to be the sweet spot, and an even shorter window works for movies that aren't out-of-the-gate hits." Unfortunately there are two sweet spots: One for theaters, and one for the studios. The studios think 45 days is soon enough that they only have to advertise the movie one time and it'll sell well on streaming. OK fine, that's great for them. For theaters, it sucks. Every time the window has gotten shorter, we've lost people. We lost people who wouldn't want to wait 90 days or 6 months, but they don't mind waiting 3 or 4 or 5 weeks. Every time a movie comes out on video quickly, we lose more and more people. The best way to bring a lot of them back would be to make the window longer again, (6 months would be ideal) and then ADVERTISE that it's not going to be out on video for 6 months. How likely is this to happen? There are two chances.... slim and none.

I am really hoping that Disney's lackluster 2023 season will have them rethinking their stupid 3-week minimum playtime. We skipped Indiana Jones and Elemental because of it. And people are asking for both of those films. If they would come to their senses, we'd have played the movies, and all of us would have made more money.

You are 100% correct. As for Disney's 3 week minimum, I don't understand it at all, especially in the Digital Cinema era. How does it help them to require their movies to be playing to empty auditoriums? Shorter windows and long minimum engagements run completely counter to each other. I could maybe see if they traded longer minimum runs for increasing the theatrical window but it is completely stupid at the present time.

[Terry Monohan]

Great surround sound mix. Watched at the Theatre DelMar in Santa Cruz CA. Liked the movie better then Indiana Jones. Nice sharp scope image with good color and split surround sound.

Tom Cruise was on the run in this new movie that will only play in the largest screens for a 2 week run mostly before the Big O opens in the best large screens July 21.

Looks like Barbie shot in flat not scope will play second best screens around the cinema circuits.

A big weekend for 70mm movie theatres and Imax, many cinemas are sold out.

[Mike Blakesley]

Liked the movie better then Indiana Jones.

I had a customer tell me that MI - DR is the movie that Indiana Jones wants to be.

[Frank Cox]

Anyone else notice that the title has exactly nothing to do with the content of the movie?

The bad doodad is The Entity.

Nothing to do with any kind of Dead Reckoning...

[Mike Blakesley]

Actually that phrase is used in the voiceover at the very beginning of the movie. But yeah overall it's got very little to do with the plot.

[Mike Blakesley]

Well M:IDRpt1 is limping to the finish line here. I am blown away by how "uneventful" this movie was here. I don't know if others are having the same reaction to it. Everyone's coming out raving about it being great and all, but it's just not pulling the numbers. I didn't expect it to be Top Gun, but I was expecting about 2x the amount of business we got.

In the meantime, I'm getting pummeled with requests for Sound of Freedom, and have been since a couple of weeks before it came out. I have a feeling a lot of people are saving their moviegoing money for that -- it comes in this weekend. With the number of calls, emails, texts, Facebook messages and in-person requests I've had, we should have 6 or 7 full houses this week. We'll see.

The other thing that happened here was our county fair, last weekend, so that didn't help Mission's matters. On top of that comes all the news media coverage of "Barbenheimer" phenomenon, which has taken 100% of the attention off of Tom Cruise's latest adventure, and it just feels like the perfect storm. Well, we should have a great August, at least.

[Frank Cox]

I'm in the same boat as you, Mike. I'm getting about the same sort of a turnout as I got for Ruby Gillman last week. *sigh*

I made a whole bunch of popcorn on Friday night before opening and that turned out to be a mistake. Oh well. Maybe it'll pick up a bit now that everyone is back from where-ever they went to for the weekend but I'm not holding my breath.

I did have one guy walk out last night at around the two hour point.

I've had a lot of people asking me about Sound of Freedom here too, but I choose not to play it.

Hopefully Barbie and Oppenheimer will get a few people in the door.

(Little Syd is sure learning how to be a pest. Why would I be typing on my computer when I should be paying attention to her instead! )

[Mike Blakesley]

I did have one guy walk out last night at around the two hour point.

Jeez, he missed two of the best scenes.

I was kind of irritated that they put so much publicity out there ahead of time about the motorcycle jump, but then I got to thinking: They probably did that in order to make everyone realize that yes, it's really Tom Cruise flying off that cliff and falling into the abyss.

[Jon Dent]

They probably did that in order to make everyone realize that yes, it's really Tom Cruise flying off that cliff and falling into the abyss.

You have to these days. Those scenes are so often done with CGI now that nobody would've even considered it to be largely in-camera unless they made a big deal about it, same with the Helo jump in MI:Fallout.

That being said, I think the Burj Kalifa sequence in Ghost Protocol remains the pinnacle of "holy shit, is Cruise actually doing that?!?" The whole sequence is extended and features quite a few shots where you can clearly see that "yes, yes he is really doing that". The shot where he steps out of the window and the camera pans over his head to show the drop belongs in a museum.

[Mike Blakesley]

At CinemaCon 2022, Paramount was presenting Top Gun Maverick, and they had one of those videoclips from Cruise expressing regrets that he couldn't be there due to filming duties for Mission Impossible, but he thanked us all for supporting the movie and so on. He delivered the message while in midair, standing up in what looks like an old biplane, with director Chris McQuarrie in another plane nearby. After his short talk, both planes took off into a power dive with Tom still hanging on.

I actually found that greeting on Youtube, so here it is... it's even crazier than I remember it!

https://youtu.be/UiPFIOfqZO0