Latest news with #Mission:Impossible-
Otago Daily Times
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Cruise goes impossibly deep to decode AI
Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. Photo: Paramount Pictures and Skydance/TNS Director: Christopher McQuarrie Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett Rating: (M) ★★★ REVIEWED BY AMASIO JUTEL As the stunts get bigger and better, the framing gets duller and more convoluted. Despite its outstanding stunt spectacles, Mission: Impossible's post-Fallout two-parter continues to disappoint its characters and viewers. Producer/star/stuntman/king of movies, Tom Cruise, helms the final franchise entry, The Final Reckoning. Ethan Hunt must diffuse a global cold war by dismantling "The Entity", a rogue all-powerful AI that has seized control of half the world's nukes. It's a premise dripping in sweat, but the decision to reframe the cyber villain from slapstick trickster to cyberspace anti-God, driving humanity towards self-annihilation, completely detracts from the immediacy of Cruise's action. Against the pre-eminent might of cyberspace and the entity's spiteful disinformation war, Ethan Hunt is the planet's last hope and, with a (literal) presidential seal of approval, he's bestowed a strategic military submarine to deep-sea dive to retrieve the entity's source code. Hunt and his team slingshot across the world, chasing clues and racing against time in a diverse array of settings and set pieces — here, the classic Mission: Impossible viewer ecstasy ascends. The screenwriting hole they dug themselves in part one, the unreasonable lack of Ving Rhames as Luther and discourteous removal of Rebecca Ferguson's Isla in the previous instalment, slightly dirty the supposed franchise apex. However, the mind-blowing half-hour silent underwater sequence in the middle of the film corrects the overhyped CG train stunt of Dead Reckoning. Not to spoil the singular reason to see a post-Fallout Mission film, but one is left mouth agape in the theatre, questioning how Tom Cruise did not die during filming.
CNN
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Tom Cruise saw people popping off about how he eats movie popcorn
Tom Cruise appears to give things his all, which includes eating popcorn. A video shared on social media of the star enthusiastically throwing movie popcorn into his mouth at a screening of his latest film, 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning,' has sparked some reaction. Cruise laughed when he was asked about it by Darius Butler during an appearance on 'The Pat McAfee Show' on Wednesday. 'I've never seen anyone eat popcorn this like,' Butler, said. 'Are you actually eating popcorn or are you full of s**t right here, TC? I've got to know.' It cracked Cruise up. 'Man, I'm eating popcorn,' Cruise said as he laughed. 'They know when I'm going to these movies that I'm watching, I'm eating popcorn.' Cruise's love of popcorn has been well documented over the years. A 2023 promotional video for 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1' also featured Cruise with a bucket of the movie snack. Four cities. Four screenings. We had so much fun at the first fan screenings for Mission: Impossible! Thank you to everyone who came out. 'I love my popcorn,' he says in the video. 'Movies. Popcorn.' Writer and podcaster Rachel Leishman wrote about an exchange she had with Cruise at a recent screening. 'I'll use this time to talk about the absolutely insane information Tom Cruise gave in his pre-screening speech,' Leishman wrote. 'First, he asked us all not once but twice if we had popcorn (I showed him my bucket to confirm) and then he goes 'I normally eat two big buckets myself during a movie' She did not, however, reveal whether he orders his with extra butter. 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' is in theaters Friday.
The Advertiser
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
Mission Impossible: Can one of the biggest film franchises finish with a bang?
Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (M, 170 minutes) 3 stars Tom Cruise has been entertaining audiences with daring stunts as Ethan Hunt for almost 30 years now. From scaling rock faces to climbing the world's tallest building, hanging onto a plane on take-off or riding a motorcycle off a cliff, if there's one thing you can rely on when it comes to a Mission: Impossible film, it's death-defying stunts. So with three decades of unbelievable action work before it, can Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (widely touted as the last entry in the franchise) really raise the bar? Well, yes and no. This film, eighth in the franchise and a direct extension of 2023's Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 (not all of us have forgotten this one was supposed to be a part two), ties together some loose ends from the past. The last film saw Hunt and co secure a very plot-important key from chief antagonist Gabriel (Esai Morales, less menacing this time around), in an attempt to retrieve a piece of technology hidden in a sunken Russian submarine somewhere in the Arctic. This tech would allow the team to combat The Entity, an AI that is attempting to take over the world (apparently the Mission: Impossible universe learned nothing from Skynet). But if you've remembered none of that going into Final Reckoning, have no fear - there is an exhaustive amount of exposition in the first hour. In an odd decision for a film series that normally starts with a bang, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie opted to open the film with The Entity (illustrated by a pulsing blue light grid) monologuing, giving The Final Reckoning a distinctly science-fiction feel. We're not only subjected to a recap of the previous film - there's also a bunch of flashbacks to moments from all films in the series. The whole first hour feels like a clip show of old, and it's jarring for fans used to the fast pace of Mission: Impossible's other entries. After laying enough groundwork to build a major city, things finally start to kick into gear with a few action set-pieces. There's the obligatory running scene, Hunt and Grace (Hayley Atwell returning) being captured, bombs needing to be defused before the timer runs out, mask work (it truly never gets old) and more. But for the most part, these action sequences feel tamer than we're used to. The peril doesn't feel as high. After such a long introductory period, the action needs to really have you on the edge of your seat, and that doesn't happen until right at the end of the film. That's where we see the real show-stopper. It just might be the most ambitious stunt yet - and that includes Cruise breaking his ankle jumping between buildings and HALO jumping out of a helicopter. As shown in trailers and TV spots and promo images (like the one with this review), Cruise's big stunt this time involves the old art of wing walking, but dialled up to 11. With top-notch digital removal of the pilot and any safety gear, we see Cruise thrown about within the wings of his bi-plane, holding onto whatever piece of metal prevents him from plummeting to the earth. It's a stunning sequence that, in a better paced film, would have been up there will the all-time greats. But, unfortunately, the audience is already so tired of having been in the cinema over two hours by this point that some of the enthusiasm for Hunt's survival has waned. You see, there's just no escaping the fact that, unlike Cruise's body which he is clearly very keen to show off here, The Final Reckoning is damagingly bloated. The script also treats minor incidents and plot points from previous entries in the series with a reverence usually saved for massive sci-fi franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek or Lord of the Rings. It's hard to imagine even the most dedicated of M:I fans care all that much about reliving small moments from the other films at the expense of this film getting on with the story. While still significantly better than the dud that is Mission: Impossible II and featuring some solid action and character moments, The Final Reckoning is not the memorable send-off you'd hope for. Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (M, 170 minutes) 3 stars Tom Cruise has been entertaining audiences with daring stunts as Ethan Hunt for almost 30 years now. From scaling rock faces to climbing the world's tallest building, hanging onto a plane on take-off or riding a motorcycle off a cliff, if there's one thing you can rely on when it comes to a Mission: Impossible film, it's death-defying stunts. So with three decades of unbelievable action work before it, can Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (widely touted as the last entry in the franchise) really raise the bar? Well, yes and no. This film, eighth in the franchise and a direct extension of 2023's Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 (not all of us have forgotten this one was supposed to be a part two), ties together some loose ends from the past. The last film saw Hunt and co secure a very plot-important key from chief antagonist Gabriel (Esai Morales, less menacing this time around), in an attempt to retrieve a piece of technology hidden in a sunken Russian submarine somewhere in the Arctic. This tech would allow the team to combat The Entity, an AI that is attempting to take over the world (apparently the Mission: Impossible universe learned nothing from Skynet). But if you've remembered none of that going into Final Reckoning, have no fear - there is an exhaustive amount of exposition in the first hour. In an odd decision for a film series that normally starts with a bang, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie opted to open the film with The Entity (illustrated by a pulsing blue light grid) monologuing, giving The Final Reckoning a distinctly science-fiction feel. We're not only subjected to a recap of the previous film - there's also a bunch of flashbacks to moments from all films in the series. The whole first hour feels like a clip show of old, and it's jarring for fans used to the fast pace of Mission: Impossible's other entries. After