Why So Blu?

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

Perhaps the biggest victim of Barbenheimer was the of the much hyped Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One. The seventh entry in Tom Cruise’s staple series had a year to build off of the wave of Top Gun: Maverick hoping to ride it but unfortunately fell quite short. The first of a two parter (finale?) wound up the lowest grossing since the third film 17 years ago. But, in its defense, it was hit by a two fisted juggernaut and fighting for screens. Nonetheless, on Halloween (October 31st), Paramount released it on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. It comes with an Atmos track and a smattering of featurettes including a commentary. There is also a limited edition steelbook of it as well. You can order yourself a copy of the film by using the paid Amazon Associates link following the review.

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Film

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With the fate of the world at stake, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.

The Mission: Impossible series continues as one of the best spectacles in blockbuster filmmaking with the latest entry, the first part of Dead Reckoning. Christopher McQuarrie’s third outing with the Tom Cruise staple captures all we love about these movies and puts a little step back in nostalgia for the film series as it ventures on in this new story. Dead Reckoning feels like it is taking some of the work in previous films and trying to heighten things and make them bigger or more breathtaking than before. There’s a big train sequence at the center of the climax like the first, a desert battle a la Ghost Protocol, a tight streets car chase akin to Fallout, a swordfight that feels at home with Rogue Nation and more. When heading into what might be a series conclusion (at least for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt) – the idea here seems to be to look back before diving into a big finale.

That’s not to say the film doesn’t scour out on its own. Its bringing in some new plot elements dealing with an AI overtaking and a sunken submarine subplot that feel wholly of their own. There are also impressive stunts and fun suspense bits that will easily link to feeling they are solely a Dead Reckoning thing. McQuarrie and Cruise also aren’t afraid to be bold here, take chances and really challenge the audience to some character beats and arcs that happen in this movie. But the mission goes on and with our old characters we delve into some fun, new actors like Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff while letting others continue to feast on screen whenever they return as Vanessa Kirby does.

Esai Morales does a fine job as the film’s big bad, but its his henchwoman that steals the show. As mentioned, Pom Klementieff makes a hell of a razzlee dazzle debut here. She’s one of the best wild card assassins we’ve seen in recent years at the movies. Klementieff almost all her own gives this film a unique, standout flavor among the other 6 stories in this series. its a perfect blend of humor, dread, mystery, athleticism and action that instantly turns her into one of Mission: Impossible’s most memorable figures.

With a planned part one comes some of the odd tropes that make things feel incomplete in a few places most of the time. And really, aside from a murky flashback sequence that haunts the film’s protagonist (which also ties him to the villain), its a pretty much complete thought from start to finish. Yes, there is still more adventure to be had and our the evil has not been stopped, but this feels like a portion is done and has completed its own 3 acts and story arc. Said flashback will probably be resolved in the next one, but that’s truly the only thing that lingers and doesn’t complete (where it maybe should have). Nonetheless, this Mission: Impossible successfully keeps this tank rolling even if it falls short of the previous couple of entries.

Video

Disclaimer: Screen captures used in the review are from promotional images supplied by the studio, not the 4K UHD Blu-ray disc.

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Layers: BD-100

Clarity/Detail: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One is the first film in the series shot digitally and it transfers gorgeously over to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. This is a sharp, crisp image with a lot of depth and fine details to be scene. The crisp image features a lovely color palette that pops and sings off of your screen. This is a top notch presentation and should really come as no surprise but nonetheless still impresses when you turn it on.

Depth: Depth of field is pretty strong and there is a nice 3 dimensional pushback here with good spacing and a great sense of scale that this image showcases. Character and camera movements are smooth, natural and never suffer from any blur or jitter distortions during more rapid sequences.

Black Levels: Blacks are natural and very deep and accentuate many good nighttime or darkened room sequences, contrasting to really bring out the colors in a scene. No information is lost in the shadows and no crushing witnessed.

Color Reproduction: Colors are very vibrant and beautiful with good standouts. Fabrics as well as boldly color cars really both flash in flare and realism. HDR gives a nice glow to displays screens, explosions and more.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent. Facial features and textures like freckles, stubble, wrinkles, makeup brush strokes, lip texture, sweat beads, blemishes and more are clear as day.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean

Audio

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, French (Parisian) Dolby Atmos, French (Canadian) 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Dynamics: To the surprise of no one, the Dolby Atmos track for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One is fantastic. It is loud, immersive and very effective from every corner be it quiet conversation or rambunctious action. There’s terrific layering and depth on display here that really held fill up the room in the best of ways and to feel lived in and engaging. Plenty of good volume placements really add some nice jump and punch.

Height: From above you get action that soars above camera, debris falling and accurate contributions to match the camera placement for the onscreen events. Mostly beholden to what is on screen and some nice moments of playfulness as well.

Low Frequency Extension: The subwoofer hits with wonderful impact here in terms of crashing, exploding, engines roaring, guns firing, clubs bouncing and much more. The force is as you’d expect and then a little bit more.

Surround Sound Presentation: This is a well mixed track that keeps you in the middle of any given scene with good contributions from the side and rear channels. They provide not only well done and clever ambiance, but also expertly track angle changes as well as pull their own weight in many moments. Sound travel rolls with good force all around the room.

Dialogue Reproduction:  Vocals are crisp and clear.

Extras

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One comes with the standard Blu-ray edition and a redeemable digital code. Aside from the Commentary and Isolated Score track, all bonus material is found on the standard Blu-ray disc.

4K UHD

Audio Commentary

• by director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton

Isolated Score Track

BLU-RAY

Abu Dhabi (HD, 3:55) — A behind the scenes look at shooting the airport sequence in the film as well as utilizing some of the desert locale.

Rome (HD, 4:12) — A making of for the car chase sequence that features Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell handcuffed together.

Venice (HD, 4:12) — We take a look at the scenes shot in Venice and how they tried to utilize it in unique ways.

Freefall (HD, 9:05) — This one focuses on the marketing selling point of the big motorcycle jump in the film. Goes over preparation, what it takes, execution and all that jazz.

Speed Flying (HD, 4:17) — Tom Cruise and company go over how he incorporated one of his favorite pastimes, “speed flying”, into this film.

Train (HD, 5:32) — An impressive look at how they put together to finale’s train sequence.

The previously announced Deleted Shots Montage and Editorial Featurette: The Sevastopol are only available digitally with your code redemption.

Summary

While not quite topping them, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One still delivers all the good and thrills you’ve come to expect in the previous three Mission: Impossible films. It comes to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray with a very impressive top notch presentation in both sound and video. There are a nice handful of extras focusing on the specific action sequences and a commentary, but it feels like there could have been more done here. Nonetheless, this is absolutely a pick and a well rounded package for a brand new film debuting on home video.

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