By It’s honestly been something of a rollercoaster ride when it comes to the state of films since Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One released nearly two years ago. The original plan for this eighth film, originally titled Part Two before shifting to The Final Reckoning, was to be shot back-to-back with the seventh and deliver a one-two punch to the summer box office a year apart. Instead, COVID-19 disrupted the production of the first part, and then the SAG-AFTRA strike temporarily halted the second. Much like the production of every Mission: Impossible, it seemed like it would be impossible to get this movie into theaters.
Here we are, though, and the end result is… well, it’s fine. For all of the hype going into this supposedly final entry in agent Ethan Hunt’s saga, the film takes way too much time reiterating that Ethan is the only one who can do these types of things before it finally allows him to just do the damn thing. If you were unsure of Ethan Hunt’s and, by extension, Tom Cruise’s abilities at this point, then you’re an idiot.
Still, while I don’t think Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will go on to be considered a classic like a few of its predecessors, it’s definitely still fun enough and does contain one of the series’ best stunts ever put to film. At least it has that going for it.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Release Date: May 23, 2025
Rating: PG-13
So, did you realize that the Mission: Impossible movie franchise is nearly 30 years old? It’s definitely been abundantly clear in the marketing, and a lot of the plot in The Final Reckoning centers on how protagonist Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has been saving the world for decades now. Man, Ethan is so God damned good that he’s the only person who can do this. He’s like a modern Jesus, dying and coming back time and again to protect humanity from itself. That Ethan sure is miraculous.
Seriously, the narrative structure in this final Mission: Impossible film is so weirdly lopsided because writers Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendersen need to repeatedly beat it into the audience’s head that Ethan is incredible. The film starts with a looming shot of what looks like a coffin before it cuts over to Ethan receiving a message from the President of the United States, Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett). She almost literally recaps the entire series up to this point and even manages to throw in an explanation for what happened in the previous movie, just so nobody in the theater is lost. She then pleads with Ethan to turn himself and the cruciform key from the previous film so that the USA can assume control of “The Entity,” the rogue AI from Dead Reckoning that is hell bent on destroying humanity.
Ethan initially doesn’t do that, but eventually winds up having to, as it’s the only option left. Before that, we get some retconning of Mission: Impossible 3’s plot where the object Ethan needed to steal to save his ex-wife is revealed to have been part of the source code for The Entity. Even more connections to prior films crop up, and for roughly an hour, The Final Reckoning doesn’t seem too concerned about actually being an enjoyable film. There is exposition out the wazoo, characters are reintroduced but barely given any fanfare, and the action that does happen is so quick that it never even registers as an action sequence. Not a great start.
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Before long, though, Ethan and his team have to deal with some of the fallout from their last excursion, and we see a crucial team member perish. This then propels Ethan to continue on his suicidal quest, and while I did praise a similar thing in the last film, it feels a bit weightless here. They even try to tie it into the flashback hinted at in Dead Reckoning, but then that thread gets completely dropped. I guess Marie (Mariela Garriga) isn’t that important after all.
So, if I’m just complaining for the majority of this review, is there anything that Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning does well? Of course it does, as with all of the films in this franchise (yes, even Mission: Impossible 2). The acting from each cast member is solid, and while I think both Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff are criminally underutilized, at least no one comes off as if they are on autopilot. When longer action scenes finally start happening, they are all framed well and include some great editing. I also dig the bit where The Entity talks with Ethan and almost shows him a flashforward of things to come, almost taunting him with the knowledge that he seemingly won’t be able to prevent the apocalypse. What really hurts The Final Reckoning is that the film runs nearly three hours and still feels as if it’s missing key information.
If you actually got invested in Gabriel (Esai Morales) from the last movie and were wondering what the shared history was between Ethan and him, just put it out of your mind. In fact, you can mostly forget Gabriel is even a villain, as he’s hardly in the movie. He is the “ultimate” bad guy and does feature in the final action set-piece, but there are times when his motivation is entirely unclear, and his lack of presence in any shape hurts the overall movie. The Entity is also not that strong of a villain as it’s a nebulous AI, but despite slowly taking control of the world’s nuclear armaments, you have to wonder if someone could just detonate a giant EMP and kill it without all of this hassle.
