Carl Roberts 
“Despite not hitting the heights of Dead Reckoning, Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning is still an action-packed rollercoaster.”
Well, here it is. The eighth and possibly final chapter in the Tom Cruise action franchise. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning lights the fuse on an explosive addition to what could be described as Cruise’s best movie role. Concluding the story that began two years ago with Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning, all the loose ends are tied up here. Featuring a huge cast including Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, and Angela Bassett, the film has a lot to get through to complete its mission. Its mission is to entertain and have us cheering loudly from our seats. The question is, can Cruise complete the mission to our satisfaction? Or does the film never really ignite?
PREMISE
Picking up two months after the events of Dead Reckoning. IMF agent Ethan Hunt continues his mission to stop Gabriel from obtaining the AI program known as “the Entity”
THOUGHTS
Given that the film is almost three hours long, it has a lot to get through—too much, as it turns out. It could have easily shaved forty-five minutes off of its mammoth runtime. Instead, we are thrown headlong into some heavy storytelling. We also get a recap of events from the previous seven films. One movie finally receives a payoff that is nineteen years in the making. While this fits neatly into the story, it is a plot point that didn’t need to be added. In addition, several characters we expect to make one (possibly) final appearance do not appear at all. We wait for them to make even a cameo and are disappointed when they don’t.
With such a mammoth cast, some get brief appearances before vanishing from the film for long periods or being left out to pasture. Throw in the three acts combined, and it can sometimes make for a long slog, and some may feel exasperated by the climax. For an action film, it is light on action, relying on emotion, storytelling, world-building, and explanations of events. But once we get to some action, we will not be disappointed in that department. We are in for a rollercoaster ride from the middle to the aerial climax. The aerial stunts have been covered in behind-the-scenes featurettes. But believe me, you haven’t seen the half of it. The sequence could be the best in the franchise.
TOM CRUISE
Tom Cruise effortlessly slips back into Ethan Hunt’s shoes for the eighth time. Will it be his last, as it has been reported to be? You’ll have to watch the film to find out! But from start to finish, Cruise gives an excellent performance as usual as the character. His journey here takes him through anger, loss, desperation, sadness, and his desire to complete the mission. The franchise is arguably Cruise’s best, and the film showcases the franchise he has carried for almost thirty years. Thanks to the flashbacks, we get to see the actor’s journey through the entire franchise. It shows the actor getting better as he has progressed with Ethan’s journey. His devotion to what he has created along the way, alongside the stunts he has provided, can’t be dismissed or underestimated. This, like all the other films, belongs solely to Tom Cruise.
CALIBRE
Even in the slower moments and the exposition, Ethan speaks throughout; the actor’s calibre shines through. Cruise indeed suffers for his art, none more so than here. His stunts in this film would make a younger actor wince and demand a stand-in. Not Tom Cruise. The climactic aerial sequence ranks amongst the actor’s best he has embarked on. But he is more than an action hero; he delivers raw emotion and shows flaws we don’t expect to see. Cruise makes Ethan more than a one-dimensional character. He seems actually to BE Ethan Hunt at times. Couple this with what he brings to the table, and we will miss Ethan if this is his final screen appearance.
THE CAST
With this being Cruise’s (possible) final go-around as Ethan Hunt, it isn’t too much of a surprise to learn that the rest of the cast trails in his wake. After the build-up to their characters in Dead Reckoning, it is a let-down to see how underused some of them are. Hayley Atwell, as Grace, manages to get her heroic moments in the spotlight at times, but is sadly pushed to the background for many of her scenes. The same goes for Simon Pegg as Benji, Ving Rhames as Luther, and Pom Klementieff as Paris. Yes, they all play their parts in the film, bringing their talents to the table and making their characters memorable. But at the same time, they are eclipsed by Cruise’s shadow. Where Pegg and Rhames are concerned, we know virtually everything about them now after the films they’ve appeared in.
Pom Klementieff, however, gets to be the team member we cheer for outside of Ethan. To put it into perspective, the French actress reminds us, at times, of Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko Miyashiro / The Female in The Boys. The way she acts, the way she speaks (while Kimiko signs her thoughts, Paris expresses them), and the way she takes on the bad guys are similar. It is wonderful to see and watch on screen.
SOME SURPRISING DEVELOPMENTS
Greg Tarzan Davis, as Degas, gets a more significant and more meaty role, becoming a vital cog in the film’s wheel. The most surprising inclusions amongst the cast are the returning Rolf Saxon as William Donloe, last seen in the original movie, and Lucy Tulugarjuk as Tapeesa, Donloe’s wife. We expect them to make a quick appearance and then be gone. However, they appear midway into the film and stay until the end. They are a delightful surprise, with Lucy Tulugarjuk providing some of the film’s comedic moments. With Saxon’s appearance, it feels like the franchise has been topped and tailed.
