The Mission Impossible films have easily been one of the best movie franchises in history. When Tom Cruise and his production company resurrected Mission Impossible from the original series and turned it into movies, I don’t know if anybody expected it would end after 8 films and be one of the highest-grossing franchises in history. Nor did we expect each movie to keep topping the others. Mission Impossible : The Final Reckoning takes the cake. I won’t say that it’s my favorite of the franchise, but when a franchise goes out with a bang, this is the way to do it. Each movie brings better and better death-defying stunts, and this film literally is about saving the fate of the world. Each film has had a great antagonist, but maybe there’s no better villain than an AI entity controlling all of cyberspace who can trigger an all-out nuclear war between nations. If there’s ever a better mission for the Impossible Mission Force this is it. Tom Cruise may be the last great movie star, and that’s certainly seen in how much care he takes with the Mission Impossible films to entertain moviegoers. With this being the last movie of the franchise, he goes all out and it is one wild ride until the end. Mission Impossible : The Final Reckoning is a great movie. It’s especially one of the better Mission Impossible films for the way it introduces Grace, but part two is phenomenal, especially with all the callbacks to the first movie.
Dead Reckoning Part 2 picks up a couple of months after the first one, where the stakes are so incredibly high that it’s up to the president of the United States to task Ethan Hunt with his greatest mission. Now, it’s not about whether Ethan Hunt will succeed or not; we know the formula. No matter how great the danger might be, Ethan Hunt always finds a way, but this time we actually see how they find the lost submarine from the first movie that will contain the original source code that can eventually destroy the entity. Talk about a mission where every little thing has to go right. The best part about this movie is the amount of danger that surrounds Ethan and his team. I don’t think it’s ever been this bad, and if you’re like me, you keep asking yourself, how does Ethan keep surviving? The underwater stunt when getting down to the submarine and then getting back up is probably one of the best stunts that Ethan Hunt / Tom Cruise has ever had to perform in one of these movies. But if you ask me, the best part of this film is how the entire team keeps cutting it so close and still somehow saves the day. It’s still intense even though we know how it will turn out.
But the Dead Reckoning movies provide one of the best villains in Gabriel, played by Esai Morales. He is easily one of the best antagonists in the Mission Impossible universe and the perfect villain to end the franchise. If Mission Impossible : The Final Reckoning does one thing right, it makes the stakes bigger, it makes the action compared to previous films bigger, and what they are having to fight even more dangerous than all of the villains they’ve ever faced and to trap it requires everything going right in a split second. It’s that kind of action that leaves you on the edge of your seat wanting more.
If I’m being honest, I don’t really have any complaints about the final Mission Impossible movie. Everything happened as I expected, and even though it followed the same formula and tropes as past films, it’s okay because it was highly entertaining. The biggest flaw is the suspension of disbelief because when you acknowledge that your main character is 60 years old and still doing the things that he does and keeps pushing everything to the limit, it’s hard to believe that he’s still alive. I admit that it probably would have been more honest if Ethan Hunt died in this movie, don’t worry, he doesn’t! But while I do complain about the suspension of disbelief, it’s not so over the top compared to the Fast and the Furious franchise, where it’s hard to believe that any of these guys can do the things they do. We expect the Impossible Mission Force to do the things that nobody else can. And I guess I can complain that the movie is too predictable, but that’s just nitpicking as a critic. Overall, this is a highly entertaining movie and even more emotional because we know it’s the end, and literally, the fate of the world rests on Ethan Hunt. I mean, it doesn’t get more dramatic than having to stop an AI from launching an all-out nuclear war like it’s Judgment Day in the Terminator movies. But my complaints are small because no matter what, Tom Cruise knows how to entertain us, and even though it’s hard to keep believing that his character can accomplish all of these stunts and not die, it still leaves us wanting more.
So what’s the verdict? Did the final Mission Impossible movie give us the ending of a franchise that we deserve…yes. And I think the biggest credit goes towards Tom Cruise, who takes extra special care with making a product that will entertain us no matter what. He is dedicated as an actor and a movie star. However, this movie is more emotional, and it is seen with all the characters even through deaths that we may not expect, but there should be more emotional weight within this movie. It’s the end, but I praise the filmmakers for making me still care about Mission Impossible movies. I’ve loved them all ever since the first one came out in 1996, and even though some are not as good as others, for an action franchise based on a classic TV show, these movies are very entertaining and worth watching again. This film delivered as I expected it would, and for me, the best parts were all of the callbacks to the previous movies, especially the first one that started it all. If you’re a nerd like me, then you love Easter eggs within films, and this one certainly has plenty. I’m sad to see the franchise end, but all good things do come to an end, however, Tom Cruise and the filmmakers did not end this movie on a downer. The story was good, the stunts were fantastic, and the action was superb, never letting us down as an audience. These are the kinds of movies for which we go to the theater. They may be pure escapism, it may be pure entertainment, and that’s what it should be. Just like all the other Mission Impossible films, it’s worth the price of a movie ticket and should certainly be experienced on IMAX. This is one of those movies that I’m just not going to be overly critical about because it’s meant to entertain, and it’s not trying to be some artsy film that it’s not. We need movies that purely entertain us, and they don’t have to be superhero movies. Mission Impossible : The Final Reckoning ends the franchise on a high note, and not even Star Wars can say that!
