Jordy D
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning brings us back the action-packed, stunt-filled series in a momentous spectacle – but not without falling into some of the pitfalls we’ve come to expect, and love, from the franchise.
I have come to have a deep appreciation for Mission: Impossible. Since its 1999 debut it has become an establishment in the action spy genre, solidifying tropes of over-the-top action sequences and staying true to its goofy cliches which set itself apart from other long-standing franchises like James Bond and John Wick. In my eyes it is one of the last remaining beacons of dumb-fun action which is still narratively engaging and visually stunning.
The film throws us back into the world of IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in a continuation of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One with a team full of new faces and old tasked with finding, and taking down, The Entity – a rogue AI which has taken a grasp of the world’s cyberspace and threatens to take control of every nuclear arsenal and unleash chaos across the world.
Firstly, the action scenes are the best they’ve ever been up to this point. It shows Cruise is truly still at the top of his game and possibly never left. We know he does his own stunts but man, I still watch in awe and wonder how any of it was done. There is one underwater sequence in particular which had me at the edge of my seat for its entirety.
While these are the crux of the movie, they can also drag on a bit. The 2 hour 50 minute runtime starts to rear its head during the final act when some action sequences feel like they could be five minutes shorter.
Getting to the meat of the film also takes longer than expected. I feel like the first 30-minutes was a mix of exposition while trying to get to the good bits which ultimately made the story-building feel rushed.
The film manages to make the stakes feel like the highest they’ve ever been – almost entirely thanks to the stellar cast of characters made up of old faces like Luther Rhames (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), along with some newer additions like Grace (Hayley Atwell). For the diehard fans, a character from earlier in the series also makes a surprising return – and puts on an incredible performance.
Because of its increased scale though, it also does without some of its usual cliches. Sadly this includes its iconic theme. The theme matched its 90s original impeccably yet is somewhat inappropriate for end-of-the-world level stakes.
Gabriel (Esai Morales) is a great villain, however I feel like he doesn’t come close to the intimidating presence of the series’ greatest antagonists like Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) in Mission: Impossible III.
Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning is exactly what we’d hope to experience from a high stakes eighth instalment of a monster franchise. It has all the thrill we’ve grown to love and makes for an exciting cinema experience. While some of the writing is sloppy in parts and gets a bit silly – it really doesn’t divert in any way from the adrenaline of seeing Tom Cruise doing what he does best.
Year: 2025
Rating: R
Running Time: 170 MIN
Genre: Action
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett
Production Studio: Skydance
Distributor: Paramount Pictures