“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” – REVIEW

The Entity, a not-so-friendly artificial intelligence, is growing in strength and taking control of the nuclear arsenals of more and more countries. The world powers, of course, want to stay ahead of the threat and prevent a global catastrophe. So, they start scheming in their own ways, with the Americans—who boast the most impenetrable defense system—taking the lead, and the Russians, somewhat responsible for this whole unfortunate nuclear mess, close behind. The escalating conflict also foreshadows the outbreak of a third world war. Even through rose-colored glasses, the situation looks bleak. It’s clear that no matter how hard international agencies, secret or otherwise, flex their muscles, once again only Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team can save the world. Christopher McQuarrie truly puts in the effort to raise the stakes and deliver a sense of an ultimate mission. This time it’s do or die. Sure, sure—we all know for Hunt, it’ll just be another day at the office. If Mission: Impossible has taught us anything, it’s to expect constantly rising stakes and increasingly impossible obstacles to overcome. It’s no longer a rumor that in the past few films, the script hasn’t been the foundation of production; first come the ideas for elaborate stunt sequences, and only later (maybe much later) are the plot and dialogue adjusted to fit. The Final Reckoning is a textbook example of that creative method—for better or worse.

One thing that won’t be up for debate is that the 20-minute sequence set on the “Sevastopol,” a Russian submarine sunk in the Bering Sea, is an unprecedented technical achievement. In short: Ethan Hunt has to dive to a depth of 150 meters to retrieve a disk containing The Entity’s source code—crucial to the success of the mission. Sounds like a piece of cake. The difficulty ramps up significantly when it turns out the sub is packed to the brim with nuclear and non-nuclear missiles (take your pick). These casually knock into each other inside the sinking “Sevastopol.” Hunt is racing against time, oxygen, and space—because of course, one by one, his options for escape are eliminated. It’s a top-notch production with choreography executed to perfection: the camera work, lighting, shot composition, and precise editing. The circumstances are insane, but the orientation is never lost. Rarely do we see underwater scenes like this—here, the creators reach the peak of their craft.

The Final Reckoning, marketed as the last installment of the series, tries—sometimes smoothly, sometimes clumsily—to tie together all the previous entries into one whole. The film’s prologue might come off as unintentionally awkward. Ethan Hunt receives a message from the American president (who else?), who, in an emotional monologue, recounts his many achievements. The montage of scenes from the entire series feels more like a forced attempt to erect a monument to a great action hero. With a thirty-year legacy, it’s certainly deserved, but it comes across as a strained summary, patching together stories that were always meant to stand alone. As a result, the emotional weight doesn’t come from the current plot, but rather from the meta-awareness that this is “the last dance” with Ethan Hunt.

But if it isn’t the last one, then outdoing The Final Reckoning will be a truly impossible mission. Skynet-style AI, an international nuclear conflict, just dozens of hours to save humanity, a reprise of the skydiving sequence from Fallout, and underwater exploration. In the next hypothetical installment, the immortal Ethan Hunt would have to face aliens—unless it’s the other way around. Cinema history teaches us one thing: some legends are better left unchallenged.