MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING : Tuesday 20th May 2025.

I saw the heavily promoted, much hyped and highly anticipated M Rated 'MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING' earlier this week, and this American spy action film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. This film serves as a direct sequel to 2023's 'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' and is the eighth and possibly the final film in the 'M:I' franchise. McQuarrie's previous feature film Directing output takes in his debut in 2000 with 'The Way of the Gun', which he would follow up with 'Jack Reacher' in 2012, 'Mission : Impossible - Rogue Nation' in 2015, 'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' in 2018 and 'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' in 2023. The first seven films in this hugely popular and successful franchise grossed a total of US$4.14B at the global Box Office from combined production budgets of US$1.5B, with this eighth instalment costing somewhere in between US$300 and 400M, making it one of the most expensive films ever made. The film had its World Premiere screening in Tokyo on 5th May, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on 14th May and it set for a worldwide release from this week onward although a handful of territories (including Australia) saw its release brought forward to 17th of May.  

Picking up two months after the events of 'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, who also Co-Produces here) in the opening scene places a VHS tape into his recorder and its plays back a message from the US President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) who urges him to come out of hiding and to hand over the two piece cruciform key which he still has in his possession. Once played the tape self destructs within five seconds. And so the trusty band of IMF Agents reassemble and with Ethan and Grace (Hayley Atwell) they go after Gabriel (Esai Morales) who is looking to take control of the 'Entity A.I.' and to bring the world to heel. However, Gabriel captures Ethan and Grace and coerces Ethan into retrieving the core module, revealed to be the 'Rabbit's Foot' (reference 'M:I:III'), from the sunken Russian submarine Sevastopol for him, which would give him control over the Entity's source code. Ethan and Grace escape with the assistance of IMF agent Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and new recruits Paris (Pom Klementieff) and Theo Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis). Following a foot chase in a system of disused tunnels adjacent to London's Underground train lines, in which Gabriel successfully evades Ethan, the team uncover a device that Gabriel used to communicate with the Entity, which shows Ethan a vision of a coming nuclear apocalypse. Ethan realises the Entity needs access to a secure digital bunker located in remote South Africa to ensure its survival.

Ethan sends his team, under the leadership of Benji Dunn, to retrieve the Sevastopol's coordinates, while he rejoins Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) to disarm a nuclear device Gabriel planted in London. Luther tells Ethan that he developed a malware for the Entity called the Poison Pill, but that Gabriel had stolen it the night before while Luther was sleeping. Sacrificing himself, Luther stays behind in a vain attempt to stop the bomb, giving Ethan just enough time to escape the bomb's blast. 

Ethan surrenders to President Sloane, who urges cooperation due to the Entity's escalating control over global nuclear systems, with all but four of the world's nuclear armed countries still in control of their nuclear arsenals - Russia, China, the UK and the USA, with the other five having lost control to the Entity already. With only four days before it launches global strikes, Ethan convinces Sloane to let him act independently to locate the Sevastopol, against CIA Director Eugene Kittridge's (Henry Czerny) objections, and that of others including Serling Bernstein (Holt McCallany) the Secretary of Defence; General Sidney (Nick Offerman) the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs; Walters (Janet McTeer) the Secretary of State; Richards (Charles Parnell) the Director of National Intelligence; Angstrom (Mark Gatiss) Head of the National Security Agency; and Jasper Briggs (Shea Whigham) a US Intelligence Agent. 

Ethan's team travel to St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea, home to a Cold War–era sonar station that detected the Sevastopol's sinking. They locate former CIA analyst William Donloe (Rolf Saxon) (reference 'Mission : Impossible'), who was exiled to the island decades earlier after a covert break-in at CIA headquarters, courtesy of one Ethan Hunt. Donloe reveals he memorised the Sevastopol's coordinates after recognising the sonar signature. As Grace, Benji, Theo and Donloe’s wife Tapeesa (Lucy Tulugarjuk), hold off an occupying unit of Russian special forces in a firefight, Donloe transmits the coordinates by Morse Code to Ethan, who by now has joined the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush in the North Pacific Ocean to dive to the Sevastopol wreck. 

Ethan takes a deep dive inside a specially designed suit used by the dive-master into the icy cold waters of the Bering Sea. After overcoming several obstacles inside the stricken Russian submarine, he retrieves the Podkova module containing the Entity's original source code, but accidentally triggers the wreck to slide down the continental ice shelf. Narrowly escaping through an empty torpedo tube but having to exit from his dive suit, Ethan suffers from decompression sickness and drowns during the ascent to the surface, but is rescued and revived by Grace and Tapeesa using a makeshift decompression chamber. Reunited with his IMF team, Ethan outlines his plan to use the Poison Pill to upload and isolate the Entity on a one of a kind five dimensional physical drive created by Luther before he died, and so trapping it from the outside world. 

Ethan suspects Gabriel is already waiting at the South African bunker with the Poison Pill, aiming to seize control of the Entity by forcing Ethan to surrender the Podkova module. The team arrives at the bunker in South Africa only to find it abandoned except for Gabriel and his henchmen. He reveals another nuclear device with a twenty-minute countdown, demanding the module. Ethan agrees, but the handover is interrupted by Kittridge, who wants the US to control the Entity. 

The bomb is activated in the ensuing gunfight in which Benji sustains a bullet wound to his stomach. Gabriel flees the scene, knowing that Ethan will pursue him. Paris performs emergency surgery on a critically injured Benji as he falls in and out of consciousness, while guiding Grace to reboot the bunker systems to trap the Entity. Donloe buys the team enough time for everyone to escape safely before the bomb detonates.

