Latest news with #AngelaBassett
CNET
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
This Ultimate Y2K Sci-Fi Movie Made Virtual Reality Seem Almost Too Real
I've wanted to rewatch the sci-fi thriller Strange Days for a long time, but I kept forgetting because, honestly, I couldn't remember the title. I finally came across it on Hulu and checked it out, and I can't stop thinking about it. Though Strange Days was released back in 1995, it looks and feels like it could've come out yesterday. It's one of those rare old movies that imagined the technology of virtual reality, or VR, without turning it into a gimmick. Strange Days takes place in 1999 Los Angeles during the last 48 hours of the millennium. Lenny Nero, played by Ralph Fiennes, is a former cop who now peddles an illegal virtual reality experience called Playback. Nero's friend and bodyguard, Mace (Angela Basset), tries to keep him rooted in reality and away from trouble. Together, they work to track down a brutal rapist and murderer -- a man who uses VR Playback discs to record his crimes from his own point of view. The movie wasted no time dropping me into its jarring setting: The opening scene is an armed robbery filmed in first-person perspective, with the robber running from cops and jumping from one rooftop to another. A couple of scenes later, I saw tanks on the streets of LA and heard radio callers declaring that the world would end at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2000. Strange Days reminds me of the best Black Mirror episodes -- both deeply disturbing and uncomfortably close to home. Director Kathryn Bigelow was influenced by the 1992 LA riots and incorporated those elements of racial tension and police violence into her work. The result is a movie that's sometimes difficult to watch but impossible to look away from. At the same time, Strange Days is grounded by emotion. Nero (Fiennes) spends a good portion of the movie reliving memories of his failed relationship with the singer Faith (played by actress-turned-rocker Juliette Lewis). Lying in bed while he plays back footage of happier days, he can trick himself into believing he's roller skating with Faith again -- until the disc stops spinning and he opens his eyes, back in the lonely present day. "This is not 'like TV only better,'" says Nero, as he introduces the VR Playback tech to one of his clients. "This is life." But Bassett's character, Mace, believes otherwise, at one point confronting Nero over his attachment to his "used emotions." "This is your life!" says Mace. "Right here! Right now! It's real time, you hear me? Real time, time to get real, not Playback!" As I watched Strange Days in 2025, I couldn't help thinking of the virtual reality devices that exist today. VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3 and Google's upcoming AR glasses are bringing us closer than ever to the Playback tech in the film. And the immersive spatial videos for the Apple Vision Pro can make you feel like you're really reliving a three-dimensional recorded memory. As I considered the similarities between our current tech and Strange Days' Playback discs, I wondered if the future wants to be haunted by the past. Despite being 30 years old, Strange Days' special effects hold up incredibly well. Where other 1995 sci-fi flicks like Hackers and Johnny Mnemonic experimented with early computer-generated imagery, Strange Days went for a more practical approach: Characters shift in and out of the Playback footage with a simple analog distortion effect, just like you'd find while watching home videos on VHS tapes. The point-of-view shots were carefully choreographed, and the resulting footage looks like you're viewing it through the recorder's eyes. Strange Days also features standout musical acts. Juliette Lewis, in character as Faith, belts out two PJ Harvey tracks in on-screen performances that recall the best of '90s grunge. Rapper Jeriko One (played by Glenn Plummer) delivers biting social commentary in his music video. And contemporary artists Aphex Twin, Deee-Lite and Skunk Anansie perform during the movie's bombastic final act, a New Year's Eve rave in downtown LA. (It was a real-life concert with 10,000 attendees.) Strange Days is both a thrilling action movie and a mind-bending exploration of technology and memory. I'm surprised it was a box-office flop in 1995, and I wish it had received the recognition it deserved then. Still, I'm glad this sci-fi masterpiece is available to stream today. Though Strange Days isn't the easiest title to remember, the movie itself is unforgettable.
