Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (United States, 2025)

After 30 years and eight films, there’s a sense that the Mission: Impossible film series (itself a reworking of the venerable and popular 1960/70s TV series) may finally be played out. Since Christopher McQuarrie came on board and revitalized things with the fifth installment, 2015’s Rogue Nation, the M:I films have focused heavily on extravagant stunts, with each movie attempting to outdo its predecessor. But there was always a compelling espionage-oriented storyline to keep the viewer engaged between instances of Tom Cruise derring-do. Unfortunately, while Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has some great Cruise-oriented action scenes, the narrative thread is simplistic despite its apocalyptic elements. The stakes here are bigger than they have ever been but the movie often seems to be on autopilot with the entire thing stitched together to accommodate the two biggest set pieces: Tom Cruise trapped underwater and Tom Cruise climbing around on an airplane in flight.

This time around, the “villain” is an uber-AI called “The Entity” which has apparently infected cyberspace and is on the verge of taking over the world’s nuclear arsenals so it can wipe out humanity. The “why” of this left deliberately vague. Unlike Skynet, The Entity hasn’t developed an army of Terminators. All it needs are the nukes and a safe harbor to avoid having its critical components damaged in one of the blasts. The only one daring enough to stop The Entity is Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), the IMF agent who seems perpetually on the run. That’s the case at the start of this movie, which begins soon after the ending of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. Ethan and his team – pickpocket extraordinaire Grace (Hayley Atwell) and long-time cohorts Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) – are flying low under the radar, hunting Gabriel (Esai Morales), whose goals have changed since being dumped by The Entity. Now he’s out to control it and, through that control, gain dominion over Earth. Typical megalomaniac stuff. Ethan’s group soon expands with the inclusion of Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis), an agent previously pursuing him, and Paris (Pom Klementieff), Gabriel’s former #2 who is now out for revenge.

The Final Reckoning provides answers to questions that have lingered throughout the series (for example, what was the real purpose of The Rabbit’s Foot?) while offering an overall sense of closure. (At one point, it was officially named Dead Reckoning Part 2 before marketing research determined that was a bad idea.) If this is the final Mission: Impossible movie, it will end the series on a relatively high note. However, it doesn’t close the book on additional related films and even teases the direction in which a future installment could go. (The existence of a Mission: Impossible 9 will almost certainly be a business decision. Never say never.)

When The Final Reckoning is good, it’s very good. The underwater sequences are taut, nail-biting affairs. Preposterous, to be sure, but that doesn’t detract from the white-knuckle aspects. There are some impressive fight scenes (including one that cuts back-and-forth between Ethan and a geographically distant group). To maintain a PG-13 rating, one particularly bloody confrontation happens off-screen: we hear the fight, watch one character’s shocked reaction to the proceedings, and get a glimpse of the aftermath but director Christopher McQuarrie cheekily leaves the bloody, gory, R-rated stuff to the imagination. As for the outside-the-plane stuff – let’s just say that the clips of this in the trailer don’t do it full justice.

Unfortunately, the ending is kind of a mess. I’m not sure how things end up as they do when earlier exposition seems to point in another direction. Having an AI as the Big Bad isn’t the best choice (too generic and antiseptic) and Gabriel is less menacing than in Dead Reckoning. Another disappointment relates to the roles accorded to everyone not named Tom Cruise. In fact, every time Cruise isn’t on screen, the scenes feel like filler. Speaking of which, the movie suffers from serious bloat. This is the longest Mission: Impossible movie and it feels like it. It’s not hard to imagine a leaner, meaner cut that trims at least a half hour of extraneous material.

Still, narrative and character-related issues aside, The Final Reckoning delivers what viewers expect. It’s big, bold, and brash. Seen on the biggest screen possible with a kick-ass sound system, it delivers in ways that can’t be replicated elsewhere. No word other than “spectacle” adequately describes what’s on offer. It’s a no-holds-barred action-oriented epic that doesn’t much care if it makes sense as long as viewers are amped-up and engaged. When the end credits roar onto screen with a full-throated rendition of Lalo Schifrin’s iconic theme song, it’s hard to argue that a good time wasn’t had by all, even if that “time” lasts longer than necessary.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (United States, 2025)