Latest news with #Mission:Impossible-DeadReckoning
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Review: I Choose To Accept Tom Cruise's Blockbuster Finale As An Explosive Kickoff To Summer Movie Season
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. On May 22, 1996, audiences accepted a mission that seemed impossible: a successful modern adaptation of a classic TV series. Tom Cruise and the Mission: Impossible franchise have long outlasted the original fad that gave it life, with almost 30 years under the belt of this Paramount Pictures franchise. But as we're commonly reminded, all good things must come to an end – which is part of why the eighth chapter in this series has been given the subtitle The Final Reckoning. That reality is bittersweet, because while this does feel like a big goodbye to Ethan Hunt, the story that's employed to bid this farewell is going to leave you wanting more. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Release Date: May 23, 2025Directed By: Christopher McQuarrieWritten By: Christopher McQuarrie & Erik JendresenStarring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Tramell Tillman and Angela Bassett, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Mark Gatiss, with Rolf Saxon, and Lucy TulugarjukRating: PG-13, for sequences of strong violence and action, bloody images, and brief 169 minutes Two months after the events of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has once more gone into hiding. Refusing several requests to rejoin the fight against The Entity's malicious A.I. antics, the governments of the world are on the brink of all out war. With Ethan's Impossible Mission Force team still assembled (Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementiff, and Ving Rhames) and nemesis Gabriel (Esai Morales) also remaining on the board, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning boils down to a four-day window that could spell nuclear armageddon. Anyone wondering if director Christopher McQuarrie's fourth entry in the Mission lexicon can be enjoyed without prior knowledge is in for a bit of a paradox. While The Final Reckoning does have tons of callbacks, flashbacks, and exposition that gives you the Cliff's Notes version of Ethan's exploits up to this point, having experiencing those previous adventures does lend depth to all of the shocking turns. That's something very important to consider, as our eighth and final joyride with superspy Ethan Hunt tries to tie up a whole lot of loose ends in its almost three-hour running time. Which is both a blessing and a curse, due to all of the moving parts this continuity has integrated over the last three decades. Let's just put some good news on the table right up front. As someone who's followed Mission: Impossible's movies from the beginning, I can confidently say that this is a proper finale to Tom Cruise's spy game. Even better still, I'm very happy to report that The Final Reckoning is a vast improvement from Dead Reckoning, despite being cut from the same story cloth. Following its slightly more convoluted predecessor, this picture starts in high gear, and doesn't let up until it crosses the finish line – which is something I'll always commend a nearly three-hour movie for being able to do. Perhaps it's the supposed finality of this eighth Mission that inspired Christopher McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendresen in plotting what's being billed as the swan song for this iteration of this espionage saga. The former's love for the 1996 franchise started is still clear throughout various choices in the narrative at work, with a gigantic hat tip to Mission: Impossible III poised to also give loyal IMF fans another moment to gleefully snap and point at the screen a la Rick Dalton. If you've missed the days of the more fleshed out team-based dynamic previous missions have contained, then consider that another jewel in The Final Reckoning's crown. Series newcomers Hayley Atwell and Pom Klemantiff get to land outstanding moments of quippy dialogue and intense action, while Simon Pegg's return boosts his role in the team to a point where Benji Dunn even gets to throw hands. Wrapping it all together is a pleasant undercurrent of humor, which keeps our IMF agents moving in a style more akin to the halcyon days of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Reintroducing that element also helps supporting cast members like Severance's Tramell Tillman make the most of their limited screen time. But that also ties into a slight downside to what the past couple of outings have been trying to do. Maybe it's because I've been invested in this series since the beginning that I find my own expectations for how Mission Impossible 8 would wrap to be slightly unfulfilled. Simultaneously, there are some instances where the dedication to the past is a little overzealous, with highlights featured in the opening montage being repeated at various points in the overall narrative. It's minor, and probably more suited for casual viewers who haven't owned a copy of Brian de Palma's original Mission: Impossible through three eras of physical media. But if you're a die hard for this saga, it really is a minor gripe when it comes to The Final Reckoning's well-paced thrill ride. Whereas Dead Reckoning felt like it flew a bit too fast when it came to setting up its narrative, Christopher McQuarrie's steady hand in co-writing and directing the sequel help right the ship. It's an apt metaphor considering Tom Cruise's