I have a bone to pick with all the people who got to watch Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning before me and then rushed to write about how it was the worst entry in the franchise, that the series has gone out with a whimper, and that they are glad that there won’t be any more adventures with Ethan Hunt because they are just so tired and exhausted of his shenanigans. Films are subjective, and so are opinions, and I am fine with constructive criticism. But when the reactions to a film reek of ignorance and stupidity, to fulfill some agenda or just to sound contrarian, with almost all the haters repeating the same old talking points, then I take umbrage with that. And that issue is just taken to the next level when, after watching the same film as these seasoned critics and film enthusiasts have, I come to the realization that they dampened my excitement for no perceivable reason. It kind of makes me existential about the state of film discourse. What can I do about it? Well, I can give you 10 reasons why The Final Reckoning is nowhere close to being the worst of the franchise and is actually a fitting swan song to Cruise’s stint as the man, the myth, the legend… Ethan Hunt.
Spoiler Alert
1. Exposition
The number one complaint that has been leveled against The Final Reckoning is that it has too much exposition. United States President Erika Sloane recaps the franchise. After that, when Ethan enters the Entity’s coffin, it recaps the franchise again. And just for safe measure, when Hunt is brought to the US government’s war room, his escapades are recapped one last time. Despite knowing that every single installment is filled to the brim with exposition, thereby making it a staple of the franchise, initially, I was inclined to accept this criticism. But then I went online and saw a casual moviegoer state that they would’ve enjoyed this film more if it wasn’t their first Mission: Impossible film. Now, you can scoff at this individual all you want. However, you also have to take into consideration that this series wasn’t exactly “serialized” until Ghost Protocol. Every mission until then was self-contained. Even Ghost Protocol can be watched in isolation because Ethan’s wife, Julia, plays such a small part of the story. That said, after Rogue Nation, the narrative has become pretty interconnected. On top of that, The Final Reckoning is Cruise’s last outing as Ethan, which is something that the marketing team has heavily focused on. Therefore, McQuarrie and Jendresen must’ve anticipated casual moviegoers walking in and feeling lost about what’s going on. Hence, the copious amounts of exposition. Sure, people like us have the luxury of being up-to-date about every aspect of a franchise, but many others don’t. Does that mean that they should be excluded and be left to figure out the weight of the narrative on their own? Nope. Also, it’s pretty odd that so many self-proclaimed cinephiles have talked about the exposition like it exists in a vacuum and isn’t being uttered by some of the best actors in the business right now.
2. Cast
The Final Reckoning is the first film since Oppenheimer that is chock-full of amazing little bits of acting from some of the most charismatic and recognizable actors. Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Charles Parnell, Katy O’Brian, Mark Gatiss, Tramell “Mr. Milchick” Tillman, and Stephen “Mr. Negative” Oyoung say the most obvious things, but the way they manage to arrest your attention in such a short span of time is nothing short of movie magic. Tillman and Waddingham constantly calling Ethan “Mister” is simply hilarious. That tiny arc that O’Brian gets with Cruise, where they go from being apprehensive about each other to having a sense of mutual respect. McTeer’s delivery, when she asks if Angela Bassett’s Sloane has contacted her son about the threat of a nuclear apocalypse, is so heartbreaking. I don’t think I have to explain why Bassett is the best there. Henry Czerny and Shea Whigham are so impactful, as they always have been. And that’s just the supporting cast. Every member of the primary cast, be it Cruise, Ving Rhames, Haley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, or Greg Tarzan Davis, gets their moment to shine, and they knock it out of the park. Which other Mission: Impossible movie has brought in this many actors and extracted every bit of potential from their screen time? None. So, if it makes you happy, go ahead and nitpick the hell out of the exposition without taking into consideration the actors that are being used to convey this information to the viewers. Just know that you are wrong.
3. Stunts
Mission: Impossible has always had great stunts. The Langley heist in the first one, the bike chase in the second one, the bridge shootout in the third one, the Burj Khalifa climb in the fourth one, the underwater heist in the fifth one, the helicopter chase in the sixth one, and the mountain jump in the seventh one. Then you have Tom Cruise running in every installment like there’s no tomorrow. And, also, the involvement of the supporting cast in the action set pieces has only increased with every film. But The Final Reckoning, with the exception of a scene that has something to do with a bike, kind of tops everything that the teams involved in the previous films have pulled off. The entire underwater journey, culminating with the Sevastopol escape, is like a one-two punch of thalassophobia and claustrophobia; I nearly puked while watching it. The biplane chase is one for the history books. It’s something that has been practiced since the 1920s, and here you have one of the biggest actors in the world pulling it off. Have some goddamn respect. Even though that stunt has been heavily marketed, seeing the whole thing just made me cry in amazement; I am not even kidding. It’s so easy to just say that “Oh, this is something that has been done before.” The people behind this franchise are doing everything that’s practically possible. If you want “more,” go to Marvel, DC, or any of those effects-driven fests, which claim to show stuff that surpasses human imagination, even though the final product is extremely bland. That’s not a dig against CGI and VFX artists, by the way, because Mission movies also need a lot of CGI and VFX to clean up shots or enhance them. It’s just that they’ve done chases in almost every kind of vehicle, scaled every kind of tall structure, and done fights in a variety of places. Every possible combination of location and style has been explored. Cruise and his team have consistently elevated the stakes and realism, and they’ve reached the peak with The Final Reckoning. If that’s boring to you, then this is not the franchise for you, buddy.
