We all know that the only constant in life is change. That’s an easy concept to wrap your head around in an abstract sense. But it’s far knottier to reckon with when you consider how much, in your own life, things have changed. The country has changed. How we relate to each other has changed. The movies have changed.

Now, if people go to a movie theater at all, they generally go to see a franchise entry first and a film with strong word-of-mouth second. Back in the day, movie stars were the reason to plunk your money down at the box office. I can remember standing in line to buy a ticket, which was a real thing that happened, and listening to how people thought about their upcoming cinematic experience. “Two for the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.” “Four for the one with Harrison Ford.” “Two for the Tom Cruise movie.”

Movie stars don’t have anywhere near the power they used to have.* It’s true that actors like Glen Powell, Jenna Ortega, and Michael B. Jordan work their asses off to deliver strong performances in quality films. But they can’t open a film simply by starring in it.  Perhaps nobody can any longer. So where does that leave us with Tom Cruise, the man that my kid and I mockingly/not-so-mockingly call “President Hollywood?” Where does that leave us with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the possibly last installment of a nearly thirty year old franchise?

When The Final Reckoning begins, we learn that the world is in even worse shape than usual. A self-aware artificial intelligence known as The Entity has decided to wipe out humanity. It’ll do that by gradually taking control of the nuclear arsenals of various countries, then launching pretty much everything at everything else. You can see how that would be a problem.

That’s where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) comes in. He’s an operative for the amusingly named Impossible Mission Force, and the leader of a team that includes the tech virtuoso Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), jittery field agent Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), former thief and current agent (I think?) Grace (Hayley Atwell), and former henchwoman and current chaos agent Paris (Pom Klementieff).

Their mission, which they naturally choose to accept, is to shut down The Entity’s shenanigans. That won’t be easy since they have to deal with Gabriel (Esai Morales), a rogue IMF agent who wants to take control of The Entity for his own nefarious reasons. The group will have to crisscross the globe, perform a number of fetch quests, and survive setpieces that would make James Bond pee his pants.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is not a bad movie, but holy smokes, is it a mess. It felt like director Christopher McQuarrie was cramming three movies worth of ideas into one movie, performing a swan song for the franchise, and constructing the second part of a two-part story – all at the same time. That creates very real bloat, so much so that the runtime is close to three hours. In principle, I have no issue with a crazy long movie as long as the story warrants the length. I don’t think it does here. 

A big part of the problem is with the screenplay by McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen. If you didn’t see Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,** or any of the other films in the series, don’t worry! For approximately the first hour of The Final Reckoning, you won’t experience an exposition dump, you’ll experience an exposition firehose. Plot points from the previous film as well as aspects of older entries are retrofitted into the narrative. As a result, the film takes so much time explaining stuff that it doesn’t truly get moving until an hour in. That brings us to the second issue, which is that the plot truly is a series of fetch quests. Our heroes have to go to a place to get a thing, then escape a place, then break into a place, and then, and then. That’s fine, but there’s so much plot to deal with that we never get a sense of character or personal stakes. Speaking of character, that’s the third issue I have, which is the nearly total lack of character for the film’s antagonists. I get that The Entity wants to wipe out human life. Then what? What’s its goal beyond that? What does it need? Similarly, I get that Gabriel wants to take control of The Entity. Then what? Conquer the world? Get rich? Score front row Taylor Swift tickets? There’s so much time spent on what and how, but virtually no time spent on why.

And yet – and yet – the action and stunt sequences are frankly jaw dropping. The two best are a mid film sequence involving a crashed nuclear submarine and a climax involving a couple of biplanes very high up. Between the meticulous planning of the stunt team, McQuarrie’s insistence at showing us this is not CGI fakery, and Cruise’s willingness to perform insanely dangerous stunts well, I’m infuriated that the Oscar category of Achievement in Stunt Design won’t exist until 2027. This is literally Academy Award caliber stunt work. We should also remember that McQuarrie does exceptional work when it comes to staging and pacing the action beats. It’s a team effort by the best in the business, and it’s the main reason to see this film on the biggest screen possible.

Across the board, the cast is solid. Everyone turns in professional performances, but it all feels overly serious. The best moments in the franchise aren’t goofy, yet they have a twinkle in the eye, a sense of We know, we can’t believe we’re getting away with this either! I expect a lightness of touch if your movie had a dude hanging off the side of the Burj Khalifa, or the same dude doing a HALO jump, or the same dude escaping a train that’s plummeting off a cliff. Understand that it’s not stupid, but it is ridiculous. Cruise can do his living manifestation of human willpower thing in his sleep. He’s a more interesting performer when that’s combined with a degree of uncertainty and humor, and that forces the rest of the cast to step up their game.

What happens next with one Thomas Cruise Mapother IV? Where does that leave us with the Cruise of it all? I don’t know, but I have a few hunches. As I write this, Tom Cruise is an infuriatingly healthy sixty-two years old. He’s planning to make a few more action movies, mostly with McQuarrie, and I have no doubt that he has the mental and physical fortitude to handle those stressors. Cruise is also phenomenally knowledgeable on the subject of film. He knows, better than most, that movie stars have an expiration date. Sooner or later, they stop playing the lead, stop receiving top billing, and need to make a choice as to what their lives look like next. Some of them, like Paul Newman, pivot to becoming character actors, and I suspect that’s what Cruise will do. Beyond the insane stunts, Cruise remains a talented actor.*** At some point down the line, he’ll turn in a performance reminding everyone of that. Will it nab him an Academy Award win? I wouldn’t be surprised.

Where does that leave us with the Mission: Impossible of it all? I don’t know if this truly is the end of the franchise, just like I don’t know if enough people are willing to trek to theaters to make it a hit. If they do, I wonder if it’s less about Cruise’s star power and more about the public’s desire to see Cruise attempt ludicrous stunts. If Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is the finale of the franchise, we’re left with a franchise that began as an espionage thriller, became a showcase for action auteurs, and ended as a sizzle reel of possibly the greatest stunts in American film history. Now that’s change for you.

*At least, not here in the United States. Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan has been in more than eighty films and has a net worth of close to $800 million. As far as I can tell, he’s doing just fine.

**The title of Dead Reckoning Part Two was changed to The Final Reckoning after the prior film underperformed financially. 

***He’s been nominated for acting in Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire, and Magnolia, and he was nominated as a producer for Top Gun: Maverick.

Tim Brennan Movie Critic

Tim has been alarmingly enthusiastic about movies ever since childhood. He grew up in Boulder and, foolishly, left Colorado to study Communications in Washington State. Making matters worse, he moved to Connecticut after meeting his too-good-for-him wife. Drawn by the Rockies and a mild climate, he triumphantly returned and settled down back in Boulder County. He's written numerous screenplays, loves hiking, and embarrassed himself in front of Samuel L. Jackson. True story.