The messy situation with Balfe's original themes for this concept owes partly to their seeming adherence to phrasing borrowed from Schifrin's main franchise theme. Strategically, it makes sense to relate these identities in structure because of the convoluted plot connections on screen, but sometimes the cleverness simply devolves into muddy incoherence. The Ethan suffering theme was arguably the most important idea from the prior work, anchoring "We Are Never Free." Here, it is extended in a new direction that makes it sound almost like a depressing pseudo-villain identity, the kind of idea that accompanies a bad guy sympathetic because of a troubled past that makes him conduct evil schemes. It does provide for good listening, however, supplying the score's most dramatic moments. After emerging in the latter half of "This is Not a Drill," this idea becomes very melodramatic in action mode during "Get Out Now" and "Chasing Grace," the latter aided by over-the-top high choir akin to something you'd hear in a Michael Giacchino Star Trek score. This mode is tortured with anticipation in the crescendo of "I Was Hoping It'd Be You" and takes a more romantically somber turn in "Ponte Dei Conzafelzi." Preceding the main theme later in "Mask of Lies," the Ethan material accompanies a pivotal moment of anguish in "Leap of Faith" before extending to a beefier, faster rendition of the same concept at the outset of "Consequences." It exits by mixing with the two original Schifrin themes in "This Was the Plan." Meanwhile, the returning theme for the Syndicate has been altered in personality to remove its piano element. Its three-note phrases remain, though, heard early in "This is Not a Drill" and receiving extensive, muscular treatment in the first half of "The Plot Thickens." It informs the weighty drama of "He Calls Himself Gabriel," explodes early in "Murder and the Orient Express," and is infused into "Countdown." The new theme for the Entity and Gabriel alternates between two notes of mystery at its base form, derivative of Schifrin's Plot theme. Often in higher registers of the orchestra (mainly flutes) but on brass in "Collision Alarm," the idea dominates through all the early cues from "The Phantom" to "A Ghost in the Machine." It sneaks into the action of "This is Not a Drill" and develops further in "You Are Dunn" and "He Calls Himself Gabriel." The idea can't seem to escape the main theme's primary descending phrases, especially by "A Most Probable Next." It stews in its original, mysterious form in "You Are Done," "Mask of Lies," and "Key Details."

Interpolations of the classic Schifrin themes are once again where Balfe earns his pay in this franchise. Previewed in "The Sevastopol," the main theme achieves full swagger in "Dead Reckoning Opening Titles" with heavy percussion and choir and is nicely intertwined with the Plot theme on bass flute in "The Plot Thickens" and "To Be a Ghost." The iconic theme sets the pace of chasing in "Rush Hour in Rome," "Roman Getaway," and "You're Driving," leading to a full performance of force early in "Hit It" before reprising its rhythm only at the end of "Mask of Lies." It offers drama to the resolution in "This Was the Plan," including the bass flute, and reprises the earlier titles rendition with faster tempos in "Curtain Call." More intellectually pleasing are the smart applications of the Plot theme in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, opening "This is Not a Drill" and skittish early in "The Plot Thickens" before developing really well throughout the cue. The idea is elegant at the beginning of "A Colourful Past," mixes into the bombast at the end of "Roman Getaway" and middle of "You're Driving," contributes suspense to the second half of "Hit It," and does battle with the Balfe themes in "Murder and the Orient Express." It is well interpolated against the Entity/Gabriel material in "Mask of Lies," provides a prominent swell at the end of "Should You Choose to Accept," becomes an almost humorously overbearing power anthem at the end of "You Stop the Train," adopts high drama on strings at the end of "Chaos on the Line," and offers faint reminders in "This Was the Plan." These moments of Schifrin reverence save this score from mediocrity, a condition caused by Balfe and crew's inability to really nail the thematic narrative with their own themes. Still, the highlights of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, aided by the far more organic-sounding ambience, are undeniably impressive and could be assembled into a four-star representation. The two-hour score release reveals too much of the underachieving and anonymous underbelly of the work, however. Tracks like "Run as Far as You Can," "You Are Done," "What is Your Objective," "I Missed the Train," "Key Details," and "The Moment of Truth" have little business on a main album presentation of this music. Primarily distributed digitally by Sony Classical, the score was also offered by La-La Land Records on a 2-CD set shortly thereafter that appends Balfe's rather poor trailer music for the film, which features a generic modern trailer music crescendo with the main Schifrin theme overlaid in pompous force.

Later in 2023, Sony Classical released Balfe's "Suites and Themes" concept music from Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One digitally as an "expanded edition," and the extra tracks appended to the original presentation were provided by La-La Land as a separate single CD product, too. The artistic process mirrors what Balfe had successfully followed strategically and similarly released on album for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves earlier in the year. As with that project, Balfe recorded a significant amount of music prior to teaming up with his array of assistants to tailor the concept music to the final cut of the film. (The merits of this technique are still controversial, but that's the way these giant "group think" scores often come together in this era.) Over 50 minutes of this "expanded edition" is dedicated to these various suite arrangements of Balfe's core thematic ideas. Some of these recordings have an intrusive synthetic edge to them, especially in the zombie-like sound of the string section at times, but they are otherwise satisfyingly refined. What you don't get in the more verbose tracks is any truly dynamic performance inflection, though, which causes them to sound somewhat sterile. This muted enthusiasm is not exactly suited for an espionage thriller's music. In fact, if you want to hear what Mission: Impossible music sounds like in elevator music form, then you'll have your answer upon encountering the bulk of soft, easy listening material on this album. In many ways, it's a more palatable experience on its own, but it also has very little edginess or weight to its drama. Balfe does touch upon all of the score's main ideas as expected, though, so it will be a boon for enthusiasts of the work. Appended to the end are three additional cues from the score, and these are arguably more interesting. Especially engaging is the ethnic and choral tilt of the second half of "Barren Wilderness." On the whole, the "Suites and Themes" material won't blow you away, but it likely won't offend you either. If 2023 taught Balfe collectors one lesson, however, it's that they should wait to purchase any supplemental expanded album when it is first released digitally, especially if they prefer a physical copy. There's a good chance that a CD offering will follow by just a few weeks, so there's no reason to spend the money twice. As for the overall quality of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, the end result of Balfe's years of work on this score is superior to Mission: Impossible - Fallout but not enough so to truly satisfy. Kraemer remains available should McQuarrie ever come to his senses.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download