Susan Granger’s review of “Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning” (Paramount Pictures/Skydance)
“Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning” is a compelling action-adventure thriller that grips you from the getgo and propels your adrenaline for almost three hours.
To recap: “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning” (2023) concluded with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his rogue, London-based Impossible Missions Force (IMF) (Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Greg Tarzan Davis) trying to stop an artificial intelligence Entity that’s conquered cyberspace and is ready to obliterate Earth with nuclear domination.
Since then, Ethan’s been off-the-grid until his former CIA boss – now President of the United States Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) – summons him back because he’s in possession of the “cruciform key” which unlocks the Entity’s source code that’s hidden in a device called the Podkova, which went missing when the Russian submarine Sevastapol sank 500 feet under the Arctic ice in the Bering Sea.
Doing his best to stop Hunt is treacherous terrorist Gabriel (Esai Morales) – and in order to accomplish his covert mission, Ethan must cope with doubtful government/military officials (Henry Czerny, Janet McTeer, Tramell Tillman, Hannah Waddingham, Shea Whigham, Nick Offernan).
Regarding daredevil Tom Cruise’s death-defying stunts….In addition to numerous pulse-pounding foot sprints and car pursuits, there’s an extended underwater sequence and an eye-popping South Africa-set aerial chase that involves Ethan doing aerobatics, jumping from one vintage biplane to another – flying at 10,000 feet.
Sketchily scripted by director Christopher McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendresen, its crazy, overly convoluted plot, punctuated with dour expository dialogue, combines high-tech espionage with stunning stunts, peppered with existential nostalgic flashbacks, beginning with Bruce Geller’s TV series that introduced Lalo Schifrin’s memorable musical theme.
One of the pivotal characters, CIA analyst William Donloe (Rolf Saxon), first appeared in Brian De Palma’s franchise-launching 1996 ” Mission Impossible”; now – in this callback – exiled Donloe lives with his Inuk wife Tapesa (Lucy Tulugarjuk) on icy St. Matthew Island.
Kudos to cinematographer Fraser Taggart and – most of all – indefatigable Tom Cruise. Although rumors are rampant that this – the eighth “Mission Impossible” – is his last: Never say never.
Full Disclosure: My son – Don Granger – is one of the producers.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning” is an enthralling, exciting, escapist 8 – playing in theaters.
