May 14, 2025
by Carla Hay
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
Some language in French with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in various parts of the world, the action film “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” (the eighth movie in the “Mission: Impossible” movie series) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some black people, Asians, Latin people and Native Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: American rogue superspy Ethan Hunt and his international allies race against time to stop a massive artificial intelligence force called the Entity from destroying the world.
Culture Audience: “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the “Mission: Impossible” franchise and action movies that are over-the-top spectacles.
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is overstuffed, goes on for too long, and comes dangerously close to the ridiculousness of the “Fast & Furious” franchise. However, the engaging characters and superior stunts outweigh the movie’s flaws. It’s by no means the best “Mission: Impossible” movie in the series, but it’s certainly the one that expects viewers to think the hardest about a convoluted plot that doesn’t deserve overthinking.
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” (the eighth movie in the “Mission: Impossible” series was written by Erik Jendresen and McQuarrie. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” had its world premiere in Tokyo and its European premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. McQuarrie also directed and co-wrote 2015’s “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” 2018’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” and 2023’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” whose title was later shortened to “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning” after the movie underperformed at the box office. The “Mission: Impossible” movie series is inspired by the TV series “Mission: Impossible,” which was on the air from 1966 to 1973.
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is essentially “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two,” but you don’t need to see “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” to understand “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” That’s because “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is filled with exposition dumps of characters explaining what happened in previous “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and other previous “Mission: Impossible” movies, as well as over-explaining what they’re about to do in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.”
One of the most unintentionally laughable things about “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is how the characters take turns in their exposition-dump dialogues by each saying things with perfect timing, as if they know each other’s lines and never talk over each other or interrupt each other during these overly choreographed conversations. It never looks like real conversations, especially in the high-pressure situations that these characters experience. There are also several flashback montages for nostalgia’s sake and to inform viewers who might not have seen or who might have forgotten some key moments in previous “Mission: Impossible” movies.
At the end of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” American rogue superspy Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise)—an operative of the secret agency Impossible Missions Force (IMF)—escaped from with one of two keys that have the power to destroy a massive artificial intelligence villain called the Entity, which is intent on taking over the world. The Entity is not physically embodied in any one being because the Entity is a virtual enemy that can spread wherever and whenever it chooses. However, the biggest human enemy in the “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is Gabriel (played by Esai Morales), an assassin liaison for the Entity.
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” begins with an outer-space galaxy image and a male voice intoning the “Mission: Impossible” movie motto that gets repeated multiple times throughout this film: “We live and die in the shadows of those we hold close and those we never meet.” The voice adds, “The world is changing. War is coming.”
The praise gets a little corny and starts to deify Ethan as a female voice thanks Ethan for hs service, as several scenes from previous “Mission: Impossible” movies are shown like a greatest-hits playlist. The voice adds: “Every personal sacrifice you made has brought us another sunrise,” she says. “And although you never followed orders, you never let us down.
It’s also explained in the beginning of the movie that every corner of cyberspace has been corrupted by the Entity, which has inspired a doomsday cult. These fanatics have infiltrated every level of law enforcement, government bureaucracy and the military. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” doesn’t do a lot with this “worldwide cult” plot development, because most of the movie shows Ethan mostly hanging out or fighting against a small group of people, most of whom are familiar characters.
Ethan is under orders to surrender to the U.S. government and hand over the Entity key that Ethan has in his possession. Ethan as other plans. His first order of business in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is to a prison break of former Gabriel cohort Paris (played by Pom Klementieff), a French assassin who is currently in prison in Austria because of the events that happened in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.”
This review won’t go into too many more details about what happens, but it’s enough to say that “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” has a lot of dazzling action scenes but the story doesn’t do much that’s surprising. Ethan is joined by Ethan is joined by his two most loyal sidekicks: IMF computer technician Luther Stickell (played by Ving Rhames) and IMF technology field agent Benji (played by Simon Pegg), who have opposite personalities. Luther is laid-back and cool. Benji is high-strung and nervous.
