Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, 2025.
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie.
Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Mariela Garriga, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Tramell Tillman, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Mark Gatiss, Rolf Saxon, Lucy Tulugarjuk, Angela Bassett, Marcin Dorociński, Katy O’Brian, Bella Glanville, Pasha D. Lychnikoff, Tomás Paredes, Martin McDougall, Katie Bernstein, and Erin Battle.
SYNOPSIS:
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.
For nearly 30 years Tom Cruise has entertained audiences with his death-defying stunts in the Mission: Impossible franchise and he holds nothing back for the series’ potential grand finale in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, tying up threads throughout the whole series and bringing it full circle. Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie do a fine job with the latest installment, particularly in the film’s second half, even though some story beats and answers to questions get lost among the tension and incredible action set pieces.
It is not lost on the filmmakers that Cruise, for all his stamina and dedication to his craft, can’t keep doing this forever no matter how much the audience (and he himself certainly) will want him to. For this reason, The Final Reckoning feels like a celebration of the franchise and of Cruise’s Ethan Hunt with how much the story connects to the previous films. It is both a strength and hinderance, at least during the first half of the film, as it recaps the series – specifically Dead Reckoning in a somewhat lengthy piece of ‘previously on’ exposition – as well as what has made Ethan one of the spy genre’s most recognizable heroes.
However, for as much as Final Reckoning ties the franchise together its flaws are shown in the lack of answers to questions Dead Reckoning set up. We don’t get much more information on Ethan’s past that the previous film teased or his connection to Esai Morales’ villain Gabriel despite the fact their adversarial relationship seemingly shaped Ethan into the man he became. Gabriel himself stands out as one of the film’s sore points as he comes off rather bland and one-note, not being nearly as intimidating as he was in Dead Reckoning. Morales does do well with the material he’s given, but there is not a stronger sense of motivation or insight into his character than there was in the previous film. While Mission: Impossible doesn’t have memorable villains like James Bond does, Gabriel certainly doesn’t live up to Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sean Harris and Henry Cavill’s villains.
Despite a bit of a rocky start, Final Reckoning‘s biggest strength lies in Cruise’s ability to pull the audience in through his performance. The film is arguably the most emotive of the series as it utilizes viewer’s connection with Ethan and his allies to great effect, putting them in high stakes situations where any of them might die. Character moments are really felt and it can’t be denied any scene with Cruise, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg is loaded with emotion as they have been Ethan’s most trusted friends. The chemistry between that trio provides the backbone of the story and you feel it even when Ethan is apart from his team.
As for the rest of his cohorts, Hayley Atwell’s thief-turned-spy is further developed in interesting ways and she shares great scenes with Cruise and the rest of the cast. Likewise, Pom Klementieff’s Paris is similarly expanded upon and her interactions with Pegg are memorable while Shea Whigham’s antagonist Briggs gets a bit more fleshed out, though its his partner Degas played by Greg Tarzan Davis who gets more to work with as he joins Ethan’s team. Rolf Saxon is also a welcome addition after first starring in the original 1996 film and given a surprising amount of depth for what was meant to be a one-off character and Angela Bassett owns the room as the returning Erika Sloane, now the President of the US.
Of course, though, it wouldn’t be a Mission: Impossible without crazy stuntwork and intense action and boy does the film deliver on that front. Final Reckoning showcases some of the biggest set pieces in the franchise that are riddled with tension, tight editing and incredible cinematography. The aerial sequence of Cruise hanging on for dear life onto a biplane has been promoted in the majority of the film’s trailers and posters for good reason, surely bound to go down as one of Cruise’s most successful stunts in his entire career. The film crew’s dedication and passion is on display for all to see during these sequences and makes for quite a memorable experience on the big screen.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning succeeds in its emotion and action, though the story is a little choppy in its first half and not all the characters are given the depth they deserve. Whether or not those story elements were cut for time or simply overlooked, it would have benefited from more clarity into the characters’ motivations. Nevertheless, Cruise puts on quite a show that highlights the connection to his costars and if this is indeed his final outing as Ethan Hunt, he made it an end worthy of both the character and franchise.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Ricky Church – Follow me on Bluesky for more movie news and nerd talk.