Ethan chases Gabriel in a biplane and climbs onto Gabriel’s plane mid-air. Gabriel fails to shake him off despite numerous attempts to do so, and jumps with a parachute while the plane is flying upside down, but is killed after hitting the plane’s rudder head first. Ethan finds a second parachute, escapes with the Poison Pill, and connects it up with the Podkova module mid-descent, so allowing Grace to finish the upload. 

Kittridge and Briggs find Ethan and land their helicopter close by to collect him. Kittridge is frustrated when Ethan hands over the destroyed module of the Sevastopol while Briggs, who is revealed to be James Phelps Jnr., the son of Ethan's original team leader Jim Phelps (Jon Voight - reference 'Mission : Impossible') and makes peace with him. The IMF team reunites in London's Trafalgar Square at night time, where Grace gives Ethan the Entity, now safely isolated on Luther's 5D drive, and after acknowledging each other from a careful distance, the team fade into the crowd and go their separate ways.

Here, as with the previous three instalments, Director and Producers McQuarrie and Cruise have delivered us an action spectacular that doesn't let up on the practical thrills and spills, and death defying stunt work that this franchise is probably best known for. Cruise's commitment to his craft is on full display here once again as he pushes the boundaries of his stunt work all in the name of giving his audience a realistic experience to savour. The production values are top notch, but then for a budget of between US$300 and 400M that is to be expected, and the supporting cast are all on point. The plot however, left me feeling a little meh!, and how one man alone could save all of humanity from nuclear annihilation left me feeling just a tad incredulous. That said, 'Mission : Impossible - The Final Reckoning' is a fitting end, or so we are led to believe, to this multi-billion dollar taking franchise that has plenty of nods to those prior seven instalments, and leaves the door open for further offerings, should we choose to accept it, and whether Tom Cruise is up for another impossible mission to save 'those we hold close, and those we'll never meet'! At a running time of just ten minutes shy of three hours, this film will not leave you wanting. See it on the biggest screen you can.

'Mission : Impossible - The Final Reckoning' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 22nd May 2025

This years 65th Krakow Film Festival takes place between 25th May and 1st June in the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Krakow Film Festival is one of the oldest events in the world dedicated to documentary, animated and short feature films. Its core consists of three competitions of equal rank - documentary film competition, short film competition and national competition. During the eight festival days, the viewers have a chance to watch about 250 films from Poland and from around the world. The festival is accompanied by exhibitions, concerts, open-air shows and meetings with artists. Every year, the festival is visited by approximately 900 Polish and international guests - Directors, Producers, festival programmers and numerous Krakow audiences. Since its beginnings, the Krakow Film Festival has been a platform for exploring the world through film. Their mission is to bring audiences closer to important issues, discover new talents and boldly present artistic cinema . . . so reads the official website.

In the International Documentary Competition, the newest documentary films from all around the world are presented. The winner of the Golden Horn Award is eligible to enter Oscar selection, and is awarded a cash prize of PLN30K (Polish Zloty worth approx. US$8K)

Those titles are :-

* 'Child of Dust' - from Poland, Vietnam, Sweden, Czech Republic and Qatar and Directed by Weronika Mliczewska.

* 'Do Painters Die Elsewhere' - from Poland and Directed by Michał Pietrak.

* 'Pet Farm' - from Norway and Directed by Finn Walther and Martin Walther.
* 'Tooth and Nail' - from Romania and Directed by Mihai Dragolea and Radu Mocanu.
* 'Shadowland' - from Finland and Directed by Otso Tiainen.
* 'Lovers in the Sky' - from Argentina, Germany, the USA and Directed by Fermin de la Serna.
* 'New Beginnings' - from Belgium and Directed by Vivianne Perelmuter and Isabelle Ingold.

* 'The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy' - from Norway, the UK, Ireland and Germany and Directed by Havard Bustnes.
* 'The Propagandist' - from the Netherlands and Directed by Luuk Bouwman.
* 'Sanatorium' - from Ireland, the Ukraine and Directed by Gar O’Rourke.
* 'Silver' - from Poland, Finland and Norway and Directed by Natalia Koniarz.
* 'Tata' - from Romania and Directed by Lina Vdovii and Radu Ciorniciuc.
* 'The Big Chief' - from Poland, France and the Netherlands and Directed by Tomasz Wolski.

For the other awards presented in the Documentary Competition plus the details of the Short Film Competition, the National Competition, plus the Non-Statutory Awards and a bunch of other good stuff, you can visit the official website at : https://www.krakowfilmfestival.pl/en/65th-kff/

