“Good evening, Ethan. This is your President. Since you won’t reply to anyone else, I thought I’d reach out directly. First, I want to thank you for a lifetime of devoted and unrelenting service; were it not for the tireless dedication of you and your team, the earth would be a very different place. It might not even be here at all. Every risk you’ve taken, every comrade you’ve lost in the field, every personal sacrifice you made, has brought this world another sunrise. It’s been 35 years since circumstances brought you to us and you were given the choice — since the IMF saved you from a life in prison. And though you never followed orders, you never let us down. You were always the best of men in the worst of times. I need you to be that man now.”
I imagine this is how it happened. It’s January of 2019, and Tom Cruise has just popped into the bathroom to shave. He opens up that can of Barbasol just to make sure there isn’t any dinosaur DNA left in the can, but as he takes off the cap, an authoritative voice begins to speak: “Good morning, Mr. Cruise. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to make a two part film of the Mission Impossible franchise. It won’t be easy. That’s why only the IMF team can be counted on to complete this task. There are agents out to stop you before you even get started. In China there is a virus code-name COVID, and this virus will spread to pandemic levels just as you’re starting to get your production crew together. Elements within our own government will take measures to shut you down. Delays will cost an extra $100 million and necessitate crucial cast changes. They’ll be serious injuries, and your release date will be July of 2021 … I mean November of 2021 … Would you believe May of 2022? … Let’s shoot for July 14, 2023. You will have to deal with nefarious crew members who will attempt to sabotage the project by standing closer than two meters apart. You may use over-the-top rants to attempt to intimidate these factions into compliance. Beware that said rants don’t end up released by the press to the world. Somehow through all of these challenges you must create a pair of Mission Impossible films that will be bigger and better than anything that came before. And remember, Tom, if your film fails to bring in a billion or more, the studio will disavow your team, and your movie will go straight to streaming … or worse, get shelved as a tax write-off. Good luck, Tom. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.” There’s a swoosh of fog, and Tom Cruise is sitting in his bathroom with no shaving cream to complete his original task. I figure that’s how it must have gone. And that was just for the first movie.
The plan was to release this two-part finale a few months apart. The injuries and delays just kept coming. We did finally get the first film Mission Impossible: Day Of Reckoning in 2023. Those few months ended up being two years, and we are finally able to see for ourselves how it all is supposed to end with Mission Impossible:The Final Reckoning out now in theaters everywhere. So how does it all end?
“In the months since you evaded capture in Austria, every corner of cyberspace has been infested by the truth-eating, parasitic AI known to us as the Entity. Under its influence, digital information has been corrupted worldwide; nations and people no longer know what to believe. Antagonism, aggression, and martial law are the new world order. Exploiting this paranoid atmosphere, the Entity has inspired a doomsday cult with acolytes devoted to ridding the world of corruption through human extinction. These fanatics are secretly infiltrating every level of law enforcement, government, and our military, devoted to serving their digital master’s ultimate goal. Our only hope of controlling the Entity relies on finding its original source. If anyone knows the whereabouts of this code, it’s this man. His identity, his past, his very existence have been erased, suggesting he is or was in league with the Entity.”
It’s been some time since the events of the last film. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) has secluded himself, and he’s been living off the grid. He hasn’t been “choosing to accept” any missions. It takes a plea from the president of the United States to push him back in the game. All the while he has been sitting on last film’s crucial key while the AI villain called “The Entity” has been playing havoc upon the world. There appears to be little time left, so Hunt has to literally poo or get off the pot. He chooses to poo, and man, does he poo.
“You are in possession of a key believed to be a vital component in our struggle to acquire the Entity’s source code. Yet you refuse to come in, fearing any government will weaponize this malicious AI against the rest of the world. Instead, you’ve resolved to kill the Entity, a reckless act that would trigger the total annihilation of cyberspace. This would eradicate the global economy, plunging the world into war and famine without end. Agent Hunt — Ethan — please, surrender, or the blood of the world will be on your hands. This message will self-destruct in five seconds. Come home, Ethan… and bring us that key.”
The team gets back together. Simon Pegg returns as Benji, and Ving Rhames returns as the somewhat ill Luther Stickell. Luther has developed a poison pill that can help take out the entity but Hunt is going to have to pull off some of those amazing stunts in order to get into position to do just that. The best of these set pieces has to be that deselect sub we were introduced to in the last film. This has to be one of the most thrilling scenes of the entire franchise. Hunt uses an experimental suit to take him over 550 feet under the water to retrieve an important piece of the plan. As the sub shifts and Hunt makes his way through, we see some incredible f/x. Water slides from side to side, while torpedoes and warheads block his way. It gets a bit hard to believe when Hunt must remove his suit when it gets jammed on a piece of the ship. Of course it does. Of course he does. Hunt must have some strong muscles, because I don’t even want to think about the pressure being over 550 feet under the water. Over the top … yes. One hell of a thrill … ditto.
Of course there is the obligatory stunt in the air when Hunt chases Gabriel , played by Esai Morales, in a pair of biplanes. It’s the second-best action scene in the film. This time we have a 20-minute countdown that lasts over half an hour. Again, over the top …y es. One hell of a ride … ditto (again). Morales as Gabriel plays my favorite villain in the franchise. He is actually underused in this film, but you’re going to love it when the two go head to head.
Haylee Atwill returns as Grace. She has been working missions while Hunt has been AWOL, and she’s not sure she can trust him right now. Isn’t that the problem with Hunt? No one ever knows quite what to make of him. Also returning with that same problem is Boardwalk Empire’s Shea Whigham, who is tasked with stopping Hunt, but once again has to question if that’s a smart move or not.
the film gets very derivative here. The plot of Fail Safe is repeated when the Entity wants to get all of the nuclear powers to launch their missiles. In a play right out of Fail Safe, they must pick an American city to sacrifice to show good faith. That is unless Hunt can stop hanging from planes long enough to get a part from Gabriel. Here’s where they steal from Star Trek: The Next Generation. When Picard is faced with a hologram of Holmes’s mortal enemy Moriarity, he tricks it into going into a digital trap where it can be safely imprisoned. Guess what they have planned for the Entity?
The film is nearly three hours long, but I promise you that time goes by pretty quick. The film is actually very tight, and while the first hour might lag as we get re-introduced to the elements here, it swings into action after that and is literally a breathless jump across the world and both above and below the land. This film is a James Bond adventure on steroids. There are some nice emotional moments and some loss. While the film has been sold as the finale, the ending says the opposite. The final scene is a kind of hello/goodbye Beatles kind of a vibe. I suspect they’ll take off a few years and be back while Tom Cruise is young enough to keep hanging from biplanes. If you don’t find the three hours to catch this one, there’s really only one explanation. “You’re spending too much time on the internet.”
