MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING Spoiler Review

Geek Girl Authority

5 days ago

Major spoilers ahead for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning . You've been warned.
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It's hard to believe that it's been 29 years since the first Mission: Impossible (1996) flick. Only the James Bond flicks have been going longer than the Tom Cruise-led franchise. And even though it seems like Cruise will live forever, it does feel like maybe it's about time for him to hang up the IMF hat. But does Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning provide a satisfying ending to the beloved series? Read on to find out.
(Note: Before you read on, if you need a refresher on the full story, first read our spoiler review of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One . )
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Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning begins with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) watching a message from Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett), who's now the President of the United States. The analog videotape is the only way to communicate safely, now that the all-powerful AI known as the Entity has taken over all of cyberspace and is causing havoc all over the world. It even has its own cult. Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Pres. Sloane wants Ethan to come out of hiding, knowing he has the highly coveted cruciform key, which opens the Entity's main unit. But of course, Ethan knows he can't let anyone have the key. He's been in hiding in the tunnels underneath London along with Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames), who's now ill with (we assume) cancer but is still hard at work on something secret.
Ethan and Benji travel to Austria to free Paris (Pom Klementieff), who, turns out, didn't die in the last flick after all. They scuffle with Agents Briggs (Shea Whigham) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis), who have been assigned to watch her. Ethan manages to convince Briggs to let Paris go so she can help them destroy the Entity.
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When Ethan goes back to London, he's confronted by more agents. Then, Grace (Hayley Atwell) shows up and pickpockets their guns. She tells Ethan that Kittridge (Henry Czerny) sent her to bring him in. But then they're both shanghaied by goons sent by Gabriel (Esai Morales), who used to work for the Entity, but failed to get the key. So he's trying to get back into the Entity's good graces.
When Ethan and Grace wake up, they're in Gabriel's custody. He tells Ethan that the Rabbit's Foot (from Mission: Impossible III ) was one of the earliest versions of the Entity. He tasks Ethan with finding the Sevastopol, the sunken Russian submarine, which contains the Entity's main unit.
Ethan pretends to bite down on a cyanide capsule in one of his teeth. As Gabriel's goons race to revive him, Ethan gets in a fight with them and wins, of course. He frees Grace, and they meet up with Benji, Paris and Degas. They find this weird, coffin-like machine with a VR-type mask. Ethan gets in and puts on the mask, which connects him to the Entity. Ving Rhames in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
The Entity tells Ethan it knows that he's planning to destroy it by using Luther's secret weapon (yes, I said secret weapon), which they're calling the 'Poison Pill.' All they have to do is plug it into the module with the Entity's source code, called the 'Podkova,' and it will destroy it.
In true Skynet fashion, the Entity believes humanity to be its enemy and plans to destroy the world by controlling all the world's nukes. But the Entity needs a safe place to hide itself, lest it be destroyed as well. It wants Ethan to deliver it to a Doomsday vault in South Africa, which has enough server space to store it.
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Knowing that Gabriel's gone after Luther, Ethan races back to the tunnels. He finds Luther trapped inside with a bomb, the Poison Pill now in Gabriel's hands. Luther says he can keep the bomb from going critical and destroying London, but the tunnels will be destroyed – and so will he. Luther and Ethan say their goodbyes, Luther saying he has no regrets. Aww. Sad. Ethan escapes the tunnels as the bomb goes off, but ends up getting caught by Briggs.
Now on a plane back to the U.S., Ethan tells Briggs he knows who Briggs really is – wait for it – the son of none other than Jim Phelps (Jon Voight, from the first Mission: Impossible ). Gasp! Briggs knows Ethan killed his dear old dad, despite the fact that Phelps was the bad guy. Ethan tries convincing Briggs that the Entity is trying to turn him against him, but Briggs seems pretty confident that he'll get Ethan back in the end.
When they land at Mount Weather in Virginia, Kittridge meets them, telling Ethan that the Entity has been infiltrating different countries' nuke arsenal controls. He brings Ethan to the situation room where Gen. Sidney (Nick Offerman), Serling (Holt McCallany), Walters (Janet McTeer) and Richards (Charles Parnell) are gathered. Don't ask me what any of their titles are – Joint Chiefs? Cabinet? Security Council? I have no idea. Nick Offerman, Charles Parnell, Mark Gatiss, Angela Bassett, Janet McTeer in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Anyway, so the government types familiarize themselves with Ethan's long and distinguished record of impossible missions. Then Pres. Sloane arrives and lets Ethan know that the only countries still in control of their nukes are the U.S., China, Russia and the U.K. But they won't be able to keep the Entity at bay forever.
