In a world where audiences feel like they’ve seen it all, while still expecting to be dazzled by new, does co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie pull off the impossible? Sort of. Considering Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning was originally supposed to be Dead Reckoning Part Two, and the final installment of the 29-year running franchise, if this is the end, it definitely goes out with a bang.
For those who may have missed Dead Reckoning, and didn’t play catch up, Final Reckoning struggles to find its footing through the first act as it catches up with the story, while going full throttle with “previously on Mission: Impossible” montages. It’s an odd thing to sit through, even if you didn’t watch all the previous seven films to prepare.
We start with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and Grace (Hayley Atwell) tracking down Gabriel (Esai Morales) who is still working under the AI known as the “Entity.” After being captured by Gabriel, what Ethan doesn’t realize is that the core module he’s sent to retrieve from the sunken Russian submarine Sevastopol, happens to be M:I III’s “Rabbit’s Foot,” which would give Gabriel control over the Entity’s source code. Lucky for us, there’s never been a mission Ethan could refuse, so he gets the band back together, for one last mission, should they accept it.
McQuarrie and Cruise shoot to go big or go home. With all the expected stunt pieces in place — the mid-film submarine sequence is a showstopper — there is one place the film sort of falters: the plot. I know, I know, that’s not what we’re here for. When a film is aiming to tie up loose ends across eight films, that should be where it shines. Granted, it does work way better than it should.
The characters all get their moments to shine — Pom Klementieff’s Paris continues to steal every scene, while Atwell shows how far she’s come from her MCU days as Agent Carter — and things blow up real good, Simon Pegg gets to crack jokes, and Cruise shows that no matter how old he gets there’s just no stopping him. The final aerial sequence is one for the books and is an amazing companion piece to the helicopter fight in Fallout. Considering the film is said to have cost $300-$400 million to make, word is that it has to clear $1 million dollars in order to be considered a hit.
With all that on the line, it’s a good thing Final Reckoning is better than Dead Reckoning. That one was no slouch, but when you’re in the endgame, you better hit all the right notes. McQuarrie and Cruise have everything in place for audiences to bid farewell — maybe, we know Hollywood never lets a good franchise die — and Final Reckoning is 100% worth catching in a theater. Especially IMAX as intended, even if it’s about to sadly scythe away every screen from the just as worthy spectacle of Final Destination Bloodlines.