voyage to the sunken wreckage of the Sevastapol is a prime example of the pacing. More recent Mission: Impossible adventures have made it a habit of advertising a massive practical stunt as the big draw, which has left the story a bit lacking in other places. There's still a pretty huge feat on display with Cruise's madness-inducing biplane chase sequence, and that moment is as fantastic as advertised. But the true star of the show is the submarine adventure, which pushes Ethan to even more extreme circumstances. The Sevastapol sequence couldn't have been placed at a more perfect point in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning's story either. Taking place in Act II, this moment galvanizes the final act with well earned urgency; which is only goosed along even further by the return of Angela Bassett as President Erika Sloane. As we frequently cut back to the President and her advisors as the weigh their options to beat The Entity, the film shifts into a small-scale remake of Sidney Lumet's Fail Safe. Considering Christopher McQuarrie loves to reference classics like Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much as much as he enjoys connecting previous Missions, the result helped me forget the fact that this cadre doesn't really get much development in the grand scheme of things. While the massive cast of players in The Final Reckoning don't all get proper setups and payoffs, cast members like Holt McCallany and Nick Offerman do their best to keep us invested, through a combination of gravitas and shorthand. If there's any one thing that makes the 'final' Mission: Impossible film worth seeing, it's that it's a timely story that doesn't go too wild with its message. The Entity's power of misinformation is better fleshed out in this conclusion, as we see the consequences it has on the larger world. Modern concerns over A.I., deep fakes, and fake news are reflected rather brilliantly here and in a way that doesn't preach to the audience. Once more, Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie's combined talents have given us a summer blockbuster worth showing up for. Come to think of it, the whole premise of rethinking reality and examining long held narratives a bit harder plays even better in The Final Reckoning, as one of the core questions asked in this tale cuts down to something the pickiest audience member may have asked long ago: is Ethan Hunt really good at his job? Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning has lit the fuse on summer movie season, and the resulting explosion is one that other legacy-adjacent titles are going to have to reckon with. The eighth outing for this action-adventure mainstay proves that stakes are back, humor is back, and Ethan Hunt has arrived for audiences to trust him… one last time. And to put a more familiar spin on things, I firmly believe that you should choose to accept this mission.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
After Forgetting Everything About Dead Reckoning, I Was So Grateful For One Thing In Mission: Impossible
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Beware, there are light spoilers in this story, nothing that should ruin the story of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, but I am going to talk about the first 20 minutes of the movie. The Mission: Impossible franchise drops its 'final' movie, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, this week, and it's one of the most anticipated releases on the 2025 movie schedule. It also comes with a long runtime - over two hours and forty minutes! I'll be honest, as fun as the M:I movies are, I wasn't thrilled to see it was going to take that kind of time commitment. The good news is that the movie doesn't feel long. It's paced well and there are a ton of great stunts and action scenes (as you'd expect from any film in the franchise), and the movie barrels along at a great clip. The first 20 minutes or so of the film are also very helpful, at least for people like me, who had forgotten everything about the previous installment – the first part of the two-part story to end the long-running Tom Cruise-led juggernaut, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, which came out in 2023. The Mission: Impossible brand started as a TV show in the 1960s, so it's only fitting that The Final Reckoning starts with a recap of not only the last movie, but all seven of the previous films in the franchise. It might not be the most elegant way to remind people like me who just completely forgot what went on, but I was very grateful for it. The thing about Mission: Impossible movies for me is that I tend to just let them wash over me. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about them, even in the moment. I see them as a great way to chomp on some buttery popcorn, have some laughs, and go for the thrill ride. So when pesky things like dialog, or, say, a plot, get in the way, I just dismiss them. Or, more to the point, I don't dwell on them. It's another reason I don't rank the Mission: Impossible movies, as they are all equally fun for me, if not thought-provoking. I've seen every Mission: Impossible movie in theaters, going all the way back to the first movie in 1996. There have been a lot of missions, a lot of characters, both good guys and bad, and a ton of awesome stunts. Last month, before the final installment came out, I decided I would use my Paramount+ subscription to rewatch all seven of the previous entries. I made it through the first