The Mission: Impossible franchise, renowned for delivering thrilling cinematic experiences over three decades, finds itself at a crossroads with its latest installment, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The eighth film in the series has just hit the streets! In this go-around, Ethan Hunt, the character started by Tom Cruise in these films, is facing down his biggest challenge ever. The film’s narrative centers on the relentless pursuit of a parasitic AI known as The Entity, which threatens global security by attempting to gain control over the world’s nuclear arsenal within a tight 72-hour window.
Tom Cruise has been a familiar face of the series for years now. His insane commitment to doing the most dangerous stunts has truly been the cornerstone of the franchise’s long-time success. Despite the franchise’s impressive track record of exhilarating storytelling, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning struggles to maintain the momentum that characterized earlier films. Critics highlight that the film shares its predecessor’s weaknesses, including a convoluted script and dialogue that veers into laughable territory.
Yet Ethan Hunt’s journey, and the film itself, is rife with a tremendous sense of finality. He’s done running, punching, swimming, flying and cheating death at every turn. As Hunt and his team work against the clock to thwart The Entity, they encounter a villain portrayed by Esai Morales, who has been criticized as one of the most forgettable antagonists in the franchise’s history. This tepid bad-guyery contributes to the movie’s general feeling of sadness.
The movie is almost three hours long. Like many films adapted from novels, it has a bad case of exposition dumps that grind the pacing to a halt. Heeding the warnings—most notably, that many viewers say the first hour is an excruciating slog because of the dense narrative setup. To increase the stakes, the film creates a backstory for The Entity as a doomsday seer and manipulator of fate. Unfortunately, this kind of approach seems less exciting than it does daunting.
In addition to its narrative shortcomings, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning introduces a crushing sense of dourness, which is markedly absent from previous entries in the series. Yet this deep tonal change may alienate longtime audiences. We’ve all fallen in love with the combination of high-level stakes and action with such light-hearted things.
Regardless, there are some pretty spectacular set-pieces that really highlight the franchise’s attention to visual spectacle. Included within this is a pretty stunningly shot submarine sequence and the popular now-iconic biplane scene where Ethan Hunt hangs off of a plane as it takes off. Together, these scenes remind us of what made The Walking Dead truly special during its peak.
For all these qualms, Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie may have overplayed their hand. They had planned for this meaningful, historical chapter to be the appropriate swansong for the Hunt era. Early reviews indicate that Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning ranks at the bottom of the eight-film run, challenging the franchise’s legacy.
“Whoever controls The Entity controls the truth.” – “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” article
As audiences reflect on the evolution of the Mission: Impossible franchise, it becomes clear that while Tom Cruise’s commitment to performing thrilling stunts remains unwavering, the narrative ingenuity has waned. The series has mostly been able to avoid the drop-off that plagues most long-running franchises. With this new version, it seems that even the mighty can fall.
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