MOVIE OF THE WEEK (5/23/25): MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING

"Don't mind me - I'm just hangin' around waiting for that next Top Gun sequel! Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING from Paramount Pictures and Skydance. © 2025 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. 
THE TRAILER


CAST

Tom Cruise – Ethan Hunt
Hayley Atwell – Grace
Ving Rhames – Luther
Simon Pegg – Benji Dunn
Esai Morales – Gabriel
Pom Klementieff – Paris
Henry Czerny – Kittridge
Holt McCallany – Serling
Janet McTeer – Walters
Nick Offerman – General Sydney
Hannah Waddingham – Admiral Neely
Tramell Tillman – Captain Bledsoe
Angela Bassett – The President
Shea Whigham – Briggs
Greg Tarzan Davis – Degas 
Charles Parnell – Richards
Mark Gatiss – Angstrom
Rolf Saxon – William Donloe
Lucy Tulugarjuk – Tapeesa 

DIRECTED BY
Christopher McQuarrie 

THE PLOT: Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has done a lot throughout his career as a member of the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) ... But now, he and his crew are facing their toughest challenge to date: An imminent global war in the face of a rogue artificial intelligence known as The Entity taking over the world’s nine largest nuclear arsenals. An old foe, Gabriel (Esai Morales), is determined to take control of The Entity using a poison pill designed by Ethan’s pal Luther (Ving Rhames) and use it for his own notorious purposes to reshape the world. Unfortunately for Gabriel, he needs another device to pair with Luther’s poison pill to control the entity – and it lies several miles near the bottom of the ocean in the Russian submarine that The Entity sank in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. Did we also mention that Kittridge (Henry Czerny), a government suit long familiar with Ethan’s work as the former head of the IMF, also wants to take control of The Entity and weaponize it, too? 

That’s why Ethan, alongside Luther, old pal Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), pickpocket extraordinaire Grace (Hayley Atwell) and assassin turned ally Paris (Pom Klementieff) are now charged with saving the day. This would also help explain why the president (Angela Bassett) is now facing a decision of whether to launch a nuclear attack herself and kill millions to possibly save billions (it makes sense in the film). 

To recap: Ethan his team must (1) retrieve a device containing The Entity’s source code from the bottom of the ocean in 4 days to capture and stop it (2) before The Entity launches the world into nuclear war while (3) making sure Gabriel doesn’t get to it first so he (4) can try to control The Entity to remake the world in his own vision and (5) stop the world’s leading countries from blowing themselves up before The Entity gets the chance. Almost forgot, Ethan and his team also still have federal agents on their trail, which is why Briggs (Shea Whigham) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis) are still trying to bring them in. 

 It's an impossible mission, for sure – and one that could leave him dead in the aftermath.
 
THE REVIEW: On one hand, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING features stunts that are absurd to an infinite degree, even by most M:I standards. Additionally, the story has its complications to say the least ... Why wouldn’t America or some other country tell the rest why they are losing control of their nuclear arsenals and then work together to stop The Entity as opposed to worrying about who can capture it and then blow the others up first? (Is art imitating life right now too much, perhaps?) 

 On the other, FINAL RECKNONING has action galore with scenes that are detailed to the point it’s impossible (pun intended) to be drawn into them and Cruise showing the mettle that has made him a staple of Hollywood for five decades and counting. Director Christopher McQuarrie’s dedication to intensity and creating a moment enables audiences to be able overlook portions of the film for their enjoyment where logic would normally override their sense of disbelief. 
 
To its credit, the film does provide some nice ties back to previous films to enhance the story, wraps up the main thread between Ethan and Gabriel and the action sequences are entertaining. To his credit, Cruise continues to defy the things a man his age should be doing, let alone as well as he does. What may be most interesting, however, is the “is-or-is-not-the-film-trying-to-make-a-political-statement-about-the-dangers-of-power” thread undercutting the film. This serious tone pops up against the more prevalent theme of heroes and being their for the people that matter to you most. (It’s not quite a Fast & Furious-level presence, but it is present.) 

In short, everything (mostly) works because of the cast's commitment to taking it as serious as the stakes they present. FINAL RECKONING is a fitting conclusion to the film series and one that longstanding M:I fans will be happy does not self-destruct.

THE RATING (out of four popcorn buckets:


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