FILM REVIEW: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Starring Tom Cruise

Baring It All (Literally)

Once again, and for the final time (?), Ethan Hunt is running. Chasing bad guys, towards potential love interests, and always into the heart of Conflict. This time, Conflict continues to take the form of The Entity, which threatens the very existence of our world as we know it. Continuing the storyline from M:I – Dead Reckoning, the potential final landing of this franchise experiences some breathtaking highs, immediately taken away by silly plot points that dilute the fun. It becomes more of a Saturday matinee/afternoon filler instead of the respected franchise it has worked so hard to become.

By adding silly moments like taking clothes off in freezing cold water for long-ish periods of time, only to be saved “at the last minute”, the film plays cards that it has never really played before. Ethan Hunt’s adventures are great because of the sleight-of-hand pacing of its action sequences. We follow each beat because they are just believable. This time around, the silliness is too bloated. Instead of taking Tom Cruise’s running as seriously as we usually do, this time it feels like we are laughing more at him than with him. The film is not bad, just a disappointment after it was set up so nicely in Dead Reckoning.

Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning Poster

The Entity is still wreaking havoc and threatening nuclear war across the world. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) steps back into the mission to get the key needed to destroy the Entity, travel to a sunken Russian submarine to obtain another power source, then diffuse the bomb that will wipe out human civilization. The Entity, since it can be housed in destruction-proof computer towers, will be the lone survivor to take over what is left of the world. This was all explained in Dead Reckoning and is explained again in the first 45 min.-hour of this film. Sprinkled in with winks to previous Impossible Missions, we get the sense this is the “final” film of the franchise. More characters are re-introduced and even introduced in the case of Hannah Waddingham, Nick Offerman, and Tramell Tillman (who makes the best case as to why his character even makes sense to the plot).

The plot takes us from the lowest depths of the ocean (and shirtless/pantless Tom Cruise) to the highest atmosphere on a final airplane fight (and goggle-less Tom Cruise for some of it). These sequences look and feel great, but in context, they feel more like forced puzzle pieces to show off what they can do as opposed to making it a part of the plot. We get it, Tom Cruise loves to do stunts. Instead of incredible shots of him jumping off a cliff on a motorcycle that make sense to the plot, these sequences feel more personal flexes than movie flexes. To be fair, I would probably do the same if I were Tom Cruise’s age and could do half the things he specifically trains for.

This time on silly action takes away a lot of good character arcs from other players. Hayley Atwell’s Grace becomes one-dimensional, and some sub-plots just do not warrant being there. I am not against an almost-3-hour runtime; however, do not insult the audience with nothing. With that being said, the stunt work across the board is once again excellent. The team of Cruise, Bogdan Kumšackij, Wade Eastwood, and Cali Nelle, along with Production Designer Gary Freeman, makes some fantastic sequences.

The film also includes some poignant emotional moments, such as a final farewell to Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell. It makes up for some of the bloat around the rest of the film. It will certainly be enough to get audiences to the theater to see Ethan Hunt’s final run. Will that run be remembered? Time will tell.