Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) returns in what might (but it won’t) be the IMF Agent’s final mission that he chooses to accept in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. A clumsy script and an overstuffed cast nearly sink Cruise’s potential swan song in the role. However, the incredible stunts and edge-of-your-seat suspense, all driven by the sheer willpower and madness of one of Hollywood’s greatest action stars, are too good to be overshadowed.
If you don’t remember all of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, don’t worry, this direct continuation of the 2023 films spends most of its first ten minutes recapping that film, and for good measure, the rest of the film also has an egregious amount of montage recaps for the entire franchise. For a nearly three-hour movie, that’s just one of the issues that plagues the pacing, wasting time on things like adding unnecessary new characters portrayed by talent better than the content, i.e. the likes of Nick Offerman (The Last of Us) and Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso).
Alas, we still have the returning cast to deal with, including franchise vets Ving Rhames as Luther and Simon Pegg as Benji alongside the last film’s new team additions, Hayley Atwell as Grace and former adversary turned ally Pom Klementieff as Paris. The team is on the run from the evil AI, named The Entity, and his physical world acolyte Gabriel (Esai Morales), and just as things look bleakest, a submarine macguffin from the opening of the previous film might be the key to stopping The Entity for good.
It’s clear the script written by director Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen is pouring a lot of love (and research) into figuring out a way to tie major elements of all the long M:I franchise history into Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning‘s resolution. Unfortunately, plot points become too clever for their good and character twists make no sense and have little to no impact. Retcons to connect with previous installments are also employed as needless threads of nostalgia. A few of these elements hit, but far more fall flat or just outright seem out of place. In all fairness, the film at least does right by its long-term characters, Ethan, Luther, and Benji. Sadly, once again, Gabriel is short-changed by the script and relies on Esai Morales’ energy and charisma to make something out of nothing as Gabriel for the story’s villain avatar.
If you eventually just tune out the endless exposition and constantly rotating characters, this installment is on point with the one thing you must not get wrong in a Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible film: the action. A mid-film deep-sea dive sequence is a master-class in suspense building and practical stunt work that will shave years off your life. The bonkers bi-plane chase in the film’s climax must be watched in IMAX to fully experience it’s insanity and scope – it will be a strong contender for one of Cruise’s top all-time stunt sequences.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning overshoots just about everything from its script to its bloated cast, but the excess works in spades for the unleashed Cruise in action. If this is truly the end for the icon as Ethan Hunt, it could’ve been worse, but a cleaner story with a shorter runtime could’ve elevated the incredible stunt sequences rather than relying on them to shoulder the weight of the film.
Score: 3 out of 5