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Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning: Amazing Finale with few "but"s
- Yadav B V
- 7 hours ago
- 5 min read
Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning is, as the name suggests, the final instalment in the Mission: Impossible franchise and is pretty awesome. With a playtime of close to 3 hours, this is no small budget short film! You get to see Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in all his glory, taking on Big Bads to save the world as we know it!
The Plot of Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning
Picking up from where Dead Reckoning left off, The Entity, a vastly powerful self-aware AI, is out to "conquer" the world through digital means, and Ethan Hunt is the only one who can stop the AI from doing that. Personally, as a professional, I think the scariest aspect of the whole movie is The Entity trying to eliminate Hunt's job somehow. But this is fiction, therefore, it is trying to kill everyone instead of just replacing them at their jobs. - making it the right kind of scary and entertaining.
Ethan uses something called a cruciform key to retrieve what is the source code on a device called the Podkova in a submarine that sank in the last movie in the Arctic.
Yes, there are way too many moments where people in Ethan's world put their absolute trust in his mission to save the world, a lot of last glances, heavy dialogue, and so many one-liners ( some of which are actually good ). I don't mean to nitpick, but it does get a bit repetitive, but it IS Tom Cruise who does his own stunts, and this movie is definitely a labor of love.
There will be a point for even hardcore fans of the Mission: Impossible Franchise where you will cringe at the back and forth between Hunt and the villains. I AM a big fan of Tom Cruise AND this franchise, and I did cringe a few times at similar lines throughout the movie.
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Most of the comedy arising out of high-tension situations is fine, but some of them seem to be shoe-horned in, such as one particularly bad exchange between Hunt and Gabriel, played by Esai Morales.
Requires at Least Two Watches
Final Reckoning is basically The Avengers: Endgame of the Mission: Impossible Franchise and is dense with plot points, callbacks, and deep cuts - none of which is gratuitous. This means you will need to watch this movie at least twice, in the theaters, to fairly assess the quality and scope of such a movie.
Coming to the plot twists, I didn't see most of them coming, maybe because I am invested in the eight-movie-long arc, and don't want to spoil it for myself or others.
The Cast
The success of the Mission: Impossible Franchise is in part due to its consistent core cast that has remained unchanged since the very first movie in 1996. Ethan, Benji, Luther, and even Kitteridge ( Henry Czerny ) from time to time.
The final instalment of this Franchise includes Angela Bassett, who now plays the POTUS, Nick Offerman as a high-ranking general, and Hannah Waddingham as the Commander of a US Battleship. There is also Pom Klementieff as Paris, the reformed assassin who, when asked about medical experience, says, " I Only Kill People!"
A delightful addition to the cast is the rising star of Tramell Tillman, playing the captain of a clandestine US Submarine. You might recognize him from his awesome performance in Severance as the struggling floor manager.
Tom Cruise - The Enigma
I was never a big fan of Tom Cruise until I realized he really IS Ethan Hunt in real life - every single stunt, especially in this franchise, is done by him and only him. He is one of those people who needs to walk the razor's edge to feel alive, a lot like Vin Diesel's character in The Fast and the Furious franchise ( only a lot more relatable )
Every single movie project he gets into might end badly, but he does it anyway. Personally I think that's crazy, but also in a way he's being his most authentic self - how many of us really live the life we want? I'm not talking about timely adventurous vacations, but things that truly challenge you?
I'm sure Tom Cruise plans to live and even die while acting out one of his elaborate stunts, which is kinda cool tbh, but also just a little insane, in a great way.
At this point in his life and probably in the foreseeable future, Cruise is not acting for the money; it's mostly for the thrill of being an action star and being the best at what he does.
Cinematography and Practical Effects
One of the selling points of this movie and the franchise in general is the amazing cinematography of sprawling landscapes in the most beautiful, dangerous, and even remote locales for shooting. One of my favorite scenes is seeing Cruise's Ethan Hunt curling into a foetal position in the icy cold arctic waters of the North.
The Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) station is also quite breathtaking, given that the environment is pristine and yet highly dangerous for anyone not familiar with the terrain and temperature.
Another key point in the movie is when Ethan Hunt climbs into a pod to access and interface directly with The Entity, which is shown well and reminds me of Neo hooking himself up to the core AI in The Matrix franchise.
The sequence where Tom Cruise enters the submarine that sank in the last movie is also shown really well, with details that are best watched on screen than described in a movie review!
All I'll say is that the submarine stunt is very well done and executed realistically ( as much as possible anyway )
New Technology
One of the things I like most about this franchise is that you get a sneak peek into cool cutting-edge tech that either is being developed or actually exists. One such moment was when they revealed the 5D Memory Crystal, which is the size of an average pen drive but can store up to 360 TB of data.
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If you're wondering how we have found access to another two dimensions that we cannot perceive, it is through the help of a process called birefringence or double refraction.
Should You Watch It? Hell Yes!
While watching this movie is a no-brainer, you will enjoy it most if you watch all seven films before starting on the grand finale of the franchise.