Ving Rhames Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,’ starring Tom Cruise

May 14, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Some language in French with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in various parts of the world, the action film “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” (the eighth movie in the “Mission: Impossible” movie series) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some black people, Asians, Latin people and Native Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: American rogue superspy Ethan Hunt and his international allies race against time to stop a massive artificial intelligence force called the Entity from destroying the world.

Culture Audience: “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the “Mission: Impossible” franchise and action movies that are over-the-top spectacles.

Nick Offerman, Angela Bassett, Mark Gatiss and Janet McTeer in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is overstuffed, goes on for too long, and comes dangerously close to the ridiculousness of the “Fast & Furious” franchise. However, the engaging characters and superior stunts outweigh the movie’s flaws. It’s by no means the best “Mission: Impossible” movie in the series, but it’s certainly the one that expects viewers to think the hardest about a convoluted plot that doesn’t deserve overthinking.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” (the eighth movie in the “Mission: Impossible” series was written by Erik Jendresen and McQuarrie. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” had its world premiere in Tokyo and its European premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. McQuarrie also directed and co-wrote 2015’s “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” 2018’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” and 2023’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” whose title was later shortened to “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning” after the movie underperformed at the box office. The “Mission: Impossible” movie series is inspired by the TV series “Mission: Impossible,” which was on the air from 1966 to 1973.

“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is essentially “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two,” but you don’t need to see “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” to understand “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” That’s because “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is filled with exposition dumps of characters explaining what happened in previous “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and other previous “Mission: Impossible” movies, as well as over-explaining what they’re about to do in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.”

One of the most unintentionally laughable things about “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is how the characters take turns in their exposition-dump dialogues by each saying things with perfect timing, as if they know each other’s lines and never talk over each other or interrupt each other during these overly choreographed conversations. It never looks like real conversations, especially in the high-pressure situations that these characters experience. There are also several flashback montages for nostalgia’s sake and to inform viewers who might not have seen or who might have forgotten some key moments in previous “Mission: Impossible” movies.

At the end of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” American rogue superspy Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise)—an operative of the secret agency Impossible Missions Force (IMF)—escaped from with one of two keys that have the power to destroy a massive artificial intelligence villain called the Entity, which is intent on taking over the world. The Entity is not physically embodied in any one being because the Entity is a virtual enemy that can spread wherever and whenever it chooses. However, the biggest human enemy in the “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is Gabriel (played by Esai Morales), an assassin liaison for the Entity.

“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” begins with an outer-space galaxy image and a male voice intoning the “Mission: Impossible” movie motto that gets repeated multiple times throughout this film: “We live and die in the shadows of those we hold close and those we never meet.” The voice adds, “The world is changing. War is coming.”

The praise gets a little corny and starts to deify Ethan as a female voice thanks Ethan for hs service, as several scenes from previous “Mission: Impossible” movies are shown like a greatest-hits playlist. The voice adds: “Every personal sacrifice you made has brought us another sunrise,” she says. “And although you never followed orders, you never let us down.

It’s also explained in the beginning of the movie that every corner of cyberspace has been corrupted by the Entity, which has inspired a doomsday cult. These fanatics have infiltrated every level of law enforcement, government bureaucracy and the military. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” doesn’t do a lot with this “worldwide cult” plot development, because most of the movie shows Ethan mostly hanging out or fighting against a small group of people, most of whom are familiar characters.

Ethan is under orders to surrender to the U.S. government and hand over the Entity key that Ethan has in his possession. Ethan as other plans. His first order of business in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is to a prison break of former Gabriel cohort Paris (played by Pom Klementieff), a French assassin who is currently in prison in Austria because of the events that happened in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.”

This review won’t go into too many more details about what happens, but it’s enough to say that “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” has a lot of dazzling action scenes but the story doesn’t do much that’s surprising. Ethan is joined by Ethan is joined by his two most loyal sidekicks: IMF computer technician Luther Stickell (played by Ving Rhames) and IMF technology field agent Benji (played by Simon Pegg), who have opposite personalities. Luther is laid-back and cool. Benji is high-strung and nervous.

