Though the adventure in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One does leave its story open for its eventual conclusion, the movie itself is a pretty open-and-shut story. Providing the threads for Mission: Impossible 8 to pick up on next summer, we’re still not sure if characters like Simon Pegg’s Benji Dunn are safe from harm. While he can’t really reveal where his series mainstay is going, the Hot Fuzz star did discuss one talking point for the future: whether Dead Reckoning Part Two will be able to stand as its own film.
In an interview with Discussing Film, the longtime franchise vet discussed the process that ended up splitting Dead Reckoning into two halves of one Mission: Impossible story. As you can read below, the break between both movies isn’t an extreme cliffhanger, as it had the following balancing act in mind:
What I know from talking to Tom and McQ, one of their biggest challenges with this film was to have it not feel like half a movie. I know that was Tom and McQ’s driving motivation for the whole thing, trying to create a film that closes and doesn’t leave the story unfinished. And I think what they’ve done really cleverly is create a film that is specifically about trying to get the key to the Sevastopol, and that story definitely closes. Like with any Mission: Impossible, there’s always room for some more adventure afterward. But, with this one, that room was more specifically delineated in terms of ‘Okay, there is still stuff to do.’ That was their challenge, and I know it was a tough one at times.
So for those of you at home playing along, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning is all about fighting The Entity - a superpowered AI that poses a huge threat to humanity. Mission: Impossible 7 was all about the quest to find the key that unlocks the one place that holds the answers to control this menace.
That location just happens to be aboard the downed Russian sub Sevastopol; which is the exact place Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One’s ending shows off before rolling the credits. With that approach in hand, both films have their own objectives to achieve, even if Tom Cruise wasn’t super pumped about it.
Dead Reckoning Part One is about controlling the key to access The Entity’s weakness, and that’s satisfied through and through. Other than the obvious loose ends that still need to be closed off, this Mission: Impossible picture lands on a definitive ending, which Simon Pegg further commended on:
One thing I felt was certain with some films that have ‘part two’ or are a ‘part one,’ I felt a little bit shortchanged. At the end, I feel like ‘Oh, so it hasn’t finished yet?’ But I think what Tom and McQ achieved with [Dead Reckoning Part One] is an actual end. Also, they exhaust you so much that you couldn’t possibly want to watch another film right after. You’re too emotionally drained! So they really nailed it. Rather than this being a voguish thing to do for them, they just wanted to have the space to create the characters and give everybody an arc. You know, give everyone their moment and not have them feel truncated or cut short. And the only way to do that was to spread the story over two episodes.
Those further remarks pretty much back co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie’s reasons for a two-part Mission, as there are plenty of characters and set pieces that could have been short-changed in a single movie. With all of the pieces in play for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two, another chapter in Ethan Hunt’s IMF journey will help continue The Entity storyline in the series. But just as Simon Pegg pointed out, it should be another thrilling chapter that can stand on its own, without too much strain on the audience.
We’ll see if that’s the truth when the next Mission hits movie theaters, which is currently slated to happen on June 28 as part of the 2024 movie schedule. Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is still showing in theaters.
