In this new age of watching content, there really is a challenge for production companies and studios to bring patrons to the theaters. Enter. TOM CRUISE. The mission, should you choose to accept is THE FINAL RECKONING.
I saw a video of Tom Cruise thanking audiences for watching the movie. He said that the entire cast and crew of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING worked really hard to give audiences a one of a kind movie experience. It was made to be seen on the big screen and he’s absolutely right. The 8th installment of the franchise gave scenes and sequences that haven’t been shown in previous iterations. Guaranteed, these scenes will take your breath away.
Please indulge me as I reminisce. I remember being 10 years old in the summer of 1996. My parents took me and my brother to Orlando to see Disneyworld. On US television, the commercial or tv spot that I’ll never forget was for the movie “Mission: Impossible.” Who can forget that scene where Ethan Hunt is tied to a rope and falls and is saved just before he hits the floor? Who can forget him avoiding an explosion and landing on a moving train? What do the kids say these days? “ABSOLUTE CINEMA.”
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Now I have to be honest. The franchise kicked in for me when “M:I:III” came out. It even got better with GHOST PROTOCOL. I mean that scene with the Burj Khalifa seriously made my balls go up my throat. Truly, entertaining AF! The best one of the series for me was ROGUE NATION. A more grounded take on the franchise that introduced “The Syndicate” which was the “Anti-IMF” that gave Ethan Hunt and his team a run for their money. The follow up - FALLOUT was all out action from start to finish. I mean it had very little breaks and it was such an entertaining sequel to Rogue Nation.
We then come to the 7th installment - DEAD RECKONING. I will lay it down, I am not the biggest fan of this entry to the franchise because they killed off the best addition to the franchise, Ilsa Faust. Such a disappointment that they let her go! OK, I don’t want to dwell on sad things. Dead Reckoning gave us new villains - the AI called “The Entity” and the slime ball Gabriel out to destroy the world. The stakes were higher but it wasn’t as grounded as the last couple of movies. The 7th installment ended on a cliffhanger with the villains still at large and the whole world still at risk of extinction.
So here we are. Out now in cinemas is MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING. The culmination of 3 decades worth of impossible missions. Ethan Hunt and his team composed of Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) are back to take down The Entity and the evil Gabriel (Esai Morales). Rounding up the team for this final installment are Grace (Hayley Atwell), the mysterious Paris (Pom Klementieff), and Davis (Greg Tarzan) who were all part of Dead Reckoning. Their mission takes them all over the world from London, to the freezing depths of the North Pacific Ocean, to South Africa. Returning cast members are Henry Czerny as the annoying Agent Kittridge, Shea Whigham as Briggs, and Angela Basset playing the former CIA Director and now US President Erika Sloane. The new cast members are pretty interesting. Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) as General Sydney, Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso)as Rear Admiral Neely, and Tramell Tillman (Severance) steals the scenes he’s in as Commander Bledsoe.
Over the years, we’ve seen death defying stunts that Tom Cruise does himself. Climbing the Burj Khalifa, going underwater beyond human limits, hanging on a net from a flying helicopter and climbing up to it, and jumping off a cliff on a motorcycle. What else can Tom Cruise do to take our breaths away? The most exciting parts of The Final Reckoning comes during the visit to the Sevastopol submarine wreckage and of course the final boss fight with Gabriel during the biplane aerial sequence! With the Academy Awards introducing a new category next year, Tom Cruise may win one for the best stunt performance!
Did I like The Final Reckoning? I did. Did I love it? Not as much. I’m sorry! It’s my fault. My expectations were way too high. With this being billed as the final installment, I was hoping that they’d go all out with multiple characters from the past returning like Jeremy Renner’s Brandt, Paula Patton’s Carter, and even Maggie Q’s Zhen. But alas, members from the previous teams were MIA. Maybe I was also hoping Ilsa was still alive? Maybe I was the sad with the fact that they killed off another character that I loved? Yes. My expectations were set too high. Another factor, upon further analysis, The Final Reckoning wanted to tie things all the way up to 1996. It wanted to connect certain details in the previous movies. It was a bit overwhelming trying to recall certain details while watching. I think that they really didn’t have to do world building. These connections came out of nowhere. It was already one of the best movie franchises and I think they were trying to fix what was not broken. If you are a casual Mission: Impossible fan, you may want to watch recaps online.
Let’s go back down to earth and away from nitpicking purgatory if you will. Was I seated at the edge of my seat? Hell yes. Did the movie make my heart race and make me tense? 100%. Was I entertained? It’s a fact! It’s still a satisfying end to the franchise don’t get me wrong! I just wanted it to more satisfying if you get my drift,. I was also happy to have seen this in IMAX! The way it’s supposed to be seen!
Will I still recommend you see it in IMAX? YES. YES. A MILLION TIMES YES. No one entertains me in the movies like TOM CRUISE. Throw whatever movie at me with Tom Cruise in it and I will consume it immediately. Undoubtedly THE greatest entertainer of our generation! Thank you Tom Cruise and thank you to director Christopher McQuarrie! This tag team is arguably one of the greatest!
Now your mission that you should accept is to go to the cinemas and see THE FINAL RECKONING! Go out and be entertained together in a big room full of strangers and share in the thrill, excitement, and the emotions!
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