The rest of the cast is reduced to merely token appearances. Esai Morales as Gabriel appears sporadically as the villain of the piece before getting his big moments in the final third of the film. Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge is absent from most of the film, Shea Whigham as Jasper Briggs gets only a tiny amount of screen time, and Angela Bassett as President Erika Sloane manages to get some excellent emotional depth out of her twenty minutes on screen. Everyone else gets a few short minutes to make an impression before fading into the background again. Some are merely blink and you’ll miss them, casualties of having such an overstuffed cast.
TWO STANDOUT SET PIECES
The franchise is famous for its set pieces. Here, we get two of the best the series has to offer. The first concerns Ethan diving to board the sunken Sevastopol, a sequence that runs for about twenty minutes. This is where the film comes into its own. The tension we expect in a sequence like this is all there and more. At no time do we feel safe, for ourselves and for Ethan himself. It is crammed full of tension, suspense, and a feeling of dread. As we leave the cinema, we must marvel at how such a superb and exhilarating sequence came about and was filmed. It is a real feat of achievement and a standout in the film.
The second concerns the aerial sequence at the film’s denouement. After everything we’ve seen of this, we have only scratched the surface. Considering Tom Cruise performed all of the sequence’s thrilling moments himself, it has us gripping the arms of the seat in sheer terror and fear, and leaving us breathless. It isn’t a lie to say that Cruise and the filmmakers have gone all out to top every other stunt-filled sequence Cruise has done. And, to my mind, they have achieved it. Despite being broken up as it intercuts with different events, it doesn’t hold back with the excitement as we race towards the climax. Tom Cruise and the filmmakers have outdone themselves here. You won’t see another sequence like it this year or in many years to come. It truly is that good.
CHRISTOPHER MCQUARRIE
Christopher McQuarrie’s direction is incredible. He is directing a Mission: Impossible film for the fourth time, and he knows what he’s doing. Once again, he delivers an action blockbuster chapter to the franchise that we can’t help but enjoy. How he and Tom Cruise seem to know each other’s thoughts without words, and exactly how they should play the scene, makes the film stand out above other movies of its ilk. The way the director intercuts the film with different things going on, with various characters in different locations and events, gives the film a slick, polished sheen from which it benefits.
However, the screenplay he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen is a slight drawback. Both writers pay tribute to what’s gone before, referencing events from the other seven movies, but in doing so, they overinflate the script. It becomes bloated, with too much going on, too many characters to keep track of that we sometimes lose track of what we should be concentrating on. This minor drawback drags the film down slightly, keeping it from reaching the heights of the previous chapter.
VERDICT
Despite not reaching the heights of Dead Reckoning, Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning is still an action-packed rollercoaster. It is what we’ve come to expect while exceeding and lowering our expectations. There is enough material in this film to create three regular 90-minute movies. Using it to create an almost three-hour-long film makes the movie bulge at the seams. Thankfully, Cruise and McQuarrie manage to contain it for the most part, but only just. I have heard from some quarters that this and the last movie should have been one. I disagree. If that approach is adopted, you’ll still need at least a five-hour film to tell the entire story. You’ll also miss out on some brilliance that could end up on the cutting room floor. Cut into three movies and you’d be about right.
Can the franchise continue? Or rather, should it? That is up to how you view the film’s ending. The franchise can certainly carry on, but where could it go after this and Dead Reckoning? You’ve just blown the audience away; another chapter could ruin its legacy. Or it could be another blockbuster film to make you think, to have you gripping the arms of the seat. I guess it’s up to the box office and the audience to answer that question. I wouldn’t mind another chapter or two of the franchise. But after giving us some heavy-duty storytelling in the last two films, it would be a cheat to lighten it up.
ACCEPT THE MISSION
That is something for another time. For now, sit back in your seat and light the fuse again. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go to the movies and have fun watching Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning. Once you have, it will be Mission: Accomplished. This is a film and a franchise that won’t self-destruct in five seconds.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will be in cinemas from next weekend, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Introducing Carl! As the News Editor at Future of the Force, Carl has been an invaluable member of our team since early 2016. His expertise and dedication have made him an integral part of our editorial staff. Beyond his professional role, Carl is a fervent supporter of Liverpool F.C. and an avid follower of pop culture. He has a deep passion for Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the iconic movie franchises Star Wars and Star Trek.
He can be found either at his neighborhood cinema, enjoying the latest releases on the big screen, or at home streaming the newest blockbuster movies.