This week then, we have five new cinematic releases coming to a big screen Odeon near you, kicking off with the highly anticipated and heavily promoted eighth instalment in this spy action franchise that sees our titular hero and the IMF team race against time to find the Entity, a rogue artificial intelligence that can destroy mankind. This is followed by an American psychological thriller in which a young mother with a brain disorder struggles to perceive time, and so she takes a risky job from a mysterious woman to support her family, unaware of the dark consequences that await. Next up is a Canadian film set in a surreal interzone between Tehran in Iran and Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada where the lives of eccentric characters intertwine. Then we turn to a French English language comedy drama about three generations of women from the same family who are thrown together under tragic circumstances and must learn to live together on a small rural chicken farm; before closing out the week with a live action animated remake of a 2002 animated Disney film in which a lonely Hawaiian girl befriends a runaway alien, helping to mend her fragmented family.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING' (Rated M) - is an American spy action film Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. This film serves as a direct sequel to 2023's 'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' and is the eighth and possibly the final film in the 'M:I' franchise. McQuarrie's previous feature film Directing output takes in his debut in 2000 with 'The Way of the Gun', which he would follow up with 'Jack Reacher' in 2012, 'Mission : Impossible - Rouge Nation' in 2015, 'Mission : Impossible -Fallout' in 2018 and 'Mission : Impossible : Dead Reckoning Part One' in 2023. The first seven films in this hugely popular and successful franchise grossed a total of US$4.14B at the global Box Office from combined production budgets of US$1.5B, with this eighth instalment costing somewhere between US$300 and 400M, making it one of the most expensive films ever made. 

Picking up two months after the events of 'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, who also Co-Produces here)  continues his mission to stop Gabriel (Esai Morales) from obtaining the AI programme known as 'the Entity'. Also starring Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Holt McCallany, Nick Offerman, Shea Whigham and Hannah Waddingham. The film had its World Premiere screening in Tokyo on 5th May and was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on 14th May and it set for a worldwide release from this week onward although a handful of territories (including Australia) saw its release brought forward to 17th of May.  

'GAZER' (Rated M) - this American psychological mystery thriller film is Co-Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Ryan J. Sloan in his feature film Directorial debut. Here, Frankie Rhodes (Ariella Mastroianni, who also Co-Wrote and Co-Produces here), a young single mother with dyschronometria (is a condition in which an individual cannot accurately estimate the amount of time that has passed), while also causing sudden blackouts. And so Frankie relies on self-recorded cassette tapes to help her navigate the world around her. Desperate to make ends meet while she fights for custody of her young daughter, she accepts a risky but high-paying job from a mysterious woman, which draws her into a world of paranoid conspiracies that threatens to swallow her whole. The film saw its World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in late May 2024, was released in the US in early April this year, has garnered generally positive critical reviews and has so far grossed just US$36K.

'UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE' (Rated G) - is a Canadian absurdist comedy-drama film, Co-Written and Directed by Matthew Rankin in only his second feature film offering following 2019's 'The Twentieth Century' although he has been making short films since 2005. The film is set in an alternate reality in which Persian, rather than English, is the dominant language of Canada, although it remains in coexistence with French. Set 'somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg', the film blends the initially unrelated, but gradually converging, stories of Negin (Rojina Esmaeili) and Nazgol (Saba Vahedyousefi), who find money frozen in ice and try to claim it; Massoud (Pirouz Nemati), a tour guide in Winnipeg who is leading a confused and disoriented tour group; and Matthew (Rankin), who quits his unfulfilling job with the government of Quebec and travels home to Winnipeg to visit his mother. The film had its World Premiere in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival in mid-May last year, has generated universal critical acclaim, was released Stateside in mid-February this year and has so far grossed US$234K from a production budget of less than US$3.5M.

'FUNNY BIRDS' (Rated M) - this French, Belgian and UK Co-Produced English language comedy drama film is Co-Written and Co-Directed by Marco La Via and Hanna Ladoul in only their second joint feature film outing following 2018's 'We the Coyotes'. Here, Charlie (Morgan Saylor), a twenty year old student returns to the family farm in Virginia to help her ailing mother. They have a different view of life: Charlie studies finance while Laura (Andrea Riseborough) runs a chicken farm in Virginia. After a long absence, Solange (Catherine Deneuve), Laura’s mother, Charlie’s grandmother, also arrives at the farm. She’s French, feminist and eccentric. Solange left America while her daughter was still a child and they never saw each other again. Will these three women, whom nothing seems to bring together, manage to live together?

'LILO & STITCH' (Rated PG) - is an American science fiction comedy-drama film Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, and is a live-action animated remake of Disney's 2002 animated film 'Lilo & Stitch'. A lonely six-year-old native Hawaiian human girl named Lilo Pelekai (Maia Kealoha) adopts a blue koala-like illegal alien genetic experiment known as Experiment 626, named Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders) to mend her fractured family, unaware that Stitch is genetically engineered to be a force of destruction, and is being pursued by aliens and social workers, while Lilo teaches Stitch the idea of family. Also starring Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Courtney B. Vance, Hannah Waddingham, Tia Carrera, and Jason Scott Lee. The film is released Stateside this week too, and cost US$100M to produce.

With five new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE' - Tuesday 11th July 2023.

I saw the M Rated 'MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE' earlier this week, and this eagerly awaited American action spy film is the seventh film in the 'Mission : Impossible' franchise, and is a sequel to 2018's 'Mission : Impossible - Fallout'. This film is once again Directed, Co-Written and Co-Produced by Christopher McQuarrie who also helmed 'Fallout' and 2015's 'Mission : Impossible - Rogue Nation'. The first six films in the ever popular franchise grossed worldwide US$3.57B at the Box Office off the back of combined production budgets of US$828M. 'Dead Reckoning - Part Two' is slated for release on 28th June 2024 with Christopher McQuarrie again in the Director's chair with Parts One and Two being filmed back to back. This film cost US$290M to produce, and has so far grossed US$20M.

