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Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
One of Hollywood’s crowning achievements will always be the filmmakers and the actors who bring their great stories to life. To many, producer and star Tom Cruise is hailed as the savior of modern cinema. While that can be said, the Mission: Impossible franchise will perhaps be his best intervention. With each entry seemingly always bigger and more daring than the last, The Final Reckoning is the culmination of nearly thirty years of epic practical filmmaking and an almost too good story. The Final Reckoning asks many questions…and perhaps too many. This isn’t necessarily a criticism of the film itself, but more so of the franchise as a whole.
McQuarrie and Jendresen’s Narration
While this is the weakest entry among writer-director-producer Christopher McQuarrie’s (Jack Reacher, Edge of Tomorrow, Top Gun: Maverick) foray into the series, it still delivers in proper form. However, feeling the need to tie in every single predecessor is The Final Reckoning‘s biggest drawback. Some elements are reminders of other entries entirely, such as the final act’s need to have Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), once again, chase the villain, while in the air, to retrieve a vital piece of the plan. While it works just as well here as it did before, structure-wise, viewers find themselves asking, “Will he truly fail?” However, this is Mission: Impossible, not Mission: Ethan’s-going-to-die-and-the-bad-guy-wins.
McQuarrie and co-screenwriter Erik Jendresen’s (Band of Brothers) script details for audiences a simpler Mission: Impossible plot, reminding us of almost everything that came before. For die-hard fans, this is quite welcoming, but it can come off as lazy to some in the audience. Nonetheless, the film still works the way it needs to. Every film has slightly leaned into “This is the end of the world, Ethan, we need you”. However, this time, it truly is the end of the world. Somehow, only the Impossible Mission Force’s strongest warrior, Ethan Hunt, can truly save us.
The Sum of All Plots
Picking up just a couple of months after Dead Reckoning‘s conclusion, The Entity has seemingly taken over almost every major facet of cyberspace, and the brink of nuclear destruction is heavily looming. For once, it truly does feel like the end of everything, and in terms of plot movement, it’s fantastic. The time has come for Hunt to truly reckon—no pun intended—with everything that has come to pass. While The Final Reckoning constantly reminds viewers of what came before, it does well to tie up a few, albeit minuscule and unnecessary, loose ends from the franchise as a whole. The film mentions one of the series’ best villains, Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) from Mission: Impossible III, several times. It explicitly details the true nature of a major plot point of that film: The Rabbit’s Foot.
This film does that a couple of other times as well and leaves enough mystery around antagonist Gabriel (Esai Morales) and Hunt’s true relationship for audiences to ponder as the credits roll. At best, it feels as if their relationship is transactional. Perhaps the woman from the flashbacks of these latter two films, Marie (Mariela Garriga), was a first love of Hunt’s? However, that is not the concerning question, but rather: what is our destiny? Are our lives preparing us for one finite notion, or are they truly the sum of our choices?
Tom Cruise Running From Destiny
There’s some interesting subtext beneath this film’s screenplay, perhaps because Tom Cruise has cemented his legacy. Or maybe he’s just running from his destiny, much like Ethan Hunt. Although one of modern cinema’s greatest action heroes, Hunt is simply always running. Whether toward Julia Meade’s (Michelle Monaghan) kidnapped location in Shanghai (Mission: Impossible III), or through the Kremlin in Moscow and away from the explosion (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol). Could we all be running from some supposed destiny?
The Supporting Characters
By The Final Reckoning, Hunt is almost invincible, metaphorically and physically. This is the eighth time he has been thrown away, and he still comes back. However, while there are some great poignant scenes between Hunt and his best friend, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), maybe the end should have come for them both? Still, Christopher McQuarrie should be commended for having the nerve to write off two characters in back-to-back films.
Moreover, while Grace (Hayley Atwell) and Paris (Pom Klementieff) are fantastic additions to the team, Ilsa Faust’s (Rebecca Ferguson) absence is oddly felt throughout most of the film. Certainly not its major issue, this just oddly further reinforces Hunt’s savior complex for certain female characters in this series. Regardless, Mr. Hunt always saves the day anyway. Altogether, the protagonist’s deep need to protect his team sometimes works against him, rather than helping him.
Several moments in this film could have finally gotten Hunt, but then we would have no film. Or is it simply Hunt fighting the good fight of good versus evil? While it’s not the worst thing in cinema history that Hunt does survive, it certainly would have been cool to see him not.
Technical Elements
Each Mission: Impossible film is technically bigger than the last. Clearly, there’s an argument to be made that people simply crave these huge and innately wild stunt pieces. The helicopter chase (Mission: Impossible – Fallout) is simply one of the best action set pieces ever put to camera. The Final Reckoning‘s biplane scene is at that same caliber of filmmaking, and maybe more so. The final moments between Gabriel and Hunt rival those of Walker and Davian. Morales is seemingly having the most fun in the role of this villain, too. At times, both he and Hunt draw back to silent film-esque action channeling the likes of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
Meanwhile, the entire supporting cast is extremely wide in number, but everyone is locked into the camera. Even the few cameos from or callbacks to other Mission films are worthwhile enough. Nothing overstays its welcome. Editor Eddie Hamilton’s assemblage sometimes distracts the audience from the main plot at hand. We simply do not need a reminder every time a reference is made. However, it doesn’t linger on these slight specifics, and everything keeps moving. The Final Reckoning never really slows down at all.
Composers Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey’s score is in expert touch with the film. Along with the ratio changes, several times in IMAX, it kicks in at the perfect moment. Once again, this Mission film is simply made for the theatrical experience. There are moments when Hunt just simply goes for it, and it somehow all works. Director of photography Fraser Taggart’s camera is always in step with Cruise and keeps the audience so in touch with our lead character.
Final Thoughts on Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
What does the end look like? Are we running from ourselves? The truth might be, who the Hell even knows? While Hunt wants to save everyone and everything from total annihilation, he is just a guy who simply cares about his people. Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames’ Hunt and Stickell, respectively, are the only two characters to appear in all eight films. Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) is also one of the series’ best characters, appearing in every film since the third. Dunn has developed into his own type of IMF agent. He has several great moments in this film, particularly.
The series’ entirety depends on the care its characters place into one another. The Final Reckoning is no different, and the film does work for what it is. The end is coming for us all—a fact we must accept. Maybe Hunt escaped the end, but maybe it’s truly just an action film and just wants its hero more.
4/5 stars
Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is now playing in theatres!
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Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
