Movie Review: Tom Cruise Goes for Broke in ‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’

 Tom Cruise attends the "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" US premiere in New York, US, May 18, 2025. (Reuters)
Tom Cruise attends the "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" US premiere in New York, US, May 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Movie Review: Tom Cruise Goes for Broke in ‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’

 Tom Cruise attends the "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" US premiere in New York, US, May 18, 2025. (Reuters)
Tom Cruise attends the "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" US premiere in New York, US, May 18, 2025. (Reuters)

Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is getting a bit of a god complex. It’s not exactly his fault after defying death and completing impossible missions time and time again. But in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” out Friday, there’s a breathlessness to the naive trust from his growing band of disciples, including the US president (the formerly skeptical Erika Sloane of “Fallout,” played by Angela Bassett ), and Paris (Pom Klementieff), the once delightfully fun maniac assassin who has been reduced to brooding French philosopher. In a series that has often been best when it’s not taking itself too seriously, these dour developments start to feel a little unintentionally silly. And, for at least the first hour, it’s all we have to hang onto.

Perhaps this is part of the point in pitting a human man against a parasitic artificial intelligence set on inciting nuclear extinction, something we’re meant to believe has been brewing in some way since the beginning of the franchise. You can almost see the behind-the-scenes wheels turning: Gravity is kind of a prerequisite when this much is on the line, and when so much pain has been taken to link 30 years and seven movies that were certainly never meant to be connected by anything other than Ethan Hunt.

But we don’t come to “Mission: Impossible” movies for the bigger picture, and definitely not to learn what the rabbit’s foot was in the third movie. We come to be awed by the thrills and Cruise’s execution, whether he’s speeding through Paris on a motorbike, driving one-handed through Rome in a tiny old Fiat, or hanging on the outside of an airbus, or bullet train, or helicopter, or the Burj Khalifa.

And unlike, say, the “Fast & Furious” movies, which long ago jumped the shark, the “Mission” stunts have always felt grounded in some reality and playfulness. It’s not just Cruise’s willingness to tether himself to all forms of high-speed transportation for our enjoyment. His reactions — surprise, panic, doubt — are unparalleled. Ethan Hunt is never too cool to look unsure.

“Final Reckoning,” Christopher McQuarrie’s fourth “Mission” movie in the director’s chair, does deliver two truly unforgettable sequences. One is in a long-defunct submarine at the bottom of the sea that will have you squirming; another involves two classic biplanes careening at 170 miles per hour (274 kilometers per hour) over lush South African landscapes. Though they may induce vertigo on IMAX, these are the things that make the trip to the theater worth it. But be warned: It takes a good long while of labored exposition, manic flashbacks and Oscar broadcast-ready greatest-hits montages to get there.

McQuarrie, who co-wrote the script with Erik Jendresen, might have learned the wrong lessons from the past decade of overly interconnected franchise filmmaking. Or perhaps it still seemed like the right call when this two-part finale was put into motion seven years ago. Not only does realizing one previously enjoyable character is related to and motivated by a character from the past do little to raise the stakes, it also bogs everything down.

“Final Reckoning” also overstuffs the cast with faces that are almost distracting (like Hannah Waddingham as a US Navy officer, though her American accent is quite good). Maybe it’s overcompensating for the movie’s flesh-and-bone villain Gabriel (Esai Morales), who seems to be there because Ethan needs someone to chase.

There are some fun additions to the lot: “Severance’s” Tramell Tillman as a submarine captain, as well as Lucy Tulugarjuk and Rolf Saxon, for anyone wondering what became of the poor guy in the Langley vault.

Simon Pegg, as the capably flustered tech wiz Benji, is still great, Ving Rhames gets to flex emotionally, and Bassett really makes you believe she’s chosen a US city to destroy as an offering to “The Entity.” But many get lost in the unnatural, one-size-fits-all dialogue, which is especially true in the bizarrely sweaty Situation Room where everyone is always finishing each other’s sentences.

Maybe when you have a larger-than-life movie star, you need larger-than-life character actors. Besides, everyone knows they’re there as side players supporting the Cruise show — no one more so than Hayley Atwell as Grace, the once inscrutable pickpocket turned wide-eyed Madonna supporting and tending to Ethan. The loss of Rebecca Ferguson is acutely felt here.

The “Mission: Impossible” movies, even when they’re mediocre, remain some of the most effortlessly enjoyable cinematic experiences out there, a pure expression of “let's put on a show.” There’s nothing else quite like it and maybe they’ve earned this self-important victory lap, though it seems to have gone to the characters' heads.

Saving the showstopper for last will certainly leave audiences exiting the theater on a happy high note. But it’s hard to shake the feeling that in attempting to tie everything together, “Mission: Impossible” lost the plot.



Brian Wilson's Top Five Beach Boys Songs

Musician Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys performs onstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Musician Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys performs onstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
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Brian Wilson's Top Five Beach Boys Songs

Musician Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys performs onstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Musician Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys performs onstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

From the carefree sound of California surf music to the sophistication of later darker works, here are five of the top hits penned by influential Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson.

'Surfin' USA' (1963)

"Surfin' USA" was the Beach Boys' first global hit, taken from their eponymous debut album. A youthful ode to sea, sun and girls, it became an anthem for the West Coast and beyond.

It demonstrated Brian Wilson's increasing songwriting prowess as well as the band's unique vocal sound achieved thanks to double tracking.

"We'll all be gone for the summer/ We're on safari to stay/ Tell the teacher we're surfin'/ Surfin' USA," it rang out.

Wilson intentionally set his lyrics to the music of "Sweet Little Sixteen," by Chuck Berry, leading Berry to take legal action.

'California Girls' (1965)

On the big hit of the summer of 1965, Wilson's cousin Mike Love burst into song to celebrate the sun-tanned women of California.

"I wish they all could be California girls," the band members sang in seemless harmony.

It was also the first song written by Wilson under the influence of LSD, "which could explain why the accompaniment seems to move in a slow, steady daze at odds with the song's bright, major-key melody," Rolling Stone magazine wrote.

'God Only Knows' (1966)

It took Wilson just 45 minutes to write "God Only Knows," the legendary eighth track on the album "Pet Sounds" which has gone down as one of the greatest love songs ever.

Sung by brother Carl Wilson, Brian's rival Paul McCartney declared it to be his favorite song of all time and said it reduced him to tears.

But the record company and other members of the group were wary at the new turn in style.

'Good Vibrations'(1966)

"Good Vibrations" was a massive commercial success, selling one million copies in the United States and topping charts there and in several other countries including the UK.

At the time the most expensive single ever made, the "pocket symphony" was recorded in four different studios, consumed over 90 hours of tape and included a complexity of keys, textures, moods and instrumentation.

The song was a far cry from the group's surf-and-sun origins and the enormity of the task brought Wilson to the brink. He was unable to go on and complete the album "Smile," of which the song was to have been the centerpiece.

- 'Til I die' (1971) -

On side B of the album "Surf's Up,'Til I die" was composed in 1969 by a depressed Wilson worn down by mental illness and addiction.

He wrote in his 1991 autobiography that it was perhaps the most personal song he had written for the Beach Boys.