Two months after acquiring both halves of the cruciform key, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is ready to put an end to the Entity, once and for all. However, in that time the rogue A.I. has increased its stranglehold on cyber space and the planet. Spreading lies and misinformation, the people of the world are divided more than ever, and governments are on high alert. All of which should make it rather difficult, maybe even impossible for Ethan and his team to find a sunken Russian submarine and, use whatever they find there to kill the artificial intelligence that's slowly taking control of the world's nuclear arsenals.
It is entirely possible that Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning could be the most anxiety inducing instalment of the franchise - the second half, anyway. Once again, Tom Cruise puts himself through the absolutely ludicrous in the name of entertainment... and a possible adrenaline addiction. Every scenario in which Ethan and the gang find themselves seems to be designed to put audiences as on edge as possible, not to mention teetering on the edge of our seats. And I, for one, absolutely loved every minute of it! However, before you get to all that, the movie spends an awful lot of time - rather unnecessarily - recapping and retconning the franchise. All of which seems aimed at explaining Ethan's dedication in his latest mission. That and an odd determination to recreate the guilt we saw in Ethan during Fallout. The one we all loved so much... but don't really need to see again.
The trouble is, none of this revision goes toward explaining the things we actually want to know. Like; what's the deal with Ethan and Gabriel (Esai Morales)? They teased us with it during Dead Reckoning, then paid it less than lip service here. However, the bigger question is; what the hell is going on with Luther (Ving Rhames)? I get where they were going with the character, even if I'm not a fan of the execution. But clearly something big has happened since we last saw Luther, and none of it is explained. Moreover, Christopher McQuarrie and his crew have apparently been rather cagey on the subject, which suggests they may not have even bothered coming up with a reason. Making Luther's situation feel all the more pointless. There is one part of the franchise, however, that I'm glad they revisited, and that is William Donloe (Rolf Saxon). Thirty years after he was shipped off to the arctic circle for being adjacent to Ethan's Langley break in, the man is back. Not only is it great to see where he's been all these years, he finally gets a chance to play more of a pivotal role, and Saxon looks like he's having a lot of fun doing it.
Which is obviously the point of a Mission: Impossible movie; fun. And once Ethan finally gets on with his journey, there is plenty to be had. The big action set pieces are up there with the best of the franchise, and as I said before, they are anxiety inducing. Seeing Ethan dive down to the wreck of the Sevastopol is something a little different, and possibly the best part of the movie. Just seeing Cruise in that crazy diving suit is mind-blowing, and then you see him in that incredible set and the whole scenario becomes so much more real. This crazy dive also coincides with what Benji (Simon Pegg), Grace (Hayley Atwell) and Paris (Pom Klementieff) are up to, and as is often the case with the IMF, everything has to come together at the right time to succeed. All of which McQuarrie shoots for maximum intensity. And when you've just about made it back from the edge of your seat, Cruise is hanging from a biplane flying over beautiful South Africa. It's very similar to the Fallout ending, but that doesn't stop it from being this wild ride, with Ethan once again engaged in a crazy battle with Gabriel - who has been reduced to a bit part, and a predictable cliché of a 2D villain.
Despite certain issues with The Final Reckoning, there is no denying that it is yet another triumph for the franchise. It is another exciting action movie that takes the insane to new levels. Something these movies have done for almost 30 years. But it also feels like the right place to bring things to a close. The ending itself isn’t exactly perfect. It's like they tried to both end things and leave it open to another mission, should someone choose to accept it, and in the process left a big part of what these movies have been about, unfinished. Maybe Mr Cruise and Mr McQuarrie wanted to leave something up to the fans. Who knows? But it's also an annoying little detail that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. However, all that being said, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning - most of it, anyway - is yet another epic, adrenaline-fuelled adventure with Ethan Hunt and his crazy band of IMF agents, and the perfect way for this franchise to go out with a bang.
It may waste far too much time retconning what has gone before, but once it gets going, The Final Reckoning is exactly what you what you want from a Mission: Impossible movie. The stakes have never been higher, and the action is just the right kind of insane, making it the perfect way to bring this epic franchise to a meteoric close.
8/10
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