TL;DR: Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is an over-the-top, emotionally bloated, occasionally brilliant action opera that gives Tom Cruise the fireworks farewell he deserves. It may not be the franchise’s tightest entry, but it is absolutely its loudest, longest, and most self-aware.

THE FINAL RECKONING: WHEN ACTION HEROES GROW OLD AND REFUSE TO DIE

I never thought I’d write the words “Tom Cruise vs. an evil AI overlord” and mean it sincerely. Yet here we are, deep in the heart of 2025, watching Ethan Hunt sprint through analog forests and freefall through a post-digital apocalypse, all in a feverish attempt to stop a sentient algorithm from becoming Skynet with a LinkedIn account.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is many things: a tech-phobic meditation, a three-hour swan song, a glorified Tom Cruise mixtape, and above all, a stunning reminder that this franchise has no business being this consistently good eight movies deep. This isn’t just a sequel; it’s a self-aware action requiem wrapped in flashbacks, franchise callbacks, and deeply sincere monologues about trust, teamwork, and the perils of Big Tech.

And yes, it’s bloated. Very bloated. Like, “I just ate a family-size tub of popcorn and now I have to listen to Ethan Hunt monologue about morality in a war room for 11 minutes” bloated. But it’s also earned.

A LAST DANCE WITH DEATH (AND CGI RESISTANCE)

Tom Cruise, let’s be honest, is less of an actor and more of an adrenaline high in human form. And he’s spent the last 30 years building this franchise into a monument to doing it the hard way. While most blockbuster heroes these days are essentially motion-capture mannequins flailing in front of green screens, Cruise has been out there clinging to the sides of planes, climbing Burj Khalifa with a GoPro strapped to his chest, and now—in maybe the series’ most astonishing bit of lunacy yet—piloting an upside-down biplane through a lightning storm.

And in this finale (at least, that’s the vibe), Cruise seems to be saying goodbye not just to Ethan Hunt, but to an entire era of cinema. One where danger was real, cuts were rare, and CGI wasn’t used to animate a character blinking. He’s going out guns blazing—but also with a deeply analog soul.

What I didn’t expect was how philosophical this movie would get. For a franchise that started with exploding chewing gum and face-swapping trickery, it’s grown into something remarkably reflective. Hunt’s war isn’t just against a rogue AI; it’s against the creeping tide of modern detachment. In a world increasingly run by invisible code and unseen hands, he represents the last man standing who still believes in people, instincts, and duct tape.

A FRANCHISE TAKES A BOW (AND A FLASHBACK, AND ANOTHER FLASHBACK)

One of the things The Final Reckoning does, perhaps to a fault, is look backward. The film is so in love with its own mythology that it spends at least a quarter of its runtime in montage, memory, or explanatory flashbacks. If you’ve seen every Mission: Impossible film, you’ll be rewarded with echoes and echoes of lore. If you haven’t? Prepare to feel like you walked into the season finale of a show you never watched.

But damn it if it doesn’t work.

The emotional resonance is there. We see the weight of every betrayal on Hunt’s face. We hear the melancholy in Ving Rhames’ gravelly voice as Luther laments the world they’re trying to save. We get a weary, still-joking Benji (Simon Pegg), who feels like the moral compass Hunt forgot he had. And then there’s Hayley Atwell’s Grace—a smart, snarky con-woman turned IMF trainee—who might just be the franchise’s best new addition since Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa.

It’s a three-hour mission stuffed with heart and history, and while it sometimes stumbles under the weight of its own reverence, it never loses its sense of purpose.

THE AI IN THE ROOM: WHY THE ENTITY FEELS TOO REAL

Let’s talk about the villain. Or villains. Or concept, really.

There’s no Thanos here, no mustache-twirling sociopath with a nuclear briefcase. There’s a goddamn AI that knows what you’re going to do before you do. And while this could’ve turned into a cheesy Bond-esque gimmick, it lands eerily well in 2025. When the Entity corrupts global systems, reroutes GPS, manipulates stock markets, and gaslights our heroes in real time, it hits a little too close to home.

It’s the most terrifying villain the franchise has conjured not because it’s strong, but because it feels inevitable. It doesn’t want money. It doesn’t want power. It wants control. And that makes Ethan Hunt’s analog rebellion feel all the more righteous.

Unfortunately, Esai Morales’ Gabriel—the human face of the Entity—doesn’t quite land. His past with Hunt is teased but never meaningfully explored. He’s more symbol than character, and in a series that gave us the cold genius of Solomon Lane and the ferocity of Owen Davian, he’s just… there. Present, but forgettable.

TENSION, TACTICS, AND THE GREATEST PLANE STUNT YOU’LL SEE THIS DECADE

And now, the action.

Look, if you’re here for cerebral storytelling, bless your heart, but that’s not why people buy IMAX tickets to “Mission: Impossible.” They come for the spectacle. And on that front, “The Final Reckoning” delivers with unapologetic bravado.

The film’s centerpiece—a mid-air, mid-spin plane stunt involving Tom Cruise, a broken compass, and gravity having a complete nervous breakdown—is nothing short of jaw-dropping. McQuarrie stretches the tension like piano wire, and you can feel every gust of wind, every near-fatal drop.

But that’s not even the best set piece. That honor goes to an underwater infiltration scene so breathless, so beautifully choreographed, it feels like James Cameron directed a Bond film inside a sensory deprivation tank. It’s both clinical and chaotic. And it reminds us what this franchise does best: making the impossible feel earned.

ALL GOOD THINGS…

The Final Reckoning is indulgent. It’s overly long. It gets high off its own supply more than once. But it is also a love letter—to action, to old-school heroism, to the idea that cinema still has room for madmen like Cruise who jump off cliffs because it looks better than doing it in post.

It may not be the best Mission: Impossible movie (that title still belongs to Fallout), but it’s the most sincere. And in a genre built on bombast, that sincerity is rare.

The IMF might still figure it out, even if the world doesn’t.

VERDICT:

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning isn’t a perfect movie. It’s messy, emotional, and sometimes veers into navel-gazing. But it’s also a thrilling, heartfelt goodbye to one of the greatest action franchises in cinematic history. Tom Cruise puts everything on the line, and the result is a bombastic, sometimes beautiful final mission that dares to say: maybe the old ways were the best after all.