Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning - Movie Review *Spoiler Free*

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is the direct sequel to the excellent Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One and continues the story of Ethan Hunt and his team as they must stop this powerful AI called "The Entity" before the breakout of full scale nuclear war. The film was directed by Christopher McQuarrie and stars Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and Hayley Atwell.

THE REVIEW

If you know me it's no secret that this was my most anticipated film of 2025! I love this franchise, and every single movie since Mission: Impossible III have been consistantly fantastic. Now I will say this isn't the greatest film in the franchise, it's considerably more flawed than the past four entries in this franchise, but I still absolutely loved this film! First off, Tom Cruise and the rest of the cast bring their A game here as expected, all of them give great performances, are charismatic, and do well in the action sequences. Tom Cruise once again puts his life on the line to entertain us and my God his effort just shows greatly before your eyes. Tom Cruise's stunt work is truly remarkable and if the rumors are true that the Oscars will finally acknowledge stunt work, Tom Cruise will finally get the recognition that he deserves. The action sequences here are absolutely incredible and there are two action sequences in particular that may rank as some of the greatest in the entire franchise. Of course there's the plane sequence that's presented on the poster and understandably so, it's exhilarating to watch on the big screen. The other is a very suspenseful and claustrophobic sequence in a submarine that goes on for a long time, and contains little to no dialogue, and when that sequence goes on I was legitimately on the edge of my seat. Besides the action and wonderful performances, the movie is beautifully shot and the sound design is outstanding! I also found the story to be mostly compelling, it does take a long time for it to take off but once it does it is truly something special in my opinion.

As for flaws, which all flaws I have are in the first act, the pacing could have been better. Like I just previously mentioned, it does take a while for the story to get started. The first 45 minutes to an hour is basically a compilation of scenes from the previous films woven in to the scenes specifically for this film in an attempt to tie the entire franchise together. I like the idea of that, but in execution it really did drag this film down in its first act. This film is also extremely exposition heavy in the first hour, which I felt to be a shame because the exposition wasn't very compelling to me and it was mainly for stuff from the previous films, and if you have seen every single movie, it's just going to leave you with the feeling of "get to the story, we know all this stuff already". 

So in the end, despite a weak first act, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is a thrilling, action-packed movie that's extremely entertaining, has wonderful action sequences and phenomenal, dedicated performances from Tom Cruise and the rest of the cast. If you are a fan of the franchise, you should absolutely see it! The first act may be weak, but by the end of the movie you are left with a movie so fun and exciting that it's very worth it in the end!

GRADE:  A

MOVIE INFO

Release date:  May 23rd, 2025

Run time:  169 minutes

Studio:  Paramount Pictures 

Director:  Christopher McQuarrie 

MPA rating:  PG-13 (for sequences of strong violence and action, bloody images and brief language)