Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning puts up Humans vs. AI fight

The story of Mission Impossible spans almost thirty years. Since 1996, this franchise has become the closest thing to the American equivalent of the perennial British James Bond series. 

Like every other successful spy action film, there is always a villain or a criminal organisation that wants to destroy or achieve sole control over the world, and Ethan Hunt arrives every time to stop them and save the day. 

Impossible Mission Force (IMF) Agent Ethan is again needed in this latest Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One, where the villain is not a human in flesh and blood but an AI seeking to destroy humanity.

The new antagonist is 'Entity', an artificial intelligence created by humans to attack enemy nations' cybersecurity. But, breaking popular science fiction author Isaac Asimov's rules for robots, it became sentient and chose to destroy humanity by disrupting military and intelligence systems. 

Sabotaging Entity is necessary to save mankind, but humans are too selfish for their gains. Powerful nations now race against each other to gain control of the AI and command over the world, and two parts of keys, located like a needle in a haystack around the world, are the only way to access Entity.

But Ethan Hunt is as compassionate as ever. In his conscience, the Entity is beyond anyone's control. So he seeks to destroy it with his team. 

In his mission to seek Entity keys, the IMF team met Grace, who stole the key to sell it to the highest bidder. Ethan's team hasn't had a big change in many years, but Grace, the antihero burglar portrayed by Hayley Atwell, joins the team after a series of events.

Several antagonists are also seeking the Entity key. Ethan and his team fight assassins Gabriel and Paris and arms dealer Alanna for the key. Betrayal is the regular element in this franchise, so National Intelligence Director Denlinger and former IMF Director Kittridge betrayed national interests and wanted the key for themselves.

Ethan lost his long-time ally Ilsa Faust to his enemies and still chooses to spare them. Is his sacrifice and fight for the key worth it? 

Well, the film ends on a cliffhanger, and the team learns the key's secret, making way for the sabotage mission in Dead Reckoning Part Two.

This seventh Mission Impossible film pays homage to multiple scenes and characters from the first film. 

Henry Czerny reprises his role of Kittridge after 27 years, and Vanessa Kirby, as Alanna, serves as the successor of Max Mitropolis, the black arms dealer antagonist from the first film. The famous train chase scene has also entered this film, where Ethan chases Gabriel for the key.

Like every other instalment, there are a plethora of action sequences: a fight in a sandstorm, a car chase through the streets of Rome, and last but not least, Tom Cruise's famous bike jump over a cliff. 

Even though there was a CGI option, he chose to shoot that stunt all by himself, not once but six times. He is 61 years old and has been bearing the weight of the franchise for 27 years, yet he remains young and manages to show his determination as the action star. 

Will his hard work pay for the franchise's success and legacy? Fans have to make that happen in the future.

contact.iftekhar.tne@gmail.com