My quick rating – 7.2/10. You’d think a 170-minute movie would have plenty of time to waste, but Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning sprints out of the gate and doesn’t look back. For something that clocks in at nearly three hours, it’s almost shocking how quickly it moves. The story is intricate, packed with moving parts, but still surprisingly easy to follow. Credit goes to the sharp editing that threads everything together without losing momentum. It’s clear the filmmakers wanted this to feel like the culmination of Ethan Hunt’s thirty-year journey, and in many ways, they pull it off—though maybe not quite as hard-hitting as one might expect from a grand finale.
Of course, the real selling point here is the action. Tom Cruise once again takes every opportunity to play Mr. Show-Off with his stunt work, and honestly, I’m not mad about it. Whether it’s leaping off impossible heights, riding vehicles where no sane person would, or holding his breath longer than a Navy SEAL, Cruise continues to prove he’s Hollywood’s most committed daredevil. Sure, the Fast and Furious franchise gets ribbed for ridiculous, physics-defying set pieces, but let’s not kid ourselves—the Mission: Impossible films are guilty of the exact same thing. The difference is, these stunts are both insane and staged so well you can’t help but buy in.
The cinematography, just as it was in Dead Reckoning, is nothing short of breathtaking. There are shots here that are simply jaw-dropping, and the underwater submarine sequence is a masterclass in tension. It’s one of those rare moments where I completely forgot the film’s narrative hiccups because I was so locked in. This is the kind of spectacle that demands the biggest screen possible, and it delivers on that front without question.
That said, there are issues. For one, the script leans heavily on exposition, so much so that I occasionally wanted to yell, “Enough talking, just throw Tom Cruise off another cliff already!” And while it’s fun to see familiar faces like Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg return, the film introduces so many additional characters that several of them feel like nothing more than pawns shuffled around the board. They’re there to keep the plot moving, not to give us anyone new to root for.
Then there’s the villain problem. Gabriel, played by Esai Morales, makes for a sinister presence, but his routine is frustratingly repetitive. He shows up, threatens or mansplains something, then disappears until the next scene, where he does the same thing again. It’s hard to feel the weight of the supposed ultimate adversary when his menace keeps fading into the background.
And that brings me to the finale. For a movie carrying the subtitle “The Final Reckoning,” it doesn’t quite land the emotional haymaker I was expecting. It’s still thrilling, still entertaining, but it doesn’t pack the kind of gut punch you’d hope for from the end of a thirty-year saga.
Even with those flaws, I can’t deny this is a wildly entertaining blockbuster. The tension, the stunts, the sheer spectacle—it’s everything you’d expect from a Mission: Impossible film, even if it stops just shy of greatness. Respect where it’s due: Tom Cruise keeps raising the bar, and for that alone, this ride is worth taking.
You can watch this one at home on Amazon, along with these streamers for theater pricing.
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