The story this time ventures ever so gently past the realm of the techno-thriller where the M:I series has lived for most of its existence and into the realm of pure science fiction, albeit eerily steeped in one of the biggest news stories happening right now. The movie opens on a submarine where we are immediately introduced to the villain: a highly sophisticated artificial intelligence known only as “the Entity.” It’s quickly established that the Entity has a mind of its own (has McQuarrie been watching cult classic Colossus: The Forbin Project?), and whoever can get control of it and its almost god-like power will be able to impersonate or penetrate any system or government in the world. You could rule the globe or destroy it without almost anyone noticing.
Naturally, every government wants to get its hands on the thing, but more frighteningly, a self-styled angel of death known as Gabriel (Esai Morales) has his own nefarious plans for it. Or is Gabriel actually working for the Entity? That’s never made exactly clear. In any case, the MacGuffin has its own MacGuffin: two keys that interlock and give the holder access to the Entity, which is where Ethan and the IMF come into the picture.
Joined by regulars Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames) and the always enigmatic yet bewitching Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), Ethan is ordered by returning IMF boss Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny, reprising his role from 1996) to find those keys before they fall into the hands of a mysterious buyer. But Ethan’s plan, involving a cat-and-mouse game in an Abu Dhabi airport, is thwarted by a rogue element, a professional thief named Grace (Hayley Atwell) who steals one of the keys and is unwittingly thrust into the middle of a very dangerous pursuit with apocalyptic implications. More disturbingly, the Entity seems to be ahead of everyone every step of the way.
As with all the M:I movies, going back to Brian de Palma’s original, underrated Mission: Impossible (1996), which upended the conventions of the TV show and set a modest template for what was to come, the plotting of the film can be almost needlessly convoluted, although we would argue that McQuarrie has gone for a slightly more direct approach this time than in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015) or Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018). Where he does run into trouble is juggling all the characters that are now part of the storyline. While in-depth characterization has never been a strong suit of these movies, the addition of four major new characters to this film means that some of our legacy players get short shrift. The shortest straw is drawn by Ilsa, the MVP of the previous two films, who is sidelined here to everyone’s detriment.
She is more or less replaced by Atwell’s Grace, but the truth is that Grace may be the most complex female protagonist in the series yet. Cunning, wily, and blessed with a keen sense of self-interest, she is a match in mind games for Ethan, and Atwell generates not just intelligence and empathy, but more pure chemistry with Cruise than any other female lead we’ve seen him interact with in years.
The other breakout here is Pom Klementieff (like Atwell, an MCU veteran who we just saw give her best performance as Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) as Paris, an assassin working for Gabriel who channels serious Bond femme fatale energy, sort of a cross between Famke Janssen’s Xenia Onatopp and Barbara Carrera’s non-canon Fatima Blush (like those two, she seems to get off on causing sheer destruction).