Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

Geek Culture

16-05-2025

For Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning , Ethan Hunt wants to save the world just as much as Tom Cruise wants to save cinema. After 29 years of exhilarating thrill rides, explosions, car chases, death-defying stunts, fist fights and aerial stunts, there's no argument that both have succeeded to the point where things have gotten a tad preposterous.
On one hand, we have Hunt, played by the 62-year-old Cruise, who consistently puts his life on the line through a series of dangerous, extreme stunts to beat the bad guys, in an attempt to use some convoluted quick thinking to save the day, before moving on to the next challenge, like living life one escape room after another.
Then we have Cruise, who eschews the particular fondness of Hollywood to over-rely on green screen for special effects, and performs actual, intense and extreme stunts to wow audiences, in an attempt to hone and exhibit his craft and create suspense and thrills. And at this point, are we even pretending that we need a sharp storyline to watch a Mission: Impossible film where Hunt/Cruise performs the impossible in a carefully orchestrated and well-executed series of stunts that make audiences catch their breaths, before they move on to the next one.
From hanging off a cliff, to jumping off a high-rise building and subsequently, doing a dance around the tallest building in the world, each film in the series throws in some global threat, a team of professionals uniquely suited to support Hunt's ambition to be the hero, and a reason for Cruise to run, jump, spin around the world. This time, it's a rogue AI, Entity, who is slowly taking over the world's arsenal of nuclear weapons, and looking to wipe out mankind. The Americans are the last to lose access to their weapons and since they can't fight the AI, want to take out the other superpowers first. Meanwhile, Gabriel (Esai Morales) wants to use a software specially created by Hunt's teammate, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), to control Entity and dominate the world, while Hunt wants to use the same 'Poison Pill' software to destroy Entity.
Given that's he's been disavowed by his own government's intelligence agencies, Hunt has to fend off multiple adversaries, including his former director Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) who now runs the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), and seeks the help of former CIA director turned President of the United States, Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett), as well as Gabriel's one-time assassin and now ally, Paris (Pom Klementieff), who wants to kill Gabriel, and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis), a former intelligence agent now working with Hunt. Meanwhile, Kittredge has turned to Jasper Briggs (Shea Whigham), Degas' former partner who has a secret link to Hunt, to bring in the rogue agent.
Just so we're clear – all of these story elements are so Hunt can jump off an Osprey into the ocean, before jumping out of a moving submarine and into the ocean, to get onto a sunken submarine that's falling deeper into the ocean, before jumping onto a plane, and then into a plane, and then onto another plane, before jumping off that plane and each time with a one-in-a-million chance of having his support team perform side missions that are necessary for Hunt to progress in his efforts to save the world.
But the story is not why we're here because it's the practical stuntwork and effects that Cruise, along with returning director Christopher McQuarrie ( Jack Reacher ), who helmed the last three Mission: Impossible films, want audiences to to appreciate, enjoy and catch their breaths over. Leave your disbelief at the door because like in the earlier films, there is no way Hunt would have survived half of those situations but believe we do, because the camera lingers on the silence and extended camera shots, to show the potential danger Hunt and Cruise are in while performing their actions.
Our eyes remain transfixed on the screen as we follow the camera following Cruise as he dives feet first into the ocean, as he fights an assassin in nothing but his underwear, and then tries to escape a submarine in nothing but his underwear. But no matter how over-the-top the situation is, or how insanely nonsensical Hunt's plans are, we follow because we can't wait to see how Cruise performs and films the stunt.
And like watching a plan fall nicely into place with well-executed strategy and action, McQuarrie carries the viewer in carefully thought-out set pieces, moving the camera along as we follow the action without quick cuts or handheld effects to mask the practical action. Yes, that is Cruise taking that dive, making that jump, and hanging from that wing of the plane. Is any of this new? No, but yes, as in we know that is Cruise in a dive suit in a tank of water performing that scene, and not through some special effects wizardry. But even as we know there's no way any normal human being can survive what we see on screen, we also breathe a huge sigh of relief when he does.
Yes, some of the set pieces run long, and because Cruise is alone in those scenes, there is no dialogue and we get huge segments of action with no sound other than the music, and most of the talking is done by the supporting cast of characters, acting as a reserve team. Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) goes from awkward IT support to team leader, as he guides Grace (Hayley Atwell), Paris and Degas to perform the impossible. They'll figure it out, he says and somewhere, because this is supposedly the last film in the series, the writers have also found a way to link this film with the original 1996 outing, with several throwbacks to that film. Is it necessary? Maybe not, but it's a nice touch because after 29 years, it's a good reminder of how much the franchise has grown.
A little past the halfway mark though, you'll appreciate the film for its slick action sequences, maybe cringe at some of the preachy moments when it comes to humans saving, and not destroying each other, and then you realise this might be the last Mission: Impossible movie for a while, but it's not the final one.
Somewhere, somehow, movies will never deliver on the high standards for action and toying with audience emotions that Cruise has set here and when that time comes, Cruise will be back to save cinema with his brand of practical, death-defying action, and we will welcome his return, one more time.
Summary
Even with a larger number of supporting cast, this film is all about Tom Cruise's love for action, and finding new ways to present it to a wider audience. A nice blend of thrills, twists and some emotional depth, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning may not be the best in the franchise, but it's among the most fun in the series, and a good one to catch in cinemas. Story - 7/10
Direction - 9/10
Characterisation - 8/10
Geek Satisfaction - 9/10
Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who's got time for those?