Mission Impossible Final Reckoning (2025)

Review: written May 2025

Impossible made to look once again possible in sombre final (?) outing for IMF squad

Tom Cruise knocks it out of the park with the stunts once again, in this 8th in the movie franchise, and the filmmakers seem to have taken the responsibility of what is being touted as potentially the last in the series, very seriously indeed, with an unexpectedly portentous and sombre outing full of references to the past, and minatory visions of the potential future.

Following on the story (with a clever recap at the start) from MI: Dead Reckoning, the Entity has grown more powerful and the world is careening towards catastrophe. With the truth distorted by this powerful AI sentient being, people are being manipulated into extreme behaviours, fanaticism and edging towards anarchy. The President of the US appeals to Ethan Hunt – bring in the key, tell us what it is for, and how we can control the Entity. But of course he has no intention of allowing any one government control of of The Entity – his goal, for the safety of the human race, is to destroy The Entity. To do this, he needs two things, the ‘poison pill’ software developed by Luther ( Ving Rhames), and a module from the sunken submarine “Sevastapol”. And thus is set up a storyline for the movie to follow, via some terrific set pieces.

The supporting cast are exactly what is needed, especially Simon Pegg delivering much needed spoonfuls of humour into the mix, while still remaining believable. Pom Klementieff is a great younger addition who almost deserves her own movie, and Hayley Atwell doesn’t have as much to do as the previous outing, but delivers a charismatic performance nonetheless. That’s only scratching the surface of the supporting cast, including Angela Bassett, Henry Czerny, Esai Morales (whose background is never satisfyingly explained) and Shea Whigham, who gets an unexpected origin story. Plus others, some of whom it is fun to discover without prior warning so I will stop there.

But it’s Tom Cruise that the movie is built around. Even in his 60’s he’s still running faster than the plot, and successfully bringing us along with him so we don’t stop to think about that plot too much, even when malicious AI and governments seeking control of “The Truth” seem closer to home than fiction. As good as the cast is, it’s when it’s Tom on screen, delivering the action, whether it’s subsea aquatics, deadly knife fights in confined spaces, or hanging from an aircraft (for real, of course), that the movie propels us along and leaves us grinning at the thrill ride we’ve been taken on.

The occasional meaningful speeches about how “Everything that you have done until now, has led you to this..” and multiple throwbacks to previous movies are presumably to add weight and consequence to the action, but do threaten to weigh down proceedings with an unneeded sense of ‘meta-importance’. Mission Impossible was arguably at its best when providing levity, which let you know the filmmakers were winking at you, sharing the joke of how absurd it is, but inviting you to go along for the ride. Here, levity gives way to solemnity for much of the movie, making you start to feel the lengthy running time. That said, with a second half which delivers on the thrills and nail biting climaxes the franchise has built its reputation on, all is forgiven by the (unsurprising) end.

The bagginess in the first half mean this isn’t the standout of the franchise.. but hey, lets not forget what a thoroughly high bar for action movies that is. This is still a thrilling start to the Summer movie season, and if this is the final one? Then they should all be proud of themselves. I’d go back to see it again just for some of those action scenes.. and isn’t that what a successful Summer blockbuster is all about?