Mission Accomplished? Tom Cruise Soars in ‘The Final Reckoning,’ But Not Without Turbulence

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May 23

Written By Jonathan P. Moustakas

From left: Pom Klementieff, Greg Tarzan Davis, Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg and Hayley Atwell in 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.' **Courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Skydance**

Tom Cruise Goes All In With Death-Defying Action and Old-School Spy Thrills in a Bold, If Bloated, Finale

There’s no phoning it in when it comes to Tom Cruise. In Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, the legendary star throws everything he's got at the screen: jaw-dropping stunt work, globe-trotting espionage, emotional introspection, and an unshakable commitment to practical effects. The result is a sprawling, thunderous eighth entry that might run a little long, but earns nearly every second of its runtime.

Directed by franchise veteran Christopher McQuarrie, the film picks up after 2023’s Dead Reckoning, pushing superspy Ethan Hunt into one last race against time. This time, it’s not a villain with nukes or a rogue nation—it’s something far more relevant: a sentient AI known as "The Entity," capable of rewriting reality through disinformation, cyber warfare, and mass manipulation. Cruise, as always, insists on doing it the hard way: practical, analog, and in-camera whenever possible.

**Courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Skydance**

The film’s opening is a tense, atmospheric deep-sea sequence aboard a Russian submarine, showcasing a level of production design and tension-building that’s almost claustrophobic in its realism. From there, we travel across the globe—from arctic strongholds to wind-swept canyons in South Africa to shadowy European cities, always one step behind or just barely ahead of disaster. The scale is vast, the ambition clear, and the film never lets you forget that this is a series built on the idea of doing the impossible.

Two standout set pieces reaffirm Cruise’s position as Hollywood’s last true stunt icon. First, there’s the sequence where Ethan maneuvers a collapsing submarine, using physics and desperation to prevent a total implosion. Later, he finds himself leaping from one biplane to another mid-air, dangling from wings and catching the slipstream with nothing but willpower and a hope that physics will hold. The camerawork—expertly handled by Fraser Taggart—immerses the viewer in these stunts with astonishing clarity.

But Final Reckoning isn’t just action for action’s sake. It’s a film trying to say something about power, trust, and the cost of loyalty in a time when truth is manufactured and weaponized. The AI threat may sound pulpy, but it taps into something real—our growing unease about surveillance, data control, and the erosion of objective fact. And while the script (co-written by McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen) occasionally overindulges in jargon and heavy exposition, the core message remains potent.

That said, the film’s greatest flaw is its pacing. At nearly three hours, there are long stretches—particularly in the second act—where momentum slows to a crawl. Scenes of exposition begin to blur together. Meetings, briefings, encrypted messages, and strategy sessions take up screen time that could be better served with action or character beats. The stakes are world-ending, yet the urgency dips when the plot gets lost in its own labyrinth.

Cruise, however, remains magnetic. His Ethan Hunt is older, more vulnerable, and visibly carrying the weight of his choices. But he's still willing to jump off a cliff if it means saving someone. There's a gravity to his performance that elevates even the film’s most absurd beats. When Ethan repeats the IMF oath—“We live and die in the shadows, for those we hold close and those we never meet”—you believe that he means every word.

Hayley Atwell’s Grace returns, this time less of a wildcard and more a proper agent-in-training. While some of the sparkle from her initial appearance is toned down, she shares compelling chemistry with Cruise and gets moments of heroic clarity. Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames continue to provide a reliable emotional core as Benji and Luther, though their screentime is sparing. Pom Klementieff’s Paris is a chaotic delight—swinging between menace and unexpected hilarity—and her one-liners, especially her deadpan “I kill people,” give the film some much-needed levity.

Angela Bassett, now portraying the U.S. president, and Henry Czerny as Kittridge, ground the film in bureaucratic tension, but their scenes are often undercut by the film’s insistence on layered subplots and a rotating door of characters. Nick Offerman, Janet McTeer, and Holt McCallany are all present but underused, often confined to control rooms or briefing tables. The same goes for Hannah Waddingham, whose character feels more like an accessory than a presence.

Despite these detours, the film delivers a grand sense of closure. McQuarrie peppers in nods to earlier entries—from visual motifs to emotional echoes—creating a sense of a franchise looking back on itself with reverence. There’s genuine emotional payoff when Ethan reconnects with long-lost allies, or when old betrayals come full circle. Even the film’s final action sequence feels symbolic—an old-school hero wrestling with the future, dangling between chaos and control.

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Musically, the score from Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey is thunderous and operatic, weaving in themes from earlier installments while introducing fresh motifs that match the film’s darker tone. Technically, the film is a triumph: tight editing, immersive sound design, and a color palette that transitions from stark blues to blood reds as the tension ratchets up.

If The Final Reckoning is Ethan Hunt’s swan song, it’s one that’s earned its place in action movie history. It may not be as lean or as sleek as Ghost Protocol or Fallout, but it has something those films lacked: a sense of legacy. Of looking back at the road traveled and knowing that even a mission impossible was worth accepting.