Anyone who doesn’t particularly care for the cinematic stylings of Tom Cruise is shit out of luck. As Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick prepares to hit international theatres later this week, Paramount Studios has decided now is the perfect time to take advantage of “the last movie star‘s” momentum by dropping a Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (Part I) trailer. And not at all because it was leaked hours prior to its official unveiling.
Once again hailing the return of both Cruise himself as IMF Agent Ethan Hunt/series producer and Christopher McQuarrie as writer/director, while the teaser trailer in question doesn’t give too much away in terms of the penultimate franchise instalment’s story, the appearance of a few familiar faces offer some fairly telling clues.
It would appear Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and fellow IMF operatives Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) are reteaming up with former MI6 intelligence officer Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). After narrowly preventing mass destruction in Fallout, they must now take on a new, currently unnamed adversary portrayed by Esai Morales. Somehow, Vanessa Kirby’s black market arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis / The White Widow is involved.
RELATED: ‘Top Gun – Maverick’ Is (Probably) The Most Fun You’ll Have In Cinemas This Year
The most surprising reveal, however, isn’t any of the names mentioned above. It’s Henry Czerny, who reprises his role as ex-IMF Director Eugene Kittridge – last seen in the very first Mission: Impossible flick directed by action auteur Brian De Palma. And suffice it to say, the veteran spook seems to have developed a rather jaded philosophy surrounding why they do what they do in the years since.
“Your days of fighting for the so-called greater good are over,” Czerny’s Kittridge tells Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (Part I) trailer.
“This is our chance to control the truth, the concepts of right and wrong for everyone for centuries to come.”
“You’re fighting to save an ideal that doesn’t exist… You need to pick a side.”
It all smells a bit like… radicalisation.
RELATED: ‘Mission – Impossible 7’ Will Feature Tom Cruise’s Single Most Dangerous Stunt Yet
Of the several high-budget set-pieces previewed – from what we’ll playfully refer to as “Tom Cruise does Lawrence of Arabia” to generic European club circuit – we also previewed the finished product of two major stunts leaked via reportage over the last year. Those of you who’d rather keep it a surprise should probably avoid the teaser and subsequent marketing materials altogether. But anyone curious about the driving a train over a goddamn cliff sequence or Cruise’s incredibly ballsy motorcycle jump into a parachute pull can follow the links.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (Part I) has a scheduled release date of July 14th, 2023; while the direct sequel Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning (Part II) is scheduled to release on June 28th, 2024 – check out the first teaser trailer above.
