New 'Mission: Impossible' Trailer Promises Even More Mayhem and Shadowy Forces in 2023

A first teaser for the upcoming 2023 movie "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" was all set to premiere in theaters in a few days, playing before "Top Gun: Maverick." However, someone leaked a version of the video and it was all over social media this past weekend, so Paramount has given the clip an official release in advance of the original planned date.

That's probably for the best, because how many people were going to be more likely to buy a ticket to see "Top Gun: Maverick" just because there's a new "Mission: Impossible" trailer playing before? It seems likely that anyone who is that antsy about the next "M:I" movie will be planning to get their Cruise fix from "TG:M" anyway.

Also, there are so many thrills in this "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" trailer that it could wear out a surprised audience even before the tantalizing opening scenes of "Top Gun: Maverick." See for yourself below.

One of the strengths that writer/director Christopher McQuarrie has brought to the two most recent movies in the "M:I" series is an obvious love of 1970s conspiracy thrillers like "Three Days of the Condor" and "The Parallax View." Ethan Hunt and his Impossible Missions team are trying to fight for the good guys, but rapidly emerging technology and shifting political alliances have made it hard to know which side is the right one.

As Hunt's longtime nemesis, Eugene Kittridge, says in the trailer, ""Your days of fighting for the so-called 'Greater Good' are over. 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."

That side-picking will require Hunt to complete several impossible tasks, missions that allow the 59-year-old Cruise to indulge his love of reckless movie stunts. The trailer teases an outrageous car chase with Cruise driving a tiny Fiat 500, a John Wick-style nightclub brawl, a desert op that features a gunfight on horseback, the classic movie fight atop a movie train and a motorcycle chase that ends with Hunt driving the bike over the side of a canyon.

There's some business involving a key, but the trailer is light on plot details. Since it's right there in the title, we know that "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" is the first half of a two-part movie that's supposed to wrap up Cruise's "Mission: Impossible" saga. Expect a cliffhanger at the end of "Part One" when it's released on July 14, 2023, and a 51-week wait for the release of "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two" on July 7, 2024.

One of the things that makes the "Mission: Impossible" series work is that it's not all about Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. The star may do all the riskiest stunts, but Ving Rhames (Arby's "We have the meats!" guy, "Pulp Fiction"), Simon Pegg ("Hot Fuzz") and Rebecca Ferguson ("Dune") all have vital roles to play on every mission.

Vanessa Kirby ("The Crown"), whose White Widow character was introduced in "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," returns and is joined by Hayley Atwell ("Captain America"), Shea Whigham ("Perry Mason," "Gaslit"), Pom Klementieff ("Guardians of the Galaxy"), Esai Morales ("NYPD Blue"), Rob Delaney ("Deadpool 2"), Mark Gatiss ("Operation Mincemeat") and Greg Tarzan Davis ("Top Gun: Maverick"). Henry Czerny ("Clear and Present Danger") is also back as Kittridge.

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