Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on June 5, 2025 @ tonymacklin.net.

In his pre-footage for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, Tom Cruise makes a statement to the audience. He thanks them for coming to the theater, and says they will see a movie that is "credible."

But credibility has never been the strength of the Mission Impossible series. Freshness, outrageousness, and creativity have been the strengths.

Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning lacks those qualities.

It's totally generic. It has a slew of action sequences - been there, done that. It's awkward and overlong. Stunts on two planes do not make it twice exciting.

The music never lets up. It's overwhelmingly in every scene - except for an occasional, few seconds. Maybe it's trying to silence the dialogue.

62-year old Tom Cruise might have decided on credibility if he'd appeared gray-haired, instead of dyed black, and bewigged. He's fit, which should have been enough. Is Ethan Hunt becoming a Ken Doll?

I've always thought Tom Cruise - like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood - was an underrated actor. But this outing as Ethan seems a follow-the-spinning dots role.

Some of the actors do imbibe the film with humanity. Angela Bassett, as the President, and Ving Rhames as the artful hacker add a much needed dimension. But Esai Morales is a forgettable villain, in a reappearance.

The plot of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning features an AI villain called the Entity, which is taking control of nuclear missiles from nations all over the world. Only Ethan Hunt and his evolving team stand in the way of the destruction of mankind.

Director and co-writer Christopher McQuarrie does not seem in firm control of his spastic film.

Perhaps Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning was taken over by AI, and they decided to make a parody.