‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’ Review

How do you top this? No, I am not saying it in the sense that this is the best the franchise has offered but rather as in how they will be able to raise the stakes in terms of plot. Tom Cruise and his team were pretty much up against God or Anti-god/The Entity as it is referred in the movie. They do not shy away from the connection as its “messenger” is a character named Gabriel.

Continuing the story immediately from the previous instalment {Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning P̶a̶r̶t̶ O̶n̶e̶ }. It follows Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team trying to destroy the rogue AI known as The Entity after they acquired the key and the location of where its source code lies by the end of the last film.

Tom Cruise suits up as IMF Agent ‘Ethan Hunt’ for the final time if we are to go by the marketing of the movie although his recent comments does not rule out future instalments. Whether this is his final outing or not he puts in a dedicated performance from start to finish, Cruise is able to bring a sincerity to his characters on screen that other actions star do not, so when he says things like “I need you to trust me. One last time.” (while looking right at the camera) instead of rolling our eyes at it we instead sit straight up and prepare to enjoy the ride we are about to embark on.

Everything the audiences have come to love about the Mission Impossible movies can be seen a plenty. Elaborate stunts involving Cruise doing things most of us wouldn’t dare to do even in our dreams, Convoluted plans that could go wrong in a thousand different ways. However, where ‘Final Reckoning’ fails in comparison to the others is it’s pacing. Up until now every other movie’s jump from one set piece to another without giving us too much time to dwell on the plot (And for good reason).

Here they take their sweet time building up these set pieces by constantly mentioning how dangerous and impossible these missions are. It was deliberate too as the film was dubbed as the culmination of what the previous films were building up too, so everything in this had to be bigger and unlike anything they have ever done. In a sense that is true these set pieces especially that submarine sequence was a nerve-wracking experience which could definitely make you feel claustrophobic at times. In fact, it is done so well it would make you forget how long it took to get there.

Christopher McQuarrie returns as a director as he has been at the helm since Rogue Nation. Him and fellow writer Erik Jendresen try their level best to tie the older movies back to this one. ‘The Rabbits Foot’ the MacGuffin from the third Mission Impossible is revealed to have been containing the preliminary code for the Entity stored inside.

They also go back to where it started with the first Mission Impossible released all the way back in 1996. Jasper Briggs a US intelligence agent played by Shea Whigham is revealed to be Jim Phelps Jr, Son of Jim Phelps, Ethan’s mentor played by Jon Voight. It cannot be said that it came out of nowhere as a blink and a miss exchange between Briggs and his partner Theo Dagas { Greg Tarzan Davis} in Dead Reckoning alluded to some connection between him and Ethan. The way it is revealed is quite baffling however as Ethan just sort of blurts it out randomly at one point to him. The inclusion of this does not work like intended as it does not affect the plot or their characters in any meaningful manner.

It does not end there as Rolf Saxson returns as William Donloe, this was an inspired choice as he turns out to be quite important in the story. Hannah Waddingham appears as Rear Admiral Neely who is said to be related to one of the characters from the first movie but unless i missed something I’m positive that it does not get revealed who that is supposed to be.

Grace {Hayley Atwell} returns as the female lead of the movie and as charming and lovely she is, unfortunately cannot replace the hole left by Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust. Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are also back as Luther and Benji respectively, both having appeared with Cruise in most of these films their familiarity and chemistry with each other stick out. There is one particular scene with Cruise and Rhames which can be very touching and emotional for long time fans of the franchise.

Paris {Pom Klementieff}, the french assassin who first appeared in ‘Dead Reckoning’ and Dagas completes the team. Pom despite having limited lines stands out from the rest with her unique presence and perfect delivery of her one liners. Greg disappointingly acts as a proxy for the audience with most of his lines being questions which get answered by the others which is a shame considering how talented he is. Unrelated but it is quite hard to ignore since the movie spends quite sometime flashing back to previous movies and yet somehow does not even attempt to explain the absence of Jeremy Renner’s William Brandt since ‘Rogue Nation’ considering how big of a role he played in that and ‘Ghost Protocol’ .

The film ends on a hopeful message of how no one’s fate is ever truly written going against The Entity’s entire ideal and workings. There is also a satisfaction in seeing one of the biggest movie stars going against an AI during a time when actors and workers alike are concerned of their livelihood due to AI.

‘Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning’ despite stumbling over some hurdles along the way is still a movie that is worth seeing. It is hard to say what the future of this franchise looks like and if this is the end it is one heck of a way to leave, and Tom Cruise would not have it any other way.