Ethan Hunt returns for the last time in an entertaining yet overstuffed and convoluted finale that soars when it does what it knows best.
A direct continuation of 2023’s Dead Reckoning – Part One, The Final Reckoning marks the eighth and final (?) time we’ll see rouge agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) save the world in ridiculous and daring circumstances. While it’s sad to think we won’t see the swashbuckling ageless Cruise beat up a bunch of people in his pants anymore the storytelling in this entry may prove that the series has slightly run out of steam towards the end of its run.
This time after A.I overlord “the entity” tried to destroy mankind it’s threat has seemed to grow even greater, and Ethan must stop it before it enslaves humanity – A.I = bad! He must retrieve the core module known as the “rabbit’s foot” from the sunken Russian submarine we see in part one to control the entities source code, a kind of “digitally poisonous” upload. He’s coerced by Gabriel, an agent working for the entity, who uses Hunt’s partner Grace (Haley Atwell) as leverage to retrieve it so he can gain control. This gives Ethan no choice but to pursue this dangerous technology one way or another to save the world. Amongst this main plot summary is a bunch of confusing details with copious secret agent jargon that mostly goes in one ear and out the other. The first third of the film is laborious in its set up and spends far too long trying to convince us just how important all the information we’re spoon fed is instead of showing us. There are too many surrounding players that undercut the emotional reaction we should have relating to certain characters. There’s a rag-tag group of faithfuls consisting of computer guy Benji (Simon Pegg), deadly assassin turned teammate Paris (Pom Klementieff), CIA analyst William Donloe (Rolf Saxton) and his comedic relief wife Tapessa (Lucy Tulugarjuk) as well as the criminally pointless Degas (Greg Tarzan Davies). This sounds like a lot and it is, it’s hard to care for everyone when the story moves a million miles per hour and everyone kind of just plays to type.
However, despite my gripes, some of the action scenes are truly breathtaking and Cruise delivers the goods in typical “did he actually do that?” fashion. Christopher McQuarrie knows exactly what he’s doing at this point and the over-the-top set pieces are as smooth and propulsive as we’ve come to expect. There’s a particular set piece in the penultimate moments of the film that had my stomach doing back flips and feeling physically ill watching a performer in a movie showcases the true spectacle this type of genre piece can provide. This is mirrored in a fun deep dive in the sunken submarine as Hunt battles impossibly confined and dangerous circumstances. He’s also taken there in a separate sub crew with a fun performance from Severance’s Tramell Tillman as a wide eyed and straight laced yet sarky undersea Captain. The threads between the action have seemed to grow a little more tenuous now. A lot of the time we’re propelled from location to location with preposterous plans that have a one in a million chance of coming together yet we all trust in the team, they’re invincible in this reality and it largely doesn’t matter.
The Mission: Impossible films have a certain old school charm and appeal that feels of a bygone era. Despite beginning in the 90s and the original trilogy ending in the mid noughties they seem classic which is testament to its staying power as a franchise. If this is the end they’ve gone out on a relative high, at 169 minutes the film shockingly doesn’t drag and is a guaranteed good time at the flicks, just don’t expect a fully cohesive narrative, unlike Cruise there’s fat on this.
Seen on 20/05/25 in IMAX at Odeon Greenwich.
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