Also along for the ride are Paris and two other of Ethan’s enemies-turned-allies who first appeared in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”: arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis (played by Vanessa Kirby); former U.S. intelligence agent Degas (played by Greg Tarzan Davis); and masterful thief Grace (played by Hayley Atwell), who has a mutual growing attraction to Ethan. Alanna is the daughter of illegal arms dealer Max Mitsopolis (played by Vanessa Redgrave), who died in 1996’s “Mission: Impossible,” the first film in the “Mission: Impossible” movie series. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” reveals that another character in the movie has a parent who died in the first “Mission: Impossible'” movie.

Erika Sloane (played by Angela Bassett), who was the director of the CIA in “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” is now the president of the United States in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” Field agent Jasper Briggs (played by Shea Whigham) also returns and continues to hunt Ethan. He has a much smaller role than he did in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.”

Other government officials who are featured in the movie are U.S. Army General Sidney (played by Nick Offerman), who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; U.S. Secretary of Defense Serling (played Holt McCallany); Walters (played by Janet McTeer); CIA director Eugene Kittridge (played by Henry Czerny); U.S. Navy Admiral Neely (played by Hannah Waddingham); U.S. Navy Captain Bledsoe (played by Tramell Tillman); and National Security Agency chief Angstrom (played by Mark Gatiss). They mostly just stand around and worry about decisions they have to make because of Ethan’s actions.

“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” has a lot of expected globetrotting, mostly in Europe, North America and Africa. (The movie was actually filmed in South Africa and England.) The trekking includes a stop in Alaska, where CIA analyst William Donloe (played by Rolf Saxon) and his wife Tapeesa (played by Lucy Tulugarjuk) play crucial roles in the story. William was previously seen in the first “Mission: Impossible” movie. It’s explained in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” what William been doing since then.

The expected fist fights, explosions and gun shootouts occur, but the two most impressive action sequences involve (1) a deep-sea dive to go inside a shipwrecked submarine and (2) a battle to reach Gabriel flying in a single-passenger plane. (These action sequences are glimpsed in the movie’s trailers.) The deep-sea sequence is marred only by unrealistic-looking actions where Ethan does certain things without an oxygen tank or pressure suit, which would definitely kill someone in real life in a deep-sea environment.

Cruise famously does many of his own stunts. But the visual effects in these fake-looking scenes don’t look convincing because they make Ethan look superhuman, which defeats the “Mission: Impossible” purpose of showing Ethan as a flawed human being. The filmmakers should’ve left it so Ethan could be a superhero without superpowers that go beyond human capacities.

And in case it wasn’t clear enough, even though it’s repeated enough times in the movie: It’s up to Ethan to save the world. And if he doesn’t save the world, as someone in the movie quips, it’s all Ethan’s fault. The elevating of Ethan to almost messianic levels becomes a running joke in the movie. The concept of Ethan being a superhero is obvious and doesn’t even need to be said out loud. However, it’s good to see that the movie is in on the joke and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Cruise and the rest of the cast members are serviceable in their roles. But there’s sort of a cold disconnect in how most of the characters don’t mention the human stakes of saving their loved ones in this possible apocalypse. The only hints that any of these characters have lives outside of their work are brief glimpses of Erika showing affection and concern for her unnamed adult son (played by Kwabena Ansan), who’s in the U.S. military. William and Tapeesa are the only couple shown in the movie.

One of the drawbacks of making the chief villain an abstract virtual enigma instead of something tangible: It removes the possibility of having a villain with a unique personality. Human villain Gabriel is not in the movie for very long, considering the 169-minute runtime. Although there’s nothing wrong with Morales’ performance, Gabriel is an underdeveloped character and comes across as an inferior imitation of a villain in a James Bond movie.

Does anyone with knowledge of the movie business really believe that “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is the last “Mission: Impossible” movie? No. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is not a great movie, but it’s good enough in delivering what fans expect. And what people can expect is for this franchise to continue in one way or another.

Paramount Pictures will release “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” in U.S. cinemas on May 23, 2025.

Review: ‘The Wild Robot,’ starring the voices of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill and Catherine O’Hara

September 8, 2024

by Carla Hay

“The Wild Robot”

Directed by Chris Sanders

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly on a remote island, the animated film “The Wild Robot” has a group of characters that are talking animals and talking robots.

Culture Clash: After crash-landing on Earth, an alien robot becomes a mother figure to a young goose, who learns lessons about loyalty and life along the way.

Culture Audience: “The Wild Robot” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the book on which the movie is based, the movie’s headliners and family-friendly animated films that skillfully blend comedy and drama.

