I have been a fan of the Mission Impossible franchise for a long time. I still remember seeing Ghost Protocol for the first time and being in awe of Tom Cruise hanging off the side of the tallest building in the world, only for the next couple films in the franchise offering stunts that were even more insane. It has been nearly 30 years since the first film hit theatres, but now here we are with what seems to be the closing chapter in the iconic action franchise.
Initially titled as Dead Reckoning Part Two, The Final Reckoning directly follows the aftermath of 2023's Dead Reckoning as Ethan (Cruise) fights to stop 'The Entity', an artificial intelligence that in the months after Dead Reckoning's events has sent the world spiraling with radicalized groups and threats of nuclear war. Ethan is tasked with getting the team together one last time in order to put a stop to the world threatening enemy, a mission that of course comes with some absolutely insane action.
Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie took on a daunting task here, not only upping the ante in terms of spectacle but also wrapping up a franchise that has for the most part offered films that stand on their own rather than feeling like parts of a whole. The sixth film Fallout was the first to be directly tied to its predecessor, and The Final Reckoning is not only a direct follow up to Dead Reckoning but also seeks to tie all 30 years of the franchise together. Unfortunately that leads to a first act that I found to be a pretty big mess. The opening is still exciting, but is bogged down by heaps of exposition and flashbacks to the earlier films that cause the editing to feel extremely uneven. It almost feels like a 45 minute long "here's what you missed" segment that I can see being helpful to those who haven't seen the previous films in a while, but feels clunky if you are caught up to speed. There are also some tie ins to the earlier films that come across as a bit silly and forced (although the second film is pretty much completely ignored which I find hilarious). I wouldn't say the first act is bad, but I was feeling pretty underwhelmed as it pulled together these loose ends.
Thankfully, once the exposition is done this becomes just as electric as you want a Mission Impossible movie to be. The stakes are always high, but this truly does feel like a summation of the whole series so the world ending consequences feel more real this time around. The climax is well drawn out with essentially three expertly paced sequences occurring parallel to one another, one of them featuring Tom Cruise doing some insane death defying stunts, but the real highlight for me at least was a sequence around the middle of the film filled with some of the richest tension I've seen in an action movie. The scene focuses entirely on Cruise amidst a submarine and is just incredible.
While Cruise is always the star of the show, and is fantastic here, I've always found that Mission Impossible movies make a name for themselves through the supporting casts. As always we get Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, both of whom are great. Angela Bassett was brought in for Fallout but takes on a bigger role here and she of course kills it. Pom Klementieff, Hayley Atwell, Greg Davis, and Shea Whigham follow up fun supporting performances in Dead Reckoning with meatier roles this time around, and both Henry Czerny and Rolf Saxon make their returns as the only actors other than Cruise and Rhames from the original film. Saxon was one I feared would feel extremely shoehorned in but his performance is great and his role actually works brilliantly within the context of the story. We also get introduced to a handful of fun actors in their first roles with the franchise. Holt McCallany and Nick Offerman play advisors to Bassett and are both fun as always, Hannah Waddingham has a few strong moments, and Trammel Tillman is an absolute standout in limited screen time.
There isn't really anyone in the cast who feels short changed, part of that may be because of the long runtime, but it's impressive nonetheless. The only performer I had hesitations with was actually with the main human antagonist Gabriel played by Esai Morales. I thought Morales was great in Dead Reckoning and is good here, but his character feels a bit more unhinged here whereas I found his calm demeanor a big part of what made him feel so threatening before. He is by no means bad, but I found that this time around he just didn't feel like the ultimate villain for Ethan to take down.
Ultimately, if you're a Mission Impossible fan you should run out to see this as soon as you can. Even if you're just a casual enjoyer of the franchise, I would highly recommend seeing its conclusion. That first act is a bit tedious, but it winds up being more than worth it thanks to a terrific final two acts. Strong 4/5
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