Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

By: Jamie Steinberg

Ethan Hunt is back with one final [impossible] mission. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is another insanely action-packed movie in the series with Tom Cruise at the forefront. Intent on putting an evil AI entity to an end, Hunt assembles the remnants of his former team and some previous foes to tackle a global pantheon of missions to save the world and entertain us all once more.

Finally having earned the trust of President Sloane (Angela Bassett), Ethan (Tom Cruise) is asked to assist the government in taking down “The Entity” – an evil AI – looking to take over global servers. To save the world Hunt goes to great lengths, which includes dropping the titular character out of planes, diving deep underwater, chucking him off cliffs and so much more over-the-top stunt work – all within 170 minutes of runtime. Watching Hunt maneuver around an airborne plane even created the feeling that you were beside him while gravity is pulling him and the wind is pushing against him. The entire film is just a reminder that Hunt (and/or Cruise) will go to superhuman lengths to save the world.

Director and co-film writer Christopher McQuarrie and writers Bruce Geller and Erik Jendresen are light on plot but certainly shine with those action sequences. However, previous Mission Impossible films had a stronger sense of humor that was missing from this latest entry. Snagging a seat to see the film though is certainly worth it though for the “can you believe it” powerful level of stunt work that is on screen. Those of us that love a good rollercoaster ride will enjoy the adrenaline inducing moments that happen in the movie. Additionally, the cast is an incredible ensemble from Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, Nick Offerman and Hannah Waddingham and so many more familiar faces. At the end of the film, the audience in my screening actually applauded as the fate of each character was revealed.

With Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning the plot was a little more complicated than it needed to be; however, it was nice though to see the return of some familiar faces and reminisce about past Mission Impossible movies. Plus, Tom Cruise certainly outdoes all the other films in this series with his stunt work. That being said, this movie may be titled Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning yet it doesn’t officially feel like a swan song. So, snag a spot in the theater just in case you need to be prepared for another Ethan Hunt adventure. What do you say Mr. Cruise?