Fink (voiced by Pedro Pascal), Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) and Pinktail (voiced by Catherine O’Hara) in “The Wild Robot” (Image courtesy of DreamWorks Animation)

“The Wild Robot” is a heartwarming and visually dazzling animated adaptation of Peter Brown’s 2016 novel of the same. Lupita Nyong’o does an excellent job of making a robot character have believable humanity. The rest of the movie’s voice cast is also stellar.

Written and directed by Chris Sanders, “The Wild Robot” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie keeps the plot uncomplicated and treads on a well-worn animated path of being a coming-of-age story where two very different characters are thrown together under unexpected circumstances and learn about life from each other. Most movies about robots usually have humans as main characters, but “The Wild Robot” stands out because there are no humans in the movie—only talking animals and talking robots.

“The Wild Robot” begins by showing a robot named Rozzum Unit 7134, later nicknamed Roz (voiced by Nyong’o), who crash-lands from outer space and becomes stranded on an island that has no humans. In the beginning of the movie, Roz is very rigid and focused only on following the orders that she was programmed to fulfill. She has been taught that once her duties have been completed for her owner, she has to shut down and be programmed for the next owner. It’s later revealed that Roz comes from a company called Universal Dynamics.

Roz’s appearance on the island causes the animals to fear Roz and think she’s a monster. When she is chased by a bear, she falls down and accidentally causes the death of family of geese, except for the only survivor: an unhatched egg. Roz believes she was programmed to protect this egg. A sly fox named Fink (voiced by Pedro Pascal) steals the egg, so Roz chases Fink through a heavily wooded area. Roz captures the fox, plucks a whisker from his face, retrieves the egg, and lets Fink go. The egg soon hatches and reveals itself to be a runt male gosling.

Roz asks this newborn goose, “Was this task completed to your satisfaction?” She asks the goose to rate her skills on a scale of 1 to 10. The frightened gosling can only chirp out an answer. Roz says, “I’ll register that as a 10.”

Roz and the orphaned gosling soon meet a family of young opossums led by a snarky matriarch named Pinktail (voiced by Catherine O’Hara), a mother of seven who doesn’t want to adopt this orphaned bird. Pinktail insists that Roz can take care of the gosling. Roz soon learns that she should have three tasks to complete to raise this newborn to become an independent goose who will be ready to migrate in autumn with the other geese in the community: “Eat. Swim. Fly by fall.”

At first, Roz wants to give numbers as a name for this gosling. (One bland and boring suggestion is 001.) However, Fink comes slinking back out of curiosity and says that this young goose should be given words as names. Roz takes this advice and names the gosling Brightbill when she sees his bill light up in the glow of the atmosphere.

Brightbill (voiced by Kit Connor) grows up to be a young adult who is bullied and taunted by other geese, who think of Brightbill as a tiny wimp and Roz as a monster. The chances look slim that outcast Brightbill will be invited to migrate with the other geese. Fink still hangs around as a family acquaintance who eventually earns more trust.

An elderly goose named Longneck (voiced by Bill Nighy) becomes the first goose to treat Brightbill and Roz with kindness. Other talking animals that appear in the movie are a fearsome grizzly bear named Thorn (voiced by Mark Hamill), a confident falcon named Thunderbolt (voiced by Ving Rhames) and an eccentric beaver named Paddler (voiced by Matt Berry), who is also trying to find acceptance with this clique-ish animal community on the island.

“The Wild Robot” has a lot to say about parental responsibilities and how families can exist with beings who are not biologically related. The movie treats themes of co-dependence and independence in thoughtful and clever ways, as observations and commentaries on interpersonal relationships and authoritarian control. A robot villain character named Vontra (voiced by Stephanie Hsu) represents the dark side of authoritarianism.

It’s fitting that the main character getting the child raising in “The Wild Robot” is a bird because the movie has several moments when Roz has to grapple with the experience of being an “empty nester.” One of the more impactful lines of dialogue in the movie is when Roz says she thinks of kindness as a survival skill. People might get misty-eyed in some scenes that are clearly intended to be tearjerking moments about family and friendship.

“The Wild Robot” brims with dynamic energy, gorgeous visuals and memorable characters, even if the movie offers no surprises. The movie’s writing and directing (complemented by Kris Bowers’ adventurous musical score) do not pander mainly to kids under the age of 10 because there’s much that can be enjoyed by people of many different age groups. The ending of the film obviously hints at a sequel, which should please viewers who want to see this appealing story continue.

