Film Review: Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning
Every Choice, Every Mission, Has All Led To This
INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. Please note that this is just one of the many movies I will have watched each year, and my initial grade for this film may change over time, for better or worse. To stay up to date on my thoughts about other movies and any potential changes in my opinion on this one, follow me on Letterboxd.
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PLOT
Via Letterboxd: Ethan Hunt and the IMF team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity, which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe, with the world’s governments and a mysterious ghost from Ethan’s past on their trail. Joined by new allies, and armed with the means to shut the Entity down for good, Hunt is in a race against time to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever.
REVIEW
Well, here we are again, another brand spanking new Mission: Impossible film for me to review. But this one will be a significant one. It’s not just the next installment in the long-running franchise; it’s the end - the grand finale to a saga that’s spanned eight films and stretched across three decades. Hard to believe, right? I can still almost remember being seven years old watching TV spots for the first film. And now, here I am in my mid-thirties, writing a review for what promises to be the final chapter in Ethan Hunt’s death-defying spy saga; a character Tom Cruise will be forever synonymous with, thanks in no small part to his insane commitment to doing his own stunts.
We’ve known the end was coming for some time now. The previous film was essentially a prologue, laying the groundwork for this final chapter. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One quietly dropped the “Part One” from its marketing, but it set the stage for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
Now here we are, with a nearly three-hour runtime and the weight of an entire franchise riding on one last mission. The anticipation is sky-high. I mean, how do you deliver a grand finale for a series that’s already redefined the action genre more than once? This is a franchise that gave us Ethan Hunt dangling from the ceiling in a dead-silent CIA vault (one of the most iconic scenes in cinema’s history), and later, clinging to the side of the Burj Khalifa. A series that started out as Hunt on mostly sole-spy missions, and then transformed into more of an ensemble in what seem like a response to the MCU. So yeah, you can’t help but wonder just how do you cap this franchise off.
This film picks up right where Dead Reckoning left off, continuing the cliffhanger surrounding the sentient AI known as “The Entity,” which is still dead-set on having its way toward the destruction of humanity. As I mentioned in my short review of the previous installment, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about making the franchise’s final big bad a rogue AI, it feels more like an MCU side plot than something worthy of a spy movie franchise. But hey, the sharks have been jumped, the train is moving, and at this point, I’ve chosen to just roll with it.That said, I’m a little less forgiving when it comes to the human villain across these last two films, the enigmatic figure known as “Gabriel”. Compared to past adversaries like the ticking time bomb Owen Davian or the calculating Solomon Lane, “Gabriel” just doesn’t land with the same weight.
To be fair, though, Mission: Impossible has never really been about the villains. This franchise thrives on the spectacle; the jaw-dropping ways Ethan Hunt cheats death again and again. It’s seemingly less about who he’s up against and more about how he survives it all. But I will say as someone who binged the previous films in preparation for this new one, I did notice a pattern where the deeper the franchise went, the more Hunt was praised by the supporting characters as if he were a saint. The hero worship does get a bit too on the nose at times.
When it comes to the stunts versus the all-out action sequences, I’d say this final film leans heavier, and better, on the former. The set pieces are there, but overall, the action doesn’t quite hit the same highs as in previous entries. Director Christopher McQuarrie, who’s been a steady hand for the franchise, doesn’t quite bring the same tight, kinetic energy to the direction this time around.
That said, there are two major stunt sequences that absolutely had me on the edge of my seat; one where Ethan dives into the wreckage of a sunken submarine, and another where he’s literally hanging off a flying biplane without a parachute. The submarine sequence in particular is given a solid buildup throughout the film, and it pays off with real tension. As someone who’s spent time studying deep-sea wrecks, I found myself genuinely anxious for Ethan in that moment; which is saying something, considering this is the eighth time we’ve watched this guy defy death.
The movie makes a real effort to tie the entire franchise together with major callbacks to previous installments, aiming to create a sense of full-circle cohesion. The results, though, are a bit of a mixed bag for me. In the first act, the film leans heavily on flashbacks and exposition dumps, so much so that it starts to feel clunky. There’s a lot of telling rather than showing, and honestly, the pacing suffers for it. A tighter edit in the setup could’ve gone a long way in making everything flow more naturally.
That said, when the callbacks do land, they land hard. One moment in particular ties directly back to Mission: Impossible III in a way that makes you watch that movie differently. Even more impressive is the way a seemingly minor character from the very first film suddenly becomes crucial to the movie. That twist genuinely caught me off guard, in the best way. It almost gave me One Piece vibes with how well that deep-cut callback was pulled off.
Overall, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning gives you exactly what you'd expect from this franchise - jaw-dropping stunts and a sense of closure that tries to tie everything together with a neat little bow. There are some genuinely cool callbacks that long-time fans will appreciate, but they’re balanced out by a villain who doesn’t quite leave a mark, a clunky and exposition-heavy first act, and a few nostalgic nods that feel more forced than earned.
This isn’t the most triumphant send-off for a beloved franchise, and I wouldn’t rank it among the greatest cinematic finales. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a good time at the movies. There’s still enough here to satisfy most moviegoers looking for a fun, high-stakes spy romp. It’s a solid popcorn flick; perfect for a night out when you just want to be entertained without thinking too hard.
I’m giving Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning a B+. It’s not gonna’ be one of the best films of the year (Frankly I’d only rank the first film as among the best of it’s year), but it’s definitely one of the easier, safer recommendations to throw out to friends and family looking for thrills, explosions, and Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise.
GRADING
