Audiences won’t have to wait until July to see Superman in action. Tom Cruise’s eighth turn as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning gives the ageless secret agent an invincible veneer with mind-blowing action scenes and epic set pieces that shred any suspension of disbelief. His previous heroics are peanuts compared to this nearly three-hour opus of cliché-ridden franchise retrospection, which is borderline comical in its onslaught of death-defying escapes. There’s a point where gravitas evaporates, but the production’s sheer magnitude cannot be denied — it ticks every box for a summer blockbuster.
Set several months after the events of Dead Reckoning Part One, in The Final Reckoning Ethan gets a personal appeal from President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett). The Entity, a rogue AI in the vein of Terminator’s Skynet, has almost achieved its goal of nuclear apocalypse, and humanity is on the brink of annihilation. Ethan has the “cruciform key” that can recover the Entity’s original source code, but he’ll have to dive to the bottom of the ocean to retrieve it. Can he save the world…again?
The Invincible Tom Cruise
- Tom Cruise’s phenomenal stunts
- Epic action and set pieces
- The return of classic characters
- A cliché-ridden narrative
- Near three-hour runtime
- Tension abates with each death-defying escape
Hunkered down with her cabinet in an underground bunker, Sloane has 72 hours before the Entity strikes. In three days, Ethan must find the sub’s underwater location, recover the data and disable the Entity, with his enemies in hot pursuit. The Entity has a legion of followers who’ve infiltrated global governments, and Ethan’s old adversary, Gabriel (Esai Morales), has his own agenda. The odds against Ethan seem insurmountable, but his trusted IMF team and surprising new allies help to level the playing field.
Director/co-writer Christopher McQuarrie (Valkyrie, Jack Reacher, Edge of Tomorrow) goes bigger and bolder in every regard in The Final Reckoning. And his fourth Mission Impossible film (and tenth overall collaboration with Cruise) looks spectacular. But the need to outdo everything that’s been done before has its rewards and perils. The nerve, incredible production design and technical acumen required for the insane stunts and action choreography are admirable. But the roller-coaster ride loses tension when there’s never any doubt that Ethan will not only survive, but conquer at the very last second. This becomes a rote process, as The Final Reckoning has more countdowns than New Year’s Eve.
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Each action scene is prefaced by a group interaction that explains exactly what’s about to happen, as Ethan and his team go over their detailed plans. They then execute what was discussed with undaunted skill in extraordinary scenarios. What can go wrong does go wrong, but fate always sides with the good guys. McQuarrie is aware of this flaw, and pokes fun at the narrative with several self-deprecating nods. But if their plans failed, they’d all be dead and there would be no movie. Of course it’ll work.
The clichés go beyond a simple dependence on ticking timers, however. They’re integral to each character and their place in the plot’s progression. It makes sense that experienced characters have the ability to defuse any device. They’re experts. But facing unfamiliar technology in life or death situations with zero experience is a stretch, to say the least: Imagine if someone tossed a pair of pliers and put a bomb in your lap. The Final Reckoning combines the elaborate and the absurd, with varying results.
Classic Characters Return
Longtime fans will get a kick out of how McQuarrie incorporates storylines from previous films into this supposed swan song for Ethan Hunt. Characters long gone resurface in cool ways. Here’s one example: Remember the hapless analyst shipped off to Alaska after being poisoned in the first Mission: Impossible’s CIA break-in? Here, Rolf Saxon returns as William Donloe, and finally gets to play the hero in a winning subplot that sheds a different light on his banishment and gives the film a welcome dose of heart.
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But the primary reason to watch The Final Reckoning in IMAX is the stunts. Cruise is an absolute beast here, delivering a mesmerizing physical performance that shatters already high expectations. We’ve already seen Cruise motorcycle off a mountain, hang from a helicopter, and pummel baddies on top of a moving train. But Cruise, at 62 years old, is always outdoing himself, putting him truly in his own category of badass. The stupefyingly awesome climax is worth the price of admission on its own, and another example of why Tom Cruise is such an unstoppable force.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is a production of Paramount Pictures, TC Productions, and Skydance. It will be released theatrically on May 23rd from Paramount Pictures.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
