- MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING
- Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell and Simon Pegg
- Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
- Rated: PG 13
- Running time: 2 hrs 49 mins
- Paramount
Our score: 3 out of 5
It’s probably good that “Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning” acknowledges its predecessors. Co-writer and director Christopher McQuarrie loads the latest and reportedly final installment of the series with links to the previous films.
Nonetheless, it’s a lot to ask viewers to spend three hours following Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the Impossible Mission Force team resting on their laurels.
There are still some jaw dropping stunts, but the follow-up to “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One” has action scenes that play like outtakes or rough drafts of the scenes that worked in the previous movies. There are only so many times Cruise can hang from plane or other fast-moving vehicle.
Despite all the death defying moments in “Dead Reckoning,” a seemingly all-powerful artificial intelligence known as The Entity is still threatening humanity despite Ethan Hunt and company surviving time bombs and dangling train compartments. The Entity is worming its way into the nuclear arsenals of countries all over the world and doesn’t have qualms about destroying its flesh and blood creators.
It has even rejected its most fanatical disciple, Gabriel (Esai Morales), who now wants to use his insider knowledge to possibly control it. If he eventually takes over The Entity, the situation could potentially be worse than a nuclear wasteland.
The task is obviously bigger than Ethan himself can handle, so Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), Paris (Pom Klementieff), Grace (Hayley Atwell) and Luther Stickwell (Ving Rhames) have to scramble behind the scenes while Ethan dashes, leaps, swims and hangs for dear life to prevent either enemy from gaining the upper hand.
With “Dead Reckoning,” McQuarrie was probably correct when he concluded that audiences would prefer watching Tom Cruise push his body (and his stunt doubles) to the limit than to figuring out the intricacies of artificial intelligence. He created just enough fresh obstacles for the IMF team to tackle to prevent viewers from wondering how conquering physical catastrophes can stop one that lives only online.
It took a lot of effort to fill three hours with stunts and Cruise’s trademark sprinting (in his early 60s, the actor might want to try out for the Olympics). One might feel inclined McQuarrie if he and co-writer Erik Jendresen have run out fresh ways to endanger their leading man.
In McQuarrie’s world, there seems to be a proliferation of time bombs, and the tension of seeing yet another countdown diminishes when Ethan and company discover yet another explosive with a digital fuse.
In a couple of sequences, McQuarrie cleverly switches between Ethan muscling his way past yet another impediment while Benji and company struggle to ensure that their teammate’s heroics won’t be for naught. This gives the new installment momentum it could have used when McQuarrie seems a little too content to follow the series template.
At times it seems as if McQuarrie was too eager to find ways to tie this chapter to its predecessors. The call backs are occasionally fun, but more thought seems to have gone into them than in the current tale.
Perhaps “The Final Reckoning” might have been more fun if McQuarrie and company had explored the logic behind The Entity and figured out how the IMF could potentially outsmart it. With two hackers on the squad and a thoughtful U.S. President (Angela Bassett) and the hair trigger General Sidney (Nick Offerman), one would think they’d create enough real ideas to combat their artificial foe.
McQuarrie won an Oscar for his head-twisting script for “The Usual Suspects,” so he could have taken a more cerebral approach and made a movie that still delivered thrills. Since “Jack Reacher,” he has shown a formidable eye for action scenes to go with his talent for word play. The exchanges between Bassett and Offerman demonstrate he hasn’t lost his dramatic chops, but it would have been nice if he had used them more frequently.
Watching Tom Cruise, who also produced the “M:I” series, dashing toward or from danger is usually fun, but with “The Final Reckoning,” he’s not dealing with a crisis worthy of his speed. Instead he seems be taking an unwarranted victory lap.
Overall, on a scale of zero to five, “Mission: Impossible – The FInal Reckoning” receives ★★★