Geek Girl Authority
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING Spoiler Review
Major spoilers ahead for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning . You've been warned. * * 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 . ) RELATED: Thunderbolts* Spoiler Review 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. RELATED: Movie Review: The Surfer 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. RELATED: Sinners Spoiler Review 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. RELATED: Movie Review: The Uninvited 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. RELATED: Drop Spoiler Review 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. RELATED: The Woman in the Yard Spoiler Review 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. RELATED: Movie Review: Death of A Unicorn 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. RELATED: Novocaine Spoiler Review 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. RELATED: Natasha Romanoff vs. Yelena Belova: The Value of Well-Written Women Characters 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 FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES Spoiler Review
Khaleej Times
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Is this really the final Mission: Impossible movie? Here's what the cast has to say
The fan-favourite Mission: Impossible film series has been going strong since 1996, when Tom Cruise first played secret agent Ethan Hunt. Over the years, fans have watched him save the world again and again—often performing dangerous stunts himself. Now, with the latest film titled Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, many are wondering if this could be the end of the popular franchise. However, according to the cast, nothing is certain. Angela Bassett, who plays Erika Sloane in the series, told People, "With Mr. Cruise, you can never count him down or out. He's always up for an amazing adventure and to give the audience exactly what they're craving." "I would never assume," she added. Simon Pegg, who has played tech expert Benji Dunn since the third movie, agreed, saying, "Never say never, do you know what I mean? That's a rule I tend to live by. The last two together took five years to make." "So it depends entirely on a lot of things. I don't think Tom (Cruise) likes the idea of finality. I think even if there isn't anything that comes after this, you leave the theater feeling like, 'Oh, maybe there's more.' And I think that's the golden thing -- to leave the audience feeling hope rather than despair," he said. Cruise himself avoided confirming anything about the future. According to People, when asked about it during the Cannes Film Festival, he said, "Just let us show the movie tonight. This is like 30 years' culmination of this, and I think that this is—I'd rather just people see it and enjoy," Cruise said when asked whether the franchise has a future. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is currently showing in theaters.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Angela Bassett addresses the end of Mission: Impossible franchise
Angela Bassett has addressed concerns the Mission: Impossible film franchise has reached an end. Action film fans have been watching Tom Cruise as spy Ethan Hunt since the first film was released in 1996. Now, almost 30 years later, the eighth film in the franchise has been released - with the title, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, leaving fans concerned that this will be the last one. Addressing such concerns, Bassett, who plays CIA director turned US President Erika Sloane in the film series, told PEOPLE, "With Mr. Cruise, you can never count him down or out. "He's always up for an amazing adventure and to give the audience exactly what they're craving... I would never assume." Co-star Simon Pegg, who has played Benji Dunn in six of the eight films, also shared hope that future Mission: Impossible instalments will follow. He told the publication, "Never say never, do you know what I mean? That's a rule I tend to live by. The last two together took five years to make. So it depends entirely on a lot of things." He added, "I don't think Tom likes the idea of finality. I think even if there isn't anything that comes after this, you leave the theatre feeling like, 'Oh, maybe there's more.' "And I think that's the golden thing, to leave the audience feeling hope rather than despair." Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is out now.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Ending Explained - Is This Really the End of Tom Cruise's M:I Series?
Let's make this simple: You want to know if there are any post- or mid-credits scenes in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. The answer is no, there are none. Full spoilers follow. It's been one wild, stunt-filled ride over the past 29 years, but every mission must come to an end eventually. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is apparently the final entry in this long-running series, as Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt confronts his most daring and high-stakes mission yet. Now that The Final Reckoning is in theaters, we're here to break down the ending to this epic blockbuster. Who lives? Who dies? Is this really the end of the road for Ethan and his team, or could the franchise return? Read on to learn Impossible - The Final Reckoning's Ending Explained The Mission: Impossible series has always been about the IMF racing against the clock to prevent various villains from unleashing global catastrophes, but the deck is really stacked against Ethan and his team in the eighth and final movie. While Ethan stopped Esai Morales' Gabriel in the short term in 2023's Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, there's still the little problem of the hyper-advanced AI known as 'The Entity' worming its way into every computer system across the globe. The situation is immediately dire in The Final Reckoning, with The Entity systematically taking over the nuclear stockpiles of every nation on Earth and Angela Bassett's President Sloane forced to choose whether to unleash a preemptive strike on those nations. The Final Reckoning only further cements its dark, foreboding tone when Ving Rhames' Luther Stickell becomes an early casualty in the conflict with Gabriel, which allows Gabriel to take possession of Luther's Poison Pill device. Even after Ethan defies the odds and retrieves The Entity's source code from the sunken Sevastopol submarine, he knows that the code is useless unless he can combine it with the Poison Pill. One way or another, all roads lead to Gabriel. As this conflict unfolds, The Final Reckoning introduces some fun and unexpected callbacks to previous Mission: Impossible films. For example, we learn that The Entity has its roots in the Rabbit's Foot, the MacGuffin device from 2006's Mission: Impossible III. Ethan's team also reunites with former CIA analyst William Donloe (Rolf Saxon), the man who almost walked in on Ethan during his tense