After 30 years of jumping off buildings, running fast, holding his breath underwater, running fast, disarming bombs and running fast, Tom Cruise has brought the gang back together for the eighth Mission: Impossible series installment, The Final Reckoning. Staying true to form, this newest addition is filled to the brim with over-the-top plots, gadgets and action. At the same time, it managed to squeeze nearly enough nostalgia and fan service from Ethan Hunt’s greatest hits of the previous seven movies to almost make a feature-length best-of compilation of Tom Cruise action hero porn. Did I mention you get to see Tom Cruise run in the movie?
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, and it would be fair to see this movie as McQuarrie’s send-off to some great long-running characters, appease the fanbase, and eke out a big summer blockbuster all at once. I’ll be honest. After we slog through some very serious, highly detailed and ultimately overly complicated expository dialogue and info dumping, the movie was exciting but also exhausting.
The various team members spend a lot of time explaining the threat of a rogue artificial intelligence called the Entity, which has apparently taken over the world’s nuclear caches in a bid to take over the world. Hunt is, of course, the only one who can stop it—a point so painfully forced they actually have to say it several times throughout the movie. I took my wife to the screener. She loves the Mission: Impossible series and thought 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning was a fantastic watch. After about 45 minutes of callbacks to earlier films, government officials reading Hunt’s file like it’s scripture, and characters talking about how Hunt can save us all, she leans over and asks when the action part of this action movie will start. It gets silly, but not haha silly.
The Final Reckoning really wants to be important. It leans hard into making Hunt feel like a savior figure, even going so far as having an entire fetal-position-birth-to-death-to-resurrection scene that would have warmed the heart cockles of my high school English teacher, Mrs. Jordan. She loved some good old-fashioned poetic-imagery interpretation. However, my feeling is the movie is less about telling a good story and more about reminding us how legendary Cruise is.
When the movie finally stops talking and gets moving, it delivers hard. There are at least two absolutely wild action sequences that showcase why Mission: Impossible became a global phenomenon in the first place. The underwater scenes where Hunt dives into a wrecked Russian sub, holding his breath for what feels like forever, and a death-defying flight sequence with Cruise clinging to a tiny plane in flight are must-watch. The character chemistry between classic cast members and newer additions really begins to click. This is exactly what fans come for. Big thrills that feel truly authentic in a way most action scenes can’t replicate.
To be completely fair, the action and cinematography are truly impressive and manage to raise the bar for practical stunts and effects. So many blockbusters rely too heavily on CGI, and I won’t say there isn’t plenty of that in this movie too, but this movie reminds you of the power of real stunts performed in real environments. The commitment from Cruise and the production team is undeniable. There’s a physical intensity you can’t ignore. McQuarrie knows exactly how to frame these moments for maximum impact, making you hold your breath.
The high level of technical craftsmanship around the sound design, camera work and editing are top-tier. The globe-trotting cinematography captures everything from the coldest Arctic waters, grungy cityscapes and sunny South Africa. Even when the plot gets bogged down, the film looks great.
As beautiful as the action sequences are and how well all the characters perform, there’s no getting around the fact that the movie is too long. At 170 minutes, it drags with far too many flashbacks, monologues and emotional goodbyes. Yes, we get it, you’re trying to hit us in the feels, but I’m more emotional about the extra babysitter money all this fan service is costing me. At least 40 to 45 minutes could have been left on the cutting room floor. At least two of Cruise’s running stints should have been cast out. We get it. Cruise can run fast and a lot.
The Final Reckoning is a mix of what the franchise has always done well and some things it didn’t really need. There’s no telling if this is actually going to be the last Mission: Impossible for Cruise. If it is, it’s a memorable one, just not for all the right reasons. If you can sift through all the fluff, the rest is a solid 5 of 10.
