There’s a scene near the start of Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) where Ethan Hunt and Ilsa Faust are in a desert, embracing each other after a fight. The entire world is against them, but in that short moment, it doesn’t matter. They have each other, for a few seconds they can feel like everything is going to be alright. This is the crux of Ethan Hunt’s character, someone who will risk his life time and time again to have precious little flashes of normalcy. His greatest villain, then, isn’t the governments or secret societies that hunt him down. It’s himself, his ability to sacrifice anything and everything to keep his friends safe, his absolute need to avenge his allies that have fallen. 

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is as unwieldy as its title, from its ridiculous runtime to its vast, complex themes (AI and world domination, how the truth is distorted, how relationships change in a digital age). Yet, despite this, Dead Reckoning Part One never forgets to be entertaining. The extraordinary stunt work (the motorcycle cliff jump is just as breathtaking as the advertising would lead you to believe), arresting, powerful soundtrack, and incredibly elaborate setpieces combined with the exploration of the emotional underpinnings of the entire IMF squad pushes Dead Reckoning Part One to the impossible status of being the best film in a series filled with modern action classics.