On its own, “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is a fine film with a couple of stellar moments and impressive sequences. Taken in context of the entire “Mission: Impossible” series (especially the last three directed by Christopher McQuarrie), however, and its light dims with the comparison. This is made all the more complicated by the fact that McQuarrie (who co-wrote), star/producer/driving force Tom Cruise, and co-writer Erik Jendresen make many attempts to tie all eight films in the franchise (so far) together with numerous callbacks to all of the previous entries, meaning that it’s difficult to just assess on its own merits and not in a broader gestalt. Various editing and screenwriting choices hamper the usual propulsive energy of a “Mission: Impossible” movie, but there is enough to thoroughly enjoy in it that remains certainly worthy of checking out.
Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is on the run…again. The A.I. program known as The Entity is moving to its endgame, disseminating misinformation and infiltrating governments across the globe—including their nuclear programs. Everything is on the brink with Hunt in possession of the (literal) key that could lead to bringing down The Entity. Of course, CIA and other U.S. agencies want that key in their own possession and not to rely on this lone wolf. But Hunt isn’t alone, working with his usual assortment of folks (Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg) plus some newer faces (Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Greg Tarzan Davis) to race against the clock to find the components needed to outsmart and ultimately take down The Entity before nuclear Armageddon envelopes the world.
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” seeks to make everything feel pre-destined, which robs it of some of its immediacy. There are flash forwards to showing how everything will go off correctly, and there are numerous callbacks to previous films in the franchise that suggest it was all (retroactively) leading to this point. To be fair, “Mission: Impossible” has always walked that fine line between guaranteed success and risky gambit; we all know that Cruise and company will succeed, despite all the (ahem) impossible odds, but what makes it engaging is the lengths to which they must go to win the day. That’s where the death-defying stunts by Cruise and co-stars come in and mirror that same tension: you know they survived the ordeals, but you also know it could have gone very badly. But “The Final Reckoning” has too much reliance on fate as a theme (and an editing motif) so that it sucks some momentum from those tense sequences.
But there are still stellar moments, particularly every scene that has to do with a submarine captained by Tramell Tillman (and includes the always incredible Katy O’Brian in its ranks). Those sequences in that submersible (and the events that immediately follow) are truly taught while also being funny and refreshing. It’s almost unfortunate as these parts show what so much of the movie could have been like if not weighed down by its past and self-importance.
One genuinely surprising element is how well a certain callback works. What should feel like inane fan service (and to be fair, it kind of still does), ends up being the heart of the film in many ways and delivering an earnest flip side to the bravado of the stunts and action. It shouldn’t work but McQuarrie and the actors manage to inject a lot of humanity into this aspect of the story. That’s offset by the fact that there’s another callback to the first “Mission: Impossible” that is just dumb and lacks any sort of emotional punch, feeling forced and befuddling.
That’s the story of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” though: one step forward, one step back. Oh, that’s a fun nod to a past movie! Oh, that’s an unnecessary and awkward reference to another film in the franchise. Oh, that’s a cool sequence with sharp stunts! Oh, that’s a poorly scripted bit of dialogue that shouldn’t have made it past the first draft. And on and on. All the actors acquit themselves well and DP Fraser Taggart composes a bunch of stellar looking scenes with excellent framing of the action and our heroes. At almost three hours long, there are lots of parts that land with a thud and feel shoehorned in, all in an attempt to serve this grand unifying narrative. But it just doesn’t work as well as previous “Mission: Impossible” entries, particularly the McQuarrie-helmed ones, and instead feels like someone out of breath trying to take a victory lap.
3 / 5 Stars
Starring: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales, Angela Bassett, Greg Tarzan Davis
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