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I know most people don’t go into Mission: Impossible expecting deep plots, and Tom Cruise has even stated that he makes films for “mass entertainment.” He’s not out there pretending his movies have complex plots or greater significance to the landscape of cinema. It’s just that previous Mission: Impossible films, including the absolutely fantastic Fallout, embedded their plots with personal touches about their characters to create a deeper investment with the audience. The Final Reckoning just rides off the coattails of the past and continually reminds you of all of stuff Ethan has done to falsely elicit emotion. It’s a hollow victory lap not dissimilar to Avengers: Endgame, which was similarly devoid of personality and depth in favor of just being a spectacle.
I promise I’ll get to what actually is good here, but one last thing to nitpick a bit. During the film’s first hour, Luther (Ving Rhames) is explaining to Ethan how the summation of their life’s work has come to this moment. While he wants to go out doing what he loves, he believes Ethan is the greatest agent to have ever existed. While everyone has made mistakes, it’s the thought that counts, and Ethan’s unwavering desire to never sacrifice his team is what makes him so invaluable. He takes on the burden so others can do their jobs more smoothly. It’s not hard to read that as Cruise performing self-congratulation while also attempting to absolve his awkward history with Scientology and his on-set outburst about COVID-19 safety protocols during the filming of Dead Reckoning, among other controversies in his past. It’s honestly a little sickening to listen to, especially since it’s just superfluous dialogue that doesn’t mean much of anything to the plot.
Anyway, despite running long as hell, I can’t say that the pacing of The Final Reckoning truly suffers. If you’ve been invested in this series to watch eight of them, then a lot of the exposition and politicians talking about basically nothing doesn’t feel too draining. You also know some big action set-piece will crop up, and it does a few times. The true highlight of this movie is the final bit that has been hinted at in all of the trailers, but there is an extended underwater sequence that is truly a sight to behold.
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Digging into the behind-the-scenes footage, Cruise and McQuarrie had a massive tank built so that they could recreate a submarine to film on. They then had a hydraulic system crafted to enable them to tilt the set at will, similar to that hallway sequence in Inception, just on a much larger scale. The setup for the endeavor is tense, and when the film finally submerges, there’s a solid 20-ish minutes where everything is on Ethan and his impossible task. The lighting is cool, the framing is always considered, and the conclusion of it is spectacular. While there is obviously more plot that comes to get us to the final action sequence, the last blast of action really does end the film on the best foot possible.
I know this is something I’ve said with basically every Mission: Impossible film since Ghost Protocol, but I truly don’t know how Tom Cruise would ever possibly top his bi-plane stunt. On paper, there isn’t much more to it than Cruise flying up in the air and then hanging off the wing of the aircraft. In practice, it’s the most ludicrous thing you’re likely to ever see a stuntman do on film. At one point, Ethan floats in zero gravity because of how fast the plane is rotating. In another shot, he’s hanging onto the seatbelt while the plane is inverted. I can tell you everything that happens, and it still doesn’t do justice to watching it unfold. It’s an extreme achievement in on-screen stunt work, and it’s unlikely we’ll ever see anything like it again.
That’s what I think ultimately keeps me from being harsher towards Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. If you were to ask me, this is likely the weakest film in the entire franchise. It has too many glaringly obvious editing and plot mishaps to feel like a cohesive film. So many ideas and characters are brought up only to be dropped because the movie needs to get to the next location or slice of action. More than any other M: I movie, this one is focused on being a theater-going experience and nothing more.
© Paramount Pictures
At the same time, most movie studios are moving into the realm of AI filmmaking, and companies keep pushing for the utterly awful generative technology to take over every facet of life. We have reports of AI making people dumber, of colleges losing a battle against students cheating with AI, of major game studios peddling fake games thanks to AI, and of AI recreations of murder victims forgiving their killers. Maybe The Final Reckoning is a mess of a film, but it’s one of the only movies you will see this summer where its actors actually performed their stunts and filmed on location to create the final reel. That shouldn’t matter as much as it does, but there is a genuine fear that once actors like Tom Cruise die, we’ll lose traditional filmmaking forever.
I don’t think Tom Cruise is a saint, and I’m honestly a bit over him as a celebrity. I do think he is a great actor, and his penchant for stunts and practicality is unmatched by anyone in Hollywood (maybe only Jackie Chan matches him, and he also is controversial). So, I’m conflicted about how I love Mission: Impossible, yet wish anyone else were the star of it. Still, if this is to be the final mission for Ethan and it helps move Cruise into roles that better match his age, then I can’t say it’s a misfire. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning could have been a better movie, but then no closing act could ever live up to what has come before.
Here’s to you, Ethan. May your future prove to be just a bit less impossible.
