Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning reminds this reviewer of Metallica. It’s not because the iconic metal band contributed to the Mission: Impossible II soundtrack. This writer has seen Metallica perform live, possibly eight or nine times. Over the years, one thing remains true: the band gives it their all at every show. The last concert this writer attended was in a smaller venue in 2019, and the band performed with every ounce of energy they possessed. However, one detail was different in this performance. The band required more intermissions, with one or two members staying on the stage to play a solo or to goof around with the audience. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning plays like a modern-day Metallica show. The concert remains entertaining, especially when utilizing their vintage arrangements, but they (Tom Cruise) feel justifiably tired. It’s not the best of the franchise, but for a performer who has given everything to entertain his audience for several decades, who can blame Cruise for dialing it back a little?
What’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning about?
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, from a script co-written by McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen, the film immediately picks up after the events of Dead Reckoning. Ethan (Tom Cruise) has the key that can destroy the entity. The IMF wants Ethan to turn himself in along with the key. The IMF states to Ethan that killing The Entity could lead to a global network blackout, destroying the financial market, and throwing the world into famine. At the same time, The Entity continues to build control into systems, including the power to control a worldwide nuclear launch.
Then there is Gabriel (Esai Morales), who remains on the run after escaping the train sequence from Dead Reckoning. Ethan must track down Gabriel to obtain a piece that will prevent the AI from causing doomsday. But to do so, he must break Paris (Pom Klementieff) out of custody and reconfigure his team, which includes the skillful thievery of Grace (Hayley Atwell), the intelligence of Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames), and for some reason a new guy named Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis).
After the team assembles, McQuarrie‘s screenplay takes Ethan down a string of circumstances that sometimes feel familiar and strangely repetitive. Like Dead Reckoning, one of the opening moments involves Ethan sprinting fast to keep Gabriel from hurting someone he cherishes. The sequence nearly mirrors the Rebecca Ferguson standoff in Dead Reckoning. Furthermore, once the mission is in motion, Ethan has to convince three different characters in three individual scenes (played by Angela Bassett, Hannah Waddingham, and Tramell Tillman) that they must let him go because the world needs him to stop The Entity. While there are subtle differences in these scenes, such as location and conversational touches, they have similar structures: Ethan gets captured, he then charms the individual, and they eventually set him free to potentially save the world. For a movie pushing the edge of an almost three-hour runtime, the feeling of seeing the same situation repeatedly causes restlessness.
Repetition aside, it might surprise audiences how dialogue-heavy Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is for a movie in its eighth installment. Most franchises that market themselves as the penultimate “final” film typically swing for the highest possible spectacle. However, Cruise and McQuarrie show some restraint, dialing back the moment-to-moment action felt in films like Ghost Protocol. Admittedly, the decision to lighten up on the action and emphasize character conversation might frustrate viewers, mainly because movies like Mission: Impossible play like heist films, and most films in the heist genre lean heavily into exposition. The tradeoff is less action in exchange for long segments of mission explanation.
More breathtaking action and stunt work from Tom Cruise
When the action kicks into gear, it truly leaves one breathless. For the most part, outside of a few physical fight sequences, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning only showcases two massive stunt sequences. The first is the marquee sequence from the poster, depicting Ethan Hunt hanging from a biplane with zero safeguards. This sequence is much more intense than one might expect, highlighting the extreme lengths to which Cruise will go to deliver an exceptional action sequence. It’s a stunt that will leave viewers wondering about its execution and could even cause motion sickness, depending on where one sits in the IMAX theater.
The second one occurs around the middle of the film and presents a fresh stunt unlike anything from the series. This segment involves a jaw-dropping water stunt that lingers to perfection. Without giving too much away, James Cameron will be proud. Still, the overcrowded and meandering plot often feels like a conclusion dragging its feet to get to these moments of stuntman bliss.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has dazzling stunts, but manage expectations
The key to watching the film is to temper expectations before entering. It’s not the explosive swan song one might be hoping for in this franchise. The movie prioritizes Ethan Hunt’s legacy as a hero while sometimes overexplaining the espionage details, rather than communicating the stakes through the action. Ghost Protocol and Fallout remain the best of the franchise, demonstrating a balance of both. And as far as Gabriel, he will never be as great a villain as Philip Seymour Hoffman‘s role of Owen Davian in Mission: Impossible III.
Regardless, Tom Cruise (like Metallica) has earned the right to take a break from running and destroying his body for an entire performance. He deserves intermissions before stepping onto the stage to perform “Master of Puppets” in his final tour as a rock star. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is less action-heavy and less energized than other outings, but when Tom Cruise plays the hits, the man can still put on a great show.
Also check out: Review: Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is an Exhilarating Adventure