Universal Pictures will release “The Wild Robot” in U.S. cinemas on September 27, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on October 15, 2024. “The Wild Robot” will be releaed on 4K UHD and Blu-ray on December 3, 2024.

Review: ‘The Garfield Movie,’ starring the voices of Chris Pratt and Samuel L. Jackson

May 19, 2024

by Carla Hay

“The Garfield Movie”

Directed by Mark Dindal

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the animated film “The Garfield Movie” (based on the “Garfield” comic strip) features a cast of talking animals and some humans.

Culture Clash: Mischievous cat Garfield and his dog sidekick Odie team up with Garfield’s long-lost father Vic for to steal a large quantity of milk from a tourist farm.

Culture Audience: “The Garfield Movie” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the “Garfield” franchise, fairly entertaining animated films where the main characters are talking animals.

Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), Garfield (voiced by by Chris Pratt), Odie and Otto (voiced by Ving Rhames) in “The Garfield Movie” (Image courtesy of DNEG Animation/Columbia Pictures)

“The Garfield Movie” isn’t outstanding, but it’s amusing enough for viewers who want a lightweight film about mischievous talking animals in an uncomplicated adventure story. The movie avoids being overstuffed and has some endearing sentimentality. Some viewers might be disappointed that the movie doesn’t have more interactions between humans and animals, but in the context of this particular plot for this animals, it’s better that most of the animal interactions don’t involve human interference.

Directed by Mark Dindal, “The Garfield Movie” was written by Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove and David Reynolds. The “Garfield” franchise is based on the “Garfield” comic strip created by Jim Davis and launched in 1978. Garfield is a fun-loving and talkative orange tabby cat who can be mischievous. In this movie, he finds he reluctantly goes on a heist to help his long-lost father and finds out certain things that affect his life in a profound way. People do not need to be familiar with anything in the “Garfield” franchise before seeing this movie.

“The Garfield Movie” (which takes place in an unnamed U.S. city) begins by showing Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt) at home and using a phone app to ordering food for delivery (including pizza and lasagna) from Mama Leoni’s, his favorite Italian restaurant. Garfield’s best friend/sidekick is a goofy beagle named Odie (voiced by Harvey Guillén), who does not talk but makes various noises. Garfield and Odie live with their human owner Jon Arbuckle (voiced by Nicholas Hoult), an amiable bachelor who adopted Garfield when Garfield was a kitten.

Garfield explains his backstory that is shown in a flashback. When Garfield was a kitten, his single father Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) took care of Garfield. Garfield’s mother is not seen or mentioned in the movie. One rainy night, Vic told Garfield to wait for him in an alley, where Garfield was put in an open wooden enclosure to shield him from the rainy weather.

Vic promised that he would come back, but Garfield waited for an unnamed period of time, and didn’t see Vic come back. Feeling lost and hungry, Garfield wandered over to Mama Leoni’s, where he looked through a window and saw Jon at a table by himself. The next thing Jon knew, he saw a cute and hungry kitten at his table, with the kitten wanting to eat the pizza that Jon had ordered. Jon hid the kitten at the table and eventually smuggled the kitten outside.

At first, Jon wasn’t going to take Garfield home because, at the time, Jon lived in an apartment that didn’t allow pets. But he was so charmed by Garfield, he took Garfield with him. Garfield says in a voiceover that he was the one who convinced Jon to move from the apartment to the house where they currently live. Eventually, Odie became part of the family.

In the present day, Garfield and Odie get kidnapped and find out that their captor is a fluffy white cat named Jinx (voiced by Hannah Waddingham), a diva-like feline who has two dogs as her main cronies: a Whippet named Nolan (voiced by Bowen Yang) and a Shar-Pei named Roland (voiced by Brett Goldstein), who do whatever Jinx tells them to do.

Jinx tells her story to Garfield and Odie about why she kidnapped them. Several years ago, Jinx immigrated from “a small town outside of London” to America to become a famous entertainer. She failed in that dream. A brief flashback shows that she bombed as a tuba player in a contest called Amerca’s Top Feline.

