The Mission: Impossible film series has been and remains a monolithic testament to the power of cinema. Since the original Brian De Palma-directed film all the way back in 1996, this series has been a vessel for Tom Cruise’s unyielding star power, some of the most insane stunt-work in movie history, and some exquisitely crafted stories and characters. With the latest and allegedly final film, Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the franchise delivers another phenomenal entry that manages to hone in on all the things that make Mission films great. While it may not be for everyone, I found The Final Reckoning to be a cathartic viewing experience that both celebrated the franchise’s history and gleefully pushed up against its own boundaries.
The Story (B+)
To say a Mission: Impossible film’s story is a bit contrived or convoluted is kind of like saying water is wet. These films have a long history of weaving incredibly dense, occasionally inscrutable stories (the first one was deemed infamously hard-to-follow upon release in ’96). But in a cinematic landscape in which so many action blockbusters are hyper-fixated on the term ‘plot,’ devoting every ounce of themselves to maintaining narrative elements, Mission: Impossible films have often used narrative as little more than a launching pad to get to what really matters: characters, emotions, and themes. And of course, spectacular, death-defying stuntwork.
The Final Reckoning is no exception to any of this, with McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen’s script doubling down on all of this. The ‘plot’ is a series of pressure-filled chases and conflicts, but the real story that they are able to get to under the guise of all of that is often spectacular. This film carries on the story of the prior film, Dead Reckoning, which saw Ethan Hunt and his crew facing off against The Entity, an AI-powered antagonist who was intent on spreading misinformation, turning nuclear powers against one another, and “destroying truth.” Whereas the prior film was an intellectual and often meditative work, considering the ethical implications of such technology and the horror it could unleash, The Final Reckoning comes in guns-blazing from the word go. The result is a story that literally sees Tom Cruise risking life and limb to illustrate the beauty of human art and emotional empathy in the face of AI-generated slop and division.
The Visuals (A+)
Good Lord. Christopher McQuarrie, cinematographer Fraser Taggart, and editor Eddie Hamilton all return to collaborate once more following Dead Reckoning, and the results are absolutely astounding. Over the course of its run, the Mission franchise began to visually lean more into being a true-blue ‘cinema of attractions’ work. In the earliest days of the medium, the cinema of attractions was a term used to apply to the artform being able to showcase things that audiences had never been able to see before, ala ‘attractions’ at a carnival. This creative mentality drove early film pioneers like Georges Méliès, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin. And as McQuarrie became a more involved creative force over the course of the sequels (he wrote on Ghost Protocol and has directed every film since then) the franchise has leaned even harder into these majestic, show-stopping, and grandiose tendencies.
Safe to say, The Final Reckoning picks up this baton and runs with it at top-speed, in true Tom Cruise style. Before the opening credits even roll, this film has delivered a handful of jaw-dropping action sequences that put other action films’ climaxes to shame. The action is stupendous; it’s fluid, it’s impactful, and it’s absolutely exhilarating. McQuarrie and Taggart expand on their work in the previous film, bringing in more complex camera movements and even bolder coverage strategies. Simultaneously, Hamilton takes many of the more subjective editing flourishes that gave Dead Reckoning its subversive verve and pushes them to whole new levels here, and the result is a fantastic work of associative editing.
I’m sure everyone will be talking about the biplane finale, which is absolutely ludicrous and one of most jaw-dropping stunts ever committed to film, but I’d also like to take a moment to talk about the submarine setpiece. It’s harrowing, tense, and absolutely nerve-shredding. One of my favorite sequences from the entire franchise, and one of the most immersive experiences I’ve ever had in an IMAX theater.
Performance (A)
The amount of high-caliber acting talent even just populating the margins and side-characters of this film is insane. From Nick Offerman to Holt McCallany to Hannah Waddingham to Katy O’Brian to Tramell Tillman to Shea Whigham to Angela Bassett to Henry Czerny, this thing is stacked to the gills with people who can make monologues out of the phone book compelling as hell, and that’s not to even mention the main cast. Ving Rhames, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, and Greg Tarzan Davis are all amazing.
I find Tom Cruise to be precise, emotive, and incredibly talented performer whose acting achievements are often undervalued. Cruise leads Final Reckoning with an openhearted sincerity, a willingness to fail, and an endless ambition to swing for the fences that is so entrancing to watch. Whether he’s hanging from the wing of a speeding biplane or simply pitching his case to a room full of bureaucrats, Cruise never has less than the sum total of the audience’s attention throughout the whole film.
OVERALL GRADE (B+)
Overall, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is a rip-roaring great time at the cinema. It features some of the most insane stuntwork ever put to film and action sequences that make your heart feel like it’s going to leap out of your chest. On top of all of that, it is also a touching and affecting culmination of over thirty years of storytelling that manages to refine and punctuate themes that have persisted throughout this franchise’s legacy from the very beginning.