Sloane wants control of the Entity, but Ethan's definitely not down with that. He's going to take out the Entity himself, and he wants every possible asset he can get from Sloane, including getting a ride out to the Sevastopol via aircraft carrier.
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To the shock and chagrin of her underlings, Sloane gives Ethan carte blanche. Ethan flies out to the carrier and meets Admiral Neely (Hannah Waddingham) and gives her a note from Sloane, which just has a date written on it – a date that's important to both Neely and Sloane. So, Neely knows it's all for real and the Prez has given Ethan her blessing.
Neely drives the carrier out to the Bering Sea, where Ethan's asked the rest of the team to meet him. Meanwhile, the team, being Grace, Benji, Paris and Degas, arrive on St. Matthew's Island where, supposedly, there's an outpost that has the exact coordinates of the Sevastopol.
But the outpost turns out to be just a house where William Donloe (Rolf Saxon) lives. If you've seen the first Mission: Impossible, you'll remember that famous vault infiltration scene – Donloe was the guy working in the vault and puking in his trash can. Benji remembers hearing about it and geeks out. Donloe tells them the CIA exiled him to the island after that little debacle. But he has no regrets; he met the love of his life there, his wife, Tapeesa (Lucy Tulugarjuk). Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, Greg Tarzan Davis in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Donloe knows why they're there, and he knows the coordinates. The only problem is, the Russians have gotten there first. And on cue, they appear, armed to the teeth. The team fights the Russians, and in the middle of that, the house catches fire. Donloe manages to get to his radio and sends out the coordinates via Morse code for Ethan to receive.
Meanwhile, Neely's people fly Ethan out to where a U.S. sub is waiting. Russian planes appear, and Ethan has to jump out of the helicopter so that they can turn back. The sub picks him up and brings him to Capt. Bledsoe (Trammell Tillman). Ethan details the whole crazy plan: He'll dive down to the Sevastopol, retrieve the Podkova and his team will rescue him by cutting through the ice. Yeah, sure, piece of cake.
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But hey, it's about time for another fight, isn't it? Well, one of the sub's crew turns out to be an Entity acolyte and tries to kill Ethan. Luckily, one of the divers (Katy O'Brian) knocks the guy out. Then, after he's had some – well, actually very little – time to prepare, the divers give Ethan the rundown on the special suit he'll be wearing.
The catch? Not only will Ethan feel the effects of HPNS (high-pressure nervous syndrome), which at the least will cause him to have tremors. But on his way back up, he'll also get the bends. Yay. But the IMF team has a portable hyperbaric chamber with them, which he'll have to immediately get into once they rescue him.
So, Ethan enters the frigid waters and dives down to the Sevastopol. Once inside, not only does he have to search for the Entity's chamber, but he also has to deal with the sub rolling over and over. He finds the chamber and retrieves the Podkova, but then getting out turns out to be a whole other issue. The only way he can escape is through a torpedo tube. So, he ends up cutting his suit off so he can stuff himself and his gas tank out. Then, he pretty much drowns on his way up to the ice. Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
The next thing we see is Grace doing CPR, and then Ethan wakes up inside the hyperbaric chamber. He rejoins everyone and has a little reunion with Donloe. Then, the team comes up with the next phase of the plan. Once the Poison Pill's attached to the Podkova, the Entity will need somewhere to escape to. Benji has a drive they can use, but the timing to catch and trap the Entity inside has to be split-second. Ethan knows that Gabriel's waiting for him at the Doomsday vault in South Africa, so guess where we're off to next?
Meanwhile, Pres. Sloane's team tries to come up with some kind of contingency plan as they watch the U.K. and China fall victim to the Entity. They suggest offering up a major city, figuring that nuking one city will keep the Entity from destroying the rest. Not really sure how that makes sense, but okay, whatever.
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So, they get the nucl ear football and are just about to launch when Sloane suddenly refuses, deciding to take all nukes offline instead. Then, one of the Entity's acolytes tries to kill her. Gen. Sidney takes the bullet for her and kills the acolyte before dying.
The IMF team arrives at the Doomsday vault, where they find Gabriel, along with Kittridge and Briggs. Gabriel's set up another bomb like the one that killed Luther. Kittridge wants the Poison Pill and the Podkova, of course. Then, a gunfight breaks out, and Gabriel escapes with the Poison Pill. While Ethan goes after him, Donloe, Tapeesa and Degas stay with the bomb so they can disarm it.