wire-hacking mission from the original film. Meanwhile, Shea Whigham's Jasper Briggs is revealed to be the son of Jon Voight's Jim Phelps, the IMF leader from the original film. No wonder he seems to bear such a personal grudge toward Ethan. Ethan and Gabriel's paths do ultimately converge in South Africa, at a digital bunker where The Entity plans to retreat before unleashing a nuclear holocaust. Ethan's plan is to retrieve the Poison Pill and combine it with the source code module, tricking The Entity into isolating itself on a holographic drive that Hayley Atwell's Grace can then pickpocket. Predictably, things go haywire with the arrival of CIA Director Kittridge (Henry Czerny) and his team, and Simon Pegg's Benji is shot in the ensuing chaos. As Ethan and Gabriel battle it out aboard two dueling planes, the clock steadily ticks down to nuclear armageddon. President Sloane is forced to make her choice, and she chooses to trust Ethan and pull the US's nuclear arsenal offline rather than allow The Entity to take control. Ethan finally outwits Gabriel, and the latter's defiant villain speech is cut short when he bashes his head into the tail of his plane. Ethan parachutes to safety and combines the module with the Poison Pill. Grace performs the impossible feat of snatching the drive at just the right moment, trapping The Entity in its tiny prison. Once again, Ethan and the IMF have saved the world from ruin, even if few people will ever know the full truth. Even more impressive, they do so without any further casualties. Benji survives his near-fatal gunshot wound, meaning Luther is the only IMF member to die in The Final Reckoning. Ethan and his team reunite one last time in London's Trafalgar Square, where Grace hands Ethan the briefcase containing The Entity. After exchanging solemn nods, they all go their separate ways. Thus ends their latest, and apparently last, impossible mission. Does The Final Reckoning Have a Post-Credits Scene? As mentioned above, the eighth and final (for now?) Mission: Impossible movie has no mid- or post-credits scenes. You're free to leave once the credits start rolling. Though, as always, it never hurts to stick around and show some appreciation for all the cast and crew who made those death-defying stunts happen. The lack of a post-credits scene isn't necessarily that surprising, given that they've never really been a thing with this particular Hollywood franchise. Still, with this supposedly being the last entry in the series, you might think Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie would want to give fans one last nod before sending Ethan Hunt off into the sunset. As much as this is billed as the conclusion of the series, The Final Reckoning certainly leaves the door open for more. A post-credits scene could have hinted at what's next for the victorious Ethan. But that does raise an important question. Is this really the end? Let's explore what we know. Is This Really the End of the Mission: Impossible Series? Paramount has definitely marketed The Final Reckoning as the conclusion to the Mission: Impossible saga. It's right there in the name. This film is meant to cap off a 29-year journey and chronicle Ethan Hunt's final and most desperate mission. But how final is this film, really? It certainly wraps up on a pretty open-ended note. Ethan is still alive, having somehow survived diving to loot a sunken submarine in the frigid Arctic Ocean. Luther may have perished heroically, but the rest of the IMF is alive, too (even Benji, who was touch-and-go there for a bit). That's honestly one of the criticisms that can be leveled at The Final Reckoning. Even in this supposedly final outing, the film seems reluctant to break too many of its toys or veer outside the standard formula. Anyone expecting to see Cruise's iconic hero finally bite off more than he can chew and meet his end will come away disappointed. Given the way The Final Reckoning ends, there's nothing stopping Paramount from greenlighting another sequel featuring this revamped cast, with Cruise's Ethan being joined by Atwell's Grace, Pegg's Benji, Pom Klementieff's Paris, and Greg Tarzan Davis' Theo Degas. The studio certainly seems to be leaving that door open, whether or not they choose to walk through it. It may all come down to a question of money. The Mission: Impossible franchise has certainly raked in the cash for Paramount over the years, but these movies are also insanely expensive to produce. Stunts this epic and stars this famous don't come cheap. Case in point: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One grossed an impressive $571 million worldwide, yet the film is still considered to be a box office failure because of its massive budget (which was inflated by complications stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic). The Final Reckoning's budget is reported to be as high as $400 million even before marketing, meaning it needs to gross way more than its predecessor to break even. That may be too much to hope for in a summer movie season as crowded as this one. That's to say nothing of the fact that audiences are proving ever more fickle in the age of endless streaming options. Given the astronomical cost of making Mission: Impossible movies, Paramount may be happy to close the door on the franchise and focus on the more profitable Top Gun series. The ROI simply isn't there any longer. That said, we could see Paramount pivoting in a slightly different direction with Mission: Impossible. Perhaps Cruise's character could become more of a supporting player, with a new generation of heroic IMF agents taking center stage. That formula certainly worked for 2022's Top Gun: Maverick. At one point, rumors even suggested that Maverick star Glen Powell was being eyed to become the new face of the M:I franchise, though Powell himself has denied this. At the very least, we know director Christopher McQuarrie has explored the idea of further sequels beyond The Final Reckoning. But if the studio ever does greenlight them, we suspect the goal will be to pivot to smaller, cheaper spinoffs with less emphasis on Cruise. It's not as if Cruise is getting any younger, and at some point, Ethan Hunt needs to be allowed to retire for real. How many times can one guy save the world before it's enough? In IGN's Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning review, Clint Gage gave the film a 6 out of 10, writing, "While its action is reliably thrilling and a few of its most exciting sequences are sure to hold up through the years, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning tries to deal with no less than the end of every living thing on the planet – and suffers because of it. The somber tone and melodramatic dialogue miss the mark of what's made this franchise so much fun for 30 years, but the door is left open for more impossible missions and the hope that this self-serious reckoning isn't actually final." For more on the series, check out our ranking of the Mission: Impossible movies from worst to best. Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
