Tom Cruise returns with 'Mission: Impossible' action franchise,trailer packs a punch

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Los Angeles: Close on the heels of the rapturous reception to 'Top Gun: Maverick' at the Cannes Film Festival, another Tom Cruise action franchise is back, with the first trailer of 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One' being dropped on Monday evening by Paramount Pictures. 'Dead Reckoning', reports 'Variety', is the seventh entry in the spy thriller series, which stars Cruise as Ethan Hunt, a special agent of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF).

The trailer shows the return of several 'Mission: Impossible' series cast members, including franchise stalwart Ving Rhames, more recent additions Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson, and 'Fallout' star Vanessa Kirby. In addition, the trailer shows the return of Henry Czerny, who appeared in the original 1996 'Mission: Impossible' as IMF director Eugene Kittridge. He's shown having a tense meeting with Cruise's Hunt.

"Your days of fighting for the so-called 'Greater Good' are over," Czerny says to Cruise in the trailer, according to 'Variety'. "This is our chance to control the truth. The concepts of right and wrong, for everyone for centuries to come. You're fighting to save an ideal that doesn't exist. It never did. You need to pick a side."

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Several action set pieces are teased in the trailer, including a sniper battle during a desert storm, a fistfight in a nightclub and a chase atop a moving train. The trailer closes with a dramatic shot of Cruise, famous for doing his own stunts in the franchise, driving a motorcycle off a cliff and skydiving into the air below.

'Dead Reckoning' is written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who previously helmed 'Rogue Nation' in 2015 and 'Fallout' in 2018. 'Part One', co-produced by Cruise, and scheduled for a July 14, 2023, release, will be followed by 'Dead Reckoning: Part Two' in 2024, which is expected to be the final appearance of Cruise as Ethan Hunt.