Here the film opens up on board a Russian nuclear submarine under the pack ice of the Bering Sea - The Sevastopol - with two high ranking naval officers each with one half of an interlocking key forming a crucifix like shape, insert said key into an AI device that renders the submarine invisible to other foreign vessels so allowing it to stealthily potentially invade any other country's naval fleet undetected. Up on the radar screen comes the sighting of a foreign submarine that the Captain gives the order to arm the torpedo tubes and engage. But the foreign vessel has already launched a torpedo attack on the supposed invisible Sevastopol. As the crew prepare for impact in the closing seconds the torpedo's simply disappear, as does the foreign submarine that the Sevastopol had already sent torpedo's toward. The AI device is seen going into overdrive, as its own torpedo's turn around and head back in the direction from whence they came, detonating on impact and killing every crew member on board, many of whom float to the surface only to be trapped under thick sea ice, with the Sevastopol sinking to the bottom of the sea. 

IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, who also Co-Produces here) is assigned to retrieve half of a key from his ally and disavowed MI6 Agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who has a bounty of US$50M placed on her. He travels to the Arabian Desert, engages in a gunfight during a sand storm with a bunch of bounty hunters and briefly reunites with Ilsa with them both having seen off all the hunters. After staging the scene, he tells her that to all intents and purposes she is now dead, and therefore to lay very low. 

Back in the US, Ethan infiltrates a meeting of the Community, where officials of various intelligence agencies, including former IMF Director Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) and the Director of National Intelligence Denlinger (Cary Elwes), discuss an experimental AI called the Entity. Originally designed to sabotage digital systems, the Entity turned rogue, expanded to potential sentience, and infiltrated all major defence and military systems and intelligence networks worldwide. The worlds key power players are now racing both to prevent sabotage and to gain control of the Entity, which rests with both halves of the key, although no one knows at this point what the key is for!

Ethan firmly believes that the Entity is too powerful for anyone to control, and so he vows to destroy it. He and his teammates Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) travel to Abu Dhabi International Airport to intercept the holder of the other half of the key. Ethan evades Community agents as well as Gabriel (Esai Morales), an Entity liaison with ties to his pre-IMF past, before losing the half-key to professional thief and expert pick-pocket Grace (Hayley Atwell). Meanwhile, Benji identifies an item of luggage containing a suspected explosive device sent by the Entity, and he races through the back of house baggage conveyer to locate it and defuse it. With the device counting down from four minutes with a series of riddles to answer, Benji is successful in disarming what turns out to be a fake nuclear device. Rattled by the Entity's seeming foresight and the appearance of Gabriel, Ethan goes after Grace alone, and tells Benji and Luther to abort their mission. Ethan is able to dodge past the Community agents with Grace evading Ethan who boards her planned flight to Rome. When in Rome however, she is picked up by the local Police revealing that she is wanted in several countries for theft, extortion, bribery etc. and is in possession of about a dozen different passports all bearing photographs of her likeness. 

In Rome, Ethan tracks down Grace by pretending to be her lawyer, before Community agents and Gabriel close in. After a lengthy high speed car chase through the streets and alleyways of Rome Grace escapes again, but Ethan is picked up by his team and Ilsa. With Benji and Luther providing support, Ethan and Ilsa infiltrate a party held by arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby), aka 'The White Widow' in Venice, hoping to find the buyer for the complete key, as well as what it unlocks. Grace is also present as is Gabriel. Grace delivers the half-key to Alanna while Ethan fails to talk Alanna out of selling the key. 

Gabriel delivers an ultimatum to Ethan, saying that he must choose which one of Grace or Ilsa is to die. The team scatters, with Ethan being chased down on foot by Paris (Pom Klementieff), a stone cold French assassin working for Gabriel. Ethan faces off in a gated at either end narrow alleyway against Paris and one of her colleagues, overpowering them both, but sparring their lives. Gabriel meanwhile knocks Grace out and kills Ilsa before Ethan arrives on the scene. He is devastated by her loss.

Grace is wracked by remorse over the death of Ilsa and is convinced to join Ethan's team. They prepare to board the Innsbruck-bound Orient Express train where Alanna plans to meet the buyer. Luther leaves for an off-grid location to investigate traces of the Entity on his hard drive. On the train, Gabriel kills the conductor, destroys the brakes and fires up the engine to gain maximum speed. He meets Denlinger, who proposes an alliance between himself and the Entity. Denlinger explains the complete key unlocks the chamber containing the computer of Sevastopol, a Russian submarine sunk by its own torpedo. An early version of the Entity was injected into the system with the task of sabotaging the submarine's stealth capability, but it instead tricked the Sevastopol into destroying itself. This early version is still on the submarine, and whoever can access it can devise the means to either control or destroy the Entity. Gabriel kills Denlinger and attempts to kill Paris to ensure only he knows about the key’s purpose. He further says to Paris that she will betray him to Ethan, because he spared her life. Grace reluctantly agrees to impersonate Alanna, as long as Ethan is standing right beside her in disguise, but the machine which 3D prints their face masks fails as Ethan's masks is being printed. Grace goes it alone disguised as Alanna and brings the complete key to the buyer, who turns out to be Kittridge. Though tempted to betray Ethan for a reward of US$100M and protection for her very good friend Grace, she sides with Ethan just as the bank transfer gives the command to accept or decline the transfer of monies, and so presses decline. She then pickpockets the key from Kittridge, and flees back up the train. 