one, and then other stuff got in the way. There were new movies to watch, TV shows to binge, life to live, work to do, so I never went back to them. Paramount Plus: from $7.99 a month/$79.99 a yearCatch up with the entire Mission: Impossible franchise with Paramount Plus. All seven of the previous movies are now available on the streaming service, but you get CBS TV shows and a whole bunch of other Paramount movies. Opt for its Essential plan or go ad-free and get double the catalog with Showtime through the Premium plan from $12.99 a month. Alternatively, get 12 months for the price of 10 with its annual Deal Before I saw Final Reckoning, I quickly scanned Wikipedia for a refresher, so when I sat down with my big bucket o' corn and settled in for a nearly 3-hour tour, I was ready. Then, the recap came, and I was actually excited. It's much better to be reminded on the big screen of all the amazing stunts over the years, and put faces to names again. It made the next 2-plus hours so much more enjoyable. So, if you're like me and you've forgotten some of the major plot points of either the last Mission: Impossible movie or all of them, don't worry. It's still really easy to enjoy the final mission with Ethan Hunt and company without doing any homework.
Newsweek
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Is Mission Impossible 8 The Last One? The Final Reckoning Ending Explained
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors There's a strong chance we haven't seen the last of Tom Cruise's super spy Ethan Hunt. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is billed and marketed as the last film in Cruise's long-running Mission: Impossible series, but the reality is very different. So, how likely is a sequel? Directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Cruise alongside Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, and Angela Bassett, the story picks up where 2023's Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning left off. Namely, with Cruise and his team of agents racing to prevent a powerful AI entity falling into the wrong hands. Tom Cruise stars in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Tom Cruise stars in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Paramount Pictures In this article you can expect massive spoilers for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which released Friday, 23 May, 2025. Is Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning The Last Movie? Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is being promoted as the last movie in the series. That's not only clear from the title itself, but the film's nostalgia-laden plot, which features copious flashbacks to key moments and major characters from across the 30-year franchise. However, that doesn't necessarily mean it is the last movie. Cruise's character notably doesn't die at the end of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. He manages tounfurl his parachute at the last minute as he drops from a crashing biplane. That suggests he could reprise his role in a future instalment. But should he? Cruise is now 61 years old, and while he's still in incredible shape, those wild stunts the Mission: Impossible films are known for are only going to get more taxing. In addition, Cruise is set to start filming a SpaceX collaboration film with director Doug Liman next. That's going to delay the next Mission: Impossible, so he could be 65 by the time it enters production. Is There Going to be a Mission: Impossible 9? Mission: Impossible could continue without Cruise. It seems unthinkable now, but there are plenty of actors who could take Ethan's place, similar to how a procession of actors have played the character of James Bond. However, if Cruise and his team deem Ethan irreplaceable, the film could centre on a different IMF agent while still retaining everything that makes the Mission: Impossible films so popular. Pegg, Atwell, Czerny, Bassett, Klementieff and more legacy characters could feature in any subsequent instalments, and Paramount could ensure tonal consistency by using the same director in Christopher McQuarrie. Back in June 2022, McQuarrie teased further Mission: Impossible movies that extend past Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. He told Fandango "Parts 1 and 2 are not the end of the series, and they already have ideas for what comes next." That was three years ago though, to be fair, and a lot can happen in that time. NEW from Rome! #MissionImpossible director Christopher McQuarrie tells Fandango that #DeadReckoning Parts 1 & 2 are not the end of the series, and they already have ideas for what comes next. Part 1 is only in theaters July 12! Get tickets now — Fandango (@Fandango) June 18, 2023 Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Ending At the end of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Cruise manages to wrestle the AI key from Gabriel while the pair fight in the cockpit of a biplane. Gabriel falls from the plane, hitting his head on the tail and plummeting to the Earth (the fall will have killed him, but we don't actually see him die). Cruise, meanwhile, lands safely. He's able to destroy the AI entity and avert global nuclear war. The film ends in London's Trafalgar Square, where he and his IMF agents meet up and share knowing smiles. So, they're reunited once again, which certainly sets up a possible sequel. However, considering Cruise's age and the finality of the ending, it might be best to leave it there.