Feeling discouraged, Jinx befriended a bunch of other outcast and misfit cats, including Vic. One day, Jinx got trapped by animal control officers and spent four years, two months and seven days at an animal shelter, which she calls a “prison.” Jinx is bitter that her other stray cat friends, including Vic, were not captured and didn’t help her when she was captured and sent to the shelter.

For revenge, Jinx kidnapped Garfield and Odie, knowing that Vic would track them down. (It’s explained later in the movie how Vic would know where Garfield is.) When Vic comes to the rescue, Jinx tells them that something terrible will happen unless Vic can steal quart of milk from a place called Lactose Farms, for every day that she was in “prison.” She gives a deadline of 72 hours to commit this heist.

Vic convinces a reluctant Garfield to help him with this heist. Odie is along for the ride too. When they get to Lactose Farms, it isn’t the small “mom and pop” business that Vic remembers. It’s now a corporate-owned popular tourist attraction with a petting zoo and a complex layout to get to the milk supply.

While at Lactose Farms, these three would-be thieves meet a bull named Otto (voiced by Ving Rhames), who was put out to pasture when Lactose Farms was sold to the corporation. This new ownership also resulted in Otto being separated from his longtime love: a cow named Edith (voiced by Alicia Grace Turrell), who is currently part of the petting zoo. Otto agrees to help Vic, Garfield and Odie with this heist (since he’s very knowledgeable of the layout of Lactose Farms) on the condition that they free Edith so that Otto can run away with her.

Otto leads much of the planning for this heist, which will be an undercover operation. He gives code names for the three would-be thieves. Vic is Majestic Bullfrog. Odie is Clever and Curious Chipmunk. Garfield is Roadkill. Naturally, Garfield dislikes his code name.

There’s more to the movie’s story that just the hijinks that ensue for this heist. Garfield has a lot of complicated emotions about the sudden appearance of his absent father Vic. It leads to parts of the movie that cover topics such as childhood trauma over abandonment in a mostly sensitive and touching way.

Meanwhile, Jon frantically searches for Garfield and Odie in amusing segments that poke fun at how call centers frequently put people on hold and give impersonal service that isn’t helpful. A few supporting characters have slightly amusing roles, such as Lactose Farms security chief Marge Malone (voiced by Cecily Strong), who is shrill and aggressive. Making cameo appearances are two stray cats named Maurice (voiced by Snoop Dogg) and Olivia (voiced by Janelle James), who encounter Garfield and Odie.

“The Garfield Movie” has some moments where the pacing drags, but the film mostly has a brisk pace and competently engaging animation. The charismatic voice cast performances go a long way in maintaining viewer interest, since the personalities of the main characters are the driving force of this simple story. This is a very male-centric movie, where the female characters with the most screen time are either antagonists (Jinx and Marge) or need to be rescued (Edith).

The movie’s end credits have social media clips of cat videos, which are cute but look out-of-place in this animated film, even though there’s a running gag that Garfield likes to watch cat videos on the fictional streaming service Catflix. “The Garfield Movie” is not the type of movie that people should expect to win any major awards, but it’s not a complete waste of time either. It’s a middle-of-the-road film that will get mixed reactions but should satisfy viewers who aren’t expecting a masterpiece or a terrible movie.

Columbia Pictures will release “The Garfield Movie” in U.S. cinemas on May 24, 2024. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on May 19, 2024.

Review: ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,’ starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby and Henry Czerny

July 5, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Some language in Italian and French with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place from various parts of the world, the action film “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans, Latinos and Asians) who are connected in some way with government operations or criminal activities.

Culture Clash: IMF (International Mission Force) rogue agent Ethan Hunt is once again on a mission to save the world from deadly villains.

Culture Audience: Besides appealing the obvious target audience of “Mission: Impossible” fans, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Tom Cruise and spy thrillers with death-defying action stunts.

Pom Klementieff in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

By now, most movie fans know that the “Mission: Impossible” movie series, starring Tom Cruise as IMF rogue agent Ethan Hunt, will have a lot of amazing stunts and action sequences. Cruise famously does his own principal stunts for these films. The “Mission: Impossible” movie series (based on the TV series of the same name) began in 1996. Instead of slowing down with these movies, Cruise seems determined to do even more outrageous stunts. In “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” the stakes get even higher when Ethan and all the main characters face the challenge of an entity that can create false images and alter people’s perceptions of reality.

