A Sweaty-Palmed Send Off: “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” – Review
- Colton Gomez
- Jun 2
- 6 min read
Review
By Colton Gomez | 06/02/25 | 5:01 P.M. Mountain Time
Action, Thriller | Rated PG-13 | 2 hr 50 min | "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning" Release Date: May 23, 2025
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” concludes the film franchise that produced eight films across twenty-nine years that have (mostly) become masterpieces of action spectacle, defined by Tom Cruise’s severe dedication to performing stunts himself. Several times my palms were sweaty and my smile wide in awe. With each film getting bigger, better, and more daring, the franchise would inevitably have nowhere else to go without making a superhero of Hunt. I believe we’ve come to that line and to continue the franchise is to either regress into a smaller stage or predictably go into outer space.
After the events of “Dead Reckoning”— which shows the rise of a powerful and dangerous submarine-housed A.I. known as “The Entity”— Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) now has possession of the key to either control or destroy it, he just has to find it. Each nation hopes to control The Entity for absolute sociopolitical power, but Hunt trusts no one outside of his chosen team of super-skilled professionals – not even his own government. Hunt’s team consists of Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames), Grace (Hayley Atwell), and Paris (Pom Klementieff). Gabriel (Esai Morales) is also vying for control of The Entity after losing its trust. Global tension rises as once-secure nuclear arsenals are taken over by The Entity, whose mission is to wipe out mankind and ensure its own prolonged existence.
“Final Reckoning” serves as the coda to the entire “Mission: Impossible” franchise by recontextualizing key points of previous movies and making them fit in this final measure. This is definitively the last “Mission: Impossible” film, or at least, for these characters. Included throughout are visual nods to the most exciting sequences of previous films. In parts, it’s a highlight reel of the franchise. It takes the audience on a tour of “Mission: Impossible” from beginning to end without lingering in nostalgia for too long. If “Fallout” is the climax of the franchise, “Final Reckoning” is the denouement.
Perhaps the best sequence in the film is centered around a sunken submarine. Hunt navigates the interior of the vessel while being knocked around as his movements inside shift the weight of the sub and moves it to the edge of an underwater cliff. All the while, he’s managing oxygen and has to find new routes around the sub. It’s a great bit of visual storytelling with little to no dialogue and you can see Cruise make decisions with eye movements, blinks, and glances. Of course, unexpected turns happen and he’s forced to make hard decisions that make it really entertaining to watch.
Hunt is fighting an algorithm and those that want to harness its power, which makes the story feel slightly empty and underwhelming. The threat is unseen and intangible which makes it hard to be compelled by. The human threats are entirely defined by their desire for The Entity and the lengths they’ll go to get it. But there’s an in-between there that’s missing, which is probably why Cameron opted for a humanoid threat in his A.I. films.
Hunt is portrayed as the man with the perfect moral compass, perfect self-control, and perfect adaptability. He saves the world from extinction even under persecution from enemies in individuals and governments. He makes every right decision no matter how impossible they seem, even at the risk of billions of innocent lives. There is nobody in the world who could be as good as him and make the decisions that he does. He remains an unsung, humble hero who has enemies who hate him for destroying what they hoped to control for malintent. There’s really nowhere else to take this character in any direction that doesn’t make him a superhuman or a savior figure.
The film deals with themes of artificial intelligence, unity vs. division, pressure, and making the right decisions, no matter how difficult. The conversation of A.I. is a bit tiresome for me, despite its ever-increasing relevance.
I was never convinced by the relationship between Hunt and Grace. The relationship between Hunt and Isla Faust formed from “Rogue Nation” was a more rewarding and believable one. It just feels like Rebecca Ferguson (Faust) wasn’t given the justice her character deserved and the filmmakers rushed to fill her spot with Grace.
Simon Pegg is a better actor than he may get credit for. His performance in these movies seems to only get better and I believed him the whole way through. I’d love to see him take on a more dramatic role in future projects because he’s only promising good performances.
Pom Klementieff felt underutilized as a character. I remember her from the previous film as a more carefully created character with important decisions to make for herself. Here, she feels like a background prop with lines more than a member of the team. She does have some great fight choreography and is an impactful action star when the filmmakers find the time for her.
While watching Morales slowly unhinge into a cartoon villain towards the end, I can’t help but think that he must be giving a poor performance on purpose. He was so much more convincing and nuanced in “Dead Reckoning” which made him a credible threat to the mission. However, here he seems to be less dedicated to the mission of the movie. It makes me wonder if there was some sort of feud on set, and in spite, gave them little to work with.
As a staple of the franchise, the stunt work is very entertaining. While “Final Reckoning” doesn’t display the biggest and best stunts of the franchise, they don’t disappoint. Director Christopher McQuarrie’s hair must not be able to turn any whiter from the stress he undoubtedly feels every day on set with Cruise. Cruise hangs upside down from a biplane going 140 mph and works his way all the way around it in the sky. He’s still extremely impressive with the dedication to his craft and the physicality he possesses even in his 60s. This duo is surely among the best of things to happen to action movies ever.
The fight choreography always feels so violent and painful to watch—and I love it. Klementieff especially shines as among the most convincing in her fight scenes. Her facial expressions, the sweat on her face, and the power she seems to be generating from her kicks makes me never want to get in her way. The amount of training these actors must have to go through to not only learn the choreography, rehearse it safely, commit it to memory, and to make it look like it’s improvised is impressive. Stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood should be incredibly proud of each ounce of action in this films and the “Mission” films prior.
For as long as it is, the pacing never felt off. It’s just under three hours and it doesn’t feel like it’s wasting your time. Just hope that your audience doesn’t talk over important dialogue scenes or you may miss some things that set up your expectations for the finale. You may need to prep your bladders in advance.
“Final Reckoning” ultimately feels slightly underwhelming. Much of the film is spent looking back on the franchise and remarking at the incredible journey that brought them here. While their run has been impressive, the look back takes from any identity this movie might have forged for itself. This film is essentially every “Mission” film wrapped into a singular title and perhaps never intended to be anything but a giant sendoff with no real need to carve space for itself.
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Review by Colton Gomez
Colton Gomez earned his BA in Film Studies from Weber State University. He owns and operates ColtonGomez.com. Here, he covers new releases in theaters and on streaming. For short versions of his reviews, check out his LetterBoxd
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