All good things must come to an end, and the same also goes for the Mission: Impossible movie series. For nearly 30 years, Tom Cruise has emerged as the key figure who dominated the franchise as the relentless IMF agent, Ethan Hunt and how he successfully overcame impossible odds, despite constantly being disavowed and going rogue. Incredible action and stunts are done in-camera as practically as humanly possible, one of the major reasons that made Mission: Impossible such an enduring franchise.
So, eight movies in, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning finally wraps up the story of Ethan Hunt, at least for now, because anything is possible in Hollywood. It was a direct follow-up to Dead Reckoning two years ago, continuing Ethan’s mission to find Gabriel (Esai Morales), the human villain determines to take control of the rogue A.I. system, The Entity. He needs the all-important cruciform key, which already falls into the hands of Ethan from the last time they came face to face atop the Orient Express at the end of Dead Reckoning.
Since then, Ethan has been laying low to evade capture from his government because he refused to hand over the key. Even after the former CIA director-turned-US president Erika Sloane (a typically no-nonsense Angela Bassett, reprising his role since Fallout) personally reaches out to him via an old-school VHS tape message urging him to surrender along with the key, Ethan remains adamant as he decides to handle the mission his own way.
Likewise, he relies on his usual trusted team members, including Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg). He even reunites with the pickpocket Grace (Hayley Atwell) and Gabriel’s former assassin-turned-ally, Paris (Pom Klementieff). The primary missions include locating Gabriel’s whereabouts and retrieving a crucial source code called the Podkova. It’s a gadget reminiscent of a hard drive which stored the source code, and finding the device requires him to dive deep underwater in the Bering Sea, found somewhere inside the sunken Russian submarine of the Sevastopol.
The Final Reckoning relies heavily on exposition, with most of the scenes spent during the first half dedicated to methodical planning and negotiating a deal. This resulted in a significantly dialogue-heavy approach, which might be a turn-off for those who have already grown accustomed to action-packed Mission: Impossible movies. But it’s never boring, despite its overly stretched storytelling that could have used some trimming, thanks to Christopher McQuarrie and his frequent editor Eddie Hamilton, in splicing the movie effectively.
McQuarrie even goes as far as employing dynamic close-ups in many scenes of the characters debating and making decisions, reminding me of how Brian De Palma did the first time around in Mission: Impossible back in 1996. The Final Reckoning also addresses the past, complete with a montage of the previous seven movies and how some of Ethan’s prior missions reflect the present, both directly and indirectly.
Like Dead Reckoning saw the return of Henry Czerny’s Eugene Kittridge from the first movie, this sequel brings back William Donloe, played by Rolf Saxon. The character in question is the bespectacled CIA analyst, who was previously seen in the first movie entering the highly secured CIA vault in Langley, but unaware of Ethan’s hidden presence trying to obtain the NOC list. Saxon reprised his Donloe character isn’t a mere fan service, but rather plays an important part in The Final Reckoning. McQuarrie throws in a few Easter eggs – some obvious, some are not, where the latter would be a bonus for die-hard fans and eagle-eyed audiences.
Unlike the previous Mission: Impossible movies, The Final Reckoning is noticeably morose in its tone, with occasional humor sprinkled in. You could say McQuarrie is taking his movie a little too seriously for his own good, especially given the story’s predominant apocalyptic dread that the evolving Entity continues to pose a global threat against humankind. I can’t help but find the story leans on the sci-fi angle, similar to how the increasingly self-aware Skynet from the Terminator movies threatened humanity with its initiation of a nuclear holocaust. The only exception here, and thankfully, McQuarrie doesn’t stray too far to make The Final Reckoning feels like an odd one out.
Now, for the action and stunts, this may come across as a disappointment for some since The Final Reckoning emphasizes more on the story and character motivations. There are only two major set pieces, beginning with the elaborate underwater sequence as Ethan dives deep into the depths of the ocean while navigating his way into the Sevastopol. The scene is expertly choreographed with enough tension and suspense, particularly how Ethan has to be on full alert not to cause the sunken submarine to roll down deeper into the abyss with all the pressure building up.
McQuarrie raises the stakes even higher, both literally and figuratively, during the climactic plane sequence. Easily one of the most spectacular and daring stunts ever filmed, the vertigo-inducing moment as we see Ethan maintaining his grips on the body of the biplane at a dizzying height of 10,000 feet while it maneuvers crazily in mid-air. Watching this scene alone on IMAX is certainly one for the ages, and it’s remarkable to see a 62-year-old actor like Tom Cruise willing to put himself out there in the name of entertainment.Cruise’s committed performance anchors the movie as always, while the movie equally benefits from the recurring supporting cast, including Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg as Luther and Benji. I still have issues with Esai Morales, whose antagonist role as the supposedly formidable Gabriel is nothing more than a standard-issue villain seen in Dead Reckoning. As for newcomers to the franchise, Tramell Tillman of Apple TV+’s Severance excels the most in his scene-stealing role as the commander of a US submarine.
