Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

I love the Mission: Impossible franchise (I have very fond memories of watching Ghost Protocol the day it opened with my Dad and I included Fallout in my top ten of 2018) so I was really excited to see Dead Reckoning Part One last night in a packed theater!  I think Fallout is still my favorite but I absolutely loved this!  An experimental AI achieves sentience and infiltrates all major military and intelligence agencies and the only way it can be controlled, or destroyed, is with two parts of a cruciform key.  Every government around the world wants to find the keys for possible world dominion, including the U.S., so CIA director, and former IMF director, Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) sends Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) on a covert mission to acquire one of the keys which leads him to disavowed MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson).  Ethan ultimately decides that this AI, now known as the Entity, is too powerful for one government to possess so he, Ilsa, and his team, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), go on an unsanctioned mission to acquire the second key in order to destroy it.  Not only must they elude U.S. government agents (Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis) sent to stop them but they also run afoul of a talented pickpocket with ambiguous loyalties (Hayley Atwell), a ruthless French assassin (Pom Klementieff), and the international arms broker Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby) before Ethan comes face to face with Gabriel (Esai Morales), a nemesis from his past who gives him a devastating choice.  This is a big action blockbuster (it should definitely be seen on the biggest screen possible) with some amazing set pieces, including a thrilling car chase through the streets of Rome, the much-hyped motorcycle jump off a mountain (Tom Cruise is a madman), hand-to-hand combat on top of a moving train, and the epic derailment of the aforementioned train, but the story is also incredibly compelling (and timely) with high stakes for both the world and for Ethan personally.  Cruise is not only brilliant in all of the action sequences but he gives a really affecting performance as a man forced to evaluate all of the choices he has made and all of the collateral damage those choices have caused.  Atwell's performance is also a highlight from a strong ensemble cast.  I had a great time watching this (I was often on the edge of my seat and even laughed out loud a few times at some great one-liners from Benji) and the 163 minute run-time flew by.  I can't wait for the conclusion next summer!