Business Insider
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' supposedly concludes the franchise. But is it really the end?
" Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" leaves the door open for future movies despite being a worthy sendoff for Tom Cruise 's Ethan Hunt. The sequel follows the agent as he races to save the world from the Entity, an evil AI that has taken control of every nuclear missile on the planet. He also has to fend off Gabriel (Esai Morales), an assassin from his past who wants to control the Entity for himself. Ethan focuses on trying to disable the AI, and he's forced to retrieve its source code from the Sevastapol, the Russian submarine that sank at the start of 2023's " Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning." Here's how it all plays out. Cue the theme music. Ethan Hunt saves the world with seconds to spare in "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning." For audiences who are claustrophobic, a certain scene in "The Final Reckoning" will be a nightmare. Ethan's team discovers that the Sevastopol submarine wreck, which holds the Entity's source code, is at the bottom of the North Pacific, and transmits the location to Ethan, who is in a submarine with Captain Bledsoe (Tramell Tillman). Ethan dives down to the wreck and eventually retrieves the source code after a painstakingly long sequence in which he has to navigate falling missiles and debris while the sub slowly floods. The most intense moment sees him escape through a tiny missile tube and float to the surface. He actually drowns in his ascent, but luckily, Grace (Hayley Atwell) is waiting with the inflatable hyperbaric chamber that stops him from dying from decompression sickness. After that, the gang heads to a secure digital bunker in South Africa, where the Entity is planning to wait out the impending nuclear apocalypse by combining its source code with a piece of tech called the "Poison Pill." This would isolate the AI into a single hard drive and avert the end of the world. But before they can do so, Gabriel shows up to try to take the Entity for himself. He reveals a smaller nuclear bomb will go off if Ethan doesn't give him the Poison Pill. Predictably, the deal goes south, and Ethan chases Gabriel — even when the villain takes to the sky in a biplane. Ethan climbs aboard a second plane piloted by Gabriel's henchman, and a jaw-dropping feat of aerial stuntwork ensues, as Ethan moves between the two planes in midair to retrieve the hard drive. The film cranks up the tension during the climax because while the aerial chase is happening, Benji (Simon Pegg) gets shot and has to talk Grace through rebooting the digital bunker while their enemy-turned-ally Paris (Pom Klementieff) performs an emergency tracheotomy on him. In true "Mission: Impossible" style, Ethan retrieves the Poison Pill at the last moment as Gabriel falls out of the plane and dies. To make matters worse, the plane catches fire, and Ethan has to leap out of the vehicle and put the source code into the Poison Pill while falling through the air, because nothing is ever easy in this franchise. Obviously, he manages to pull it off, and Grace uses her quick reflexes to yank a glorified USB stick out of the console in the bunker to permanently trap the Entity. In the film's final moments, the IMF team meets up again in London as Grace gives Ethan the stick containing the Entity for safekeeping. They all share an emotional look at one another before going their separate ways. That shot doesn't definitively end the franchise, and leaves the door open for the cast to return (should they choose to accept) for another mission. But that's a little weird, since the film was billed to be an ending to the franchise. Here are the lingering questions we have about "The Final Reckoning" ending. Was Ethan Hunt supposed to die at the end of "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning?" Our most pressing question is whether Ethan was originally supposed to die at the end of the film. During the climax on the burning biplane, Gabriel makes a point of telling the hero that he's wearing the only parachute before he falls out and is killed by the plane's fin. The film perfectly sets up that Ethan might have to sacrifice himself in order to save the world. But no, there's a second parachute tucked away inside the plane that Ethan conveniently finds. Considering "The Final Reckoning" has been billed as Cruise's swan song and the end of the franchise, it would have made sense for the hero to go out in a blaze of glory. But no, Hunt just puts the two together while falling through the sky and then lands on the ground as if it's just a normal day. It's a shame, because killing him off would've given the story and its