Grace, Benji and Paris get to the server room – and Benji gets shot. He ends up talking Paris through reinflating his collapsing lung while also talking Grace through setting up the trap for the Entity. Meanwhile, in order to escape, Gabriel's got two biplanes (which can't be controlled by the Entity). He takes off in one, and Ethan, in his signature insanity, climbs onto the other one and dumps out the pilot. Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
A crazy dogfight ensues until Gabriel manages to disable Ethan's plane by coming in overhead and smashing the wing from above. Ethan climbs out and jumps onto Gabriel's plane because, well, it looks amazing. He fights with Gabriel and manages to get the Poison Pill back. Gabriel laughs (literally an evil 'bwahahaha'), shouting that he's the only one with a parachute. But when he flies off, he goes face-first into the plane's rudder. Youch.
Ethan climbs back into the plane and attaches himself to the parachute in the other seat. He jumps out and deploys the chute, only to have it catch fire when the plane explodes. As he free-falls through the clouds, Ethan attempts to connect the Poison Pill to the Podkova.
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Back in the server room, Grace cuts whatever wire Benji told her to and then snatches the drive off the circuit board, with the kind of timing only a seasoned pickpocket would have. Yeah, it seems like a pretty weak connection to make, but whatever. Somebody's gotta do it.
Anyway, Donloe, Tapeesa and Degas fix the nuke so it won't go critical and escape the explosion. Meanwhile, Ethan lands in a field after deploying a backup chute. The Poison Pill (somehow) plays a final message from Luther, who says he knows Ethan will save the world. He recites the IMF oath of living and dying 'in the shadows, for those we hold close…and those we will never meet.'
Kittridge and Briggs find Ethan, and he hands over the now-fried Podkova. Kittridge is left beaten (ha-ha) and Briggs has to give Ethan credit for, well, saving the world – yet again. Back in the U.S., Pres. Sloane arrives back in D.C. (we assume) to a full military greeting, including her son, whom she hugs. Tom Cruise, Esai Morales in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Sometime later, Ethan arrives back in London. In short order, Benji, Paris, Degas and Grace arrive as well. Nobody speaks, and they keep their distance – except for Grace, who hands Ethan a small case containing the hard drive with the trapped Entity. They all nod at each other and then go their separate ways. And that's all, folks.
***
I've been a fan of Mission: Impossible since the beginning, and I love all the flicks (even M:I 2, which is so over-the-top goofy it's hilarious). They're everything I love about the movies – exciting, engaging and often funny with action that cannot be paralleled. Christopher McQuarrie's solid writing and direction have kept M:I from slipping back into silliness, even if the plotlines do get really convoluted.
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And it's hard to fault anything Tom Cruise does, knowing he puts his life on the line to ensure an entertaining experience. His love of moviemaking and sheer will to get it done, whether it's climbing the Burj Kalifa, hanging off the sides of planes or breaking his ankle making a crazy jump, leave you feeling as enthusiastic as he is, ready to cheer him on.
And in Final Reckoning, the stunts are second to none. The underwater sequence inside the rolling submarine was incredible, especially considering there was no dialogue. I was on the edge of my seat, watching Cruise navigate the obstacles set before him, wondering how he managed to survive it. And of course, the biplane sequence was just nuts in the best possible way. Simon Pegg, Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
I do have a couple of issues with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, th ough. One is that even though we know this is the last flick, it doesn't feel like an ending at all. There are no final goodbyes, and there's no sense that anything is over. If anything, the last scene feels like a setup for another flick.
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I can only guess that they're leaving room for the franchise to continue with the other characters. But I don't feel like the other characters could support the weight of a whole flick on their own. They're just not developed or interesting enough. And honestly, Mission: Impossible without Tom Cruise? Yeah, there's no point. I can't imagine I'm the only one who feels that way, so why bother with an open-ended finale? Just doesn't make a lot of sense.
The other issue is that the action sequences in this flick, in particular, while spectacular, end up overshadowing everything else. In most of the Mission: Impossible flicks, the action serves the story, feels like it comes about because of t he story. But Final Reckoning feels kinda reverse-engineered, like they came up with the stunts first and built everything else around them, which doesn't hold up as well.
That said, though, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is epic, loud, crazy fun. And the only real crime is not seeing it on the big screen. You get so much movie for your money, and the action is breathtaking. It's the whole reason for the theater experience. So, choose to accept the mission, and go see it big.
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Written by: Eric Jendresen, Christopher McQuarrie
Release date: May 23, 2025
Rating: PG-13
Run time: 2hr, 50min
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
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