4. Craft
Every installment of Mission: Impossible has reflected the artistic choices of the director involved. Brian De Palma’s film was very noir-esque and had lots of split-diopter shots. John Woo used tons of slow motion and pigeons. J.J. Abrams employed lens flares, over-saturated color grading, and frenetic camerawork. Having worked mostly in animation, Brad Bird brought a kind of cartoonish vibe to the series, as well as a bit of Roger Moore-era James Bond’s level of tackiness. And then came Christopher McQuarrie and the rest, as they say, is history. While the cinematographers and composers for McQuarrie’s stint in the franchise have changed, Eddie Hamilton has remained a constant. In all four Mission movies that Hamilton has edited, his flow and rhythm have been so different that it gives the illusion that each of the entries has been in the hands of different editors. It’s truly a magnificent sight to behold. The intercutting between the knife fight in the USS Ohio and the hand-to-hand combat on St. Matthew Island, as well as the entire third act, is spectacular. I don’t expect award ceremonies that hailed Bohemian Rhapsody as one of the best-edited films of the year 2018 to recognize Hamilton’s work, but the man has my respect. I don’t know how people see all that and claim the presentation is clunky and whatnot. Coming back to the music for a bit, I have seen people say that Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey’s score is subpar. Now, I like Limp Bizkit’s take on the iconic themes, and I think Lorne Balfe’s composition in Fallout is the best. With that in mind, here’s me saying that Aruj and Godfrey are alright in my book. In short, even if you can’t shoot a movie, try thinking about how any of the scenes in The Final Reckoning have been executed; if it makes you dizzy, just know that you are in the presence of the ultimate masters of their craft.
5. Storytelling
It’s interesting that the criticism that “every Mission: Impossible basically has the same story” has now evolved to “The Final Reckoning is complicated, convoluted, and messy.” And I have heard the latter from the same people who said that the film has over-explained its plot. Go figure. I can excuse someone saying those two things in quick succession if the eighth installment in the franchise is their first Mission movie. If you have been following this series since 1996, I think you know that the whole gimmick of a Mission movie is that it has a clear start and end point, but the path connecting those two extremities is full of distractions, diversions, and deviations. That’s the pattern. That’s what makes every mission seem, well, impossible. I don’t even know why I am explaining this. In The Final Reckoning, Ethan is given a simple choice: letting humanity be ruled by the AI or letting the AI end humanity via a nuclear apocalypse. If you know what Ethan stands for, you know he’ll beat the odds to save the day. That’s it. That’s literally it! What is so confusing about that? At the cost of sounding repetitive, and I know this will sound repetitive at this point, if you are rejecting the oldest trope of a 30-year-old franchise, then you are just doing it wrong.
6. Themes
Wow! I don’t even know where to start with this. Okay, let’s commence the proceedings with the fact that the most prominent theme that’s been explored in The Final Reckoning is that of self-sacrifice. Of course, Ethan’s journey has been synonymous with this theme. But the manner in which it has rubbed off on every single good-hearted individual that has come in contact with Ethan is so heartwarming and heartbreaking to witness. Seeing everyone, from Luther to Degas, willing to do their bit to further Ethan’s mission to kill the Entity while silently accepting that what they are doing is the sum of all the choices they’ve made throughout their life is simply beautiful. It actually goes to show that Ethan can’t do it all alone. Earlier movies might’ve given off that impression, but ever since McQuarrie has taken the reins, he has ensured that the audience realizes that Ethan’s daring antics will amount to nothing if his mates aren’t as skilled and trustworthy as him. Speaking of trust, that’s a recurring theme in the film as well, because the writers want to underscore the fact that we should prioritize putting our faith in people instead of artificial intelligence. This reality that we live in is a miracle, and opting for a virtual reality on a whim is idiotic. Our freedom is precious, and letting an AI program be our overlord is stupid. Which brings us to yet another prominent theme in the film: fate versus destiny. The Entity and Gabriel keep claiming that everyone’s fate is predetermined and it’s pointless to try and defy it. Meanwhile, Ethan and Luther are of the opinion that nothing is written and every human being can be the master of their destiny. For the longest time, humans have relied on religion or superstition to rationalize everything in life. In doing so, we’ve made ourselves susceptible to manipulation and subjugation, and something like an AI can use our lack of self-confidence in our decision-making capabilities to enslave us. Hence, Ethan wants you to reject technology (or use it sparingly) and embrace your buddy. Can you say that any other Mission movie is as thematically rich as The Final Reckoning? If yes, the comment section is open. If not, welcome to the team.
