Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Review

‘Mission: Impossible’ is inarguably the greatest ever action film franchise, with eight films that have been released over thirty years. It all started in 1996 with the first part of the franchise ‘Mission: Impossible’ in which Tom Cruise started his journey as Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Mission Force (IMF). Over the last thirty years, Tom Cruise and his team entertained us with seven larger-than-life, breathtaking action spectacles and all set to wrap up the franchise with the final film, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Ahead of its release in the theatre this coming week, the team screened the premieres last night across IMAX screens in the UK. Did Tom Cruise outdo himself for one last time in the role of Ethan Hunt? Is ‘The Final Reckoning’ worth it to be the closing film of the greatest film franchise that ever existed? More importantly, is it really the last part of the franchise? Do we see Tom Cruise doing the role of Ethan Hunt again? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning – Part Two’ starts from where it ended in part one. Ethan Hunt(Tom Cruise) with the ‘Key’ to save the world receives a voice note from Erika Sloane(Angela Bassett), the President of United States of America, in which she asks Ethan to come out the exile to save the world from a deadly ‘Entity’ which threatens to destroy the world with a malicious cyberattack. Did Ethan accept the request of the president? If yes, what challenges did he face in his mission to accomplish the impossible? Did he overcome all the challenges and come out triumphant? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt is superb as usual. He makes you wonder how in the world he can perform such breathtaking stunts at the age of 62? He is charming as ever and proves yet again that he’s the greatest action hero that ever existed. The stunts he performed during the final act of the film leave us spellbound. Only a person with mad passion towards their profession can pull off those stunts.

Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales and others did their roles well as usual. Almost every actor in the film performed without a single wrong note. Special mention to Lucy Tulugarjuk in the role of Tapeesa, the wife of Donloe. She generated humour with her subtle and serious expressions superbly.

Technicalities:

Music by Max Aruj & Alfie Godfrey is fantastic. Their background score elevated many sequences in the film to another level. They should have easily opted for rehashing the background scores of earlier films in the franchise, but they stayed away from it and came up with a brilliant original background score.

Fraser Taggart’s cinematography is first-rate. The way he captured the picturesque locales of the UK, the USA, and South Africa is excellent. His work during the underwater sequence and the final act of the film deserves a special mention. Editing by Eddie Hamilton is good, but it should have been better. Writing by Erik Jendresen and the director, Christopher McQuarrie, is top-notch. Special mention to the dialogues written by the duo. There were so many dialogues in the film that elevated the character of Ethan Hunt superbly.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Tom Cruise
2.⁠ ⁠Breathtaking Action Sequences
3.⁠ ⁠Background Score
4.⁠ ⁠Nostalgia Factor
5.⁠ ⁠Subtle Humour
6.⁠ ⁠Dialogues

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠A Few Overstretched Sequences

Analysis:

‘Who in the world can we trust to have so much power & yet not to think of harming the world?’, Ethan Hunt in a crucial sequence asks, Grace. ‘It is you, Ethan. I can bet my life on it, Grace replies. In another sequence, Luther Stickell says, ‘I know you(Ethan) will find a way to come out triumphing this time around, too, brother’. And, in another sequence, the President of the United States of America says, We need you again, Ethan. I know only you can save the United States of America and the world from this crisis. There are so many instances in the film where most of the characters show immense belief in Ethan to save the world, yet again. We, as the audience, can’t agree more. We know he is capable of going to any extent to save the world, to save humanity and to save mankind from the evils of any form.

‘The Final Reckoning’ starts with a sequence where the president of the United States of America sends a voice note to Ethan in which she talks about the adventures that Ethan pulled out in the last thirty years. It is a perfect sequence to open the final part of the greatest action film franchise ever. It takes us back to the nostalgia with many missions that Ethan accomplished over thirty years in seven films. In one of the sequences, a chief at a submarine says, ‘The functioning of this suit is very critical for your survival when you go under the water’. Your suit was not in my initial plan, ma’am. I planned the mission even without the suit, Ethan replies to the chief with a straight face. Kudos to the writers of the film for coming up with such subtle and yet powerful sequences.

Breathtaking action sequences, especially the last act, terrific background score, amazing visuals, superb writing, great performances, brilliant direction and above all, Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, has everything that is required in an action spectacle film. The director, Christopher McQuarrie, built the tension superbly in the first hour and then started coming up with one action sequence after another brilliantly. The action sequence in the final act is sure to leave you spellbound. It makes you start admiring Tom Cruise even more. The stunts he pulled off in the film at the age of 62 certainly deserved a standing ovation.

On the flip side, the editing of the film should have been better. The underwater sequence in the second half is shot brilliantly, but we get the feeling that it is stretched a bit too long. We know Ethan will eventually get what he is looking for underwater. Editing in such predictable sequences should be very crisp. The way the underwater sequence was shot and the background score for the sequence certainly deserve a special mention, but with almost twenty minutes of runtime, the sequence makes us feel overstretched and dragged out. Also, not everyone may like the leisurely pace at which the drama was built in the first hour.

The makers of the film mentioned that ‘The Final Reckoning’ is the last film of the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise. But, is it really the last film of the franchise? Do we see Tom Cruise doing the role of Ethan Hunt again? Going by the sequence with which the director ended the film, the franchise can continue further. But it remains to be seen whether the 62-year-old Tom Cruise likes to continue to play Ethan Hunt or not. We, as the audience, certainly would love to see him playing Ethan Hunt yet again. Aren’t we?

Overall, ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ has a few flaws, but those minor flaws certainly don’t take away anything from the larger-than-life entertainment it offers. Go and watch the film at a big screen near you with friends and family, preferably at an IMAX screen to witness the ‘impossible’ adventures of Ethan Hunt and his team, one last time.

Bottomline: Mission: Impossible 8 – Fantastic Action Spectacle

Rating – 3.25/5

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