Ethan, meanwhile, in constant radio contact with Benji is riding his motorbike alongside the Orient Express with the intention of jumping onto it when it slows down to take a bend in the tracks. Little do the pair know that Gabriel has sabotaged the train and it is accelerating uncontrollably. Ethan misses the crossing point and so Benji directs him up to the next point when he can intercept the train. This leads Ethan to ride up narrow mountain paths and fire trails, until he comes to a halt on the edge of a perilous cliff. Benji asks Ethan if he can see the train to which he responds with a yes, and then tells Ethan to jump off the cliff as he has a parachute on his back. And so Ethan does just that, and rides his motorbike off a cliff and successfully lands in the train saving Grace from being shot by Zola Mitsopolis (Frederick Schmidt), Alanna's brother, but Gabriel escapes with the key. 

Ethan overpowers Gabriel on the roof of the speeding train but is prevented from killing him by Community agents Briggs (Shea Whigham) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis). Gabriel escapes the train and initiates a countdown to detonate the viaduct bridge crossing ahead. Grace and Ethan detach the locomotive from the other carriages and save the passengers, but they are not able to escape. 

Just as they are about to plunge down the broken bridge, they are saved by Paris, who is near death. Paris mutters to Ethan of the Sevastopol before falling unconscious. As Ethan flees the train with a one-man chute, he tells Grace that she can trust Kittridge and that she should join the IMF. Grace then informs Kittridge that she has chosen to join IMF. Ethan meets with Benji when he lands at the bottom of the valley and they drive off with the key that Ethan pickpocketed during the fight with Gabriel, who is seen very angry indeed that his precious key has been replaced with a Zippo lighter. 

With 'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One' Writer, Producer and Director McQuarrie and Producer and star Cruise have crafted another non-stop, heart pounding action joy ride in this franchise that is now 27 years old, and for which Cruise has been playing the titular lead character for almost half his life. And at age 61 now, Tom Cruise does not seem to be letting up on the action set pieces as he prefers to work all his stunts, firmly in the belief that this is what the audience wants to see, and it's what gets bums on seats. And who can argue with that, because it seems to be paying off as 'Top Gun : Maverick' and early reviews of this latest 'M:I' offering would attest to. The film boasts a stellar cast who are all on point, a plot-line that is firmly planted in the present, well choreographed action set pieces that will keep you glued to the screen, stunning locations, a smattering of suspense, some occasional wry humour, and at a run time of just above 160 minutes that flies by and will never leave you wanting. My only criticism is all the angst ridden dialogue around 'The Entity' which if it is mentioned once, it is referenced a hundred times rendering it more like gobbledegook mumbo jumbo rather than the creation of a whole new world order that is implied. That said, next years 'Part Two' can't come soon enough.

'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 13th July 2023.

The 35th Galway Film Fleadh (Festival) kicked off on Tuesday 11th July and runs through until Sunday 16th July. It is Ireland’s leading film festival, is a six-day international event, and is held every July and welcomes a diversity of films from across the world. 2023 marks the 35th Galway Film Fleadh, and the central goal of the festival remains unchanged: to bring together audiences and filmmakers within an intimate environment and share a common experience. This years festival will offer eighty foreign and Irish feature films, with World Premiere screenings making up a about a quarter of these. The majority of the selected films are from debut feature film Directors and there are also over one hundred new short film. The main aim is to highlight diverse and up-and-coming voices in cinema while serving as a launching pad for fresh talent. The Galway Film Festival is very much a filmmaker’s festival and attracts Directors, Actors, Cinematographers and artists of all generations and cultural backgrounds, who present their work before their peers, with a diverse audience comprising the general cinema-going public, film buff’s, student film makers, industry professionals and invited guests.

With ten feature film Awards, three Oscar-Qualifying Short Film Awards and six Short Film Awards, the line up of feature film awards includes Best Irish Film, Best Cinematography in an Irish Film, Best Irish First Feature, World Cinema Competition, Peripheral Visions Competition, Best International Film and Best International Documentary.

The ten titles competing in the World Cinema Competition, whose films have screened and won awards at Berlinale, Busan, TIFF, SXSW, Sundance and Seattle, are as follows :-

* 'Past Lives' - Drama romance from the USA and Written and Directed by Celine Song, Irish Premiere.

* 'Here' - Drama from Belgium and Written and Directed by Bas Devos. Irish Premiere.

* 'Daughter of Rage' - Drama from Nicaragua, Mexico, Netherlands, Germany, France, Norway and Spain and Written and Directed by Laura Baumeister. Irish Premiere.

* 'Sister & Sister' - Coming of age drama from Panama and Chile and Witten and Directed by Kattia G. Zuniga. Irish Premier.

* 'One Bullet' - Documentary from the UK, Denmark, USA and Afghanistan and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Carol Dysinger. European Premiere.

* 'On the Adamant' - Documentary from France and Written and Directed by Nicolas Philibert. Irish Premiere.

* 'Mutt' - LGBTQIA+ drama from the USA and Written and Directed by Vuk Lungulov-Klotz. Irish Premiere.

* 'Slow' - LGBTQIA+ drama from Lithuania, Spain and Sweden and Written and Directed by Marija Kavtaradze. Irish Premiere.

* 'A House in Jerusalem' - Drama from Palestine, the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Qatar and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Muayad Alayan. Irish Premiere.

* 'The Forest Maker' - Documentary from Germany and Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Volker Schlondorff. Irish Premiere.

