Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Plot Summary
Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is back for his 7th mission in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. For the legendary spy’s new adventure, he must obtain both halves of a crucifix key that unlocks the answers to an incredibly powerful AI entity.
With a little involvement from his former companion Ilsa Faust, his old friends Benji and Luther, and the unexpected participation of a skilled thief named Grace, he travels the world trying to get his hands on the key halves. But a few other parties are after the key, including a dangerous man called Gabriel, who is one of the reasons that Ethan joined the Impossible Mission Force. Along with him is his accomplice, Paris.
Where is the lock?
The ending of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has Ethan, Benji, Luther, and Grace planning to board the Orient Express to get the other half of the crucifix key. Grace has one half, and the second half is in the hands of illegal arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis AKA the White Widow.
Cut to Gabriel and his accomplice, Paris. The two board the train by landing on top of it, having waited for it to pass by while clinging to an overhanging structure. A team of CIA agents also appear on board. Gabriel kills the train conductor while Ethan drives along the side of the train on a motorcycle.
On the train, Grace, disguised as Alanna, surprises the real Alanna when she enters her cabin. Grace drugs her and then goes to meet the buyer that Alanna is selling the key to. It’s Kittridge, the director of the Impossible Mission Force.
Zola, Alanna’s brother, accompanied her, but she asks him to wait in another car. Kittredge and Grace discuss the sale of the key. Seizing the opportunity, she hands him a passport, showing him a photo of her real self, and asks Kittredge to provide protection for the “woman in the passport” in addition to paying her for the key half.
Meanwhile, Paris and Gabriel find Denlinger, the US director of national security, in his cabin and kill his companions. Denlinger tells Gabriel that he is the only one who knows the location of the lock (that the crucifix key goes into), and if anything happens to him, then the key will be worthless.
He tells Gabriel that the AI entity went rogue and took down the vestibule that is inside. He suggests that they form an alliance and use the AI entity to create a new superstate to rule the world. Gabriel does not like that plan. He slits Denlinger’s throat. He then turns to Paris and stabs her, believing that she will betray him because Ethan spared her life previously.
Will Ethan survive the jump?
Meanwhile, Ethan drives his motorcycle to the edge of a cliff. The train track is far below him. Over comms, Benji tells him that he needs to parachute off the cliff, and Ethan protests. Realizing there is no other option but to board the train, Ethan drives his bike up an elevated rocky slope and leaps off, letting his bike fall beneath him before pulling his parachute.
Grace hands the key half to Kittridge, who puts it in his pocket. Having a sudden change of heart, Grace suddenly takes the key out of Kittredge’s pocket and hastily walks away. The real Alanna wakes up and comes into the car, asking where the key is.
Alanna’s brother Zola catches up to Grace, points a gun at her, and asks her to put the key on the table next to her, which she does. Just as Zola is about to have Grace shot, Ethan suddenly bursts through the window on his parachute, taking out Zola. Gabriel comes in and picks up the key from the debris. Ethan follows Gabriel to the top of the train while Grace tries to stop the train.
Does Ethan get the crucifix key?
Gabriel whips out a knife, and the two men fight. Ethan grabs the knife and presses it to Gabriel’s throat. Gabriel says that he is the only one who knows what the key unlocks, just as one of the CIA agents pops up, points a gun at Ethan, and tells him to drop the knife. Gabriel then jumps into a truck that is passing by the train. He pulls Ethan’s fake lighter out of his pocket and realizes that Ethan swiped the key.
Ethan tells the CIA agent that everyone will die if he doesn’t help them, and the CIA team helps herd the train’s passengers to the caboose.
Will everyone on the train fall to their deaths?
On the truck, Gabriel remotely starts a bomb countdown. The bombs are attached to a bridge that the train is about to cross. Ethan finds Grace, and they disconnect the engine car from the rest of the train just before the bridge explodes and the train cars start falling into the water. Ethan and Grace begin to climb on and through the cars. They end up in a car that is vertically suspended, and a grand piano is about to fall on them.
The two jump to the other side of the car just in time. They make it to the top of the car, but they are hanging by a thread. Paris appears and pulls them up. Now inside a more stable train car, Ethan asks Paris what the key unlocks. She tells him about the vestibule.
How does Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One end?
Ethan jumps out of the train with another parachute, leaving Grace behind, as only one person can use the parachute. Kitteridge comes in, and Grace tells him that she wants to join the Impossible Mission Force. One of the CIA agents looks over Paris, who has passed out from her injury, and finds a pulse.
Ethan lands, holding the crucifix key. He finds a relieved Benji waiting for him.
Read More: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Review