Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, the latest and (for now) the last entry in the series is darker, grittier, gorier, and more somber than the prior Dead Reckoning and the franchise in general but the tone fits well the weighty doomsday topic - the impending destruction of the world as we know it by an AI entity.
Given the context of the genre, the plot is well executed and the story is deep, moving, and inspiring, with well developed character arcs. The slower pacing and longer runtime of this final chapter serve to draw us into the true enormity of the situation the protagonists are facing. As the grand finale of the franchise, Final Reckoning also weaves together various elements of the previous seven entries, so familiarity with the earlier stroies will entrich the experience, but the movie can still very much be enjoyed without that background as well.
The visuals are amazing, exploring beautiful and interesting locations. The heart-pounding action scenes are truly gripping. In one long, dialog-less underwater sequence the suspense is almost too much to bear. Though the tone of Final Reckoning is admittedly much darker than the rest of the series, the story still has lighthearted, fun moments and a dose of good humor. The film also contains some powerful religious themes, which I plan to explore in detail in a future article.
The cast is diverse, without the sense that the producers were just checking boxes. In contrast to the usual Hollywood trope of using identity politics to divide, in Final Reckoning, people of widely different backgrounds and walks of life work together toward a common goal.
In keeping with the Mission Impossible franchise, the film is the ultimate Tom Cruise vehicle, showcasing the clearly undiminished physical prowess of Cruise. One can only marvel at the 62-year-old actor still doing so many breath-taking stunts. In the parlance of our time, he is without a doubt still very much the goat. The story also depicts his character, Ethan Hunt, as the only person who can save the world.
However, Ethan can only succeed if he receives, along the way, the help and cooperation of many others, whom he must trust implicitly. And though the film revolves largely around his character, Cruise has not used Final Reckoning for self-aggrandizement. Unlike many other actors who use their platform to grandstand and virtue-signal - and then blame the fans for their own failures - Cruise has made it clear that his work is intended to serve the fans. In an unusual pre-movie address to the audience, played just before the story begins, he thanks his fans for their support. Quite a refreshing moment in an era where the failure of a movie is usually blamed not on the flaws of the product but on the moral failings of the fandom. In contrast to other actors, who like to set themselves up as the arbiters of universal truth, Cruise has, while promoting Final Reckoning, refused to let himself be baited into commenting on contemporary issues, preferring to keep the focus on the movie instead.
I never thought I'd say this, but Tom Cruise has emerged as the most likable and relatable Hollywood star of our era. He remembers what others have forgotten, that the support and good will of audiences has to be earned rather than demanded. And he works hard to earn it.
The idea of service permeates the film. At the heart of Mission Impossible, underneath the fun gadgets, the wild stunts, and the world-trotting action, is the theme of self-sacrifice, working tirelessly to help others, who will never know or have the chance to appreciate all that the rag-tag band of heroes has done for them from behind the scenes. The reward of our protagonists is simply the knowledge that they have done something good for others.
The notion of self-sacrifice is tied to another theme of Mission Impossible - redemption. Most of the protagonists have a criminal past from which they have turned away, making instead the choice to fight evil in the world, even at the risk of their own lives. The skills they had perfected for nefarious ends they now put to use in service of saving the world, which points toward the ultimate existential victory of good over evil.
The grand finale of the Mission Impossible series presents an alternative to so much that is wrong with Hollywood storytelling today. Redemption from an evil past, self-sacrificial labor to help others, trusting collaboration among people to save the world from apocalypse - all these themes offer a sense of hope. But even more hopeful is that a positive movie like Mission Impossible: the Final Reckoning exists in the desolate entertainment landscape of today.
Photo Credit: Promotional photos for Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning.