Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (dir. Christopher McQuarrie)
Certificate: 12A
Running Time: 170 mins
UK Distributor: Paramount Pictures
UK Release Date: 21 May 2025
WHO’S IN MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING?
Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Angela Bassett, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Frederick Schmidt, Rolf Saxon, Tommie Earl Jenkins, Mark Gatiss, Indira Varma, Lucy Tulugarjuk, Katy O’Brian, Tramell Tillman, Stephen Oyoung
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Christopher McQuarrie (director, writer, producer), Erik Jendresen (writer), Tom Cruise (producer), Lorne Balfe (composer), Fraser Taggart (cinematographer), Eddie Hamilton (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Ethan Hunt (Cruise) embarks on his most dangerous mission yet…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING?
Tom Cruise was already at the height of his stardom by the mid-90s thanks to leading turns in Top Gun, Risky Business, A Few Good Men, and numerous other lucrative and well-received blockbusters. But then in 1996, when he decided to revamp a 60s spy show by the name of Mission: Impossible as both star and producer, the course was set for an ascension of stardom that even Cruise himself surely couldn’t have predicted. Among other things, the ensuing franchise has transformed Cruise into an endangered species of A-list movie star, the kind that is willing to do pretty much anything – whether it’s climb one of the world’s tallest buildings or ride a motorcycle off a very tall cliff – for the purpose of giving audiences some hardcore entertainment, and the Mission: Impossible movies have been a vital excuse for him to do all of that and barely get away with it.
Finding a way to cap it all after almost thirty years is a monumental mission that Cruise, director and co-writer Christopher McQuarrie, and several other daring cast and crew members are all too eager to accept with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Like many of their in-movie missions, it’s certainly rough and even messy, yet soars when it’s allowed to spread its wings, enough to certify this series – and its borderline sadomasochistic lead – as a deserving pillar in the annals of action movie history.
A direct sequel to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (the Part One of that title appears to have been nixed entirely), the film begins with the world on the brink of destruction. The rogue AI known as the Entity has made its way into cyberspace, distorting reality for billions of people and causing the world’s leading countries to feel helpless as it toys with their nuclear arsenal, making an all-out global apocalypse all but certain. Of course, Cruise’s IMF agent Ethan Hunt is the only one who can stop it, especially now that he possesses the key that could lead to its ultimate destruction, but numerous factors prevent him from coming forward with said key, such as his targeting by government officials or the pursuit of his mortal enemy Gabriel (Esai Morales), a former prophet of the Entity. Eventually, and I do mean eventually (more on that in a second), Hunt and his teammates – including surviving regulars Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg), former pickpocket Grace (Hayley Atwell), and even Gabriel’s former accomplice Paris (Pom Klementieff) – set out on a truly world-saving mission where the fate of mankind rests in their hands.
At first, The Final Reckoning seems as though it’s done the impossible and finally made this franchise collapse under its own weight. The first hour or so is severely bogged with endless exposition, flashback montages to previous movies, frequent callbacks to said films, and heavy monologues reasserting the importance of what Cruise’s Hunt and his team are doing, all of which goes well beyond a mere recap and into dangerously indulgent territory as it takes its sweet time to dish it out, even at the expense of its action. Those expecting one sprawling stunt performance after another here, especially in this first section, may find themselves disappointed by the surprisingly dialogue-heavy affair that both McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendresen bombards the viewer with, which can at times become so tedious and confusing that you find yourself losing track of what the ultimate mission is, even as some major turns come into play early on.
Since that first hour is pretty lethargic and, dare I say it, dull, a worry begins to creep down one’s neck that after all this time, the Mission: Impossible series hasn’t been able to stick the landing. But then, The Final Reckoning pulls itself back up – and then approximately several hundred feet underwater, for one harrowing sequence that makes The Abyss feel like a tame David Attenborough documentary – in spectacular fashion as Cruise, the certified nutter (complimentary) that he is, partakes in some of the most daring and life-threatening action of not just this franchise but his entire career, and it’s incredible to watch. Beyond the actor’s severe dedication to doing a lot of this stuff for real, the filmmaking by McQuarrie is stellar as he effortlessly captures some ferociously intense in-camera imagery that is certain to get the heart racing, with an energy that’s certainly less playful than it used to be but nonetheless more confident in its ability to get the audience invested, even after an hour of droning exposition.
The best way to describe Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is to take a leaf out of the film’s own playbook and flash back to a memorable stunt from Mission: Impossible – Fallout (that sixth entry still being the series highpoint), wherein Cruise jumps from one building to another, breaks his ankle in the process – for real, because of course – and then attempts to walk on like nothing happened. The first hour of this film is that slightly botched jump, complete with injured ankle, and the remainder is him plodding along as though it was but a scratch; the metaphor-free version being that this is a film that manages to find its footing and deliver its original mission of hardcore action entertainment despite a rather concerning opening, which somehow makes it more impressive than if the opening had delivered as much big-screen goodness.
Sure, the film at first feels like a recap for those who have stuck with this franchise from the very beginning – to where I actively feel sorry for anyone deciding that this is the first one of these movies they’re going to watch – but when it finally gets going, it’s pure adrenalin under the guise of epic blockbuster entertainment that only sometimes feels a bit too big for its own good. Furthermore, it certifies the Mission: Impossible franchise, and above all Tom Cruise, as a resounding pioneer of what action cinema can still be, and regardless of its gaping flaws, The Final Reckoning delivers exactly what it wants without fully compromising its own mission to just give the audience a damn good time.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is a suitably epic culmination of the action franchise that delivers enough of the big-screen spectacle that audiences have come to expect from this series, and its fearless lead Tom Cruise, though a severely bogged-down first section initially causes the film to come dangerously close to self-destruction.
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