What’s It About
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will find Ethan Hunt in a precarious position. Dead Reckoning Part One saw Ethan and his loyal IMF team chasing after a foe from Ethan’s past and a rogue A.I. dubbed “The Entity.” Dead Reckoning Part One ends on a cliffhanger with one of Ethan’s team dead and a desperate race to destroy The Entity before other interested parties can obtain it. The stakes have never been higher for Tom Cruise’s super-spy, and the next (and perhaps last) Mission: Impossible movie is already one of the most eagerly anticipated in the franchise so far.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
After almost 30 years of doing insane stunts and saving the world, Tom Cruise might just retire Ethan Hunt for good. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” feels like a gigantic thank-you note to fans who have been on this journey since 1996. The movie starts with something unusual – Ethan Hunt receives his mission from a VHS tape instead of the standard high-tech gadgetry. It’s funny to think about: where would a spy find a VHS player in 2025? Has he been visiting thrift stores or associating with hipsters at film school? But this retro choice works since the villain now is an evil AI entity known as “The Entity” that can hack into anything electronic. This eighth installment takes up where the last one left off. The Entity has created much havoc in the world, and nuclear war seems imminent. Once more, the government requests Ethan Hunt to assist in saving individuals. The task is to dive to the floor of the freezing Bering Sea and retrieve a hard drive from a sunken Russian submarine that is close to a deep trench. However, what makes this film unique is that it’s not just about the action. The film is a close examination of Hunt’s past and how every decision he made, every life he lost, and every villain he captured led to this lethal AI. Everything built up to this final showdown. Hunt is filled with guilt because he understands that he may have unknowingly put the world in harm’s way. At the age of 62, Cruise still performs his own stunts, and they are actually insane. The sub underwater scenes will have you holding your breath and feeling trapped. However, the real thrill comes in the skies above South Africa, where Cruise climbs from one to the other of two vintage biplanes while they’re in flight. He actually dangles from one plane to the other, thousands of feet in the air, moving really quickly. These aren’t just incredible special effects – Cruise actually performed this himself. When he fights the bad guy Gabriel while jumping from plane to plane, it gets your heart pumping, seeing that it’s really him in the air. The last 45 minutes are thrilling. All the beloved characters are back. Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames reprise their roles as Ethan’s loyal friends who’ve been with him since day one. Hayley Atwell returns as Grace, formerly a thief but now a member of the crew. Pom Klementieff plays Paris, a French killer with her own agenda. There are also some fun surprise cameos in the film. Nick Offerman appears as a military general, and Hannah Waddingham from “Ted Lasso” appears as a Navy bureaucrat trying to put an end to World War III. There is a reference to the first Mission: Impossible movie of 1996 that will bring back the old-timers. The action scenes are great, but the movie has its problems. Running nearly three hours, it does drag at times. There is too much dialogue – characters are busy explaining what’s going on, what just happened, and what it all means. These exposition dumps split the movie into three acts but also drag the movie down. The movie gets very sentimental as well, with sweeping scores every couple of minutes as characters look deeply into one another in a meaningful way. It is a bit cheesy how much the movie indulges itself, but you can tell Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie are very passionate about this franchise. A significant loss is Rebecca Ferguson’s character, Ilsa Faust, who died in the last movie. She was as capable as Hunt and was capable of keeping up with the tough action along with Cruise. Without her, all the labor shifts onto Cruise alone, making it increasingly difficult for him as he grows older. The film tries very hard to have a real ending. It connects to all the earlier movies, brings in old characters, and puts Hunt through an emotional roller coaster where he deals with the fallout of his actions. There are even moments when Cruise’s character dies and is revived – twice – heavily promoting the Jesus-like hero theme. But is this really the end? The box office of the last movie was bad, so Paramount changed the title from “Dead Reckoning Part II” to “The Final Reckoning.” However, because Cruise is dedicated to this franchise and loves performing impossible stunts, don’t be surprised if he finds a way to come back somehow. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” provides what the people want: amazing stunts, sentimental moments, and Tom Cruise putting his life on the line for our enjoyment. It is somewhat too lengthy and occasionally too serious, but when Cruise is dangling from an airplane or making his getaway from a submerged submarine, those are problems no longer. This one needs to be viewed on the largest screen possible. The practical action, actual stunts, and enormity make it a genuine theatrical experience. If this indeed is the end of Ethan Hunt’s journey, it’s a good sendoff that pays respect to everything leading up to it and brings some of the craziest action sequences ever committed to film. Cruise has constructed something special with Mission: Impossible for three decades. Fans can be satisfied knowing they have been a part of an amazing journey, whether this is really the final obstacle or another tough task before the next.
OUR RATING – A FINAL 8