The Galway Film Festival prioritises Irish Film, and in 2023, a bumper thirty-four Irish films will screen in the Irish Cinema section with twenty World Premieres, seven Irish Premieres, two Irish films from the vault and an additional five Irish films. Themes around family, artists, farming, music, the political landscape of past and present alongside comedy, suspense and thrillers.

The Peripheral Visions Competition is for European first and second feature filmmakers with films from Slovakia, Kosovo, Germany, Greece, North Macedonia, Belgium, Portugal, Denmark, Hungary, Lithuania and Romania.

To see the titles in these two above mentioned competitive strands, plus the other sections within the 35th Galway Film Festival, you can go to the official website at : https://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/

Turning attention back then to this weeks four latest new movies gracing a big screen Odeon close to home, we launch with the seventh instalment in this hotly anticipated spy action thriller that sees this intrepid IMF agent and his team needing to track down a dangerous weapon before it falls into the wrong hands. This is followed by a biographical drama offering set in 1974 when a young gallery assistant is drawn into the wild, never-ending party that is this famed Spanish surrealist artists life in New York City, and as he helps the ageing genius prepare for an important show, he discovers not everything is as it seems. Next up we turn to a modern telling of a classic 1875 opera that sees a woman on a quest to find freedom embarking upon a dramatic and life-changing journey from Mexico to Los Angeles. And closing out the week we have a Japanese anime based on a popular TV series and film franchise that sees an Inspector with the Criminal Investigation Department using weapons called Dominators, and her coworkers, who are able to read people's 'crime coefficient', or how likely they are to commit a crime in a future Japan set one hundred years from now. 

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE' (Rated M) - this eagerly awaited American action spy film is the seventh film in the 'Mission : Impossible' franchise and is a sequel to 2018's 'Mission : Impossible - Fallout'. This film is once again Directed and Co-Written and Co-Produced by Christopher McQuarrie who also helmed 'Fallout' and 2015's 'Mission : Impossible - Rogue Nation'. The first six films in the ever popular franchise grossed worldwide US$3.57B at the Box Office off the back of combined production budgets of US$828M. 'Dead Reckoning, Part Two' is slated for release on 28th June 2024 with Christopher McQuarrie again in the Director's chair with Parts One and Two being filmed back to back. This film cost US$290M to produce. 

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise who also Co-Produces here) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet - to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. 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. Also starring the returning Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby and Henry Czerny with Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mark Gatiss, Shea Whigham and Cary Elwes all joining the franchise for the first time. 

'DALILAND' (Rated M) - this American biographical drama film is Directed by Mary Harron whose prior feature film making credits take in her debut with 'I Shot Andy Warhol' in 1996, followed up by the likes of 'American Psycho' in 2000, 'The Notorious Bettie Page' in 2005, 'The Moth Diaries' in 2011 and 'Charlie Says' in 2018. Here, Sir Ben Kingsley portrays the titular Salvador Dali, one of the most world-renowned surrealist artists of the 20th Century and focuses on the later years of the strange and fascinating marriage between Dali and his muse and wife, Gala (Barbara Sukowa), as their seemingly unshakable bond begins to stress and fracture. Set in New York and Spain in 1974, the film is told through the eyes of James Linton (Christopher Briney), a young assistant keen to make his name in the art world, who helps the eccentric and mercurial Dali prepare for a big gallery show. Also starring Ezra Miller as the young Dali with Rupert Graves, Suki Waterhouse, Mark McKenna and Andreja Pejic. The film has garnered mixed or average reviews and has so far grossed US$460K since its World Premiere screening at TIFF in mid-September last year and its subsequent release in the US in early June. Also starring Elsa Pataky and Rossy de Palma.

'CARMEN' (Rated M) - is an Australian, French and US Co-Production that is Co-Written and Directed by Benjamin Millepied in his feature film making debut. Although the film has been described as Millepied's take on Bizet's 1875 opera of the same name, it is 'a complete re-imagining' that ignores the opera's plot and setting; all that remains are 'selected lyrics' from the opera's libretto sung in the original French by a choir as background to one scene between the two leads. This gritty modern day story follows a young and fiercely independent woman who is forced to flee her home in the Mexican desert following the brutal murder of her mother, another strong and mysterious woman. Carmen (Melissa Barrera) survives a terrifying and dangerous illegal border crossing into the US, only to be confronted by a lawless volunteer border guard who cold-bloodedly murders two other immigrants in her group. When the border guard and his patrol partner, Aidan (Paul Mescal), a Marine with PTSD, become embroiled in a deadly standoff, Carmen and Aidan are forced to evade the local authorities as they head towards Los Angeles. The film has generated mixed or average reviews and has grossed US$259K since its World Premiere showcasing at TIFF in mid-September last year and its release Stateside towards the end of April this year. 

'PSYCHO-PASS : PROVIDENCE' (Rated MA15+) - this Japanese anime Sci-Fi crime film is Directed by Naoyoshi Shiotani who helmed all twenty-six episodes of the 'Psycho-Pass' TV series between 2012 and 2014, plus 'Psycho-Pass : The Movie' in 2015, then three TV movies titled 'Psycho-Pass : Sinners of the System Case 1, 2 and 3' all in 2019, and 'Psycho-Pass 3 : First Inspector' in 2020. Here then, set in January 2118, while attending a meeting as a Chief Inspector of the Public Security Bureau, Akane Tsunemori (voiced by Kana Hanazawa and in English by Kate Oxley) received a report that an incident had occurred on a foreign vessel. Akane and Atsushi Shindo (Yuki Kaji) head of the Statistics Division of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, who was also attending the meeting, rush to the scene, but for some reason, the authority to investigate is delegated to the Action Division of the Overseas Coordination Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From the ship, Dr. Milicia Stronskaya, whom Atsushi had invited as a guest for the meeting, is found dead. This marks the beginning of a big and unexpected case. The film saw its World Premier screening in mid-May, is released here in Australia and in the US from this week and in the UK from early August. 

