Title – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025)

Director – Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible – Fallout)

Cast – Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames

Plot – Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his merry band of off-siders must defy the odds one last time to save the world and conquer an evil A.I system that will test them all to their very limits.

“I need you to trust me. One last time”

Review by Eddie on 19/05/2025

With a reported budget somewhere in the vicinity of $300-$400 million, no one could accuse the final (with what I suspect should come with a very big ?) Mission: Impossible film from resting on its laurels with collaborative partners Tom Cruise and his directing buddy Christopher McQuarrie giving audiences more of what they’ve come to expect from one of Hollywood’s most impressively consistent brands that started out with a bang all the way back in 1996.

Working together on the series since 2015’s Rogue Nation and delivering what is considered the best film in the franchise with 2018’s Fallout entry, McQuarrie and Cruise have set themselves a significantly high bar for entertainment and expectations that wasn’t quite met commercially with 2023’s Covid-19 affected Dead Reckoning and isn’t reached with this close to 3 hour epic that provides much in the way of high class spectacle and popcorn munching fun but also feels overly long in the tooth and devoid of early spark, that makes this closing statement on the Ethan Hunt world an enjoyable one without being an overly memorable one.

Following on directly from the events of Dead Reckoning, Final Reckoning takes its time to get going as we pay respects to past occurrences dating all the way back to Hunt’s first foray into the world of the IMF while also setting in motion the key elements of this journeys plot, that basically sees the world teetering on the edge of implosion with a dangerous A.I system wrecking havoc across the globe with only Hunt and his ever willing team of compatriots able to potentially save the day.

Hoping to prove to us for an eighth time that these missions are in fact possible, Cruise’s Hunt must traverse the lonely late night streets of London, negotiate with presidents, go for some ice cold dips in the ocean and enjoy a precarious joy ride in the skies if he is to overcome the odds and conquer evil for those he will never know yet while Cruise is ever willing at the age of 62, there’s something slightly underwhelming about much of Final Reckoning’s first 90 or so minutes that only really begin to reach the levels we have become accustomed too around the half-way mark, making this the type of big screen experience you’re likely to ever only seek out for one go around.

It’s absolutely the equivalent of first world problems in a viewing manner when you can sit back and not be overcome with joy and wow-factor by a team so committed to providing large-scale spectacle and amusement but when you take the time and consider what the first part of Final Reckoning entails, you can’t help but escape the feeling Cruise and McQuarrie overestimated the work they were doing, with Final Reckoning likely to have benefited greatly from stronger early set-pieces, less heavy-handed dialogue and a tighter edit to enhance the overall feeling of the film weighed up as a whole.

There’s still no denying that when the film hits its marks it hits as well as any other big budget blockbuster could muster, a thrilling final stretch will make you sit back with a giant smile on your face while Cruise’s unmatched commitment to his role as an entertainer and some emotionally charged character movements will work well for the series long-term fans but there’s an underlying sense that Final Reckoning is slightly on the wrong side of self-indulgence and mis-guided confidence, something that wasn’t such a factor in the series peaks of entries 3 – 7.

If Final Reckoning does indeed end up being the final bow for Cruise and his Impossible gang we can be thankful for the quality years of viewing experiences we’ve been given courtesy of their pride in providing cinema fans a reason to celebrate the big screen blockbuster experience and while this “farewell” doesn’t end with a mighty bang, there’s still enough reason for fans to support one last go around the sun for one of film histories most surprisingly consistent and likable properties.

Final Say –

Unable to overcome its more indulgent nature in all instances, if you can suspend your disbelief sufficiently Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is still top quality Hollywood filmmaking that might not match the best of its namesakes but still gives us plenty to enjoy along its way to a breathtaking final stretch.

3 1/2 open ocean Uber’s out of 5