Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

 

“I don’t accept that” 

Thrilling, climactic and immense, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is a sprawling finale to the super spy saga that manages to weave contrived retcons and expositions together with genuine heart and intense action spectacle to deliver an outstanding end to the impossible antics of Ethan Hunt. 

Discussion Points:

Whilst it may take a while to get going at the beginning, and feature plenty of contrived exposition and franchise retcons, once Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning gets running at full pace it never slows down delivering an absolutely heart pounding finale to the Tom Cruise super spy stunt extravaganza. The submarine sequence may be one of the most stressful and exhilarating survival sequences ever crafted and choreographed. And then Cruise ups the ante with a demented aerial daredevil display that’s genuinely nerve wracking. I was consistently on the edge of my seat for the last half of this three hour espionage epic. I’m so glad it manages to far surpass its messy opening which puts the pieces into place for an absolutely outstanding close to the M:I franchise! Tom Cruise truly is our great movie star, and his team continue to bring so much heart to this series from beloved classics like Ving Rhames’ Luther and Simon Pegg’s Benji to newcomers Hayley Atwell as Grace and Pom Klementieff as Paris. The return of Rolf Saxon as William Donloe brings the whole story full circle, whilst President Angela Bassett and her cabinet debate the genuine moral dilemmas of nuclear warfare and Esai Morales chews all the scenery as the dastardly Gabriel. Christopher McQuarrie has easily cemented himself as one of the greatest blockbuster action filmmakers of all time and I can’t wait to see what he and Cruise cook up next. An absolutely fitting finale to the series - and I hope it doesn’t self destruct 5 seconds after I watch it but lives on in infamy.