‘Our lives are not defined by any one action. Our lives are the sum of our choices…’
Beginning way back in 1996 and including eight films, the Mission: Impossible franchise has become Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie’s magnum opus over the last three decades. It’s one of the only film franchises in which the sequels become more accomplished as they go on, which is probably why they have grossed over four and a half BILLION dollars. The Final Reckoning, the last entry in the franchise, sees Ethan Hunt battling to save the world from total extinction… again…
The Entity, an advanced, rogue, and self-aware artificial intelligence, wants to destroy everything by taking over the world’s supply of nuclear weapons. Luckily, Hunt (Cruise) concocts a preposterous plan to stop this from happening. Various cast members from previous entries appear (Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Esai Morales, Henry Czerny, etc), and while I love this franchise, if you’ve seen the previous seven instalments, you’ll absolutely know what to expect from this one.
Having an unseen big bad is a bold strategy, and while it doesn’t kill this movie, the absence of a physical antagonist does render the threat that is supposed to anchor the film a little abstract. For a franchise that has had such memorable villains in the past (Sean Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Henry Cavill, etc), showhorning in Morales for a few scenes simply isn’t enough (even if one of those scenes, filmed on the wing of an actual airborne plane, is incredible). But that brings us to another point. While that action set piece is jaw-dropping, the main event is an underwater sequence that, while obviously impressive, left me cold emotionally. There are no stakes; it’s a little repetitive, and I’ve always found underwater sequences in any film to be quite dreary.
That being said, there are moments of real emotional resonance, perhaps unsurprisingly seen as we’ve been watching these characters across decades now, and these are only enhanced by Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey’s excellent score. It is also lovely to see Nick Offerman and Mark Gatiss in the war room of the President playing it mostly straight. Despite making their name in comedy, they are both excellent serious actors when given the opportunity.
The Final Reckoning is not the best Mission: Impossible film (that honour still belongs to Ghost Protocol), but it is a fitting end to what has become a true cinematic behemoth over the last few decades. I’ll miss seeing little Tommy Cruise performing some of the most insane stunts known to man, but I’m also glad that he’ll now have the time to divert his efforts elsewhere. This feels like the right time to hang up the self-destructing messages and go do something else. It’s been a wild ride.
