The name Ethan Hunt and the words “final mission” don’t feel like they should go together. While the eighth film in the franchise bears the title “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” there might be hope that Tom Cruise has another 29 years to give, committing perilous and elaborate stunts to save the world. One main sticking point that continues to wow audiences is how far Hunt goes to ensure atrocities don’t happen. 2023’s “Dead Reckoning: Part One” set the stage with an all-powerful AI named “The Entity,” which has grown exponentially more in “The Final Reckoning,” pushing the entirety of the world to the brink of nuclear disaster. The stakes of how dire this is hit a rhythm within the film’s second half, while the first part is tasked with many things that weigh it down. It’s a celebration of the prior films, an eulogy of its all ending, and finally deals with the monumental task.
Director Christopher McQuarrie and writer Erik Jendresen use the first hour as a primer on what happened in “Dead Reckoning, with the cadence of an episodic installment. Hunt waits when President Sloane (Angela Bassett) calls upon him once more to go above and beyond to snatch the world back from the brink of destruction. There’s a nice montage to show, even with our hero being a rule breaker, Ethan Hunt always got the job done. He doesn’t take super serum or hold a shield, but has an uncanny resolve to make the impossible possible. For all Hunt has done, he has sacrificed just as much. There would have been more impact if the film had left its overarching statement to this. Instead, the pacing becomes impeded early because “Final Reckoning” decides to rely on extensive flashbacks to hammer home Hunt’s trials and tribulations.
Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning / Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures
One “Mission: Impossible” film gets referenced, and it fits more in line with the story’s direction. Otherwise, much time is spent explaining how deceitful the entity is as it wraps up everyday citizens within its nihilistic mission – an overture to the dangers of misinformation and artificial intelligence’s role in the real world. With great power comes many people who want to obtain it and yield it for their own gain. Not only are there those in government looking to harness the technology, but assassin Gabriel (Esai Morales), essentially a human avatar for “the entity,” also wants it. But our hero stands in the way because he believes no one should have this power. It’s that selfness as to why the ethos of Ethan Hunt has taken on such a massive legend (and Cruise himself). How is he going to get out of this one?
“Final Reckoning” switches gears from meticulous planning sessions to knowing what you came to see in its second and third acts. Hunt’s partners-in-world-saving, Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), and Grace (Hayley Atwell), are back in the fold, as well as Paris (Pom Klementieff) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis) know they have four days until the major nine countries defense systems are hacked and unattenible – with all of human life in the crossfire. There’s massive ground to cover to be the thorn in the algorithm’s eye, including going by air, land, and sea.
However, Ethan’s moments with the team are short. “The Final Reckoning” sets him on his own course as his compatriots install another part of the plan. That would be all fine, except that the film also has an adjacent Wargames subplot running alongside it. Bassett, Janet McTeer, Holt McCallany, and Nick Offerman are contained within their respective characters to decide what the United States should do. This is supposed to establish another method of running against the clock. It takes the audience from where they want to be – the action. Tramell Tillman’s stint as a charismatic submarine captain is the film’s best example of introducing a secondary character to move the plot forward.
However, Cruise and McQuarrie’s love for this franchise is evident in two exhilarating action set pieces involving Hunt’s character. This way of saving the world as we know it is improbable for anybody else – yet you believe Ethan Hunt will hang and maneuver on a flying helicopter or dive to the depths of the ocean to achieve it. It’s entrusting your lead character and the immediate team you’ve built around him where the film’s confidence lies. Despite these impressive displays that speak to the staying power of the series, there is so much insistence on telling the viewer of its importance rather than merely displaying it through natural energy.
If there was ever a character that deserved a long goodbye, it’s Hunt. Every triumphant hero deserves an equally fierce last antagonist to oppose them. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” strives to sell you that this world calamity results from Hunt’s prior actions. That, in practice, is a lot more compelling if Gabriel didn’t fall into the “you’ll never catch me” trajectory. He falls short and shrinks in the shadow of the larger-than-life protagonist, who spends a considerable amount of the runtime chasing after him. “The Final Reckoning” has all the hallmarks you would come to expect, but I wish the final entry didn’t bow to the pressure of overexplaining what’s at stake.
