There's that famous saying that nothing is certain apart from death and taxes. But to that list we can add the fact that each Mission: Impossible film will be bigger, bolder, faster and wilder than the previous instalment.
The next episode in the explosive franchise, the punctuation-studded Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, doesn’t hit our screens for over a year, on 14 July 2023. And we’ll have to wait another year still, until June 2024, for Part Two.
But already the first teaser trailer answers some key questions about next summer’s biggest blockbuster…
Which familiar faces are returning?
The Impossible Mission Force (IMF) agent least likely to follow orders – but most likely to absolutely, definitely get the job done in the face of any and all challenges – is Ethan Hunt, played as before by Tom Cruise.
The team who helped stymie anarchist terrorist Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) over the previous two movies are also back. The returning crew includes loyal hacker Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames, reviving his role from the first Mission: Impossible), nervy but faithful tech whizz Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and kick-ass former MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson).
We also catch repeat glimpses of the seductive arms dealer White Widow (The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby), who played such a prominent role in Mission Impossible: Fallout alongside her thuggish brother Zola (Frederick Schmidt), also back in action here.
More intriguingly, Ethan is on the receiving end of a tense whispered ultimatum from IMF head honcho Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), last seen apprehending arms dealer Max (Vanessa Redgrave, relishing the role) at the end of the first Mission: Impossible. His part in the plot of the latest instalment? That remains to be seen.
Any new heroes or villains?
Another strong female character making a first appearance is Grace (Hayley Atwell, best known as Agent Carter from the Marvel Cinematic Universe). The teaser doesn’t reveal whether she’s with or against Ethan – or perhaps has her own agenda altogether.
One man certainly not of good moral fibre is the villain played by Esai Morales – name (or codename) still to be revealed, but propensity for explosives and one-on-one violence unquestionable.
We’ll also meet new arrivals played by Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy’s Mantis) and Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride), Mark Gatiss (BBC’s Sherlock) and Rob Delaney (Deadpool 2). Again, names and roles are TBC – but the former, at least, is in the thick of the action.
And behind the camera?
Christopher McQuarrie is back in the director’s chair, having created the ever-more seat-edge plots and eye-popping action spectacles of Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation and Fallout.
Lens duties fall to experienced director of photography Fraser Taggart, whose impressive CV includes the last two Mission: Impossible movies alongside McQuarrie, as well as Star Wars: Rogue One, John Wick 2 and Dr Strange. In other words, he’s no stranger to big-budget actioners.
Composer Lorne Balfe, who cranked up the tension with his soundtrack to Fallout, will be repeating the trick this time out, too.
Can it top previous Missions?
Judging by the teaser, many of the cinematic tics and trends we’ve come to anticipate are stepped up a gear or three. There’s globetrotting – including a horseback dash through a desert, a ride through the Alps, and visits to Rome and Venice, plus a throbbing nightclub scene.
High-octane chases, of course, with an armoured vehicle, an open-sided saloon car (how did those door come off?) and a bright yellow Fiat 500 revving around cobbled Italian backstreets.
Fights, too: Isla more than holds her own – not to mention a sword – during a bridge-top clash with currently anonymous villain Esai Morales. Ethan does his fair share of sprinting, as always, and Benji also breaks out the running trainers.
But it’s the increasingly jaw-dropping stunts that give these films the edge over almost any other big-screen caper, and Dead Reckoning promises not to buck the trend. In Rogue Nation and Fallout we saw free solo climbs up the sheer exterior of a Middle Eastern skyscraper, high-altitude halo jumps and mid-air helicopter fights. What next?
An exploding submarine. A train hurtling off a part-demolished rail bridge (apparently with Ethan aboard). And, most breathtaking of all, a climactic sequence culminating in Ethan hurling himself off a mountain outcrop into a heart-in-mouth base jump – from a speeding motorbike.
The two-part Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning will reportedly mark the final appearances of Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. If so, it should be a hell of a way to sign off arguably the greatest action film series we've seen.
Watch the trailer below and let us know what you think @Cineworld
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