“Mission: Impossible” Is An Imperfect But Exciting Possible End To A Popular Series

Like the James Bond franchise before it, “Mission: Impossible” has always understood that its strengths don’t lie in a deep mythology or concrete continuity but in the immediate moment of what’s happening onscreen. It took 15 years for the franchise to introduce its third returning character after Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames, and up through 2018’s “Fallout,” every film has featured a rotating cast of team members rather than a fixed, continuous supporting cast. Aside from a few changes, namely the inclusion of Simon Pegg as a key team member in 2011 and Rebecca Ferguson in 2015, the M:I movies, like Bond, can be watched in almost any order and still hit every expected note.

That is, up until now.

“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is the appropriately named closing entry in the franchise and is also the first to unambiguously insist on its position in the series’ chronology. Themes of finishing a journey and reflecting on the past are present all the way through, with this also being the first film to acknowledge that Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is no longer a spring chicken. It’s packed to the rafters with references to previous movies, and despite changing its title ahead of release to something more individual (the film was previously billed as “Dead Reckoning: Part Two”), is completely dependent upon the previous entry for its story beats to make sense.

Requiring a familiarity with a franchise to understand its eighth and final entry doesn’t seem like a huge ask of the audience – just look at how the MCU has handled it for the last two decades – but given M:I’s spectacular run as a series of loosely connected stories, it’s new ground. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t seem to trust the audience to remember a single thing. Every reference to the past is punctuated by an extended flashback. Everything from naming an old ally to listing all the times Tom Cruise has done something insane is accompanied by a grainy clip from an old movie, just to remind us what happened. For someone choosing to begin their “Mission: Impossible” experience here, with the last movie in the series, it might be helpful. For everyone else, it’s a distracting misstep that brings the whole film screeching to a halt whenever it happens.

This insistence on acknowledging the past is the ultimate downfall of “The Final Reckoning.” These movies are always well plotted with a decent story, yes, but they understand that it’s far more entertaining to watch Ethan Hunt run and jump his way through the most beautiful cities in the world than it is to watch a series of board meetings about a potential Armageddon interspersed between clip shows of the last seven movies. In an effort to wrap up the franchise, the filmmakers missed what makes the series so magical. The first hour is slow and convoluted, and without the goodwill of the last 30 years, could have easily sunk the movie before it ever really kicked into gear.

But kick into gear it does, and boy does it pay off.

Despite a shaky start, there’s little doubt that “The Final Reckoning” will be hailed as a fitting end to America’s greatest modern action franchise, as well as a clear frontrunner for this year’s biggest movie. From the halfway point onward, the movie never stops and is constantly in the running for some of the biggest, most nail-biting stunts of Cruise’s entire career. There’s never a moment to look away, and with the film at nearly three hours long, I would certainly recommend planning bathroom breaks accordingly.

Across the two major set pieces in the latter half of the film, the movie cements itself as an indomitable, though admittedly messy modern classic. The first of these huge stunts, which has been kept under wraps throughout production, is so stressful it feels like a horror movie at times, while the final showdown, featuring two biplanes and a lot of yelling, is quintessential Cruise insanity. It’s the best the franchise has ever been, and it’s well worth the less-than-thrilling first half.

But it’s also full of the heart that makes these movies more than just a slide show of Tom Cruise spending Paramount’s money on thrills. While it does rely on the rest of the franchise to develop its cast, adding no new characters to the mix, it gives everyone a moment to shine in a way that feels earned and important. Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and particularly Ving Rhames are standouts, as are a few returning faces that are better left unspoiled. Even if you’re grinning from ear to ear by the end, there’s a solid chance it’ll be alongside a tear or two. Whether it’s the last “Mission Impossible” or not, it’s a fantastic sendoff for the whole cast, and a continued promise of great things from everyone involved. Not perfect by any stretch, but a fantastic time at the movies, and one that demands to be seen on as big a screen as possible!