Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is very much on brand with all the other movies in the franchise. It has a slew of epic stunts, Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt runs in many scenes, and the film features many other hallmarks of spy action thrillers. It’s all part of Hunt’s team trying to stop an evil artificial intelligence known as the Entity as it threatens world powers.
While the story may seem simple on the surface, there are many moving parts complicating things. The least of this being a packed cast, with characters being given weird decisions and mysteries arising that seem shoehorned in to set up Dead Reckoning Part Two. With that in mind, these are the biggest plot holes and unanswered questions featured in Mission: Impossible 7.
6 Why Would Gabriel Murder Denlinger?
In Dead Reckoning Part One’s ending, Esai Morales’ Gabriel tracks down Cary Elwes’ Denlinger, the head of America’s national intelligence. It turns out, Denlinger is part of the group who stole the AI and planted it into a Russian submarine, not knowing it would grow sentient and turn on them. Gabriel kills Denlinger, adamant that he has to remove traces of anyone knowing the AI’s origin.
It’s part of Gabriel’s plan to keep serving the AI. The problem with this, however, is Denlinger clearly has more intel on the program’s origin: who made it and where it came from. While he admits he and Gabriel alone know about the submarine, he never says anything about others knowing the history and makings of the algorithm. As such, Gabriel kills the only person who could have led him to the people that made the source code, allowing the villain to truly mop up the Entity’s past.
Hunt’s team knows the Entity can scour the internet, hack financial institutions and corrupt military data all over the world. It does this as an intimidation tactic, gloating over various nations. In addition, it can alter images all over the world by manipulating cameras, hence why there’s no footage of Gabriel.
Yet, after saying it’s anywhere and everywhere in the digital space, Luther and Benji keep using their usual tools for Hunt’s team. They should have immediately stopped with laptops, phones, etc. and switched to analog. They only do this after the Entity hacks their feed, sends Hunt on a wild goose chase, and has Gabriel murder Ilsa Faust. It doesn’t paint Hunt’s team as smart, with this sub-arc solely being used to create an opening for a vulnerable Ilsa to die.
4 Why Does Grace Keep Betraying Hunt’s Team?
Hayley Atwell’s Grace is a thief, added to the franchise to secure two halves of a key that could stop the Entity. However, when she realizes she’s in over her head, Hunt is the one that repeatedly saves her life. Whether it’s agents from the Community or Gabriel’s forces, Hunt is the only reason she’s not dead. It’s never explained, however, why Grace keeps backstabbing Hunt and trying to flee.
To start with, she leaves him to die in a car on the train tracks, which doesn’t make sense as he’s the only person on her side. Similarly, her running off alone to fight Gabriel doesn’t add up. She could have kept Hunt with her and taken the villain down. Her running away to do this doesn’t feel organic and solely exists to have Ilsa pursue and sacrifice herself to save Grace. Sadly, this makes Grace come off as stubborn and petulant after Hunt keeps begging her to listen so that tragedy doesn’t befall them.
The Community consists of the IMF and all other American special agencies. Here, Eugene Kittridge returns as the CIA’s boss, but while he has agents hunting Hunt’s team, he never sends anyone to pursue Vanessa Kirby’s Alanna. They know she’s a villain and black arms dealer from past movies, plus Jasper and other operatives try to raid her party. Yet no one surveils her premises nor intercepts her after they decipher she’s dealing to Hunt.
Hunting Alanna would have been a smart plan because she has half the key which Gabriel wants to buy. The film doesn’t explain why the Community never moves on her after finding out she hired Grace. This would have allowed them to get part of the asset way before Hunt and Gabriel went after Alanna in Dead Reckoning’s train sequence in the end. The movie ends up making the Community come off as mere cops with guns, rather than high-tech spies themselves. Plus, they make every wrong move to allow a third party to get the completed key.
2 Why Would Kittridge Hire Grace?
Dead Reckoning Part One ends with Gabriel escaping the train, only to realize Hunt stole the full key. Hunt has to leave Grace behind, telling her to negotiate and become Kittridge’s operative. It’s the deal Hunt’s team took in the past, allowing Grace some degree of freedom. This way, she can atone and do good as an agent.
The problem is, there’s no reason for Kittridge to hire her. Hunt backstabbed him in this film, plus he knows Grace is a Hunt loyalist. Seeing as Kittridge will keep tracking Hunt down, it doesn’t make sense to keep a traitor around who would compromise this mission and possibly feed Hunt intel as an inside woman.
1 Why Would Gabriel Send Paris Over to Hunt’s Crew?
Thinking he has the key, Gabriel stabs his general, Paris, and leaves her for Hunt. He wants her to let Hunt know his secrets about the Entity. He’s also upset Hunt spared her life, so he thinks he’s making her pay. This doesn’t add up because even after that incident, Paris never shows signs of wanting to join Hunt. She always remained loyal to Gabriel.
Secondly, Gabriel’s main objective is to find the key, destroy it so that the Entity can live, and ensure no one knows about the submarine. This vessel actually has the source code, so if someone finds it, they could devise a way of stopping the AI. Oddly, Gabriel leaves a wounded Paris for Hunt, after she absorbs all these details from him and Denlinger. It’s a huge plot hole because this is counterintuitive to Gabriel’s mission and provides Hunt with the main clues needed to kill the Entity.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is now in theaters.