After eight films, this is where the Mission: Impossible series comes to an end. In trying to be a perfect encapsulation of what these films had represented through the years, it just seems like Tom Cruise has imagined that it all could amount to the creation of an epic. It only feels fitting especially as Cruise’s stunts have become more ambitious with each film moving onward, whether it be the climbing of the Burj Khalifa in Ghost Protocol and the HALO jump in Fallout, but perhaps this might also make evident where the film’s weaknesses come about. As a culmination for the entirety of the series, for better or worse, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is the perfect encapsulation of all the series’ highs and lows.
Considering the fact that Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning was first conceived as Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, it only feels fitting that this entry would take place within months after the events of its predecessor. Ethan Hunt has now gained possession of a key to access the source code of a rogue entity known as The Entity after having chased down Gabriel for it and having made new allies and lost friends along the way. Governments across the globe are now on the brink of collapse as the Entity now takes control over the world’s nuclear systems, and Ethan now must pursue Gabriel once more, with the new allies he’s made through the years, in order to shut down the Entity for good.
As the cumulative chapter in the Mission: Impossible film series, one can sense that the need to create an epic might be where these ambitions are getting to the heads of both Tom Cruise and co-writer-director Christopher McQuarrie. Running at 170 minutes, The Final Reckoning is the longest film in the series yet, and while one can sense that the final film in this series, the scope’s growth is to be expected. Yet in this film’s case, you start to feel a lot of bloat as this film tries to recap events from past Mission: Impossible movies. This isn’t limited to the film’s very expository first hour, but it even extends itself into choices to bring back minor characters from past films, like Rolf Saxon’s William Donloe, who was present in the famous wire vault robbery scene from the first film.
Unfortunately, it seems like that’s also what most of the film’s exposition amounts to. Clips from previous films are shown supposedly to remind Ethan Hunt of the dangerous things that he’s done throughout the years, before we’re reminded that this is his biggest mission yet. The effect instead though, is that we’re left in a spot where we’re recalling the most exciting moments from Tom Cruise’s previous escapades as Ethan Hunt but trying to piece together how they relate to the current mission with the Entity. Still, it’s not nearly enough for these bits to create a culminating summation of this series, when the stories have always been spy escapades at their heart and not really anything more than that. Instead, it would seem like the need to tie everything back to past films only creates something far more narratively jumbled, and only leaves a more exhausting feeling coming out – one that’s comparable even to Avengers: Endgame.
It’s never really as egregious to the point of having tidbits from past movies made into something more important, but it also results in the dynamics that Ethan Hunt has built with his teammates becoming less interesting. Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff were fun additions into this series as rivals before turning into the allies for the IMF that we’re seeing here, but now that they’ve become fully allied with Ethan Hunt their complex relationship as established in Dead Reckoning Part One never really parses either. The same can be said with the sudden addition of Greg Tarzan Davis into the team, given how he works alongside Shea Whigham’s character in pursuit of Ethan – but Whigham’s part is one that suffers greatly from that need to tie back to past films.
Narratively, The Final Reckoning might be the most frustrating entry yet, because of this constant need to tie back to previous entries. This has never particularly been a series that one may remember for its emotional depth, yet it might seem like as a cumulative portrait of what the whole series has accomplished, these moments ring hollow. Ethan Hunt is not nearly as much a pop culture staple in the same way that a character like James Bond was, especially while Tom Cruise is the one giving every movie the life which we’re seeing. With the fact that Ethan Hunt is now tasked with stopping the Entity from wreaking havoc on human civilization as we know it, he must also pursue Gabriel for the other piece of this puzzle – but considering the intimidating presence which Esai Morales has built in Dead Reckoning, his characterization as someone trying to control the Entity never hits with the same power.
Still, this whole movie is a lot of fun to watch. Part of the thrill from watching Mission: Impossible has always been the fact that we’re getting to see Tom Cruise performing his own stunts, regardless of how reckless these all might be on paper. It’s part of where his collaboration with Christopher McQuarrie feels perfect for future entries in the series once he was brought on to direct Rogue Nation, but it might feel evident that McQuarrie struggles with a similar sort of narrative heft when this series has always been carried by Tom Cruise’s taste for danger. It’s always thrilling to watch, and The Final Reckoning brings forth some great fun out of these action set pieces – although perhaps without the same lasting impact that we would remember having seen even in McQuarrie’s past entries.
If this really is the final chapter of the Mission: Impossible series as we know it, it doesn’t really feel like it has the same energy that one would hope for. Everything certainly has gotten bigger, but The Final Reckoning might be the perfect case about how bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. All the action feels like it’s harkening back to what it is that we’ve reliably loved Tom Cruise for over these years, but the insinuation that this series was ever something more grandiose, evidently, is at its most egregious in here. It’s never bad, but given the near three-hour running time of The Final Reckoning, you can’t help but wonder how much of this ultimately is just bloat. But at the very least, it’s the fun bloat.
Watch the trailer right here.
All images via Paramount Pictures.
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, Erik Jendressen, from the television series created by Bruce Geller
Produced by Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie
Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales, Shea Whigham, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Tramell Tillman, Holt McCallany, Charles Parnell, Rolf Saxon, Lucy Tulugarjuk, Mark Gatiss, Katy O’Brian, Janet McTeer
Premiere Date: May 5, 2023
Running Time: 170 minutes
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