Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Review: Tom Cruise’s Fun But Flawed Finale
For nearly 30 years, Tom Cruise has graced our screens as Ethan Hunt, performing one death-defying stunt after another all for our entertainment. With Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, this may be Ethan’s last mission. Cruise’s swan song as this iconic IMF agent reunites him with longtime collaborator Christopher McQuarrie for a race against time to fight the Entity, a rogue artificial intelligence that can destroy mankind. This is an unforgettable, stunning blockbuster that doesn’t soar above the heights of most of the previous missions, but does manage to be just enough to be a satisfying conclusion for this series.
The eighth movie in this long-running action espionage franchise very much feels like it’s wrapping up a decades-long legacy. The classic Mission: Impossible “briefing” scene features a montage recapping some of the most memorable moments in the past seven films. In some ways, that’s one of The Final Reckoning’s most surprising flaws. It uses an inordinate amount of archival footage and flashbacks to events that happened earlier. It can feel as if the movie is consistently being disrupted by references to past movies. The same way Spectre wanted to tie together story threads from multiple prior Bond movies, this film attempts to do something similar, and strains a bit of credibility as a result.
One of the charms of the early Mission films is that they each had their own director and were therefore each made with a distinct voice. From Brian De Palma’s unnerving thrills to John Woo’s slow-mo, pigeon-filled action to JJ Abrams’s breakneck pace to Brad Bird’s thirst for visually spectacular set pieces, this series has always remained fresh. But Cruise and McQuarrie have been running strong since 2008’s Valkyrie, so it’s no secret as to why he took on directing responsibilities for the latest four Missions. To give him credit where credit’s due, he’s never repeated himself. Rogue Nation, Fallout, and Dead Reckoning all have distinct styles, and he sometimes directs The Final Reckoning as a documentarian would.
The first act of this film manages to pull you into a much darker, more intense film than you’re expecting. Many of the Mission movies are quite fun. This film is fun at times, but the first 45 minutes resemble a grim sci-fi crime thriller. It’s a very different flavor of Mission: Impossible than you’d expect, and it sets up an intriguing concluding chapter for this series. For all the gripping moments and surprisingly effective levity, there remains a little too much exposition, as it spends a lot of time reminding you of past movies and sharing a lot of information about the Entity.
Despite how phenomenal this movie can be at times, it’s definitely rougher around the edges than other Mission films. They’ve set the standard, with many of the franchise’s installments comprising some of the best action movies of the 21st century. The Final Reckoning gives more of what you’ve come to know and love from these films. We (naturally) have world-ending stakes at play, and in a world known for its high stakes, they’ve never been higher than they are here. It can sometimes feel like we’re watching a Terminator movie where Ethan Hunt is trying to stop Skynet to prevent Judgment Day from happening.
But there’s so much joy to be had because this may be Ethan’s most impossible mission yet. For years, these missions have always been quite possible, but this time around, it genuinely does feel like our characters may not make it out of this one. The second act features an underwater sequence where you can tell Cruise and McQuarrie are trying to improve on the sequence from Rogue Nation. This new set piece manages to be very exciting, rivaling James Cameron’s work on The Abyss. It does run a little long, though, much like a few moments in this movie. It’s a bit more action-light and slower-paced than you’d expect during the first half, but it always manages to pull you in without a single dull moment.
An interesting idea The Final Reckoning plays with is that the main villain is not Gabriel (Esai Morales); it is the Entity. Gabriel feels more like a henchman for the evil A.I. and it can sometimes feel like this is a weaker section of the film. Morales’s performance as Gabriel does not reach the heights of other Mission villains like Owen Davian and Solomon Lane. Dead Reckoning teased a backstory between Ethan and Gabriel from decades prior. It’s disappointing that The Final Reckoning does not develop their backstory any further or give answers. His dialogue also includes very cliché bad guy lines, and he spends much of the movie cackling maniacally like the world’s biggest evildoer.
But how’s the finale? Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning features an all-timer for the franchise. Heads will roll, jaws will drop, all that fun stuff. Ethan hangs onto a biplane as it spins in absurd directions. It genuinely feels like whoever was flying that plane was trying to kill Tom Cruise. It’s one of the best action set pieces ever put to screen, but structurally, the finale feels very similar to the final act of Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Fallout is my personal favorite installment of the franchise, and it feels like this movie recycles a little too much from that.
Mission: Impossible raised the bar for what an action movie could do. We’ve gotten so many phenomenal installments in this franchise that even though The Final Reckoning is not as good as most of the prior films, it has better filmmaking than most action movies that have ever been made. Sure, the movie can feel overstuffed with characters and story elements and not all of them have the strongest payoff, but it’s always entertaining to see a team work together to save the world. Hayley Atwell proves to be a phenomenal addition to this franchise, but this series has introduced so many incredible characters that it’s easy to miss a few faces of the past.
A generally satisfying conclusion to this long-running series, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning dares to go bigger and badder than we’ve ever seen before. It’s got all the excitement you want from this series, and while I definitely expect it to be more polarizing than most Missions, this movie is firmly in Cruise control and all the better for it.
SCORE: 7/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7 equates to “Good.” A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but it may not appeal to everyone.
Disclosure: ComingSoon attended a press screening for our Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning review.
Source: Comingsoon.net