Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Review: I Choose To Accept Tom Cruise’s Blockbuster Finale As An Explosive Kickoff To Summer Movie Season

On May 22, 1996, audiences accepted a mission that seemed impossible: a successful modern adaptation of a classic TV series. Tom Cruise and the Mission: Impossible franchise have long outlasted the original fad that gave it life, with almost 30 years under the belt of this Paramount Pictures franchise. But as we’re commonly reminded, all good things must come to an end – which is part of why the eighth chapter in this series has been given the subtitle The Final Reckoning. That reality is bittersweet, because while this does feel like a big goodbye to Ethan Hunt, the story that’s employed to bid this farewell is going to leave you wanting more.

Two months after the events of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has once more gone into hiding. Refusing several requests to rejoin the fight against The Entity’s malicious A.I. antics, the governments of the world are on the brink of all out war. With Ethan's Impossible Mission Force team still assembled (Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementiff, and Ving Rhames) and nemesis Gabriel (Esai Morales) also remaining on the board, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning boils down to a four-day window that could spell nuclear armageddon.

Anyone wondering if director Christopher McQuarrie’s fourth entry in the Mission lexicon can be enjoyed without prior knowledge is in for a bit of a paradox. While The Final Reckoning does have tons of callbacks, flashbacks, and exposition that gives you the Cliff’s Notes version of Ethan’s exploits up to this point, having experiencing those previous adventures does lend depth to all of the shocking turns.

That’s something very important to consider, as our eighth and final joyride with superspy Ethan Hunt tries to tie up a whole lot of loose ends in its almost three-hour running time. Which is both a blessing and a curse, due to all of the moving parts this continuity has integrated over the last three decades.

Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning gleefully flies through almost three hours of action, fan service, and intrigue.

Let’s just put some good news on the table right up front. As someone who’s followed Mission: Impossible’s movies from the beginning, I can confidently say that this is a proper finale to Tom Cruise’s spy game. Even better still, I’m very happy to report that The Final Reckoning is a vast improvement from Dead Reckoning, despite being cut from the same story cloth.

Following its slightly more convoluted predecessor, this picture starts in high gear, and doesn’t let up until it crosses the finish line – which is something I’ll always commend a nearly three-hour movie for being able to do. Perhaps it’s the supposed finality of this eighth Mission that inspired Christopher McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendresen in plotting what’s being billed as the swan song for this iteration of this espionage saga.

The former’s love for the 1996 franchise started is still clear throughout various choices in the narrative at work, with a gigantic hat tip to Mission: Impossible III poised to also give loyal IMF fans another moment to gleefully snap and point at the screen a la Rick Dalton. If you’ve missed the days of the more fleshed out team-based dynamic previous missions have contained, then consider that another jewel in The Final Reckoning’s crown.

Series newcomers Hayley Atwell and Pom Klemantiff get to land outstanding moments of quippy dialogue and intense action, while Simon Pegg’s return boosts his role in the team to a point where Benji Dunn even gets to throw hands. Wrapping it all together is a pleasant undercurrent of humor, which keeps our IMF agents moving in a style more akin to the halcyon days of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

Reintroducing that element also helps supporting cast members like Severance’s Tramell Tillman make the most of their limited screen time. But that also ties into a slight downside to what the past couple of outings have been trying to do.

While The Final Reckoning is a fitting finale, there are still some rough edges that could have been sanded out.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been invested in this series since the beginning that I find my own expectations for how Mission Impossible 8 would wrap to be slightly unfulfilled. Simultaneously, there are some instances where the dedication to the past is a little overzealous, with highlights featured in the opening montage being repeated at various points in the overall narrative. It’s minor, and probably more suited for casual viewers who haven’t owned a copy of Brian de Palma's original Mission: Impossible through three eras of physical media.

But if you’re a die hard for this saga, it really is a minor gripe when it comes to The Final Reckoning’s well-paced thrill ride. Whereas Dead Reckoning felt like it flew a bit too fast when it came to setting up its narrative, Christopher McQuarrie’s steady hand in co-writing and directing the sequel help right the ship. It's an apt metaphor considering Tom Cruise’s voyage to the sunken wreckage of the Sevastapol is a prime example of the pacing.

More recent Mission: Impossible adventures have made it a habit of advertising a massive practical stunt as the big draw, which has left the story a bit lacking in other places. There’s still a pretty huge feat on display with Cruise’s madness-inducing biplane chase sequence, and that moment is as fantastic as advertised. But the true star of the show is the submarine adventure, which pushes Ethan to even more extreme circumstances.

The Sevastapol sequence couldn’t have been placed at a more perfect point in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning’s story either. Taking place in Act II, this moment galvanizes the final act with well earned urgency; which is only goosed along even further by the return of Angela Bassett as President Erika Sloane.

As we frequently cut back to the President and her advisors as the weigh their options to beat The Entity, the film shifts into a small-scale remake of Sidney Lumet’s Fail Safe. Considering Christopher McQuarrie loves to reference classics like Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much as much as he enjoys connecting previous Missions, the result helped me forget the fact that this cadre doesn’t really get much development in the grand scheme of things. While the massive cast of players in The Final Reckoning don’t all get proper setups and payoffs, cast members like Holt McCallany and Nick Offerman do their best to keep us invested, through a combination of gravitas and shorthand.

A topical blockbuster that doesn’t squander its message, Mission: Impossible’s “final” entry is a blockbuster to be reckoned with.

If there’s any one thing that makes the “final” Mission: Impossible film worth seeing, it’s that it’s a timely story that doesn’t go too wild with its message. The Entity’s power of misinformation is better fleshed out in this conclusion, as we see the consequences it has on the larger world. Modern concerns over A.I., deep fakes, and fake news are reflected rather brilliantly here and in a way that doesn’t preach to the audience.

Once more, Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie’s combined talents have given us a summer blockbuster worth showing up for. Come to think of it, the whole premise of rethinking reality and examining long held narratives a bit harder plays even better in The Final Reckoning, as one of the core questions asked in this tale cuts down to something the pickiest audience member may have asked long ago: is Ethan Hunt really good at his job?

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning has lit the fuse on summer movie season, and the resulting explosion is one that other legacy-adjacent titles are going to have to reckon with. The eighth outing for this action-adventure mainstay proves that stakes are back, humor is back, and Ethan Hunt has arrived for audiences to trust him… one last time. And to put a more familiar spin on things, I firmly believe that you should choose to accept this mission.