And so we reach the alleged final film in the franchise with ‘Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning’ or ‘Dead Reckoning Part Two’ as it actually is with the film starting off with a montage of the previous films greatest hits with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) involved in many of the films various and often astonishing stunts and a reminder that there is more to come.
Hunt is the only one with the key (literally a quadrant shaped one) that can save the world from the parasitical ‘Entity’ that’s taking control of the world’s nuclear weapons and ultimately will be turning it on humankind – it’s all very Terminator-ish but with the swift rise of AI over the past couple of years it plot point that now seems prescient. As one character says, ‘The Entity gets smarter as it gets older’ a sort of direct antitheses to Prince Harry.
The only way of stopping the Entity is with a source code on the ‘Podovka’ device and that’s inside the sunken Russian submarine that is now on the sea bed precariously balanced on the edge of a deep sea trench and is one of the films two major stunt set pieces and for anyone suffering from claustrophobia it’s an unsettling and effective set piece. But then the film has always been about its stunts and set pieces and its well orchestrated by director Christopher McQuarrie. But having plumbed the oceans depths for its first major stunt the films reaches for the sky with a bi-plane set piece that’s been featured so heavily in the trailers and promos and it steals the show – a deliriously stomach churning, vertigo inducing, sequence made even more nail biting on an IMAX screen and is up there with the best of franchises great stunts of which there are so many to choose. It’s a pity that this is released a couple of years too early for Cruise to be nominated for the newly announced Best Stunt category.
The gang of long serving regulars are all back – Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett and though The Entity is the villain of the piece it’s Esai Morales as Gabriel who returns to facilitate the mayhem. As the rumoured last film there are a number of throwbacks including a pivotal one to the very first film that brings everything full circle in what is another hugely enjoyable entry in the series but whereas previous films have had a plethora of almost back to back breathtaking stunts and exhilarating set pieces this reins things back and is more plot driven in the longest film yet in the series and fans might find that this is the film that is least likely to be rewatched.
This last film is one of the costliest ever made though in fairness the film was hit by the covid lockdown, the SAG strike and a malfunctioning submarine that proved problematic and costly. Nonetheless Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning is a fitting send off for Ethan Hunt and is testament to Tom Cruise being rightly regarded as probably the only actor who has remained an A-lister longer than any other in modern cinema and rightly so.
related feature : Mission Impossible’s best stunts to make your jaw drop! .
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Here’s the Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning trailer…….
