Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning Review: An Epic End To An Iconic Franchise

Alex Schlerf
May 25
5 min read

Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie (Mission Impossible 4-7) are paired together again for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, expected to be the eighth and final film in the iconic Mission Impossible franchise.

Synopsis:

"Ethan Hunt and the IMF team race against time to find the Entity, a rogue artificial intelligence that can destroy mankind."

Cast:

Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Angela Basset

Release Date: In Theaters Now

Epic In Every Sense

When leaving the theater after watching this film, the best word I could conjur up to describe the film was... epic. This film raises the stakes and scale on an immeasurable level, making it by far the most action packed film of the entire franchise. It makes sense, given this is expected to be the final installment starring Cruise in the lead role, but they went above and beyond in every aspect. This film comes with a 400 million production budget, making it one of the most expensive films of all time. You can see how they reached that point when watching the film, noting not only the insane action sequences but also the numerable filming locations all over the world. From minute one this feels like it's trying to top everything that's come before and I think that could've been disastrous if executed poorly, but McQuarrie did incredible things with the bonkers script that he was tasked with playing out on screen.

This is seen no more than by the way the film consistently makes nods and references to previous installments in the franchise. Not only is it picking up off the previous film that ended on a cliffhanger, but they bring back characters and storylines from all the way back to the first film from 30 years ago. This could have very easily felt convoluted and too large in scale for enjoyment, but everyone involved does a great job of still making everything cohesive to produce an amazing product for audiences worldwide. I was personally in complete shock when they brought back Rolf Saxon after his small role 30 years ago in the first movie in this franchise. Not only do they bring him back, he has a pivotal role in the story and Saxon just absolutely crushes it with an incredibly emotional performance. I'm going to delve more into my favorite individual scene in the film later on, but there's so many other amazing ones to point out: everything with Angela Bassett's character in the crisis room, Cruise meeting the AI for the first time and the extended plane sequence to end the film. This movie strings together incredible action sequences with scenes of strong and meaningful dialogue so well, with everything coming together so well that you won't even feel bogged down by the almost three hour runtime.

Supporting Cast Shine Alongside Cruise

The best thing about this franchise is that although Tom Cruise is well and truly the lead in every way, he's surronded himself with an amazing supporting cast along the way and that sentiment continues in this installment. First we'll start with talking about Cruise, as he is the heartbeat of this franchise and again proves his worth in Final Reckoning. The thing about Cruise is that he's outdone himself so much in the recent MI films that it's somehow not even hard to believe when he does it again in this film. There's plently of practical sequences that were insane to watch knowing that Cruise probably did 99% of his own stunts. He also packs a huge emotional punch in this one, which was expected due to the nature of this being the final film in the franchise but I still appreciated as somebody who is a big fan of these films.

As for the supporting cast, the main standouts are two people that have been with this franchise from the beginning: Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg. Rhames specifically has been here since the first film 30 years ago and he puts in some of his best work with this installment. His performance is equally beautiful and gut wrenching, with many moments causing my entire theater (including myself) to have tears in their eyes. Pegg is equally as brilliant, pairing his crafty awkwardness with emotion to continue his status as one of the most likable characters in the whole franchise. Although I somewhat enjoyed Hayley Atwell's character in the previous film, I thought she was much more enjoyable this time around and she turns out to be a great scene partner with Cruise. I already mentioned Bassett earlier, but she's obviously amazing as usual. There's a really emotional scene right towards the end with her and it again reinstated that she's one of the absolute best actresses out there right now. I really enjoyed seeing Pom Klementieff's character again as well. Hannah Waddingham and Tramell Tillman are really fun additions also!

Incredible Underwater Action Sequence

This sequence is the one thing I am just dying to see a behind the scenes for once this film hits digital. Long story short, for those who haven't seen the film, there's a sequence where Cruise's character is attempting to retrieve an item while entirely underwater in a submarine. Not only is he underwater, but the submarine is slowly falling off a rock face, meaning that the dynamics of the ship and how he moves around are constantly changing. This allows for an extended sequence where Cruise is navigating through this submarine, shifting through countless obstacles and doing his absolute best to adjust when the ship is moving. The entire sequence is breathtaking and I think is the most impressive extended scene I've ever seen in the 30 year history of this franchise. Every minute that passed my jaw just dropped further and further thinking of how they were even able to make it look as good as it was for the entire time. It gets incredibly intense at the end and had everybody in my theater leaning forward in their seats right up until the end. A seriously incredible cinematic achievement for all involved and I can say with a lot of confidence that it's probably my favorite scene in the entire franchise.

An End To An Iconic Franchise

The last five minutes of this film were a complete emotional gut punch. After the intensity of the final climax passes, you are thrusted immediately into an incredibly emotional monologue from one of the main characters. Not only is this emotional in itself because of events that happen in the movie, but it finally starts to settle in with you that this will be the final one of Cruise's installments. If you are a fan of this franchise to any degree, there's no doubt that this ending will hit you on a very emotional level. Not only did the filmmakers do a great job of wrapping up all the storylines that were set up throughout the course of the last two films, but they also wrapped up the franchise as a whole in a very meaningful way. Although they theoretically could make more films with Cruise after this, this has all the feelings of a last dance for him and everyone involved. They absolutely went out on a huge high note with this film, which ends up appealing to not only long standing fans of the franchise but also newcomers as well.

Final Thoughts

I am incredibly sad to have to say goodbye to the Tom Cruise Mission Impossible era, but I'm also very grateful that they were able to end this eight-film saga on a very big high with Final Reckoning. It cements itself alongside Fallout and MI: 1 as among the best in what is clearly one of the best action franchises in cinema history. This is a film that was absolutely made to be seen in a movie theater on the biggest screen possible, as it is a cinematic experience of epic proportions. Go see this movie!

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

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