The promotional material for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the latest edition in the Mission: Impossible series, has leaned heavily on the death-defying stunt where Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt rides his motorcycle off a cliff. Hailed as the biggest stunt that the actor has attempted in the franchise’s history, which is saying a lot considering most people remember the stunts in the series rather than the actual plots, it is a sight to see. However, the most heart-stopping moment in the film is not the jump itself, but the sequence that leads up to it.

Prior to that stunt, Hunt is tracking a train that he needs to get on somehow and slides his bike to a stop at the edge of another cliff. As the camera moves up higher one can see just how far the drop is. If he had stopped a second later, he could have fallen off and, despite having a parachute on his back, been injured or worse. It is these small details that often set the stage for the larger set pieces that make the action in the film tick.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is filled with these moments. Director Christopher McQuarrie once again opts to tip his action scale heavier on the practical stunts side instead of driving the action through visual effects like other blockbuster films. This allows for the film to incorporate flows from set piece to set piece with youthful energy. Whether infusing comedic during a chase scene involving a Fiat going down a flight of stairs in Rome, or Hunt having to take on two foes in a narrow alley, there is plenty of adrenaline to keep the heart pulsating.

Similar to Fast X, another multipart summer blockbuster that has several surprising parallels to this film, Dead Reckoning Part One’s action beats can feel both invigorating and familiar at times. There are several nods to the previous M:I films woven into some of the set pieces. There is a desert chase with a sandstorm approaching (Ghost Protocol), a battle on top of a train (the first Mission: Impossible), a car chase that goes in the opposite direction of a roundabout (Fallout), etc. Despite these callouts, the film manages to give its action beats their own engaging and unique flavour.

As entertaining as the stunts and set pieces are, they cannot mask the films shortcomings that are often exposed in the dialogue. The film is full of moments of exposition that strive to explain the actions and motivations of a villain who cannot speak for itself. Much of the plot revolves around Hunt’s team attempting to retrieve a pair of interlocking keys that have something to do with a mysterious weapon know as “The Entity.” In tracking the keys, one of which was in the hands of friend and fellow spy Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), Hunt finds himself partnering with an expert thief, Grace (Hayley Atwell), who finds herself in possession of a key.

While Hunt and crew race to understand what the keys unlock, the audience already knows that The Entity is a Russian AI based weapon that has become sentient. In a world where ChatGPT and its ilk are rapidly changing the landscape of society faster than humans can process the potential ramifications, it is somewhat fitting that AI would be the central villain of the film. Dead Reckoning clearly has several things it wants to say about the technology and the dangers of governments trying to control what they don’t understand, but never figures out how to actually say it.

The Entity is presented as an algorithm that can assess its foes traits and weakness, plan for almost every scenario, manipulate voices, but is incapable of using its technology to create its own distinctive voice. Unfortunately, unlike say Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Entity is not that compelling of a villain. Like the all-seeing Eye of Sauron in The Lord of the Rings series, it observes all while letting a famed internet anarchist zealot, Gabriel (Esai Morales), who is a deadly foe from Hunt’s past, be its mouthpiece.

Despite Gabriel’s biblical style proclamations and Hunt’s growing fears, The Entity comes across like a boogeyman more concerned with remaining hidden than actually scaring others. It is left to the supporting characters to do the bulk of the heavy lifting in explaining why The Entity is an international threat.

While Hayley Atwell’s Grace is a fantastic addition to the team, many of the other supporting characters are rather one note. They can be easily described as the cops who are only concerned with bringing Hunt to justice, the bad ass Asian henchperson (Pom Klementieff) working for Gabriel who barely speaks (seriously, can we stop this trope Hollywood), etc.

All of this makes for a Mission: Impossible that film feels uneven at times. Ultimately, it is an entertaining mission that is worthy of accepting, however, Dead Reckoning Part One will not linger in one’s mind like other films in the franchise.