Ethan Hunt throws everything and the kitchen sink at his farewell mission-turned-destiny, making Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning exactly the ending we needed.
Tom Cruise has already hinted he won’t be stopping his action antics anytime soon during the press tour, but at some point, the Mission: Impossible franchise had to end. Watching film number 47 and praying he doesn’t crack a hip as he runs down the streets of Paris isn’t the legacy Ethan Hunt deserves.
This means the eventual final reckoning had to be showstopping: jumping out of planes, car chases, shootouts, and some unhinged stunt that ends up breaking the internet and a world record. Luckily for us, Mission: Impossible 8 delivers the goods and then some, and Cruise hardly cracks a sweat.
While Ethan’s storyline feeds into the same moral message, the new movie makes one thing abundantly clear: creating this kind of cinema epic is exactly what Cruise was born to do, and we’re all bloody lucky to have been along for the ride for over three decades. True to his fashion, The Final Reckoning is absurdly long… but hey, everyone’s got time to see one more villain bite the dust, right?
What is Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning about?
Picking up the events of Dead Reckoning, Ethan is still on a mission to stop The Entity – a self-aware rogue AI – from destroying all of mankind. We already know it’s got the ability to control people at any given time, with nobody knowing for sure if they’re talking to The Entity or a real person.
Having been off-grid with the Cruciform Key in order to stop the world from imploding, President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett, who we last saw in Fallout) coaxes Ethan into surrender. But Mission: Impossible 7 villain Gabriel (Esai Morales) is intent on trying to control The Entity, meaning Ethan’s playing against the US government and Gabriel in the fight for control and destruction.
Assembling a team of familiar faces, Ethan’s final mission is to get The Entity’s source code from the Sevastopol and destroy it once and for all. Of course, death, disaster, and a million logical impossibilities all lay in wait.
A touching tribute to 30 years of Ethan Hunt
From the opening moments of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, its ensemble pays tribute to the entire franchise. If you’ve not seen the seventh movie and can’t bring yourself to binge the three hours before your cinema trip, don’t panic. Alongside lots of touching tributes and flashbacks to each of the prior movies, The Entity neatly sums up Dead Reckoning audibly in under a minute. Basically, this is exactly the sort of thing we should be using AI for.
Not only is the impending AI and socio-political fallout painfully accurate to life in 2025, but no matter which way you look at it, it’s the biggest test Ethan’s ever had. The mission opens the floodgates for thrilling action in every setting, every scenario, and every moment someone else isn’t filling the screen. All roads lead back to him, and he’s a world away from the fresh-faced IMF agent we met back in 1996.
Over that time, Ethan’s mission has become his destiny, even though nobody remains sure he can actually deliver the goods. So much so that he’s no longer being asked if he chooses to accept his mission (meaning we lose out on hearing the iconic catchphrase), because it’s just ingrained within him. Ethan and Cruise have all but fused into the same action man, and their intuition for what needs to be done is nothing short of exceptional.
It’s mind-boggling to think just how much physical and practical exertion had to go into the jam-packed three hours on screen. If you didn’t know any better, you’d likely assume Cruise was AI himself at this point. Destroying The Entity is a relentless pursuit, and you have to suspend a lot of belief to concentrate on the fact Ethan’s making progress. However, the payoff is immense, with The Final Reckoning’s action scenes up there as some of the franchise’s best.
Cruise aside, our ensemble cast is successfully crossing the minefield of possible action tropes. Hayley Atwell’s Grace remains an exceptional thief first and potential love interest second, while Bassett’s President of the United States is a role she was born to play. It’s Simon Pegg’s Benji who has the most personal growth, though, permanently shifting from quirky British sidekick to a leading agent all his own.
Plenty of Easter eggs and (finally) some answers
Now, without delving into spoiler territory, let’s address the elephant in the review – Mission: Impossible 8 does indeed answer some years-old questions we’ve had hanging over our heads.
Granted, it’s not going to answer all of the franchise’s mysteries, but it shrewdly decides on the best threads to pick up and tie off. Ethan’s future is the most touching of all, with literally tributes bookending the insane bouts of action.
It’s no secret that CIA agent William Donloe (Rolf Saxon) from the first Mission: Impossible film is reprising his role, and that really tells you all you need to know about the quality and thoughtfulness of what we’re seeing. Everything is coming back full circle, and no part of Ethan’s journey has been overlooked, even if it was 30 years ago. What’s more, Donloe is used incredibly well, becoming an instrumental vehicle in doing the right thing rather than some far-away foe.
Obviously, this isn’t the only link back to movies gone by. Visual tributes are all well and good, but tangible Easter eggs are the stuffing of any good film series. Again, you’re going to find a good amount here, and while an understandably large chunk of detail comes directly from Dead Reckoning, there’s a healthy sprinkling of ones from movies 1-6 too.
It’s not all about the old, though. We’re not just looking at Ethan’s past, but his present too. An extra shoutout to newbies Tramell Tillman (aka Milchick in Severance) and Katy O’Brien is due, making up the most charismatic team members covertly delivering Ethan to top-secret coordinates (though you can hazard a good guess where).
Credit where credit is due to everyone involved here, because it’s just as clear they all love the franchise as much as they’ve enjoyed making the final instalment.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning review score: 4/5 – Great
Whether you call him Ethan or Tom, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is the most satisfying tribute either could ask for. Cruise has raised the stakes for action, emotion, and impeccable storytelling, and no Mission: Impossible fan will walk away from the farewell feeling hard done by.
Yes, you will have a numb butt if you don’t take a toilet break and should prepare wisely if you’re seeing it in IMAX and are prone to motion sickness. But the payoff is glorious, exhilarating, and the best example of making the impossible possible.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is in theaters from May 21, 2025. Check out our list of the best spy movies and the best action movies ever made. You can also keep tabs on what’s coming out this year with our 2025 movie calendar.
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