ending more weight. Why was Luther Stickell hooked up to medical equipment in "The Final Reckoning"? Tech genius Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) has helped Ethan as part of his team in every "Mission: Impossible" movie. During "The Final Reckoning," Ethan finds Luther in a base underneath King's Cross train station in London, where he develops the Poison Pill. But during those scenes, it's heavily suggested that Luther may be dying of some kind of disease. He's hooked up to medical equipment, there's a hospital bed, and an IV drip — yet the film strangely never addresses this at all. Instead, Stickell dies while defusing a bomb left by Gabriel. Why does "The Final Reckoning" completely ignore Ilsa Faust's death in the previous film? One of the most devastating moments in "Dead Reckoning" is when Gabriel murders Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) in Venice. Isla was a mysterious MI6 agent with whom Ethan had a "will-they-won't-they" relationship. Many fans assumed her death was a fakeout as part of a plan to trick the Entity, but Isla does not return in the final installment. Even without bringing Ferguson's character back, it feels like a bizarre choice that the film does not even mention that Gabriel murdered someone Ethan was close with. Did "The Final Reckoning" need to be that long? The first hour of the sequel is crammed with exposition about where the team is after the previous film, how the Entity has taken hold of the world's nuclear weapons, and why the authorities think Ethan might be working for the opposing side (he isn't). It could have focused instead on setting up the concept of the Poison Pill and isolating the Entity in the South African bunker. It's understandable though; the early scenes put a variety of different locations from around the world on display and give "The Final Reckoning" the feel of a globe-trotting adventure. If only traveling all that way had led to a more a definitive ending.
Pink Villa
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Box Office: India emerges the 2nd biggest international market for Tom Cruise led Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning in week 1
As on May 22, 2025, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning has enjoyed a decent run at the international box office. With USD 10 million on Thursday the 22nd, the total earnings so far stand at USD 57 million, and the movie is expected to cross USD 110 million by Sunday the 25th. This performance of the Tom Cruise starrer is more or less similar to the franchise's earlier film, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, though most markets are slightly lower in comparison. Regardless, the film's global appeal remains solid, with India emerging as a standout market. India has become the second biggest international market for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, contributing USD 7.2 million to the total earnings in its first 6 days. This is a huge deal for the franchise, showing how much Indian audiences love Tom Cruise and his action-packed adventures. What makes India's performance even more prominent is that it has the highest ticket receipts among all markets. Even though South Korea leads with USD 8.3 million, India's USD 7.2 million comes from more ticket sales because ticket prices in India are generally lower than in South Korea. While this stat should mean more Indians are flocking to theaters to watch Ethan Hunt's final mission on the big screen, it must be clarified that the movie is infact performing weaker than the previous installment which netted Rs 106 crore in its full run. If not for the franchise's popularity, wide release and astronomical budget, the numbers for The Final Reckoning aren't bad. Just that they are not good enough. Indian audiences lapped onto the Mission: Impossible franchise in a major way with Ghost Protocal, which co-featured Anil Kapoor. The franchise reached its pinacle in terms of admits with Fallout while Dead Reckoning continues to remain the highest grosser. Here's a look at the top international markets for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Country Earnings (in USD million) South Korea 8.3 India 7.2 Japan 5.4 Australia 4.7 Taiwan 4.1 UK 3.0 Germany 2.8 France 2.7 While South Korea tops the list, India's high ticket sales show its massive fan base for the franchise. Other markets like Japan (USD 5.4 million) and Australia (USD 4.7 million) have made vital contributions and they can't be belittled. With a budget of USD 300–400 million, MI8 is one of the most expensive films ever. The film must gross atleast USD 800 million if not more to make any profits. You can watch Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning in theatres now.