Also along for the ride are Paris and two other of Ethan’s enemies-turned-allies who first appeared in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”: arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis (played by Vanessa Kirby); former U.S. intelligence agent Degas (played by Greg Tarzan Davis); and masterful thief Grace (played by Hayley Atwell), who has a mutual growing attraction to Ethan. Alanna is the daughter of illegal arms dealer Max Mitsopolis (played by Vanessa Redgrave), who died in 1996’s “Mission: Impossible,” the first film in the “Mission: Impossible” movie series. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” reveals that another character in the movie has a parent who died in the first “Mission: Impossible'” movie.
Erika Sloane (played by Angela Bassett), who was the director of the CIA in “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” is now the president of the United States in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” Field agent Jasper Briggs (played by Shea Whigham) also returns and continues to hunt Ethan. He has a much smaller role than he did in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.”
Other government officials who are featured in the movie are U.S. Army General Sidney (played by Nick Offerman), who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; U.S. Secretary of Defense Serling (played Holt McCallany); Walters (played by Janet McTeer); CIA director Eugene Kittridge (played by Henry Czerny); U.S. Navy Admiral Neely (played by Hannah Waddingham); U.S. Navy Captain Bledsoe (played by Tramell Tillman); and National Security Agency chief Angstrom (played by Mark Gatiss). They mostly just stand around and worry about decisions they have to make because of Ethan’s actions.
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” has a lot of expected globetrotting, mostly in Europe, North America and Africa. (The movie was actually filmed in South Africa and England.) The trekking includes a stop in Alaska, where CIA analyst William Donloe (played by Rolf Saxon) and his wife Tapeesa (played by Lucy Tulugarjuk) play crucial roles in the story. William was previously seen in the first “Mission: Impossible” movie. It’s explained in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” what William been doing since then.
The expected fist fights, explosions and gun shootouts occur, but the two most impressive action sequences involve (1) a deep-sea dive to go inside a shipwrecked submarine and (2) a battle to reach Gabriel flying in a single-passenger plane. (These action sequences are glimpsed in the movie’s trailers.) The deep-sea sequence is marred only by unrealistic-looking actions where Ethan does certain things without an oxygen tank or pressure suit, which would definitely kill someone in real life in a deep-sea environment.
Cruise famously does many of his own stunts. But the visual effects in these fake-looking scenes don’t look convincing because they make Ethan look superhuman, which defeats the “Mission: Impossible” purpose of showing Ethan as a flawed human being. The filmmakers should’ve left it so Ethan could be a superhero without superpowers that go beyond human capacities.
And in case it wasn’t clear enough, even though it’s repeated enough times in the movie: It’s up to Ethan to save the world. And if he doesn’t save the world, as someone in the movie quips, it’s all Ethan’s fault. The elevating of Ethan to almost messianic levels becomes a running joke in the movie. The concept of Ethan being a superhero is obvious and doesn’t even need to be said out loud. However, it’s good to see that the movie is in on the joke and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Cruise and the rest of the cast members are serviceable in their roles. But there’s sort of a cold disconnect in how most of the characters don’t mention the human stakes of saving their loved ones in this possible apocalypse. The only hints that any of these characters have lives outside of their work are brief glimpses of Erika showing affection and concern for her unnamed adult son (played by Kwabena Ansan), who’s in the U.S. military. William and Tapeesa are the only couple shown in the movie.
One of the drawbacks of making the chief villain an abstract virtual enigma instead of something tangible: It removes the possibility of having a villain with a unique personality. Human villain Gabriel is not in the movie for very long, considering the 169-minute runtime. Although there’s nothing wrong with Morales’ performance, Gabriel is an underdeveloped character and comes across as an inferior imitation of a villain in a James Bond movie.
Does anyone with knowledge of the movie business really believe that “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is the last “Mission: Impossible” movie? No. “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is not a great movie, but it’s good enough in delivering what fans expect. And what people can expect is for this franchise to continue in one way or another.
Paramount Pictures will release “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” in U.S. cinemas on May 23, 2025.
