VERY GOOD NEW MOVIE -- MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING Part One

Tommy Cruise

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING Part One (2023). Director: Christopher McQuarrie. 

Action movies either work, keeping you on the edge of your seat, or they're as flat as a wet pancake, and this flick works every step of the way. It doesn't really matter that the "Macguffin" -- the thing that everyone's fighting for -- in this might be something called a "Cruciform Key" which has to do with Artificial Intelligence and could take over the minds of everyone on the planet. What matters is the fun ride as the forces of good and evil do their level best to keep the key out of the other side's hands -- just like in an old-time cliffhanger serial, which this kind of resembles despite the high-tech -- and that the pace is fast and the stunt work absolutely thrilling.  

Esai Morales and Hayley Atwell

In this Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) teams up with a pretty thief named Grace (Hayley Atwell) who is an on again/off again ally. Some of his old colleagues are also around for another set-to. Highlights include a vicious fight scene in an alley, a business with a train speeding through a tunnel with combatants on the roof, and a climactic sequence with a collapsing train trestle that is positively eye-popping. It is all so well-done that it's quite spectacular. It doesn't hurt that the film has a rousing score (Lorne Balfe), great cinematography (Fraser Taggart), and some effective performances, with my favorites being Esai Morales as Gabriel and Cary Elwes as Denlinger, the director of National Intelligence. 

Verdict: Trust No One -- and wait anxiously for Part Two. ***1/4.  

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE FLASHPOINT PARADOX

Eboard vs Barry: Reverse-Flash tries to kill the Flash

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE FLASHPOINT PARADOX (2013 video animated feature). Director: Jay Oliva.

Based on a DC Comics mini-series entitled Flashpoint, this shows what unexpectedly happens when super-speedster the Flash (Barry Allen) goes back in time to prevent his mother's murder at the hands of his nemesis from the future, the Reverse-Flash (Eboard Thane). He has many more years with his mother, but the rippling effect creates a new reality in which Atlantis [ruled by Aquaman] is at war with the Amazons headed by Wonder Woman, with the whole world being slowly decimated by the violent conflict. In this new reality, Bruce Wayne was killed as a boy and it is his father, Thomas Wayne, who is a grizzled, ruthless and middle-aged Batman. And there are other changes as well.  Frankly this adaptation gets a little confusing even if you've read the comics [apparently Aquaman and WW simply have an affair in this version while in the comics they nearly get married], but it has enough exciting moments to hold your attention. Some of the faces look a little too much like what you'd see in anime, and Cary Elwes is perhaps not the best choice to do the voice for Aquaman. C. Thomas Howell is fine as Reverse-Flash, however, as is Justin Chambers as Barry Allen and Kevin McKidd as Batman. One of the most magical moments has the Flash happily traveling at high speed, flying really, across the city at the end.

Verdict: For comics, super-hero and animation fans. ***.