There’s no denying the excitement that surrounds the impending release of a Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible movie, and two years after Dead Reckoning Part One, the sequel — and eighth movie overall — is finally hitting the 2025 movie calendar. With the Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning release date just around the corner, critics have had the chance to see early screenings, and they’re hitting social media with some wild reactions to what may be Cruise’s final chapter.
The upcoming action movie picks up two months after the end of Dead Reckoning, with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) continuing his mission to stop Gabriel (Esai Morales) from obtaining an A.I. program called “The Entity.” Cruise has gotten fans hyped for more stunts, and CinemaBlend’s own Jessica Rawden posts that we’ll be talking about one action sequence for years. In her words:
One stretch of M:I The Final Reckoning is a showstopper we'll be talking about for years. There's interesting camera work, it pays homage to the whole franchise & hits a lot of anxiety-inducing and emotional beats. Yes, the plot's all over the place, but I kind of didn't care.
Austin Putnam writes that if Mission: Impossible 8 is, indeed, the final installment of Ethan Hunt’s story, this is a pretty good way to end it. Putnam says:
If Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning really is the final Mission…they went out on a great note. While I still believe that FALLOUT is the peak. THE FINAL RECKONING is full of white knuckle tension and the set pieces are jaw dropping. And in IMAX? WOW!
While many said Fallout — one of the best action movies of all time — remains their favorite, others think The Final Reckoning might surpass it. Zach Pope says it balances emotion and stunts for a perfect finale, writing:
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is an emotional, riveting, & perfect Mission impossible finale. That feels the most visceral of them all. With pound for pound punches, exhilarating stunts (that might be the best of the franchise), & incredible performances throughout.
The Mission: Impossible 8 cast includes Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny and Angela Bassett reprising their roles alongside Tom Cruise, all of whom contribute to what K.E.V.I.N. Fenix says is possibly the best action flick ever made:
Wow! Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is pure cinema. The latest Mission: Impossible will easily go down as the greatest action film of all time. A heart pounding and jaw dropping thrill from start to finish. Watch it as big and loud as possible. … For me, outside of the absolute spectacle and thrill ride of [MI8], the film's magic is how it conducts the symphony of danger, stakes, tension, and levity. It's what makes the near 3 hour runtime time fly by in a blink of an eye.
With action sequences that reportedly even made Tom Cruise nervous, the stunts are definitely a major takeaway from early screenings, as Courtney Howard posts:
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning rips! Loved it. An exhilarating adrenaline rush for the head & heart & immersive, awe-inducing stuntacular of the highest order. McQ, Tom Cruise & Co have crafted the gold standard - a brilliant, bold actioner for the ages. See it BIG & LOUD.
Several others also strongly suggest moviegoers catch The Final Reckoning on IMAX, if you’re able, to get the full effect of Christopher McQuarrie’s “sphincter-tightening” stunts. as Simon Thompson puts it:
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is 🔥 Whip-smart and razor-sharp, this tense eighth entry in one of the most exhilarating franchises of all time is another winner. With sphincter tightening set pieces, blockbusters do not get much better than this. Cruise & McQuarrie nail it!
Mark Daniell of The Toronto Sun specifically notes the wild plane scene, but Tom Cruise’s underwater stunts have also been garnering a lot of buzz. Daniell writes:
The plane scene in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is the best action sequence ever shot. But MI8 is also the most emotional Mission movie and a testament both to Tom Cruise’s passion for playing Ethan Hunt and the audiences that have watched these amazing movies for 30 years
Landon Johnson joins the others in a glowing first reaction, posting:
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is the grand crescendo of the franchise built on speed, suspense, and spectacle. Cruise pushes every limit—soaring higher, diving deeper, and racing toward the edge, risking life, limb, and logic in a three-hour blitz of chaos, precision, and pure adrenaline. It’s not just a finale—it’s a full-body experience. Buckle up.
I’m excited to see what critics have to say when they’re allowed to expand on these initial thoughts, but I’m mostly just pumped to see some more death-defying action from this nearly 30-year-old franchise. If Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is a mission you choose to accept, you can purchase your impossibly cool popcorn bucket and head to theaters starting Friday, May 23.
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