Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

Review by Ryan Michael Painter

While the first three entries in Tom Cruse’s Mission: Impossible franchise were successful at the box office it wasn’t until the fourth entry, 2011’s Ghost Protocol, that the franchise really found its stride and established itself as one of the best action franchises of all time. That might sound like hyperbole, but the critic and audience scores prove otherwise.

So, what changed? The first three films, particularly the two sequels, looked to make Cruse’s Ethan Hunt into an American James Bond who operated primarily as a lone wolf. For the fourth film, writers André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum and director Brad Bird took the franchise back to the original team formula of the television series. Hunt would get the spotlight, but he’d share the stage with a cast of supporting characters. Hunt, capable as he was, survived because he rarely worked alone.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Paramount Pictures)

169 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Written by Christopher McQuarrie & Erik Jendresen
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Synopsis: Our lives are the sum of our choices. Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

 

 

The Final Reckoning picks up where 2023’s Dead Reckoning left off. Hunt and his team find themselves up against an AI threat known as the Entity. Hunt, having secured both halves of a mysterious cruciform key, must now find the Entity’s source code before the virtual intelligence gains control of the world’s nuclear weapons.

Cruise dominates the film with Esai Morales returning as Hunt’s antagonist. Hayley Atwell’s Grace and Simon Pegg’s Benji Dunn are given a substantial part of the narrative. Favorites Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Pom Klementieff and Angela Bassett all return with solid supporting storylines.

In the past, AI made for a somewhat silly villain, but in the modern world and this script from Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen the threat feels more real than science fiction. It introduces some interesting behind-the-scenes politics that are truly frightening.

The action is excellent. There are more than a few set pieces that will have you on the edge of your seat. There is one caveat that keeps the film from matching the quality of the previous two films, but I’ll mention that later.

It was originally suggested that The Final Reckoning would be the end of Cruise’s run with the franchise, Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie have since walked back those statements. Still, The Final Reckoning is filled with the sort of sentimentality and ample flashbacks that certainly make the film feel like the end of Hunt’s narrative. At the very least, the film goes out of its way to remind the audience of the journey that started 29 years ago.

At nearly three hours, The Final Reckoning feels a bit bloated. The sentimentality is a bit cumbersome, but the real issue is the film’s final set piece. As cool as it is to see Cruise dangle off an airplane, the scene stalls the momentum of the film and doesn’t really make narrative sense. It feels self-indulgent in a way that the franchise has avoided to this point. Cut the sequence in half and rework one of the character’s motivations and the film would likely feel all the better for it.

That said, The Final Reckoning is a largely satisfying experience that begs to be seen on the largest screen available. I’m a huge advocate of IMAX and The Final Reckoning was shot to be seen in IMAX. The epic scope of the film’s stunt work and cinematography easily justifies the ticket upgrade.

And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.

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