Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 Breaks Tom Cruise’s Rotten Tomatoes Record

The first Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 reviews are out and have allowed the movie to break an incredible Tom Cruise Rotten Tomatoes record. The seventh entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise once again brings Tom Cruise back as IMF agent Ethan Hunt for another opportunity to save the world. Over the last two decades of playing the role, Cruise has helped elevate the franchise to new heights, especially in recent years thanks to his collaboration with director Christopher McQuarrie. This has led to increased adoration for the Mission: Impossible movies, the complex stories, and incredible stunts.
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Although the earlier entries in the franchise received moderately good or mixed reviews, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 releases after the series has received high critical acclaim. Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie have worked together to make sure audiences are treated to something new and spectacular. This collaboration not only has helped the Mission: Impossible movies get better reviews, but it also was reflected in Top Gun: Maverick’s acclaim. Now, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1’s Rotten Tomatoes score has broken a massive Tom Cruise movie record.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 Has Tom Cruise’s Highest Rotten Tomatoes Score
A few days before the movie’s theatrical release on July 12, 2023, Paramount lifted the Mission: Impossible 7 review embargo to see plenty of positive reactions. The initial result is Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 breaking Tom Cruise’s Rotten Tomatoes record to have his highest critic score. The first wave of reviews led the movie to have a 98% Fresh score on the review aggregator based on 86 reviews. While there is a chance that the final score fluctuates as more reviews are posted, the early consensus shows how beloved the movie is already and sets a new record for the longtime movie star and his action franchise.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1’s Rotten Tomatoes record meant beating the previous entry in the franchise. Mission: Impossible – Fallout previously held the title for Tom Cruise’s highest Rotten Tomatoes score thanks to its 97% score. It barely stayed ahead of Top Gun: Maverick, which has a 96% score. The ability of Mission: Impossible 7 to have the franchise’s best reviews is impressive in its own right. But, the idea that it is now responsible for setting Tom Cruise’s Rotten Tomatoes record helps put the praise in perspective.
Mission: Impossible’s Last 5 Sequels Have Higher Rotten Tomatoes Scores Than Previous Movie
Another amazing result from Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1’s Rotten Tomatoes score is that it has kept an incredible franchise streak alive. The last five Mission: Impossible sequels have all had higher Rotten Tomatoes scores than the previous movie in the franchise. This trend started with Mission: Impossible III (71%) beating Mission: Impossible II (56%). The franchise has since seen the next four movies beat their predecessors with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (93%), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (94%), Mission: Impossible – Fallout (97%), and now Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 (98%).
The fact that Mission: Impossible 7 was able to keep this streak alive at all is impressive. Mission: Impossible – Fallout seemed to be the highest the franchise could ever go considering how difficult it is for a movie to earn higher than 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. With only three percentage points to play with, the odds were against Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1’s Rotten Tomatoes score breaking Tom Cruise’s record and setting a new franchise high. The sequel’s ability to do so is another sign that the franchise and Cruise have no plans of slowing down.
It also sets up what appears to be a nearly impossible challenge for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 2. If the current score holds, the sequel will have to get a 99% or 100% Rotten Tomatoes score to beat Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1. Considering the next installment is the second part of the story that Mission: Impossible 7 tells, there is always the chance that audiences will love the conclusion even more than the setup. Tom Cruise will have to deliver something truly special to keep the streak alive and to break Mission: Impossible 7’s Rotten Tomatoes score.
How Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Compares To Other Tom Cruise Movies
Since Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 has Tom Cruise’s highest Rotten Tomatoes score, it is abundantly clear that it is higher than every other movie he has starred in. In addition to being better than every Mission: Impossible movie and Top Gun: Maverick, the new movie has also received higher scores than many of the star’s classics. This includes beating early dramatic Tom Cruise movies he made before ever playing Ethan Hunt like Risky Business (92%), The Color of Money (88%), Rain Man (89%), Born on the Fourth of July (85%), A Few Good Men (84%), and Jerry Maguire (84%).
Even his post-Mission: Impossible debut movies rarely come close to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1’s Rotten Tomatoes score. Minority Report (90%) and Edge of Tomorrow (91%) are the only non-franchise movies Tom Cruise has starred in since Mission: Impossible that earned Rotten Tomatoes scores over 90%. He has made critical hits like Eyes Wide Shut (76%), Magnolia (82%), Collateral (86%), War of the Worlds (75%), Tropic Thunder (82%), and American Made (85%) over the course of the last two decades. Those movies might have strong reviews on their own right, but they do not come close to Tom Cruise’s Rotten Tomatoes record.
Why Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1’s Reviews Are So Positive
Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1.
There are a variety of reasons why Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1’s reviews are so positive on Rotten Tomatoes. One of the least surprising aspects of the praise is that the movie is packed with thrilling action set pieces. The marketing campaign has leaned heavily into teasing the new death-defying stunts Tom Cruise and others perform. It appears that Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1’s stunts do not disappoint in the slightest. They are frequently featured, intricate, and dazzling according to all accounts. If nothing else, the realistic set pieces certainly help Mission: Impossible’s action stand apart from most other movies.
It also sounds like the story and characters are once again a highlight based on the Mission: Impossible 7 reviews. Ethan Hunt is put in another dangerous situation as he and his team get involved in an AI-driven threat. New characters like a villain connected to Ethan’s past, the return of Kittridge, and more of Ethan, Benji, Luther, and Ilsa working together also aid the sequel. With a tense story filled with massive stakes and some major twists filling in a long runtime that mostly flies by, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1’s reviews being so positive is understandable, as is how it broke Tom Cruise’s Rotten Tomatoes record.