Tom Cruise has received his highest ever Rotten Tomatoes score with his latest Mission: Impossible movie, which is not only the best-rated flick in the franchise, but also in Cruise’s entire back catalogue.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One sees Cruise return as Ethan Hunt as he tracks downs a ‘terrifying new weapon’ that poses a huge threat to humanity, roping in the assistance of the illusive Grace (Hayley Atwell).
A synopsis for the film – which also features the likes of Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Czerny, Vanessa Kirby and Frederick Schmidt – says: “In Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, 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.
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“With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, 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.”
While we’ve still got another week to wait before the movie lands in cinemas, the critics have already had their say, and they seem to be thoroughly impressed.
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So much so, in fact, that the aggregate score for the film on Rotten Tomatoes has thrust it into first place of Cruise’s film credits.
Previously, his top rated film on Rotten Tomatoes was 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which has a 97 percent score on the site.
This is followed by Top Gun: Maverick, with 96 percent, Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, with 94 percent, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, with 93 percent, and 80s classic Risky Business, which has 92 percent.
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However, we now have a new champion in the form of the latest Mission: Impossible flick, which has a very respectable score of 98 percent, based on 119 reviews.
The Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus explains: “With world-threatening stakes and epic set pieces to match that massive title, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One proves this is still a franchise you should choose to accept.”
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave the film a full five stars out of five, writing: "In the past I have been agnostic and a nay-sayer about M:I, but the pure fun involved in this film, its silly-serious alchemy, and the way the franchise seems to strain at something crazily bigger with every film, as opposed to just winding down, is something to wonder at."
Variety's Peter Debruge, meanwhile, may see Fallout as the 'series high' over the new instalment, but says: "Director Christopher McQuarrie delivers a formidable concept and several hall-of-fame set-pieces while somehow managing to tie the storylines back into these movies’ core mythology."
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Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One arrives in cinemas on 12 July.
Topics: Film and TV, Tom Cruise
Jess Hardiman