Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a 2023 American action spy film directed by Christopher McQuarrie from a screenplay he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen. It is the sequel to Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) and the seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. The ensemble cast includes Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga and Henry Czerny. Cruise plays the Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt, whose team faces a rogue artificial intelligence. In January 2019, Cruise announced the next two Mission: Impossible films would be shot back-to-back, with McQuarrie writing and directing both. The cast was announced soon after, and Lorne Balfe, who composed the score for Fallout, returned to score. Filming began in Italy in February 2020 but was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It resumed later that year and wrapped in September 2021, with other filming locations including Norway, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. With an estimated gross budget of $291 million, including a net $220 million budget, it is one of the most expensive films ever made. Dead Reckoning Part One premiered in Rome on June 19, 2023, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 12, by Paramount Pictures. It received acclaim and grossed $571.1 million worldwide, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2023, but was considered a box-office disappointment relative to its budget though it performed slightly better overseas. It was nominated in two categories at the 96th Academy Awards and the 77th British Academy Film Awards. A sequel, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, was released in 2025.
Plot The Sevastopol, a next-generation Russian stealth submarine named after the Ukrainian city of same name, on its inaugural mission, activates an advanced active learning defense system using a two-piece cruciform key. The AI appears to become sentient and deceives the submarine crew into attacking themselves with their own torpedo, killing all aboard and sinking the Sevastopol in the Bering Sea. The AI, calling itself the "Entity", disappears into cyberspace. World powers compete to obtain the key in hopes of controlling the Entity. IMF agent Ethan Hunt travels to the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert and retrieves one piece of the key from disavowed MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, faking her death to shield her from a bounty. Ethan then infiltrates a U.S. Intelligence Community briefing in Washington, D.C. for Director of National Intelligence Denlinger, where CIA Director Eugene Kittridge explains that the Entity can manipulate cyberspace to control global defense intelligence and financial networks. Ethan reveals himself and forces Kittridge to admit to placing the bounty on Ilsa before escaping, intending to destroy the Entity. Ethan and his IMF teammates Benji Dunn and Luther Stickell travel to Abu Dhabi International Airport to intercept the second piece of the key, though it is revealed to be a fake. While pursued by American agents, Ethan encounters Grace, a thief who steals the first piece of the key from him. Ethan aborts the mission when he recognizes Gabriel, a shadowy figure from his pre-IMF past now acting as a liaison for the Entity. Grace escapes to Rome but is apprehended by police. Ethan arrives and frees her from custody while evading police, American agents, and an Entity operative named Paris. Grace escapes again, and Ethan rejoins Luther, Benji, and Ilsa. Ethan and Ilsa follow Grace to Venice and infiltrate a party at the Doge's Palace held by arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis, where Gabriel is in attendance. Already in possession of the second piece of the key, Alanna hired Grace to steal the first, and will sell the completed key to her buyer the next day on the Orient Express. Gabriel proclaims that he will possess the completed key the next day if either Ilsa or Grace dies. Ethan attempts to dissuade Alanna from the sale, though Gabriel and Grace escape. He pursues Grace, but the Entity hacks into their communications and impersonates Benji, leading Ethan into a fight with Paris, whom he defeats but spares. Gabriel incapacitates Grace and kills Ilsa, devastating Ethan. While preparing for the sale, Luther leaves for an off-grid location, advising Ethan to spare Gabriel so they can question him about the Entity. On the train with Paris, Gabriel kills the engine crew and destroys the throttle and brake. He meets with Denlinger, who attempts to form an alliance with the Entity, which he reveals was originally an advanced cyber weapon that was intended to sabotage the Sevastopol as a test of its capabilities before going rogue. The completed key unlocks a chamber inside the Sevastopol containing the Entity's source code, allowing it to be destroyed or controlled. As this secret is known only to Denlinger, Gabriel kills him, and tries to kill Paris as the Entity has predicted she will betray them after Ethan spared her life. Disguised as Alanna, Grace brings the key to Kittridge, revealed to be the buyer, and negotiates a $100 million sale alongside protection for herself, but relents and pickpockets the key from Kittridge. Ethan parachutes into the train to save Grace, though Gabriel is able to acquire the key. Fighting Ethan atop the train, Gabriel escapes and detonates a bridge ahead. Detaching the runaway locomotive and saving the passengers, Grace and Ethan climb through the falling train cars until they are rescued by Paris, who tells Ethan about the key's connection to the Sevastopol before collapsing. While Grace informs Kittridge she wishes to join the IMF, Ethan flees the wreckage by speed wing with the completed key, which he pickpocketed from Gabriel during the fight, and rendezvous with Benji to continue the mission.
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