As already shown in the movie’s trailer, Cruise’s biggest stunt in the film is driving custom-made Honda CRF 250 off of Norway’s Helsetkopen mountain, where he fell 4,000 feet into a ravine before opening his parachute about 500 feet from the ground. There are more stunts (some using obvious visual effects) involving planes, trains and automobiles. The movie also introduces a few intriguing new characters who will be appearing in more than one “Mission: Impossible” movie.

Directed by Chistopher McQuarrie, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” is the seventh film in the “Mission: Impossible” movie series and the third consecutive “Mission: Impossible” film that McQuarrie has directed, following 2015’s “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” and 2018’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout.” Cruise and McQuarrie are the producers of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” which was written by McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen. It’s the same writing, directing and producing team behind “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two,” which is set for release in 2024.

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” is the most ambitious of the “Mission: Impossible” movie series so far but in some ways is also the most ridiculous. In trying so hard to outdo its predecessors, the movie gets into cartoonish territory when characters don’t get any injuries in crashes and explosions that would kill or maim most people in real life. Some of the plot also gets too convoluted. Despite these flaws, what a thrill ride it is. This action-packed and suspenseful film mostly earns its total running time of 156 minutes, even though “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” still could’ve benefited from tighter film editing. (For example, the movie’s opening credits don’t happen until 28 minutes into the film.)

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” opens with a Russian submarine getting blown up after getting hit with a torpedo. The submarine’s video monitors and other computer systems were hacked by a mysterious entity that can create illusions to confuse the submarine’s occupants. These illusions caught the occupants off guard, which led to the torpedo destroying the submarine and everyone inside.

This all-powerful hacking tool is essentially on a computer flash drive, which is called a key. It should come as no surprise that every major terrorist group and every major governmental superpower is looking for this key, which is being sold to the highest bidder. Ethan works for a secretive government operation called International Mission Force (IMF), which gives him a new task in each “Mission: Impossible” movie. In “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” Ethan and his team have been tasked with finding the key before it gets into the wrong hands.

Ethan agrees to accept this mission, but he disagrees with the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, whose last name is Denlinger (played by Cary Elwes), who is also the head of a mysterious spy group called The Community. Denlinger (who is based in Washington, D.C.) thinks the U.S. government should be able to control this entity. Ethan thinks that the entity should be destroyed. Denlinger doesn’t know that IMF exists until he meets Ethan.

For this mission, Ethan is once again joined by his two trusty sidekicks who are computer technology experts and hackers: Luther Stickell (played by Ving Rhames), who is calm and logical, is Ethan’s oldest friend. Luther’s nicknames are Phinneas Freak and The Net Ranger. Benji Dunn (played by Simon Pegg), who is jumpy and neurotic, often follows orders from Luther.

Returning to the “Mission: Impossible” franchise are mercenary Ilsa Faust (played by Rebecca Ferguson), who has complicated relationship with Ethan; Eugene Kittridge (played by Henry Czerny), who was in 1996’s “Mission: Impossible” movie and who is now the director of the CIA; and the morally ambiguous Alanna Mitsopolis (played by Vanessa Kirby), also known as The White Widow. There’s a very memorable sequence on a train that involves Alanna/The White Widow.

During this globetrotting hunt, Ethan and his team go to various places, including the Arabian Desert, Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Rome and the Austrian Alps. They are being hunted by operatives from the U.S. government agency Clandestine Services. A Clandestine Services operative named Briggs (played by Shea Whigham) is leading this hunt. Briggs is a gruff taskmaster who likes to bend the rules, while his relatively new subordinate Degas (played by Greg Tarzan Davis) is very by-the-book and wants to follow the established protocol.

The movie’s chief villain is a mysterious agitator named Gabriel (played by Esai Morales), who has his ruthless sidekick Paris (played by Pom Klementieff) do a lot of his dirty work. Ethan and Gabriel share a past that has to do with a woman named Marie (played by Mariela Garriga), with this shared past explaining some of Gabriel’s motivations. Paris is the one who is most often seen trying to kill Ethan and a cunning thief named Grace (played by Hayley Atwell), who becomes Ethan’s reluctant and often untrustworthy accomplice in this race to get possession of the key.

One of the ways that “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” stands apart from so many other action films is that it doesn’t play into tired stereotypes of having a principal cast of people who mostly under the age of 40. Likewise, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” also defies that action movie stereotype of having just one leading actress (usually someone’s love interest in the movie) among a slew of male leading actors. In “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” there are four strong women who have prominent roles in the movie.

