Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning review (2025)
At times Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has a last call feel to it. Star Tom Cruise and director/co-writer Christopher McQuarrie attempt to pack as much bang for everyone’s buck as possible in a film that largely measures up to the epic blockbuster sense the filmmakers intended.
Though all bets are off if it makes over a billion dollars, there is a definite sense of finality of the franchise to Final Reckoning.
That’s due to an early nostalgic look back at some of the franchise highlights. At times, the flashbacks of the series’ greatest hits moments make Final Reckoning feel like a clip show.
To McQuarrie’s and co-writer Erik Jendresen’s credit, the nods and references to previous films are incorporated smoothly into the story. For viewers short on time the essential playlist for The Final Reckoning is Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible III and the previous chapter, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1.
Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, the brilliant now senior member of the Impossible Mission Force. In Dead Reckoning, Ethan and his team — Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg) and Grace (Hayley Atwell) — tried to stop Ethan’s longtime rival Gabriel (Esai Morales) from fully enabling a sentient AI that could seize control of the world.
Since the last outing, Ethan’s let his hair grow out again and has gone largely dark even ignoring the calls from the president (Angela Bassett) to come in.
The AI, now known as The Entity, is taking control of the world’s nuclear weapons and spreading lies and misinformation over social media. Granted, the series has had a number of outlandish and unbelievable events, but social media being co-opted to spread misinformation? Come on.
Gabriel decides ruling is better than being The Entity’s right hand and makes a bold strike to force Ethan to help him gain control for himself. This forces Ethan to stage his most daring plan yet. For Ethan that says a lot. That also means adding some reinforcements with Paris (Pom Klementieff) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis), who initially sought to bring in Ethan along with fellow agent Jasper (Shea Whigham). While Degas has seen the light, Jasper is still hunting down Ethan at the behalf of his supervisor Kittridge (Henry Czerny).
Final Reckoning brings back some familiar faces from previous installments though for a curtain call franchise-ender it would have been nice to see some other returning characters even in brief cameos.
Maybe more than any other entry, Final Reckoning has the most Fast and Furious-esque stunt action sequences. Those action scenes going in you know are ludicrous but go along with it because the franchise is so much fun.
Even then, Final Reckoning has the ultimate trump card with the 62-year-old Cruise doing some of his wildest stunts yet.
He’s the only action hero who can do stunts that take viewers out of the movie — in a good way — and just appreciate the audacity to attempt these spectacles for the betterment of the movie.
Final Reckoning’s marketing features an incredible biplane sequence that there’s no dangers of the trailers spoiling. Maybe just as impressive is an underwater sequence that at my advanced screening left the audience quiet throughout.
Cruise might be mature enough now where Ethan isn’t the reckless youth of the mid-90s, but he’s still the driving force and face of the franchise.
The formula still works and there’s no shortage of crazy action scenarios to pull off, but the failure (or unwillingness) to establish a Cruise successor/protege all but ensures this will (likely) be the last installment.
That’s a shame as the new blood cast definitely gives Final Reckoning a fresher feeling with a team that could grow together in future missions.
Atwell has been a tremendous addition as Grace is not so immersed in the spy world that she isn’t rattled or astonished about what’s going on around her. That makes her a refreshing character in the series.
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Rhames and Pegg remain the ultimate comfort food of the series as the reliable franchise pillars. Davis and Klementieff fit in seamlessly and Hannah Waddingham, Katy O’Brian and Tramell Tillman introduce characters that would really warrant revisiting.
McQuarrie maintains a strong balance of playful comedy with the high-stakes action without making either come off corny. That’s the right play as the series has never needed to take itself too seriously.
At two hours and 49 minutes, Final Reckoning isn’t short but it’s easier to forgive Cruise and McQuarrie for getting a little indulgent when the film would have benefited from an editor trimming down 20- to 25-minutes.
Final Reckoning isn’t the high point of the series — Dead Reckoning and Fallout are probably more engaging with crazier action and more interplay with the ensemble — but it’s another exhilarating ride worthy of being the last (?) installment.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures
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