Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Warning: spoilers for the “Mission: Impossible” franchise ahead
“I need you to trust me … one last time.”
This plea, uttered by star Tom Cruise at the conclusion of the rocky first act of “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” serves as a turning point for writer and director Christopher McQuarrie’s uncharacteristically messy storytelling. After this moment, the film finds its footing and transforms into the rip-roaring action spectacle expected from a “Mission: Impossible” entry. “The Final Reckoning” becomes a worthy finale to one of Hollywood’s best franchises — it just takes a while to get there.
Positioned as the culmination of a 29-year-old run kickstarted by 1996’s “Mission: Impossible,” “The Final Reckoning” is the eighth and supposedly final installment of the franchise, coming out on May 23, 2025. It comes hot on the heels of 2023’s fantastic but similarly flawed “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.” Before that, 2018’s “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” debuted as the series’ magnum opus and an all-timer action film. While “The Final Reckoning” hasn’t quite reached the heights of these predecessors (I’d place it on the low- to mid-tier of “Mission: Impossible” rankings), it delivers in spades on what sets this franchise apart: the stunts.
Picking up where 2023’s “Dead Reckoning” left off, “The Final Reckoning” follows protagonist Ethan Hunt in his fight against the “Entity,” a malevolent artificial intelligence system that aims to deploy the nuclear arsenals of major world powers against each other. In “Dead Reckoning,”, Hunt succeeded in obtaining the two halves of the cruciform key needed to access the Entity’s source code. In “The Final Reckoning,” he must attempt to destroy it.
There are two major set pieces in “The Final Reckoning.” Both are jaw-droppingly intense and instant classic action scenes. One involves an undersea heist which surpasses the memorable underwater portion of “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” in 2015. The other is an aerial biplane sequence recalling the helicopter fight in “Fallout.” With these action sequences, McQuarrie, Cruise and company outdid themselves. These primarily visual, dialogue-less stretches of the movie distill the essence of cinema down to its purest form. There simply aren’t enough words to accurately convey the magnitude of achievement nor the level of craft on display here. Credit must go to the stunt teams, who worked tirelessly to stage as much of this action practically as possible. It pays dividends and alone makes “The Final Reckoning” worth the price of admission.
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
The one-two punch of these set pieces, both taking place after the demarcation point of Hunt’s plea, do much of the heavy lifting to steer the film back on track from its many storytelling failings. Those failings include — but aren’t limited to — an overreliance on flashbacks to remind the audience about important details, copious amounts of exposition for the same purpose and baffling retcons of previous franchise installments in an attempt to weave an overarching story. For example, Shea Whigham’s CIA agent character is given a pointless family connection to a character from the original “Mission: Impossible.” It’s a horrendously transparent reach for overarching continuity that never has any real impact on the narrative at hand. Additionally, the characters played by Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff are criminally underdeveloped, Esai Morales’ character undergoes a radical personality change that solidifies him as an underwhelming villain and several other important story and character threads are neglected. “The Final Reckoning” also suffers from a distinct lack of Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis, who was electric in the previous film. The same can be said for Rebecca Ferguson, whose death in “Dead Reckoning” was a major misstep.
Unfortunately, the plot of “The Final Reckoning” is also chock full of inconsistencies. The challenges of writing an omniscient artificial intelligence as the villain of a movie crystallizes when every detail becomes hand-wavy. What the Entity knows and doesn’t know is blurry, and why anything must happen the way it does is ill-defined. The entire framework of the film collapses under any level of scrutiny.
Tonally, this is by far the most self-serious and dour “Mission: Impossible” movie. The world-ending stakes become tiresome when there’s not enough levity to balance things out. “Dead Reckoning’s” screwball, Charlie Chaplin-esque energy is sorely missing from this film.
On a technical level, however, most of “The Final Reckoning” improves upon its predecessor. The CGI looks seamless, and director of photography Fraser Taggar’s cinematography is gorgeous. The shadowy lighting contributes to the grave stakes and eliminates “Dead Reckoning”’s controversial digital sheen.
McQuarrie also toned down his excessive usage of Dutch angles and distracting breaking of the 180-degree rule, making the action easier to follow. “The Final Reckoning’s” only technical misstep was not bringing back Lorne Balfe to do the score. Composers Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey turned in solid work, but nonetheless, the score doesn’t quite live up to the high standards set by Balfe.
Last but not least are the performances. Despite many of their characters being underserved, “The Final Reckoning’s” ensemble cast managed to shine. Cruise is predictably great as Hunt, as are franchise veterans Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny and Angela Bassett. Making their “Mission: Impossible” debuts are Hannah Waddingham, Tramell Tillman and Katy O’Brian, the latter two especially chewing scenery with standout line delivery.
“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” may not be the intended triumphant finale, but it has more than enough good to make it worthwhile. For the action, if nothing else, Cruise proves once again he deserves every ounce of trust for which he demands.
7/10