Klementieff is a standout among “Mission: Impossible” villains. Her menacing Paris character is in stark contrast to the sweet-natured outer-space alien Mantis that Klementieff played in Marvel Studios’ superhero “Guardians of the Galaxy” blockbusters. In many ways, Paris outshines Gabriel, since Gabriel is more of a psychological villain than someone who can barrel through streets in a high-speed car chases or cause mayhem with an arsenal of weapons.

Atwell also holds her own in the action scenes, although some viewers might find Grace’s intentionally duplicitous personality a little annoying. Rhames and Pegg continue their sometimes-amusing rapport as Luther and Benji. Cruise does some of his best stunt work ever in the movie. If stunt work had a category at the Academy Awards, then Cruise would be a certain nominee if not winner for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.” It’s a breathtaking thriller that delivers beyond expectations for action scenes and spy intrigue. However, the “Mission: Impossible” filmmakers need to remember to have some of these action scenes more grounded in the reality of human frailties and the realistic consequences of being in these death-defying situations.

Paramount Pictures will release “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” in U.S. cinemas on July 12, 2023, with sneak previews on July 10, 2023.

Review: ‘The Locksmith’ (2023), starring Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth, Jeffrey Nordling, Gabriela Quezada, Madeleine Guilbot, Charlie Weber and Ving Rhames

April 24, 2023

by Carla Hay

Gabriela Quezada and Ryan Phillippe in “The Locksmith” (Photo courtesy of Screen Media Films)

“The Locksmith” (2023)

Directed by Nicolas Harvard

Culture Representation: Taking place in New Mexico, the dramatic film “The Locksmith” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Latinos) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: After spending 10 years in prison on burglary charges, a former locksmith is released from prison and gets lured back into a life of crime while he tries to make amends with his family and with the daughter of his former partner in crime.

Culture Audience: “The Locksmith” will appeal primarily to people who don’t mind watching stupid crime dramas.

Ving Rhames in “The Locksmith” (Photo courtesy of Screen Media Films)

“The Locksmith” is an idiotic flop whose screenplay should’ve stayed locked up in places where bad screenplays never get made into movies. The plot twists are really plot holes. The performances and direction are low-quality and uninspired. Everything about this movie looks misguided and fake.

Directed by Nicolas Harvard, “The Locksmith” (which is Harvard’s feature-film directorial debut) was written by Joe Russo and Chris LaMont. It might be surprising for some people to know that Russo co-directed several Marvel Studios blockbusters, including 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” and 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.” It just goes to show that directing mega-hits doesn’t automatically turn someone into a great screenwriter. “The Locksmith” is an example of one bad decision after another, not just from the movie’s main characters but also the filmmakers.

“The Locksmith” (which takes place and was filmed in New Mexico) begins by showing a nighttime break-in at a warehouse by two burglars who are there to steal a large amount of cash from a locked safe. No one else is in the warehouse. Miller Graham (played by Ryan Phillippe) and his partner Kevin Reyes (played by George Akram) both have different feelings about this theft.

Before they broke into the warehouse, Kevin said to Miller: “I’ve got a bad feeling about this, man. Didn’t Frank pass on this job?” Miller replies, “I need the money, Kevin.” Unfortunately for these two thieves, the cash in the safe has a motion sensor, which triggers a silent alarm. Before these two burglars can make a getaway, police arrive to apprehend them.

The first cop on the scene is Ian Zwick (played by Jeffrey Nordling), who does something that unarmed Miller and Kevin don’t expect: Ian shoots out the tires of the getaway car and then coldly murders Kevin by shooting him, even though Kevin had no weapon and was not resisting arrest. Miller surrenders without a fight. When other cops arrive as backup, Ian lies to them and says that he shot Kevin in self-defense. Miller knows the truth, but he doesn’t say anything, because he knows that the other cops won’t believe him.

The movie then fast-forwards to 10 years later. Miller has gotten out of prison. He actually had a prison sentence that was longer than 10 years, but he was released early due to good behavior. At various times in the movie, Miller meets with his parole officer Sharon (played by Livia Treviño), who is firm but empathetic about Miller trying to turn his life around. It’s a lot easier said than done for Miller.