laying enough groundwork to build a major city, things finally start to kick into gear with a few action set-pieces. There's the obligatory running scene, Hunt and Grace (Hayley Atwell returning) being captured, bombs needing to be defused before the timer runs out, mask work (it truly never gets old) and more. But for the most part, these action sequences feel tamer than we're used to. The peril doesn't feel as high. After such a long introductory period, the action needs to really have you on the edge of your seat, and that doesn't happen until right at the end of the film. That's where we see the real show-stopper. It just might be the most ambitious stunt yet - and that includes Cruise breaking his ankle jumping between buildings and HALO jumping out of a helicopter. As shown in trailers and TV spots and promo images (like the one with this review), Cruise's big stunt this time involves the old art of wing walking, but dialled up to 11. With top-notch digital removal of the pilot and any safety gear, we see Cruise thrown about within the wings of his bi-plane, holding onto whatever piece of metal prevents him from plummeting to the earth. It's a stunning sequence that, in a better paced film, would have been up there will the all-time greats. But, unfortunately, the audience is already so tired of having been in the cinema over two hours by this point that some of the enthusiasm for Hunt's survival has waned. You see, there's just no escaping the fact that, unlike Cruise's body which he is clearly very keen to show off here, The Final Reckoning is damagingly bloated. The script also treats minor incidents and plot points from previous entries in the series with a reverence usually saved for massive sci-fi franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek or Lord of the Rings. It's hard to imagine even the most dedicated of M:I fans care all that much about reliving small moments from the other films at the expense of this film getting on with the story. While still significantly better than the dud that is Mission: Impossible II and featuring some solid action and character moments, The Final Reckoning is not the memorable send-off you'd hope for. Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (M, 170 minutes) 3 stars Tom Cruise has been entertaining audiences with daring stunts as Ethan Hunt for almost 30 years now. From scaling rock faces to climbing the world's tallest building, hanging onto a plane on take-off or riding a motorcycle off a cliff, if there's one thing you can rely on when it comes to a Mission: Impossible film, it's death-defying stunts. So with three decades of unbelievable action work before it, can Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (widely touted as the last entry in the franchise) really raise the bar? Well, yes and no. This film, eighth in the franchise and a direct extension of 2023's Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 (not all of us have forgotten this one was supposed to be a part two), ties together some loose ends from the past. The last film saw Hunt and co secure a very plot-important key from chief antagonist Gabriel (Esai Morales, less menacing this time around), in an attempt to retrieve a piece of technology hidden in a sunken Russian submarine somewhere in the Arctic. This tech would allow the team to combat The Entity, an AI that is attempting to take over the world (apparently the Mission: Impossible universe learned nothing from Skynet). But if you've remembered none of that going into Final Reckoning, have no fear - there is an exhaustive amount of exposition in the first hour. In an odd decision for a film series that normally starts with a bang, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie opted to open the film with The Entity (illustrated by a pulsing blue light grid) monologuing, giving The Final Reckoning a distinctly science-fiction feel. We're not only subjected to a recap of the previous film - there's also a bunch of flashbacks to moments from all films in the series. The whole first hour feels like a clip show of old, and it's jarring for fans used to the fast pace of Mission: Impossible's other entries. After laying enough groundwork to build a major city, things finally start to kick into gear with a few action set-pieces. There's the obligatory running scene, Hunt and Grace (Hayley Atwell returning) being captured, bombs needing to be defused before the timer runs out, mask work (it truly never gets old) and more. But for the most part, these action sequences feel tamer than we're used to. The peril doesn't feel as high. After such a long introductory period, the action needs to really have you on the edge of your seat, and that doesn't happen until right at the end of the film. That's where we see the real show-stopper. It just might be the most ambitious stunt yet - and that includes Cruise breaking his ankle jumping between buildings and HALO jumping out of a helicopter. As shown in trailers and TV spots and promo images (like the one with this review), Cruise's big stunt this time involves the old art of wing walking, but dialled up to 11. With top-notch digital removal of the pilot and any safety gear, we see Cruise thrown about within the wings of his bi-plane, holding onto whatever piece of metal prevents him from plummeting to the earth. It's a stunning sequence that, in a better paced film, would have been up there will the all-time greats. But, unfortunately, the audience is already so tired of having been in the cinema over two hours by this point that some of the enthusiasm for Hunt's survival has waned. You see, there's just no escaping the fact that, unlike Cruise's body which he is clearly very keen to show off here, The Final Reckoning is damagingly bloated. The script also treats minor incidents and plot points from previous entries in the series with a reverence usually saved for massive sci-fi franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek or Lord of the Rings. It's hard to imagine even the most dedicated of M:I fans care all that much about reliving small moments from the other films at the expense of this film getting on with the story. While still significantly better than the dud that is Mission: Impossible II and featuring some solid action and character moments, The Final Reckoning is not the memorable send-off you'd hope for. Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (M, 170 minutes) 3 stars Tom Cruise has been entertaining audiences with daring stunts as Ethan Hunt for almost 30 years now. From scaling rock faces to climbing the world's tallest building, hanging onto a plane on take-off or riding a motorcycle off a cliff, if there's one thing you can rely on when it comes to a Mission: Impossible film, it's death-defying stunts. So with three decades of unbelievable action work before it, can Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (widely touted as the last entry in the franchise) really raise the bar? Well, yes and no. This film, eighth in the franchise and a direct extension of 2023's Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 (not all of us have forgotten this one was supposed to be a part two), ties together some loose ends from the past. The last film saw Hunt and co secure a very plot-important key from chief antagonist Gabriel (Esai Morales, less menacing this time around), in an attempt to retrieve a piece of technology hidden in a sunken Russian submarine somewhere in the Arctic. This tech would allow the team to combat The Entity, an AI that is attempting to take over the world (apparently the Mission: Impossible universe learned nothing from Skynet). But if you've remembered none of that going into Final Reckoning, have no fear - there is an exhaustive amount of exposition in the first hour. In an odd decision for a film series that normally starts with a bang, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie opted to open the film with The Entity (illustrated by a pulsing blue light grid) monologuing, giving The Final Reckoning a distinctly science-fiction feel. We're not only subjected to a recap of the previous film - there's also a bunch of flashbacks to moments from all films in the series. The whole first hour feels like a clip show of old, and it's jarring for fans used to the fast pace of Mission: Impossible's other entries. After laying enough groundwork to build a major city, things finally start to kick into gear with a few action set-pieces. There's the obligatory running scene, Hunt and Grace (Hayley Atwell returning) being captured, bombs needing to be defused before the timer runs out, mask work (it truly never gets old) and more. But for the most part, these action sequences feel tamer than we're used to. The peril doesn't feel as high. After such a long introductory period, the action needs to really have you on the edge of your seat, and that doesn't happen until right at the end of the film. That's where we see the real show-stopper. It just might be the most ambitious stunt yet - and that includes Cruise breaking his ankle jumping between buildings and HALO jumping out of a helicopter. As shown in trailers and TV spots and promo images (like the one with this review), Cruise's big stunt this time involves the old art of wing walking, but dialled up to 11. With top-notch digital removal of the pilot and any safety gear, we see Cruise thrown about within the wings of his bi-plane, holding onto whatever piece of metal prevents him from plummeting to the earth. It's a stunning sequence that, in a better paced film, would have been up there will the all-time greats. But, unfortunately, the audience is already so tired of having been in the cinema over two hours by this point that some of the enthusiasm for Hunt's survival has waned. You see, there's just no escaping the fact that, unlike Cruise's body which he is clearly very keen to show off here, The Final Reckoning is damagingly bloated. The script also treats minor incidents and plot points from previous entries in the series with a reverence usually saved for massive sci-fi franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek or Lord of the Rings. It's hard to imagine even the most dedicated of M:I fans care all that much about reliving small moments from the other films at the expense of this film getting on with the story. While still significantly better than the dud that is Mission: Impossible II and featuring some solid action and character moments, The Final Reckoning is not the memorable send-off you'd hope for.
The Hindu
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning' Day 3 box office collection: Tom Cruise movie outshines ‘Dead Reckoning Part One'
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning continues its steady run at the India box office. The final film of the long-running franchise, starring Tom Cruise, hit the screens on May 17, 2025 (Saturday). By the third day, the film has raked in ₹38.81 crore in India, according to Sacnilk. The action thriller has outperformed the previous instalment in the franchise, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1. On the opening day, the highly-anticipated movie collected ₹16.5 crore and it went on to mint ₹17 crore on Sunday. On its third day, The Final Reckoning made ₹5.31 crore. Dead Reckoning Part 1, which hit the screens on July 12, 2023, had made ₹30.2 crore at the India box office. The movie opened with a ₹12.3 crore collection. In the Christopher McQuarrie-directed movie, Ethan Hunt and team race against time to defeat the Entity and his human side kick, Gabriel. The Hindu review of the movie says, 'Unlike James Bond, with different actors playing the suave super spy, Cruise has come to personify Ethan Hunt and 30 years on, continues to do so with punch and panache. And at 62, his jaw-dropping close-body fight in swimming trunks offers ample proof of the same.' ALSO READ:Tom Cruise wants to make a Bollywood-style film in India: 'I love the dancing, the singing' Recently, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the veteran actor said he has no plans to quit films. 'I actually said I'm going to make movies into my 80s; actually, I'm going to make them into my 100s. I will never stop. I will never stop doing action, I will never stop doing drama, comedy films -- I'm excited.'
