Film Review - Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

 

Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable

Violence Acceptable

Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable

(It feels odd to be returning to something like film reviews after the death of my friend.  But I do know that these are the things that we would talk about, so I try to keep that in mind as I write.)

I've been to events where someone who had worked there for a long time is given a fond farewell.  Towards the end, the person leaving gets up to give a speech.  And at first all of the good will and good feelings fill the room.  But if this person goes on for too long and gets too far into the weeds of obscure stories, all of that good will begins to fade and the audience develops a desire for the person to leave sooner rather than later.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning appears to be Tom Cruise's swan song farewell to this franchise that has served him well for these 30 years.  He has a lot to say and a lot to do.  But like that speech that goes on a bit too long, Cruise indulges just a little too much.  It does not ruin the movie and there are enough excitement and thrills to make it worth your money.  But a little more discipline and editing could have cemented this one as maybe the best of the series.

The story takes place a few months after Dead Reckoning.  The AI known as the Entity is wreaking havoc on the world, filling it with so much disinformation that people can no longer tell the truth from a lie.  As a result, most countries have put their citizens under martial law.  To make matters worse, the Entity is hacking into the nuclear arsenals of all the world's governments to trigger the annihilation of the human race.  But Ethan Hunt (Cruise) has the literal key to stopping all of it.  He has to once again work with Luther (Ving Rhames), Benjy (Simon Pegg), Grace (Haley Atwell), and a few others to race against the clock.  In addition to this, the President (Angela Bassett) wants Ethan to come in so that they can gain control of the Entity rather than destroy it.  Other nations, like the Russians, are also hot on their trail.  With the odds stacked against them, the question is whether or not they can accomplish this impossible mission.

The flaws in this movie come from a deep desire to give the fans a satisfying conclusion to this saga.  For that reason, the movie retrains much of its good will.  For those who have been loyal devotees, there are call backs that are incredibly satisfying.  There is a character that returns from the first film that could have been a glorified cameo.  Instead this character is give depth and an arc.  The movie likes to show how the series is interconnected.  For example, it takes the Rabbit's Foot from Mission: Impossible III and connects it to the events in The Final Reckoning.

However, not all of these threads tie neatly into a bow.  For example, Briggs (Shea Whigham) seemed to have a vendetta against Ethan in the previous film.  The reason is revealed here and it is related to an earlier film.  But, it doesn't have the emotional payoff that Cruise thinks that it should.  Also, even though to movie goes on for very long, there are many characters that don't have much of an arc.  Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis) joins Ethan's team, but he really doesn't add much of anything to the question. One of the president's general's, Sidney (Nick Offerman), seems to go on an interesting and unexpected journey, but it feels truncated and doesn't have the punch it should.

However, there are some actors who take what little screen time they have to shine.  Tramell Tillman as Captain Bledsoe only has a handful of lines as the Captain of a critical submarine.  But he delviers each line with the energy and charisma of someone in a Tarantino film.  Pom Klementieff has almost no lines, but she adds a violently comic presence throughout.  Rhames seems exhausted by the entire series, but he gives a good, emotional monologue.  Atwell is charming and vulnerable, which is refreshing from the infallible girl boss types that are usually dominating these types of films.  Pegg infuses Benjy with both drama and humor and we really care about what happens to him.  And Cruise is as good as ever.

Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie push the stunt sequences to their limit.  There is a sequence when he has to enter a sunken submarine that begins to roll off an underwater cliff.  The scene is so well constructed that you feel like you are caught in there with him and the claustrophobia is palpable.  But the real topper is the airplane chase at the end.  I need to share an embarrassing story to illustrate how good this was.  After the movie my wife noted that I was "helping" Ethan during the sequence.  When I asked her what she meant, she said that while I was holding her hand, I was moving my hand around as if I was steering the plane too.  I didn't realize I was doing this, but it shows how viscerally thrilling this stunt sequence was and it was one of the best of the entire franchise.

The movie wants to say something about humanity verses AI and faith over fear.  Those are very interesting themes, but it doesn't really have time to be explored.  It is summed up in a line that where it says that we can bring about a future "reflecting the measure of good within ourselves.  And all that is good inside us is measured. by the good we do for others."  The team does what they do not for themselves but for the good of others.  This selfless heroism is something that I have always loved about these films.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning lingers slightly too long on the stage.  But after it has taken its final bow, you are left with the warm feeling of thirty years of memories.