'Final Reckoning' can't mask its franchise fatigue
New 'Mission: Impossible" is still a good time, but a weak ending to the series.
The climax of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” features Ethan Hunt in a life-or-death duel in the skies with the bad guy, hanging on for dear life as the rest of his Impossible Mission Force team waits on the ground, the clock ticking, for the signal that he’s accomplished his mission.
It’s wild, it’s exciting, and it’s a testament to both Christopher McQuarrie’s deftness as an action filmmaker who revels in practical stunt work, and to Tom Cruise’s star power and his eagerness to perform those thrilling stunts to entertain an audience.
It’s also pretty much how “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” ended seven years ago, if you swap biplanes for helicopters. I had a good time at “Final Reckoning,” but as a purported series-capper it’s a bit of a disappointment, starting to repeat itself, somehow bigger but less substantial than its predecessors. It’s a franchise that feels like it’s starting to tread water – even if that water is inside a sunken nuclear submarine that Ethan is trapped in that’s rolling towards the edge of a cliff.
“Final Reckoning” continues Ethan’s battle in “Dead Reckoning” against the artificial intelligence baddie known as the Entity, which has been infiltrating the computer systems of all the world’s governments. By the time of “Final Reckoning,” the Entity has started to take over the nuclear armament systems of the world’s superpowers, intending to trigger a global war that will leave itself as the only survivor.
As always in a “Mission: Impossible” movie, the solution involves finding one thing, and then finding another thing, and then putting the two things together at the right time and place. I’ve seen complaints that the first half of the movie’s 171-minute running time is too talky.
But I’ve always liked the setup parts of these movies as much as the execution, the “here’s what we’re gonna do” that comes before the “we’re doing it” part. This is especially true when the exposition is delivered by a parade of marquee character actors, including Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, and Holt McCallany. The MVP of the bunch, though, is Tramell Tillman of “Severance,” who delivers an absolutely magnetic performance as a submarine commander that not only has the viewer hanging on every word, but injects much-needed humor into a pretty solemn affair.
I’ve seen McQuarrie and Cruise speak at length about the importance of building action on a foundation of emotion. They’ve certainly accomplished that in the past, especially “Fallout,” still the best entry in the series. But here they confuse self-seriousness with feeling, which is so surprising given how effectively they got both tears flowing and fists pumping during “Top Gun: Maverick.”
The movie does nothing with the idea introduced in “Dead Reckoning” that the IMF is some sort of secret agent priesthood, peopled by former criminals who chose a life of espionage over life in prison. “Final Reckoning” also abandons any notion of digging into Ethan’s pre-IMF life, other than a reminder that he was born in my longtime home of Madison, Wisconsin. (Was the first mission he chose to accept a heist at the Dane County Farmers Market?)
But on the other side, it’s just not as much fun as previous installments – there are fewer jokes, the signature “mask gag” feels obligatory, and even the score by Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey feels lackluster, submerging the zip of Lalo Schifrin’s iconic riff. And let’s face it – the Entity and his human acolyte Gabriel (Esai Morales) are pretty weak, uninteresting villains compared to Philip Seymour Hoffman or Henry Cavill.
When the action setpieces do kick in in the second half of the movie, “Final Reckoning” is still a gas, though. It would be jaw-dropping to see anybody do those biplane stunts, let alone one of the biggest stars in the world, Ethan’s body twisting and flopping in the air as he struggles to hang on. And the submarine sequence is a masterpiece of tension, as McQuarrie cleverly builds complication on top of complication as Ethan tries to escape a rotating death trap at the bottom of the sea.
Look, if Cruise and McQuarrie announced a ninth “Mission,” I’d choose to accept in a heartbeat. But the bar has been set higher than those biplanes, and “Final Reckoning,” though still a good time at the movies, doesn’t quite get there.
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is now in theaters.
Excellent review, Rob – thanks!
I've never really been a Mission: Impossible fan, but I saw the first part of this latest series mainly to get out of the house and into the theater. I drove home feeling underwhelmed. That's not necessarily the movie’s fault; it might just be me.
Generally, I prefer small character dramas, but as you know, I like action movies, too. I may still see this, and I appreciate your thoughtful take.