NDTV
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning Review: Distracting, If Not Outright Confusing
By the time Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning trudges its way to the end of its bag of tricks, a question looms and it is as large as the aura of Tom Cruise's Agent Ethan Hunt. Will the eighth and presumably final instalment of the popular action-adventure franchise leave the audience asking for more or have them wondering if they have had enough? The answer is likely to tilt more towards the latter. This mission, a strenuous continuation of what was left incomplete in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, suffers from an excess of expositions - a sure sign that the screenplay has holes that needed to be plugged before being sent out into the world. Almost all through the film, the characters engage in constant chit-chat with the purpose of clearing the air - and the ground - for Hunt's hunt for the fiendish Gabriel (Esai Morales), who makes no bones about his desire to wrest control of a truth-devouring parasitic Artificial Intelligence called "Entity", that can wipe out all of humankind by infecting cyberspace and breaching the arsenals of nations that possess nuclear weapons. Hunt and his core team - Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), pickpocket-turned-agent Grace (Hayley Atwell) and former assassin Paris (Pom Klementieff) - race against time to recover the Entity's original source code buried in a wrecked Russian submarine, and pair it with a "poison pill" developed by Luther in order to neutralise it. If they don't, the predatory AI could lay everything to waste and wipe out all life from the face of the earth. The film isn't all action and not all the action that it mounts has the heart-pounding velocity and energy that can help the script by director Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen paper over its many loopholes and dull stretches. It appears to dangle between two conflicting impulses - one the desire to peddle pop philosophy about the dangers humankind faces from autocrats, warmongers, and the impending weaponization of AI and two, the urge to give the fans of the franchise the explosive, unbridled onscreen spectacle that they expect. As a spectacle, the film works fine for the most part. As a commentary, not so much. Humanity is on the edge. It is at the mercy of pernicious forces. Its future rests on the invincible Agent Hunt. "The world is changing, truth is vanishing, war is coming, the US President, who is a Black woman played by Angela Bassett (last seen in Mission: Impossible - Fallout as the CIA deputy director), says to the globe-trotting, messianic agent out to save the world from annihilation. Later on, Grace, who can, in a blink of an eye, filch objects that he sets her sights, tells Hunt, "The whole world is in trouble and you are the only one I trust to save it." The man, clearly, is accustomed to having such unquestioning faith reposed in him. Others who swear by Hunt's survival skills say pretty much the same. The idea seems to be to bestow God-like quality upon Hunt so that we continue to believe in his abiding ability to defy death and endure personal tragedies. Cruise, expectedly, gets to do all the stuff that defines the character and the impossible feats that he is known to pull off. He dives deep into an ocean armed with a cruciform key to retrieve a crucial portable device from the bottom of the Bering Sea, hangs from a biplane while fighting off an adversary, and even jumps into an action sequence in his underpants aboard a US submarine. But notwithstanding all the set pieces that the film assembles, The Final Reckoning isn't as much pure fun as Dead Reckoning was. The burden of its world-weary message weighs it down. Its oracular pronouncement (repeated ad nauseum) about those that live and die in the shadows, not only for those that they hold close but also for those they will never meet, loses it edge owing to the continual and laboured attempts to play up the altruistic spirit of the IMF team. The film turns overly ponderous in the run-ups to its many action scenes and even when mayhem unfolds on the screen the combatants never stop chattering away, announcing their intentions not just to the people that they are up against but also to the audience in the hope of keeping it invested in the proceedings. The strategy does not always work. The film is a cinematic complex of fadeouts and fade-ins, flashbacks and flash forwards, montages of fleeting snatches from previous M:I films, and old characters and new. It is often distracting, if not outright confusing. The fancy lensing and lighting by cinematographer Fraser Taggart - much of the film pans out in shadowy crypts, concealed crannies, and dimly lit caves and war rooms - and the frenetic editing by Eddie Hamilton aren't enough to deflect attention from what is missing in this purported swan song. If this is indeed meant to be a parting shot, it needed to be far more rousing. Be that as it may, if you have three hours to spare and want to see how Cruise is doing as Ethan Hunt three decades on, you could consider giving the film a shot. It has no dearth of exciting passages that give the star all the room that he needs to display his proven wares. But be warned, the underwater sequence in The Final Reckoning is excruciatingly protracted. The interminable solo dive-and-search operation is the dullest bit in a film that struggles to find the inspiration to keep going in the face of a debilitating lack of novelty. The film begins with a recorded message from a President and ends with a pep talk from a dead friend of Hunt's. The pal reminds the protagonist that the world as we know it deserves to be saved from the wrong hands, and that mankind still needs Ethan Hunt. So, here is another question to end this review with - do we really still need him or has the man we have loved all these years outlived his utility? Going by the evidence available here, he may have.
