MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING (2025) review
written by: Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen
produced by: Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie
directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
rated: PG-13 (for sequences of strong violence and action, bloody images, and brief language)
runtime: 170 min.
U.S. release date: May 23, 2025
A few summers ago, Ethan Hunt faced his greatest nemesis: Barbenheimer! Audiences opted for something other than a summer blockbuster sequel, which resulted in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” not hitting the box office goal that Paramount, star/co-producer Tom Cruise, and director/co-producer Christopher McQuarrie (known as McQ) had aimed for. The seventh entry in arguably cinema’s greatest action franchise encountered a financial setback by releasing the same month as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”. Nevertheless, despite its lackluster antagonists, that movie delivered some epic action with impressive technical credits. But, no one involved is giving up, and now we have “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” – that is, if moviegoers choose to accept it.
There’s no longer a “Part Two”, but there’s also no guarantee that “Final Reckoning” will indeed be the final outing for the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) that we’ve been following since 1996’s “Mission: Impossible” from Brian DePalma. Despite production delays and an almost three-hour runtime, the looming question is whether or not this supposed last movie can deliver the goods and go out on a high note.
This installment takes place two months after “Dead Reckoning,” with the threat of the malevolent artificial intelligence called The Entity remaining a threat. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) still has the key or at least half of it. The evil consciousness is out to secure all of the world’s nuclear weapons and has dropped its number one bad guy, Gabriel (Esai Morales), for failing to hold on to the key. Arrested and brought before President Sloane (Angela Bassett) – who has surrounded herself with some new-to-the-franchise faces, such as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Sydney (Nick Offerman), Secretary of State, Sterling Bernstein (Holt McCallany), and Secretary of State, Walters (Janet McTeer), along with returning staff, CIA director Kittridge (Henry Czenry), Head of the NSA, Angstron (Mark Gatiss), and Director National Intelligence, Richards (Charles Parnell) – Hunt must account for his reckless actions that often go against direct orders and asks the round table of government officials, at Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center in Virginia, to trust him “one more time”. Like many moments in “The Final Reckoning”, that line is delivered as much by Cruise as it is by Ethan Hunt, with cinematographer Fraser Taggart centering the daredevil actor up close, as if it’s the last time we’ll ever see Cruise/Hunt.
Like every movie in this series, Hunt and his hand-picked team of talented specialists set out on another impossible mission searching for a specific McGuffin needed to save the world. Stalwarts such as technical field agent, Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), and computer technician, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames, the only other actor besides Cruise who’s been in all eight movies), are back with no questions asked. Former thief and IMF agent, Grace (Hayley Atwell) is back as well. They are joined by French assassin and former Gabriel loyalist, Paris (Pom Klementieff) and U.S. Intelligence agent, Theo Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis) a former partner of Jasper Briggs (Shea Whigham), all with the goal of stopping The Entity by acquiring its source code (or rather a doohickey called Podkova), which sits at the bottom of the Bering Sea in the Sevastopol, a sunken Russian submarine. Of course, Gabriel is out to thwart Ethan and company, as are distrusting Russian soldiers. After all, when you believe The Entity’s truths, it’s easy to see the coming apocalypse.
Despite “Mission: Impossible” movies mostly revolving around team missions and activities, much of the “Final Reckoning” finds Ethan Hunt working solo. With the stakes being as high as they are here, and everyone seeing him as the one person to save the world – at one point, he’s even referred to as the “Chosen One” (something which could also correlate to Cruise’s crusade to save movies and the theater-going experience) – the safety of his team causes him to act alone while they are on separate yet related missions vital to the overall goal. These movies are typically devoted to fast-paced movement and stunts designed to impress viewers (usually succeeding), and there are moments where Cruise’s Hunt is feeling the weight of the world. That doesn’t mean he’s slowing down any. What would a Mission: Impossible movie be without Tom Cruise running furiously or trying to top his amazing stunt work from the last movie?
On that note, the two most compelling sequences in “Final Reckoning” showcase Ethan Hunt against all odds. One of them involves an intense deep ocean dive to retrieve the Podkova in the Sevastopol, with Hunt wearing an experimental underwater suit (that conveniently has a mask with plenty of room to see Cruise’s face – we have to see the movie star!) and inevitably risking the bends and death while maneuvering around cylindrical nukes inside a submarine that’s rolling around the ocean floor. It may be overlong, but it’s quite a nail-biter despite his highly implausible survival. The other better sequence is the heavily-marketed third act feat involving Cruise, Morales, and two biplanes, in which Hunt aims to grab the Poison Pill, an antidote Luther created to stop The Entity. It’s an impressive risk-taking midair gymnastic act over South Africa (filmed in England), where Cruise battles CGI to ensure that he and McQ are making it evident that there’s no stunt double dangling off the wing as the two planes careen through narrow gorges. We get it, Mr. Cruise, you’ll risk your life to entertain us, but we’ve also come to expect that.
These movies can’t rely solely on jaw-dropping sequences; they make it or break like any other film does: the screenplay. “Final Reckoning” was written by McQ and Erik Jendresen (both of whom also wrote “Dead Reckoning”) and they unfortunately spend almost the whole first hour deliberately slowing everything down with explanations that reiterate The Entity as a growing power and looming threat. There’s mention of how The Entity has a gullible public wrapped around its digital grip, treating it like a false god of formatted truths who unwittingly cheer on the end of the world (a timely reflection of our times). Still, we got all that from the last movie, and one reiteration is fine, but if viewers were to take a shot each time The Entity is mentioned in this first hour, they’d be passing out. There are also a ton of callbacks to the franchise within this first hour, including scenes from previous sequels that show action, antagonists, and MacGuffins. These are all odd decisions that could’ve easily been edited out to prevent redundancy and maintain an overall brisker pace.
The one callback that proves to work surprisingly involves bringing back an ancillary character from the first movie. Rolf Saxon returns as William Donloe, a former CIA analyst transferred to a remote location in Alaska after Hunt snatched the NOC List from a Langley vault under his supervision. No one in the movie or watching the movie expected to see this guy again. Still, his return is a welcome deep cut and a reminder that supporting character actors can step up and shine given the opportunity. Saxon’s engaging scenes as a bearded Donloe are essential to the story as we learn how integral he and his wife of many years, Tapeesa (played by Inuk-Canadian Lucy Tulugarjuk), are to the team’s endgame. Both are a surprising addition, offering a devoted couple in a movie we least expect. Two other performances standout despite their brief screen time and that is Tramell Tillman (mostly known for his role on “Severance”) as Commander Bledsoe and Katy O’Brien (so great in last year’s “Love Lies Bleeding”) as Navy Diver Kodiak, both of whom assist Hunt on the rescue submarine, USS Ohio.
Those are new characters to the franchise, which every “Mission: Impossible” has, but this movie has plenty of them and winds up feeling a bit bloated. That’s a shame, considering they’re all good. I enjoy seeing Hannah Waddingham in anything, but her brief role here as Rear Admiral Neely, the Commander of the U.S. Navy’s Career Strike Group 10, seems unnecessary and could’ve been trimmed for the flow of the story.
Epic scale and lengthy runtime seem to be the main goal of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”, as the McQ and Cruise try to cover everything in their alleged swan song. Anyone expecting it to be jam-packed with action sequences will be disappointed. There’s a clear determination to push the sequel into crazier and bigger territory to close out the final act with Cruise (one of cinema’s Last Movie Stars) fully committed. Some of the action veers into cartoonish antics, especially with Morales’s Gabriel. Bottom Line: If you’ve chosen to accept the last seven missions, you might as well settle in for this victory lap.
RATING: **1/2
