Weekend Watch: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, The Afterparty Season 2

Cruise control and murder mystery

Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Tom Cruise accepts his latest Mission and Tiffany Haddish is investigating more murderous mystery comedy. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite and Threads/Instagram:@jammerwhite

Though it has become most famous for the gusto with which Tom Cruise throws himself into outrageous stunts, the Mission: Impossible franchise has evolved into something special. While it follows a pretty strict formula: Cruise’s Impossible Mission Force agent Ethan Hunt is tasked with stopping some nefarious plot or tracking a particular gadget that would aid such a scheme. He has some regular colleagues and, despite the title, usually finds a way to make the mission possible.

Yet with Christopher McQuarrie aboard as writer and director since the fifth film in the franchise, Rogue Nation, the M:I movies have become something beyond even the promise of the TV series. Together, Cruise, McQuarrie and their crew have been creating superior spy action for the past few years.

And Dead Reckoning continues that trend with a great, globe-trotting adventure that somehow manages to up the stakes for Hunt and the team. Simon Pegg’s Benji, Ving Rhames Luther and Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust are all back and as entertaining as ever –– Benji and Luther bickering as only old friends can and Ilsa bringing the badass side.

Cast additions such as Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff also work well within the story and complement the regulars. Atwell in particular, as pickpocket Grace, who gets drawn into Ethan’s latest escapade and proves to be a good match for him.

This time around the big bad is a sentient AI called The Entity. And while it sounds like the movie might be verging into sci-fi territory, think about how many attacks there have been on data centres and infrastructure in the last few years, not to mention the all-encompassing fear of algorithms in our daily lives. It also offers the fun conceit of intelligence agencies scrambling to conduct their covert business using analogue technology.

And, of course, there are the action set-pieces, including a frantic set of car chases in Rome and, of course, Cruise and the stunt team pulling off their latest showcase sequence; in this case, an audacious leap off a mountain on a motorbike.

How does this latest Mission line up, particularly with the other Cruise/McQuarrie films? It’s certainly of a piece and while it might not entirely be on the same level as Rogue Nation and Fallout, it’s absolutely worth seeing on the biggest screen you can find.

Mission: Impossible –– Dead Reckoning Part One is in UK and US cinemas now.

Image Credit: Apple TV+

I was a big fan of the first season of The Afterparty, but with that came the concern that creator Christopher Miller wouldn’t be able to pull off the trick again.

No one should’ve worried about that –– while the technique of using different genres to tell each character’s POV story isn’t as fresh as the first season, the second still delivers reliable laughs and a compelling mystery.

Plus, the established characters, such as Tiffany Haddish’s Detective Danner (who scores another focus episode away from the main storyline that perfectly spoofs 1980s/1990s erotic thrillers to a ridiculous degree), Sam Richardson’s Aniq and Zoe Chao’s Zoë, have a built-in appeal and the plotline smartly connects them more closely to the other players, since the crime this time takes place at Zoë’s sister’s wedding.

Her younger sibling Grace (Poppy Liu) marries tech rich kid Edgar (Zach Woods), who is socially awkward to a nearly crippling degree. But when Edgar (and his pet lizard Roxana) is discovered dead the morning of the wedding, the stage is set for a new murder mystery. Aniq calls Danner, who has retired from the force and is trying to write a book about the case she cracked in the first season. She agrees to dig into this new slaying, and once more starts taking the statements of the various guests.

Highlights this time? John Cho as Zoë and Grace’s uncle, a zen world traveller who has a complicated relationship with the family, the women’s father, Feng (Ken Jeong), a shaved ice magnate whose story is told through social media. And Grace’s ex, Travis (Paul Walter Hauser) who still carries a candle for her (and whose episode is framed as a 1950s crime noir).

The show still juggles its tones effectively and makes the most of its various genres. Will it still work if a third season is produced? I’ll wait and see, but I have every confidence.

The first two episodes of Season Two are on Apple TV+ now. New episodes will arrive weekly. I’ve seen nine of the 10.