Film opinion: ‘Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning’ is a crazy franchise conclusion

After 29 years, the Mission: Impossible franchise has, supposedly, come to an end with The Final Reckoning.

Tom Cruise’s final bow as IMF agent Ethan Hunt is a crazy, well-executed, perhaps excessive conclusion to a beloved action franchise.

Film News Blitz’s David Bason gives his account of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.

Better late than never

It was a case of better late than never for me watching The Final Reckoning and the Mission: Impossible franchise conclusion being released in cinemas.

The eighth instalment of Cruise’s action vehicle was originally slated to release in the summer of 2022, but was pushed back several times thanks to the COVID pandemic and the 2023 Hollywood strikes.

So, May 21 2025, was the date that The Final Reckoning arrived in UK cinemas, but it wasn’t until June 7 that I arrived at the Salisbury Odeon to take it all in.

Life sometimes gets in the way, but the wait to watch Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie’s film only heightened the anticipation.

Approaching the final chapter

The Final Reckoning, originally titled Dead Reckoning Part Two, is the second act of a story kicked off by 2023’s Dead Reckoning.

That film was considered a box office disappointment by Mission: Impossible’s extraordinarily high standards.

A huge production budget, inflated by COVID implications, meant that a worldwide gross of approximately $570 million, the lowest in the series since 2000’s Mission: Impossible 2 wasn’t considered a success.

So, despite Cruise having previously stated he’d like to continue as IMF agent Ethan Hunt for as long as possible, Paramount pivoted this new entry as the final one in the Mission: Impossible franchise, and a name change was facilitated. 

What is ‘The Final Reckoning’ about?

Following the conclusion of Dead Reckoning, The Final Reckoning begins with humanity on the brink of total annihilation thanks to the villainous AI known as The Entity, and its human accomplice, Gabriel (Esai Morales).

As The Entity assumes control of nuclear arsenals across the globe, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt convinces Madame President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) to go on his riskiest mission yet to stop the AI force from destroying the human race.

Joining Hunt is a team comprised of long-time friends and franchise favourites Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), thief/romantic interest Grace (Hayley Atwell), new recruit Theo Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis) and villain turned ally Paris (Pom Klementieff).

A globe-trotting, spine-tingling adventure ensues as Hunt and his team go on their deadliest mission yet.

The verdict

Now, the Mission: Impossible franchise as we recognise it today took a long time to find its feet.

After beginning in 1996, it wasn’t until 2011’s Ghost Protocol, the fourth film in the series, that the winning template was struck.

Two films later, 2018’s Fallout took its rightful place as franchise best and maybe, even, one of the greatest action films in modern cinema.

Fallout is the yardstick that all Mission: Impossible films should be measured against, and whilst The Final Reckoning is an enjoyable, yet lengthy (2hrs 49 mins) flick, it falls short of the sixth film.

The circumstances and action set-pieces that Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is subject to make for some of the most compelling and well-executed scenes in the franchise, from a thrillingly tense abandoned submarine sequence to death-defying stunts across duelling bi-planes.

These types of sequences are a dime a dozen in The Final Reckoning, which barrels along at an almighty pace from scene to scene, with little pause for breath.

The plot and narrative itself are subservient to the endless barrage of supremely crafted, high-stakes action set pieces, each more improbable than the last, but herein lies an issue with this film.

Warning, spoilers ahead!

Given that The Final Reckoning has repeatedly been billed as the end of Mission: Impossible and Cruise’s Ethan Hunt in particular, I expected, and wanted, to see more consequences to match the incredibly high stakes.

In the previous instalment, Ethan Hunt lost his love interest, Ilsa Faust, as Rebecca Ferguson’s beloved character met her demise at the hands of Gabriel.

Then, early on in The Final Reckoning, Luther bids an emotional goodbye to Cruise’s IMF agent.

But from here on, no more characters meet their fate.

As the action sequences become ever more ludicrous and armageddon even more likely, the fact that the core characters survive each and every dramatic excursion means they lose weight.

Had Cruise’s lead character made the ultimate sacrifice at the end of the film, The Final Reckoning would have absolutely nailed the landing as a franchise conclusion.

His survival leaves the door ajar for Paramount to make more Mission films in the future, despite stating otherwise, but given that the ante in this film was upped to the brink of nuclear armageddon, it would be hard to make any subsequent stories seem worthwhile.

This is all the more reason for letting Ethan Hunt go out on a sacrificial, emotional bow.

Furthermore, the absence of Ilsa Faust is keenly felt, and although Atwell is a welcome inclusion as Grace, her character’s newfound and sudden affection for Ethan Hunt would have been better served with Ferguson’s character.

Despite these issues, The Final Reckoning is still a compelling, enjoyable Mission: Impossible film, and you can feel Cruise’s devotion to cinema audiences pouring out of every sequence.

Callbacks to previous entries are deftly crafted, and seeing Rolf Saxon’s William Donloe go from a minor character in the 1996 Mission: Impossible to a pivotal piece in this final film was a welcome and positive surprise.

Although this isn’t the ending some would have wanted, The Final Reckoning is a fittingly absurd action film and serves well as Cruise’s love letter to delivering big-screen Mission: Impossible adventures.

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