Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
Delayed a year due to the 2023 strike which halted production for months, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two finally makes it into theaters under the new title Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning with a bloated runtime of 170- minutes filled with moments and marketing reinforcing the idea this could be Ethan Hunt's (Tom Cruise) final mission (despite Cruise repeatedly saying he isn't done with the franchise) in hopes of garnering interest in a film whose production costs skyrocketed making it one of the most expensive movies ever made.
Starting with the positives, the film does offer another amazing aerial sequence high above with once again Ethan Hunt hanging on to the side of the plane in midair (although why our villain happens to use two biplanes as his escape strategy is never breached). We also get an extended underwater sequence of Ethan inside the precariously-perched sunken submarine as part of Ethan's insane plane to destroy the Entity. Unfortunately, this sequence fills the spot of the "break-in" for the film, meaning the entry lacks anything comparable to Langley, Biocyte, or the Casablanca vault.
I am curious how different the original film would have been to the version we get here. Filled with references, both big and small, to the previous films, The Final Reckoning feels undeniably like a sendoff for Hunt. The film kicks off a dicey opening half-hour resetting the stage with the Entity released and a world on the brink of war before jumping around to various locations in obviously spliced-together sequences. Eventually we do get Hunt in the custody of the U.S. Government leading to the reading of his history by the President's (Angela Bassett) top advisors, and then, finally, we get Hunt back-in-action with a four-day timetable and a countdown to save the world. While stuffed full with fun moments, it's all incredibly awkward. This is a film where the moments outweigh the whole and are included whether or not they service the larger story.
Along with overexplaining the Entity and the events of the last film, the script also takes pains to do the same with many of the callbacks to the franchise not expecting the audience to remember who Rolf Saxon played in the original Mission: Impossible film or the events of M:I-2. Characters hurt most by the layoff are Shea Whigham as one of the agents we seeing hunting Ethan in the last film whose big moment feels, like much of the these added sequences, largely unnecessarily, and Esai Morales. In Dead Reckoning, Gabriel is a phantom tormenting Ethan throughout. Here we get an early appearance but then the character disappears as an inconsequential afterthought for the majority of the film only returning for the franchise's signature action sequence in the final act.
The film features Ethan's most batshit plan ever, relying on countless variables he can't control and the help of his team to be in the right place at the right time down to the millisecond to allow it to all come together. The extended running time allows for moments for Hayley Atwell (who, should Cruise step aside, should definitely be in the running as new lead), Ving Rhames, and Simon Pegg, and to a lesser extent Pom Klementieff who reprises her role from the last film but this time as the team's new member. The script by Erik Jendresen and director Christopher McQuarrie certainly leans into Ethan's history with large gambles, and now that the Entity has gone all Skynet (again, for reasons unexplored) the stakes have never been higher.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is a messy "final" chapter to the franchise likely to be remembered more fondly for its fun moments than a plot stitched together with chicken wire and duct tape (including the President considering starting a nuclear war she can't prevent given America has enough nuclear arsenal to destroy the world multiple times over all on its own and there's nothing to stop the Entity from acquiring its stockpiles). While I found it more enjoyable than Top Gun: Maverick, the film has the same failing of raising the stakes and stunts to levels impossible to take seriously (something this franchise knows quite a bit about), lessening any tension the plot should offer. Still, as pure spectacle (with plenty of sentimentality thrown in), it's a wild summer ride.
Watch the trailer- Title: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
- IMDb: link
