Review - Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, this is my review of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. And, big emphasis on "final," as this is, quite literally, the final film in the Mission: Impossible franchise. This film was directed by Christopher McQuarrie, and stars Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Henry Czerny, Esai Morales, Shea Whigham, Pom Klementieff, Rolf Saxon, and Angela Bassett. 

       Picking up sometime after the events of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, this movie sees Ethan Hunt and the IMF go on one final mission: to finish what they started and shut down the rogue artificial intelligence program known as The Entity, before it can take complete control and wipe out the world. 

      Okay, so, what did I like about this movie? Well, the performances were absolutely fantastic, with both Tom Cruise as Ethan and Hayley Atwell as Grace being arguably the best parts of the cast. Simon Pegg as Benji, Ving Rhames as Luther, and  Pom Klementieff as Paris were also great. I thoroughly enjoyed both Henry Czerny as Kittridge and Shea Whigham as Briggs, while the returning Esai Morales as Gabriel was a fascinating antagonist, but still not as memorable as Dougray Scott as Ambrose in Mission: Impossible II or Philip Seymour Hoffman as Davian in Mission: Impossible III. And, Angela Bassett as Sloane, who is the President of the United States in this movie, was a welcome return as well. 

       The action and stunts were all pretty thrilling, with a few moments having me, quite literally, on the edge of my seat. The underwater scene in the Arctic and the biplane chase scene in Africa were easily among the two most thrilling moments of the movie, with there being plenty more peppered throughout. And, there were definitely a few surprises, such as minor supporting roles with such top tier actors like Mark Gatiss, Hannah Waddingham, Nick Offerman, Holt McCallany, Charles Parnell, and Katy O'Brian. 

      However, the movie's dialogue does get a bit clunky here and there. For instance, the movie contains a lot of nostalgic callbacks, and archived footage, from earlier Mission: Impossible films. And, a lot of this is tied to Ethan's past missions, such as breaking into the CIA Black Vault in the first movie, stealing the "Rabbit's Foot" in Mission: Impossible III,  and the Kremlin bombing in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Speaking of the CIA Black Vault, the agent who was in said Black Vault, William Donloe, actually returns in this movie, played once again by Rolf Saxon, and he gets quite a bit to do in the third act. Cool. And, there's a connection between Shea Whigham's Briggs and a character from an earlier films in the series, but I don't want to give away who it is. 

      Overall, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to a nearly thirty year old film series. Yeah, this series started in 1996, and has been a consistent franchise from Paramount Pictures and actor Tom Cruise. Is it the best one? Nah, I still hold that Ghost Protocol is the best Mission: Impossible film overall. But, this one definitely brings the series to a satisfactory ending. To wrap up this review, I will say this: your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go check out Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning in theaters, especially for the action and for one last run with Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. 

      Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys in the next review.