With four new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT - Tuesday 7th August 2018.

'MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT' which I saw at my local multiplex this week is the sixth instalment in the Tom Cruise action franchise based on the popular '60's television series, that since 1996 has been dusted off every five years or so with another big budget high octane screen offering. The franchise launched with Brian De Palma's first film adaptation in 1996, followed by John Woo's Directed 'Mission : Impossible 2' in 2000; then J.J. Abrams took over Directing duties with 'Mission : Impossible III' in 2006, then Brad Bird assumed the mantle in 2011 with 'Mission : Impossible - Ghost Protocol' followed by Christoper McQuarrie in 2015 with 'Mission : Impossible - Rogue Nation'. These first five films have grossed at the worldwide Box Office a combined US$2.8B from a collective Budget of US$650M. Now in 2018 Christoper McQuarrie returns to the Directors chair for 'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' which he also wrote. Tom Cruise Produces too, as he has all other films in the series to date. The film has received universal acclaim from Critics, with many praising it as the best in the series so far with the cinematography, action set pieces, stunt work, storyline and cast performances as being particularly credit worthy. The film cost US$178M to Produce and has so far raked in US$360M since its release Stateside last week.

The film opens up with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) woken from his slumber in a Belfast safe house. He is delivered the ubiquitous package detailing his next mission . . . .  should he choose to accept it. Set two years following the events of 'Mission : Impossible - Rogue Nation' in which Soloman Lane (Sean Harris) was captured with what remains of his secretive anarchic organisation 'The Syndicate', reformed into a terrorist group operating across the world known as 'The Apostles'. Hunt's mission is to prevent the sale of three plutonium cores to the group on behalf of their client, one John Lark whose true identity remains a mystery. Hunt's pre-recorded message self destructs within five seconds, and next we find him in Berlin where he meets up with colleagues Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) to arrange the purchase of said plutonium cores. However, the mission goes awry, leaving Hunt a choice to either sacrifice the cores or sacrifice Luther being held at gunpoint. He chooses to save Luther's life, and lo and behold the cores disappear into the night, courtesy of The Apostles.

The team quickly home in on Nils Debruuk (Kristoffer Joner) and set an elaborate trap to make him confess his involvement and hand over the blueprints for his three portable nuclear weapons as well as releasing valuable information relating to The Apostle's next move. Director of CIA Erica Sloane (Angela Bassett) instructs Special Activities Division operative August Walker (Henry Cavill) to shadow Hunt as he attempts to retrieve the plutonium, much to the distrust of IMF Secretary Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin).

Hunt and Walker HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) parachute jump into Paris, where they infiltrate a fundraiser party at a lavish venue where John Lark is set to buy the cores from The Apostles. They track a man whom they suspect to be Lark to a Gents WC, where a fight breaks out between Lark, Hunt and Walker in which Lark gains the upper hand over the other two, but is shot dead unexpectedly by the emergence of Isla Faust (Rebecca Fergusson).

To ensure the successful execution of the mission, Hunt impersonates Lark and meets with an arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis, aka The White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) acting as a broker, on the basis that she will not be aware of the true identity of Lark. Agents of The Apostles have been sent to kill John Lark and The White Widow, but she and Hunt escape from the private party in a hail of bullets, knives and fist fights with a room full of guests and panicked onlookers. The White Widow has fallen for Hunt's rouse.

Believing Hunt to be Lark, and in order to secure the plutonium, The White Widow tasks him with extracting Lane from an armoured convoy transporting the fugitive through Paris. She hands over one of the plutonium cores as a payment in kind for the mission. Hunt and his team attack the convoy but not as planned, pushing the armoured vehicle into the Seine so saving the lives of numerous Police Officers who would have been collateral damage, and sending the perpetrators into complete disarray. A straight jacketed Lane is extracted from the now completely submerged armoured vehicle by Benji Dunn and bundled into the back of a waiting speed boat and Luther Stickell.

Walker and Hunt drive a panel van as part of their getaway chased down the back streets of Paris by The White Widows henchmen. They then decamp to getaway motorcycles as the van becomes wedged at the end of a narrow street. Successfully evading the Police, but only narrowly, Hunt is picked up in the speed boat by Dunn and Stickell and a hooded and still straight jacketed Lane.

The team of three and a captured Lane now make for a lock up garage in which is stowed their getaway car - an olive green BMW from yesteryear. Upon raising the garage door they are greeted by a random female Police Officer who suspecting that something is not quite right pulls her gun and orders the three and their hooded and bound captive to freeze. Whereupon four of The White Widows goons arrive to take charge of the situation and reclaim Lane. In the standoff the Police Officer is shot but in a non-life threatening way, and the four goons are all rapidly dispensed with courtesy of Hunt. A high speed car chase ensues across Paris, with Hunt skillfully dodging traffic, pedestrians, motorcyclists and all manner of obstacles while also avoiding The White Widow's forces, the Police and Ilsa, who is under orders to kill Lane to fulfil her mission for MI6 and to be able to walk free following her exploits of two years ago when she joined the IMF and Hunt's team. The mission to extract Lane remains successful, whereupon The White Widow instructs the team to deliver Lane, and Ilsa, to London.

