Tom Cruise’s last run as Ethan Hunt is oversaturated with plot points and feels too drawn out, making it one of the franchise’s weaker entries.
★★★☆☆
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning picks up where Dead Reckoning (2023), the first of a two-part finale, left off. The AI phenomenon, named The Entity, is causing global disarray. Ethan Hunt and his team of rogues are being trusted with the lives of billions for one last time, to prevent an oncoming Armageddon.
With an impressive thirty years to its name, the Mission Impossible franchise has consistently remained a magnet for global viewers, with almost $5 billion from film one to seven at the box office. Primarily, the appeal rests in its awe-inspiring stunt work, particularly cherished by the fact that it is personally performed by its lead, Tom Cruise, who is still going strong at the age of 61.
Once again, Cruise collaborates with Christopher McQuarrie (his fourth time directing an MI film) and the two are on top form in pleasing crowds with perhaps decade-defying stunt work and hair-raising suspense. One such sequence, plastered on all the posters and trailers, involves Hunt desperately trying to keep a plane in midair. Action lovers are treated well to McQuarrie’s visionary sense of scope.
Its cast, whether veteran or newcomer, is collectively stellar. Cruise is classically macho as Ethan Hunt, showing off his physical prowess through his stunt work or the occasional shirtless scene. He also has his long-time buddies, geeky Benji (Simon Pegg) and fatherly Luther (Ving Rhames), adding levity to his stern action-man style.
However, the Mission Impossible franchise has regularly provided room for femininity alongside Hunt as well. From Paula Patton to Rebecca Ferguson, and McQuarrie and Cruise double the rates to give women a shot in the male-dominated action genre. Hayley Atwell’s Grace may be Hunt’s latest lover, but she is no damsel. Others include Pom Klementieff fighting in the field and Hannah Waddingham and Oscar-nominee Angela Bassett calling the shots from backstage. Even though the series is inherently Cruise’s to helm, the positive gender depictions are a factor in the franchise’s wide appeal, beyond awe-inspiring sequences.
That being said, The Final Reckoning is let down by an excess of exposition, desperately trying to sell itself as the climactic ending to the eight-movie saga. Plot-wise, it turns out everything is connected, and it works about as well as James Bond’s attempt in Daniel Craig’s divisive fourth outing, Spectre. Hunt’s adventures all having a connection is not only beyond the far reaches of plausibility, but it makes the lore of Mission Impossible, once carefully kept ambiguous, feel far smaller.
Moreover, with Cruise (who also produces) being so keen to commemorate three decades of his time as Hunt, the tie-ins to past chapters feel more like an ego boost than narrative relevance. The film continuously slips into recapping everything. A 25-minute pre-credit montage is a fourth wall between Cruise and audiences to remind them how long he has been at this. A mere 30 minutes later, characters openly recap Hunt’s run-ins with the law, subjecting viewers to the same history lesson they already experienced.
With it being a part two, The Final Reckoning is excused for reminiscing about the events of Dead Reckoning, but there are flashbacks to heroic acts from 30 years ago, which even the most die-hard MI fans will struggle to recall. This generation, who are more used to the franchise’s current action-heavy format of action will have little connection to the 1996 dialogue-heavy espionage thriller.
While it is nice to have an action movie not succumb to summer blockbuster fluff and attempt to have an actual story, it comes at the cost of the action, the main attraction. Almost a full hour goes by without so much as a punch thrown, in exchange for more discussion of Hunt’s past missions. The movies were never plot-centric, especially when this film arrives at the same setup and conclusion: Ethan must locate and subdue a vague artefact that spells the end of everything.
A vital cog for the franchise’s machine was Hunt’s dynamic with his crew. Sadly, the team in this movie has few, if any, standout moments together as the plot is more concerned with an all-too-tangible scenario of the world terrorised by AI. The villainous force of the Entity remains little more than a McGuffin, which the legendary Alfred Hitchcock defined as “something the characters care about yet the audience doesn’t”. The Final Reckoning lives up to that phrase. Such immoderate concentration on warning audiences against AI ironically leaves the script lacking humanity. Hunt and the team as characters feel secondary in the grand plot and share little personal connection to the oncoming threat, which has audiences apathetic to the events on display.
The Final Reckoning is a good enough send-off to a large portion of Tom Cruise’s career. After all, the usual attraction in seeing Cruise risking his well-being for our entertainment is an ironic reward, even with it in sparse doses. There is a lot to draw in crowds typical of a summer blockbuster, yet there are also several aspects that can test the limits of the four-quadrant viewing format.
The Verdict
With the film overtly lacking the emotional hook in its mission and the aforementioned McGuffin-centric plot, The Final Reckoning is far less rewatchable than previous entries. It also seems that the franchise is caught up in Tom Cruise’s stardom and legacy as an action star. Therefore, the increasing reliance on nostalgia is a detriment to the logic of its script.
Words by Joseph Jenkinson
Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning is in UK cinemas from 23 May.
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