Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Tramell Tillman, Angela Bassett, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Mark Gatiss, with Rolf Saxon, Lucy Tulugarjuk
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
In Irish Cinemas: 21st May 2025
If a Hall of Fame existed solely to honour the most jaw-dropping, pulse-pounding stunt work in cinema, the Mission: Impossible franchise—now spanning nearly three decades—would demand an entire wing to itself. Since its inception, the series has not merely featured action; it has redefined the limits of what audiences expect from it. Anchored by Tom Cruise’s death-defying commitment to his craft, the franchise has delivered one iconic set piece after another, each more audacious than the last.
The franchise has continually raised the bar across eight films, including the newest entry, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The original movie gave us the now-legendary CIA vault drop, a masterclass in tension and precision. The sequel ramped things up with a high-octane motorcycle duel. When we reached Mission: Impossible – Fallout, we witnessed Cruise perform a real-life HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) jump from 25,000 feet. Dead Reckoning (Part One) escalated the stakes yet again with a cliffside motorcycle leap and a train derailment that evoked the golden age of practical stunts—all executed by Cruise himself, as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, in an ever-escalating battle to save humanity from an increasingly rogue’s gallery of global threats.
Now comes The Final Reckoning, the saga’s eighth and reportedly final chapter. And while it doesn’t skimp on spectacle, getting there takes time. With a runtime stretching to nearly three hours, the film meanders through its first act, delaying any significant set piece until the halfway mark. That moment arrives in a visually stunning underwater sequence involving three submarines—one American, two Russian—and a suite of deadly challenges. Hunt must descend in untested deep-sea gear, navigate the perilous wreckage of a sunken vessel teetering on an unstable ocean shelf, and somehow survive a near-vertical emergency ascent to the surface.
The narrative picks up directly after the events of Dead Reckoning, with Hunt and his reassembled IMF team possessing a physical key—one half of a two-part mechanism that unlocks the location of the Entity, the film’s digital antagonist. This malevolent, sentient AI—equal parts HAL 9000 and Skynet—can manipulate global systems and truths, and seeks either dominion over or destruction of the modern world. At the close of the previous film, the IMF had the key, but not the answer. The hard drive holding the Entity’s original code lies aboard a sunken Russian sub, inaccessible and dormant—but not forgotten.
Unfortunately, The Final Reckoning opens not with this urgent quest but with a prolonged detour into introspection. Cruise and returning director/co-writer Christopher McQuarrie dedicate the first hour to an extended retrospective. It plays like a cinematic eulogy—honouring fallen allies, reliving Hunt’s past glories and failures, and replaying the franchise’s most memorable action beats in spirit, if not in footage. This time is spent mythologising Ethan Hunt and, by proxy, Cruise himself—a man who seems to be willing his character into pop culture sainthood.
What action does occur early on is sparse and oddly underwhelming. Hunt and his new partner, Grace (a nimble Hayley Atwell), a former con artist turned reluctant IMF recruit, escape the clutches of Gabriel (Esai Morales), the enigmatic right hand of the Entity. Later, a lacklustre prison breakout involving Paris (Pom Klementieff), a one-time foe turned ally. These moments feel like appetisers when we’re waiting for the main course.
Eventually, the film shifts back to the Entity and its stakes—global annihilation. The AI has grown stronger since its initial appearance, infiltrating nuclear defence systems and blurring the lines between truth and disinformation. With the world’s nuclear powers on a hair-trigger and the U.S. President (Angela Bassett as Erika Sloane) among those weighing existential decisions, the countdown to catastrophe has begun. Worse, some leaders don’t want to destroy the Entity—they want to control it.
And this is where Ethan Hunt’s role becomes mythic. He is framed not just as a hero, but as the only person on Earth with the moral clarity and incorruptible willpower to resist the Entity’s seductive power. The film positions him as a messianic figure whose purity of purpose rivals Frodo Baggins carrying the One Ring. Everyone else would be tempted; only Hunt would destroy the Entity rather than wield it.
This mythology-building explains, if not justifies, the film’s extended runtime. The series is no longer just about missions or impossible feats—it’s about legacy. Cruise, now deeply entwined with his character, seems intent on leaving not just a final mark, but a monumental one. Thankfully, McQuarrie and Cruise understand that reverence alone doesn’t sell tickets—spectacle does. And they deliver, especially in the film’s final act.
The climax features a dazzling aerial duel between Hunt and Gabriel in a pair of vividly painted biplanes. It’s a breathtaking sequence that blends old-school stunt craft with modern polish, and it stands as a fitting bookend to a franchise that has consistently prioritised practical effects and real-world danger over CGI excess.
Whether The Final Reckoning truly marks the end of Mission: Impossible remains to be seen. Franchises rarely stay dead. But if it is the last ride, it solidifies its place not just in action cinema history, but in the hypothetical (and much-needed) Hall of Fame for Stunt Work. Tom Cruise didn’t just act in these films—he leapt, dove, flew, and free-fell through them, redefining what it means to put everything on the line for the audience.
And in doing so, he ensured that Ethan Hunt, like the best myths, will endure.
Overall: 7/10
Movie Reviewer