7. Political Commentary
As far as my memory serves me, the first time that I heard anyone in the world of Mission: Impossible refer to real-world politics is when Ethan incapacitated the Prime Minister of England in Rogue Nation to extract information about the Syndicate. That’s when CIA Director Alan Hunley exclaimed that Ethan had reverted the political ties between the USA and the UK to the American Revolution era. Of course, with the introduction of the Entity in Dead Reckoning, the franchise kind of critiqued every half-brained fanboy of AI programs. But in The Final Reckoning, Ethan very explicitly stated that a simple way to beat the Entity was for every country to disarm its arms cache and nuclear arsenal, while the visuals flashed the flags of the USA, Israel, India, Pakistan, Russia, France, and many other countries. However, since humans don’t trust each other and assume that as soon as one party puts down their weapons, the other party will use that opportunity to rain hell and reign supreme, we are constantly in war mode. Now, in the movie, an AI exploits this fatal flaw for its own nefarious purposes. I don’t know if that’s something that can happen in real life too, even though AI tech is being used in drones and other weaponry to shoot down “hostiles,” whatever that means. What has been happening, though, is by constantly antagonizing each other with the threat of nuclear warfare, we are destroying innocent lives as well as the planet we live in. Again, it’s a miracle that this habitable planet exists and we get to live and breathe on it. So, why are we constantly fighting over topics that are petty in the grand scheme of things? I don’t know if you have been following the news lately, but The Final Reckoning is in direct conversation with present-day politics. Of course, since we have become such “snowflakes” over the past few years, the film doesn’t make any overtly specific statements, but the commentary is pointed enough to be relevant and encourage some serious introspection.
8. Nostalgia Baiting
Despite embracing the serialized storytelling style of franchise filmmaking that has gained popularity after the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Mission movies never partook in nostalgia. That changed with Dead Reckoning, where they were brought back with Kittridge after almost 30 years. But Kittridge had some pretty cool scenes in that first movie, and Henry Czerny made him feel so intimidating. So, yeah, it made sense to bring him back for some more awesome interactions with Ethan. Rolf Saxon spent his screen time in that film, in the role of Donloe, puking and pooping his guts out. So, to bring him back for the final installment of the franchise, make the knife that had been dropped on his desk during the Langley heist and have him be an integral aspect (maybe the most important aspect) of the movie’s concluding act—that is insanity. Saxon got to give the character so much gravity. His scenes with Ethan were so great. Somehow, McQuarrie and his crew got to show that if your writing is solid, you can use the power of nostalgia to turn someone from the butt of a joke to one of the most memorable characters in a franchise. Compare this with Marvel bringing back Robert Downey Jr. in the role of Doomsday after giving his version of Iron Man a proper send-off. That reeks of desperation. That shows that even after making a gazillion dollars over the past few decades, Marvel has to play it safe, and they have to mine whatever’s left of the audience’s nostalgia for RDJ to carry the MCU out of the slump it is in. DC did the same with Michael Keaton. Star Wars did unspeakable things in The Rise of Skywalker. Hence, I understand why nostalgia baiting as a practice is looked down upon. But it’s not my fault that Mission Impossible is “built different.” Go argue with a wall.
9. Tom Cruise
The lengths that Tom Cruise has gone to to keep cinema alive can’t be discounted. Yeah, sure, laugh at that audio clip of Cruise screaming at his crew to highlight the importance of wearing a mask. Feel free to call Dead Reckoning and The Final Reckoning over-expensive flops because Cruise, as the producer, ensured that his crew was paid properly even when shooting was shut down due to the pandemic. Witness that man tumble around on the wings of a plane that is at a height where breathing is impossible, at the age of 62, and say, “The build-up to that moment was lackluster.” I can’t do that. I watch him do these extraordinary things, because he still can, and experience unadulterated amazement. If the concluding installment of this franchise was a supercut of all the previous films followed by that biplane stunt, I would’ve given it full marks because that’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of action filmmaking in its purest form. Something like that cancels out each and every flaw that a movie has. It simply does. So many of Cruise’s peers, domestic and international, have just become lazy. No, I don’t expect every 60-year-old actor to literally defy death by hurling themselves out of a plane, performing some sketchy vehicular stunt, or pushing their physical abilities to the maximum in every film. That said, I do expect them to be the face of stories that progress the art form in a positive way, instead of facilitating its downfall by signing on the dotted line of the next piece of slop. If that sounds like too much of an ask, I am afraid I have to keep hailing Tom Cruise as the last of the movie stars and hope that he either keeps starring in or produces movies that go on to define the next few eras of storytelling.
10. ‘The Final Reckoning’ Is Great Because It Made Me Cry
I’ll keep this last point simple. I have a simple rule: if a movie makes me cry, I love it. Fallout got me to tear up via Luther’s conversation with Ilsa and Ethan meeting Julia and realizing the kind of danger he has put her in. Dead Reckoning made me emotional in the scene where Ethan said, “Your life will always matter to me more than my own.” But Luther’s recording at the very end of The Final Reckoning had me sobbing and weeping. Hence, according to my rules, it’s the best Mission Impossible movie so far.