Meanwhile, also in Paris, Walker has secretly met with Erica Sloane and spun her a yarn how Hunt is in fact the elusive Lane, and has framed him by doctoring the evidence found on the man they believed to be Lane and who they killed at the party earlier. Walker hands over the dead mans mobile phone containing all the 'evidence' that Sloane needs to incriminate Hunt. Sloane needs little convincing and orders Walker to put an end to the mission by whatever means necessary, even if it means taking Hunt, and his team, out.

The action now moves to a London safehouse in which Alan Hunley confronts Hunt about being John Lark, based on the fabricated evidence presented by Walker to Sloane. Hunt denies these accusations naturally and incapacitates Hunley to continue with their mission. Benji Dunn masks up as Lane for the purposes of the trade with The White Widow, leaving the real Lane under the charge of Walker while Hunt and his crew go off to make the deal. After being asked to monitor Lane, Walker unwittingly reveals himself to be the real John Lark, in association with Lane. But Benji Dunn and the real Lane did the switcheroo and pulled a fast one on Walker which they recorded for all posterity, with Sloane watching in remotely, while Hunt, Stickell and the real Lane were still in the building.

At this Sloane has instructed a shadow CIA team to take Lane, Walker, and Hunt’s team in. The CIA team though has been infiltrated by The Apostles and Walker orders them to attack the IMF team. Hunley is stabbed and killed in the ensuing fight by Walker, who then escapes on foot across London.  Hunt, after bidding a fond farewell to a dying Hunley, chases Walker on foot aided by Benji Dunn guiding him remotely as a result on implanting a tracking device in Walker's neck during the fracas at the safehouse. Walker leads Hunt on a chase across roof tops to the Tate Modern art gallery, where Walker escapes with Lane in a waiting helicopter on the rooftop, but not before making a threat against Hunt's ex-wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan) as added security for Hunt to no longer meddle.  

Using the tracking device still in Walker's neck leads the team to a medical aid camp somewhere in the foothills of Kashmir. Faust deduces that Lane intends to detonate the two remaining nuclear devices at a river that crosses the borders of China, Pakistan and India so contaminating the water supply to a third of the world's population. Upon arrival at the camp, Hunt comes face to face with Julia and her new husband Patrick (Wes Bentley) who are both working as Doctors providing voluntary medical aid to the locals. Walker had set up Julia to be there to raise the incentive for Hunt. 

Lane activates the nuclear weapons choosing to stay behind as his work is now done, but seeing to it that Walker leaves quickly so as to be out of harms way when the atomic blasts come, which is counting down to fifteen minutes hence. Lane hands the detonator key to Walker who exists in a helicopter. Hunt takes off in a second helicopter clinging to a payload hanging below, leaving Dunn, Stickell and Faust to locate the two nuclear devices and attempt to disarm them within the next fifteen minutes. Hunt clambers up the dangling payload and into the cockpit of the helicopter dispensing with the pilot and co-pilot before taking the controls. All the while Hunt is negotiating mountainous terrain, cavernous ravines, glacial landscapes and deep valleys under a barrage of machine gun fire from a mightily pissed off Walker in hot pursuit. 

Hunt and Walker continue to engage in aerial combat each from their own helicopter, before Hunt uses his chopper to ram Walker's helicopter out of the sky, causing the two downed aircraft to come to rest on a snow covered cliff edge. Narrowly escaping the remnants of two destroyed helicopters, the pair fight high up on a flattened cliff edge, where Hunt eventually kills Walker by sending him to his death wearing a helicopter necklace that explodes in a ball of flame a couple of hundred metres below. Ethan gains control of the detonator while Stickell, Dunn, Faust aided by Julia, deactivate the bombs with one second to spare. With the two cores safely recovered, Sloane arrives on the scene having sent a rescue helicopter to air lift Hunt off the precipice. Sloane hands Lane over to MI6 aided by The White Widow who has secretly been working undercover for MI6 to infiltrate Lane and his network. Faust is cleared of any wrongdoing and is off the hook with MI6. Hunt, Stickell and Dunn can say Mission : Accomplished, and the world is safe, for another day at least!

'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' is by far and away the best in an escapist action franchise that just keeps on improving with age. Here the Cruisemeister just reaffirms his position at the top of the ladder in terms of balls out epic big screen action commercial cinema where he chooses to do all his own practical stunts for added realism instead of giving way to green screen CGI enhanced effects, and all credit to ya Tom. He jumps, leaps, runs, climbs, clings, fist fights, kicks, shoots and is involved in a foot chase, a car chase, a motorcycle chase, a helicopter chase, jumps from a plane at 25,000 feet and saves the world all in the space of two and half hours of action packed adrenalin fuelled high octane fast paced drama. All the while, the story is believable, the action sequences of which there are many are delivered with a deft touch, the locations spectacular, and Hunt is presented as human after all with emotions, regrets, feelings and a vulnerability that perhaps we have not seen in previous instalments. This is a well rounded film in every respect - from the performances, the pacing, and the practical effects and the McQuarrie/Cruise combo has proved a sure fire winner here that elevates this franchise much further up the food chain. See it on the big screen while you can - you won't be disappointed.

'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' warrants five claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, out of a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-