The person who gives Miller a car ride after Miller gets out of prison is his former boss Frank (played by Ving Rhames), who owns a small business as a locksmith. Frank feels a little guilty because he was the one who influenced Miller to do the burglary that got Miller arrested and Kevin killed. Therefore, Frank offers to give Miller a job, but he says it can only be as a handyman, since Miller’s felony theft conviction means that Miller lost his locksmith license.

Kevin was a single father raising a teenage daughter named April, who was put in the foster care system after Kevin died. After Miller gets out of prison, Frank mentions that Frank tried to become a father figure to April, but she rejected his attempts. Frank has not kept in touch with April for years.

Miller has a lot of things he wants to make amends for that he couldn’t do while he was in prison. For starters, Miller was married with a baby daughter named Lindsay Graham when he was sent to prison. His wife Beth Fisher (played by Kate Bosworth) divorced him while he was in prison. Miller has not seen or talked to Lindsay since being sent to prison.

Shortly after his prison release, Miller has an uncomfortable reunion with Beth and Lindsay. They have met at Miller’s request. The meeting place that Miller chose is a diner where he and Beth used to go on dates when they were a happy couple. Lindsay (played by Madeleine Guilbot), who is now 10 years old, is polite but shy around Miller, whom she thinks of as a stranger.

Miller is apologetic to Beth about how much he hurt their family, but he promises her that he’s turning his life around and he wants to be a good father to Lindsay. He asks Beth to let him prove how much he’s changed. Beth is very skeptical and standoffish, but she reluctantly agrees to Miller having visits with Lindsay.

One day, Frank sends Miller out on a locksmith job, even though Miller doesn’t have a license. The customer is a wealthy businessman named Garrett Field (played by Charlie Weber), who is smug and arrogant with almost everyone. Miller has been assigned to do a lock job at one of the apartment buildings owned by Garrett. Miller is shocked to find out that the person who recommended him for the job is Garrett’s employee April Reyes (played by Gabriela Quezada), the daughter of Miller’s deceased thief partner Kevin.

April is now in her 20s, and she has turned into a very jaded person because of all the bad experiences she’s had in her life. She shows up unexpectedly at the apartment building to talk to Miller, who has an awkward reunion with her. April tells Miller that she’s in a lot of trouble (she doesn’t go into details at first), and she asks Miller to do one last burglary, so she can have the cash to “start a new life.” April makes Miller feel guilty about the way Kevin died, but Miller refuses her request, because he doesn’t want to risk going back to prison.

Shortly after finishing the job at Garrett’s apartment building, Miller is pulled over by three cops: his old enemy Ian (who is now a police sergeant) and two of Ian’s subordinates in the police department’s vice division: Detective Perez (played by Noel Gugliemi, also known as Noel G) and Detective Jones (played by Bourke Floyd), who enable Ian’s bullying. Ian, Perez and Jones rough up Miller a little bit. Ian warns Miller that he better not tell anyone what happened the night that Kevin was shot to death.

Miller assures these corrupt cops that he won’t tell anyone. But in order to further intimidate Miller, Ian does a search of the company van that Miller is driving. The cops find locksmith tools in the van, so they assume that Miller is working as an unlicensed locksmith, which is in violation of Miller’s parole. Miller says he’s just a handyman, but the cops don’t believe him. And so, Miller is arrested on the spot.

Miller is eventually released with no charges being filed, because Police Chief Stern (played by Tom Wright) has decided there was no proof that Miller actually used these locksmith tools. And guess who also happens to be a cop working at the same police station? Miller’s ex-wife Beth, who is angry and embarrassed that Miller got arrested again. Ian is retiring soon, and he tells Beth that he’s recommended that she get a promotion to work in the vice division.

“The Locksmith” becomes a tangled and silly mess when Miller changes his mind about committing a burglary for April, after she tells him that her boss Garrett has been physically abusing her. April shows Miller some bruises on her body that she says are from Garrett’s abuse. This information is already revealed in “The Locksmith” trailer, which gives away about 75% of the movie’s ludicrous plot.

Of course, things go very wrong with this burglary too. There are double-crosses, shootouts, at least one kidnapping and many scenes that don’t look believable at all. Certain scenarios in the movie make no sense and just insult viewers’ intelligence. “The Locksmith” is ultimately as unappealing as a rusty lock.

Screen Media Films released “The Locksmith” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on February 3, 2023.