Tonight's Movie: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)

After nearly three decades, the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie series has (probably) come to a conclusion with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING (2025).

THE FINAL RECKONING proved to be a worthy, if somewhat exhausting, finale to a grand eight-film series.

Our time with the two hour, 49-minute movie began with a welcome to the audience from Tom Cruise. I really appreciate these messages, emphasizing the importance of the theatrical experience and that the entire production team has worked hard for us, the viewers. Both those points were amply illustrated by THE FINAL RECKONING.

The movie picks up from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING (2023), formerly known as MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE.

Things have become much more serious since the previous film, as the world is on the brink of nuclear annihilation due to the AI system "The Entity."

Evil Gabriel (Esai Morales) has obtained possession of a "poison pill," capable of killing off The Entity, which was designed by Luther (Ving Rhames), one of the key longtime members of the team led by Ethan Hunt (Cruise).

In order to end the threat from The Entity, Ethan and the rest of his team (Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Greg Tarzan Davis) must obtain not only the poison pill, but the "Podkova" cartridge from the Russian submarine which was attacked by The Entity at the beginning of the previous film. Neither job will be easy...especially as the submarine is at an unknown location at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean.

While I think DEAD RECKONING remains my favorite film in the series, as I loved its humor, redemption themes, and particular action set pieces, the weightier and more serious FINAL RECKONING is also excellent moviemaking, and I was satisfied when it came to its end.

Yes, the film's pair of impressive big action set pieces -- one in the ocean, one in the skies -- perhaps go on a bit too long this time around; one suspects so much effort and expense went into those sequences that they didn't want to trim them down, and in a sense it's easy to understand that. Certainly, everything Cruise and his production team had to give is left on the screen.

I've seen complaints from some quarters that there was too much in the way of flashbacks and exposition in the movie's first hour, but I didn't have any issues with that aspect and indeed, appreciated some reminders from past films.  We're talking about three decades of story here!

Vanessa Kirby's White Widow is missed this time around, but that's offset by wonderful new additions. Just as DEAD RECKONING brought back Henry Czerny's Kittredge from the very first film, this movie also makes brilliant use of another character from the 1996 movie. It may take just a second to register the familiar face, but when the viewer does, well, it's absolute genius, and I loved he became a key player.

I also loved Trammell Tillman as gutsy Captain Bledsoe, the perfect person to team with Ethan in the buildup to his improbable underwater mission. (Yes, much about the film is improbable, actually; but hey, the series is called MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, right? And, as Ethan's team members are fond of saying, they'll "figure it out.")

The development of previous characters is outstanding, starting with Ethan himself; over the years he's developed from relatively cocky, daring young man to an equally daring but emotionally drained rescuer who has lost some of those he loves along the way and carries the literal weight of the world on his shoulders, in ways big and small. He's determined to protect his friends but he's also got a world to save. Cruise brings dramatic heft to the role, even providing impressive acting along with stunt work while he's hanging on for dear life in the skies.

I also love the maturation of Benji (Pegg) over time, remembering his beginnings early on in the series; his genius and experienced confidence, having essentially become Ethan's co-leader by this point, is rather moving. Benji's team works in parallel with Ethan's journey; if one team succeeds but the other fails, all is lost.

Klementieff's assassin Paris, whose character was a key aspect of the previous film's redemption theme, is marvelous here as a newly recruited member of Ethan's team; she's determined to kill Gabriel and also provides needed humor at the moments of peak drama. The moment when Benji asks if she has any medical experience and she shrugs and responds "I kill people" got one of the biggest laughs in the movie, as did Benji's response ("I can work with that").

There's also some delightfully black humor before the opening credits, as Ethan rescues my favorite character of the last two films, pickpocket Grace (Atwell), by brutally doing away with her intended killer. The entire killing is played off camera, entirely told by Grace's reactions and facial expressions. It's very funny, and the moment provides a great lead-in to Lalo Schifrin's thrilling MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE theme.

This chapter in the series also features Angela Bassett as the President, Hannah Waddingham as a Navy admiral, and Janet McTeer, Holt McCallany, Nick Offerman, Shea Wigham, Cary Elwes, Rolf Saxon, and Lucy Tulugarjuk.

Director Christopher McQuarrie does his usual excellent job. There's also outstanding editing by Eddie Hamilton mixing together what's happening in multiple places, and we may never know how cinematographer Fraser Taggart and aerial director of photography Phil Arntz accomplished all of their impressive shots.

When the movie came to its conclusion and the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE theme music began as the credits rolled, the audience at my sold-out screening burst into loud applause. I experience that regularly at classic film screenings, but it's a rarity when I see new movies.  It was well deserved, not simply for the film but the entire series.

Parental Advisory: This film is rated PG-13. It's the usual non-gory violence seen in previous entries, balanced by positive themes such as teamwork, dedication to protecting others, and love of "found family."

A trailer is here.

The entire 30-year MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE film series has brought me many hours of top-notch entertainment and is very highly recommended.

Previously: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (1996), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II (2000), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III (2006), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL (2011), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION (2015), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT (2018), and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE (2023).

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