Ethan Hunt returns for what appears to be the last time in Mission: Inpossible The Final Reckoning, the sequel to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023). And if this is indeed the final installment with Tom Cruise as the star, then this series went out with a bang and is heartfelt.
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| One of the more spectacular stunts in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. |
The action sequences and the stunts, which is in some ways the primary draw, take Ethan from the bottom of the ocean to the airplane stunts in the sky. They are spectacular in of themselves and would definitely be worth the price of admission, but there is also a story attached that is in itself intriguing and complex.
The film is a continuation of the story from Dead Reckoning, and I would suggest perhaps rewatching that film prior to seeing this installment, unless your memory of the previous film is better than mine. It's probably not a requirement but I think it helps, and if nothing else, its 163 minute run time will prepare you for this slightly longer film. I can't tell you if there is enough at the beginning or sprinkled throughout to make up for not watching, since I did rewatch Dead Reckoning the day before seeing this.
As in most of the films in this franchise, the stakes are high and have probably never been higher and there are many times when you're not sure Ethan is going to make it through alive. I won't go into any details that might give away the plot, but the story does ring pretty true in this day and age.
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| L-R: Pom Klementieff as Paris, Greg Tarzan Davis as Theo Degas, Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn and Hayley Atwell as Grace. |
The acting is really good throughout with Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames returning to parts they seem very comfortable with playing. You get a real sense that they are in this together to the end. There are a couple of additions to the IMF team, including two from Dead Reckoning, Pom Klementieff as Paris, a former assassin, and Greg Tarzan Davis as Theo Degas, a former US Intelligence agent. They help to breathe new life into the crew, which one can imagine surviving the end of Hunt's run.
Also returning from Dead Reckoning are Esai Morales as Gabriel, the man you want to hate, and Shea Whigham as Jasper Briggs, Degas' partner in chasing Hunt down in that film. There are also some other characters that deserve mention, Angela Bassett as Erika Sloane, the black female President we deserve, and Rolf Saxon as William Donloe, a CIA analyst, both returning from previous films, Sloane from Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018), and Saxon from Mission: Impossible (1996). Also in the cast are Nick Offerman, an actor I'm not a big fan of usually, and Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge. Czerny certainly knows how to play the rather complex Kittridge. Special shout out to Lucy Tulugarjuk as Tapeesa, Donloe's wife, who sort of quietly steals the scenes she's in.
The dialogue is crisp, and with just enough humor to keep the film from getting too serious, despite the stakes. The writers do a good job as well with sprinkling enough chunks of plot to keep the story going without ever really getting bogged down. There are a couple of points here and there that seem like plot holes, but there really isn't time to worry about them.
While this has all the earmarks of the end of Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, I can't imagine Paramount's new, supposedly, overlords Skydance are going to let the franchise die. So, while Hunt might not be back, I predict at some point, the IMF will.
This is definitely a film worth watching in a theater, and perhaps even in IMAX, which I didn't. The biggest drawback for some might be the run time, but you don't really notice how long it is as there is usually several things going on at the same time. You might want to watch Dead Reckoning first but if you're a fan of Mission: Impossible, you will definitely not be disappointed.
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