Ethan Hunt’s Most Insane Mission Yet: Does It Stick the Landing?
Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt in what’s being marketed as the final installment of the long-running Mission: Impossible franchise. After decades of high-octane espionage, gravity-defying stunts, and convoluted conspiracies, The Final Reckoning aims to deliver closure. Does it succeed? Well…
The Mission Brief: What’s This One About?
The Entity – a rogue AI introduced in Dead Reckoning – is now at full power. It can manipulate global defense systems, spread misinformation, and predict human behavior. Hunt and his team must locate a submerged Russian submarine containing the AI’s source code before a world-ending protocol goes live. Along the way, betrayals mount, team members fall, and the impossible reaches absurd new heights.
If that sounds like a lot, it is. This film takes the “mission” part to heart. And then some.
The Crew: Returning Heroes and Forgettable Villains
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise)
Cruise still sprints like a man possessed. His physicality at 62 remains jaw-dropping. Hunt’s given the full messiah treatment here, rising from underwater tombs and dodging death more times than should be narratively legal.
Luther (Ving Rhames)
An emotional core of the team, Luther exits the film on a quiet note. There’s a lot of legacy weight here that sadly isn’t capitalized on.
Benji (Simon Pegg)
Comic relief and tech wizard. He gets a few standout moments (and near-death ones), but the emotional payoff never quite lands.
Grace (Hayley Atwell)
More useful this time around, and her chemistry with Cruise is fine. Whether she’s the next lead or not remains to be seen.
Gabriel (Esai Morales)
Flat, forgettable, and utterly misused. After two films of buildup, his exit feels more like an editing oversight than a dramatic high point.
The Entity
An AI so powerful it can manipulate nations… but somehow still needs a human sidekick and a submarine key to complete its plan. A villain concept with massive potential, largely wasted.
How It Feels: Overstuffed, Overwritten, Over-the-Top
This is the most bombastic Mission yet, and that’s not a compliment. Set pieces are huge: a submarine dive, arctic escape, airplane dogfights, nuclear countdowns, and AI mind-scans. But where Fallout or Ghost Protocol blended tension and thrills, Final Reckoning trades coherence for chaos.
It feels like a film written by a sugar-high child with an unlimited effects budget. There’s always another twist, another explosion, another impossible gadget. You might enjoy it. You might also get a headache.
Should You Watch It?
If you love pure spectacle, yes. If you’re emotionally attached to this franchise, probably. If you want a tight, thrilling spy movie with smart pacing and real stakes? Maybe wait for digital.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is fun in bursts but bloated and emotionally hollow. Cruise gives it everything. The script gives him nonsense.
Spoiler Alert: All the Wildest Twists and Final Moments
Major Death
A long-standing team member dies. It’s rushed and undersold. Instead of tugging heartstrings, it mostly ticks a box.
The AI Wants a Bunker
The Entity demands to be placed in a “doomsday-proof” server vault before it triggers global nuclear annihilation. Yes, really.
Plane Hopping Madness
Ethan jumps from one plane to another mid-air during a dogfight. Then crashes. Then explodes. Then parachutes. Then explodes again.
Underwater Madness
To access the sunken submarine, Ethan wears an experimental dive suit, uses a car battery to restart a nuclear sub, and escapes through a torpedo tube… naked.
Villain Death
Gabriel taunts Ethan, then accidentally kills himself during a dogfight. No payoff. Just… splat.
The Ending
Ethan defeats the Entity by trapping it in a glowing cube (seriously) during a synchronized five-tier heist involving nuclear bombs, timing blinks to milliseconds, and CPR. He rises from near death. Everyone nods. Fade to black.
Mid-Credit Implication
Ethan now holds the Entity. Instead of destroying it, he keeps it. Because of course he does.
The Good
- Tom Cruise’s commitment: the man is still a force of nature
- Set pieces are grand, loud, and at times genuinely thrilling
- The submarine sequence is a highlight
- Production value and practical stunts remain top-tier
- Fun if you’re in the right mood (and don’t ask questions)
The Bad
- Plot: over-complicated to the point of parody
- Villains: both Gabriel and the AI are duds
- Emotion: lacking real payoff or team dynamic depth
- Tone: takes itself too seriously for how dumb it is
- Length: 2 hours 50 minutes and it feels longer
- Contrivances galore: physics, logic, pacing—all sacrificed
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning: A technically impressive but narratively empty blockbuster. Cruise earns your respect. The movie barely earns your attention. – Asmodeus
Quick Summary (No Spoilers):
A bloated, messy, but occasionally thrilling final ride for Ethan Hunt. Great stunts, poor story. See it for the spectacle, not the substance.
What’s Next?
This is being billed as the final installment. But if it prints money, expect a spin-off, prequel, or streaming series. Ethan may fade into the crowd, but Hollywood rarely lets IP rest forever.