Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning review: A mind-boggling, soul-stirring finale

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Actor Tom Cruise embarks on his spectacular last mission as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. Wrapping up the story kicked off in Dead Reckoning, The Final Reckoning shows Ethan and his friends on the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) racing against the clock to gain control of the rogue AI known as “the Entity” before it destroys the world.

As the creative force behind the Mission: Impossible films since Rogue Nation, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie clearly understood the mission when making The Final Reckoning. This action-packed blockbuster delivers plenty of incredible stunts, suspenseful action, poignant moments, and electric performances.

A powerful plot with some holes

As the second half of the IMF’s war with the Entity, The Final Reckoning amps up the stakes as the evil AI goes full Skynet by altering the truth, turning people against each other, starting a doomsday cult, and taking control of nukes to push the world a second away from Armageddon. All this makes The Final Reckoning an especially haunting reflection of the modern age of AI, cyberterrorism, and misinformation.

At the same time, The Final Reckoning tells a compelling story about how a person’s actions have consequences, making for a particularly intense and personal mission for Ethan. Though Ethan’s refusal to play by the rules has allowed him to save the world many times in the past, using some clever callbacks to previous films, The Final Reckoning hammers home how his impulsive decisions can have unintended and even disastrous effects on the rest of the world.

In a shocking twist, the film reveals that the mysterious “Rabbit’s Foot” that Ethan stole to rescue his ex-wife Julia in Mission: Impossible III was the primordial code that culminated in the Entity’s creation, making the latter more than just another AI villain. The Final Reckoning even brings back Donloe (Rolf Saxon) from the first Mission: Impossible movie, revealing that Ethan’s iconic vault heist got the analyst in trouble with the CIA. With all the secret connections unveiled in The Final Reckoning, the film shows how Ethan’s choices have come back around in ways good and bad, making this feel like the true culmination of the entire franchise.

But with this story moving faster than Tom Cruise can run, the film trips over a few plot holes that are hard to ignore, especially in the third act. Most glaringly, the film doesn’t reveal anything new about Marie (Mariela Garriga), the woman murdered by Gabriel, who then framed Ethan for the crime.

Characters old and new shine

Having spent decades working together in the Mission: Impossible films, Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, and Simon Pegg deliver such raw, emotional performances as their characters embark on their last adventure together. Like in Dead Reckoning, Hayley Atwell’s performance as Grace and the chemistry she shares with Cruise are highlights of the franchise’s latest film.

Other supporting players like Angela Bassett, Tramell Tillman (Severance), Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso), and Nick Offerman (The Last of Us) also deliver some magnetic performances with such little screen time. It even gives Donloe the chance to be the hero as he and his wife, Tapeesa (Lucy Tulugarjuk), help the IMF save the world.

After debuting as antagonists in Dead Reckoning, actors Pom Klementieff and Greg Tarzan Davis fit well in the IMF team’s dynamic as Paris and Degas, respectively. However, their individual characters still seem underdeveloped and fade into the background at times. Even Gabriel, one of the film’s core villains, had some untapped potential. Though he is a huge part of Ethan’s origin as an IMF agent, the film skims over Ethan and Marie’s relationship and fails to explain why Gabriel murdered the latter. As a result, Gabriel isn’t as compelling or as challenging an adversary for Ethan as he could’ve been, especially when compared to villains like Owen Davian, August Walker, or Solomon Lane.

Stunts that achieve the impossible

Since this may be Ethan Hunt’s last adventure on the big screen, the filmmakers went all out to make The Final Reckoning as practical and thrilling as possible. Once again, Tom Cruise performs many jaw-dropping, death-defying stunts, elevated by the franchise’s trademark brand of nail-biting tension. The most notable example features Ethan hanging from flying biplanes for his final showdown with Gabriel, combining the former’s opening stunt from Rogue Nation and Fallout‘s helicopter battle for a whole new level of airborne action.

Also, Ethan’s deep dive into the Arctic Ocean and through the sunken Sevastopol is a sight to behold. As Ethan explores an old submarine housing dead bodies and filling with water as it rolls on the bottom of the ocean, the film effectively mixes sci-fi, action, horror, and suspense to create one of the franchise’s most captivating sequences yet.

Should you choose to accept a ticket to The Final Reckoning?

Despite its flaws, The Final Reckoning is a blockbuster epic that should be experienced in theaters. Filled with action, emotion, incredible acting, and clever writing, this film wraps up the Mission: Impossible film franchise on a spectacular high while leaving the door open for more adventures. It’s hard to see how this iconic action franchise could top itself after this movie, but surely, it’s not impossible.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is now playing in theaters.