Hands down, this was the movie I was most looking forward to this year. Based on the quality of the action and drama of the previous four movies in the Mission: Impossible franchise, I expected excellence. Of course, high expectations are the main ingredient for disappointment. I’m not hugely disappointed. Nevertheless, disappointed I am.

Acting: the saving grace

Mission: Impossible movies are mostly known for their action, but personally, I think the acting is what makes the franchise great. In every movie, the actors are tasked with expressing a wide range of emotions, which is uncommon for movies in general, and doubly so for action movies. However, I feel that the director, Christopher McQuarrie used the superb acting to cover up a muddled plot. There were many scenes where the characters talked about a confusing plan or exposition, then followed it with expressions and dramatic pauses that communicated the importance of the nonsensical plot.

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I could imagine someone making a parody of the storytelling and acting in this movie by using AI to generate a clip of Tom Cruise telling his partner he’s going to the grocery store to pick up milk, but he says it like there’s an army of killer robots between him and the store and if they don’t have milk then they’ll die of starvation.

Story: the biggest failing

Projecting the villain as a disembodied AI algorithm was always going to be a challenge. Arguably, no one has pulled that off since Lord of the Rings. So, the story introduces Gabriel as the Entity’s chosen apostle? But this only muddies the water. Who is Gabriel? We get flashbacks that he’s important to Ethan’s past, before the IMF, but it’s all vague. And now Gabriel just randomly shows up as the Entity’s representative? Was this because the Entity always suspected that Hunt would eventually become its greatest threat? It’s not clear and creates a dramatic coincidence that, at least for me, never feels satisfying.

And then there’s the trope of the AI taking over control of nuclear weapons. Of course, the nations would disconnect their missile launch from AI control. Even if the AI already had control over the missle launch systems, humans could easily lock the silo doors so that the missiles can’t launch, plus about one-thousand other things that could be done to prevent the missiles from launching. Can we please just launch this trope into space? It was weaksauce the first time it was used and has only gotten weaker.

Plus, what is the Entity’s plan? To wipe out humanity and then hide in an underground vault that is disconnected from the outside world? And then what? Wait for the solar panels that supply energy to the servers to degrade? Does the AI not know that solar panels degrade over time? That sounds unlikely.

Action: less is more

None of the action scenes were as iconic as some of those from previous movies. There was certainly nothing nearly as epic as scaling the Burj Khalifa from Ghost Protocol, the helicopter chase in Fallout, or the underwater computer security system in Rogue Nation. Here in Final Reckoning, I think they wanted the submarine scene to be the signature action scene but it turned into the most epic Peetime of any Mission Impossible movie. That scene needlessly goes on and on and on. What makes it less appealing is that we know exactly what will happen: Hunt will get what he’s looking for, go through setbacks trying to get out, suffer, ultimately get out and then drown before being saved. They already did this once in Rogue Nation.

Dropped the passing of the baton

There were numerous hints that Ethan is passing the leadership of the IMD team off to Benji and the rest of the team for future Mission Impossible movies. If this is it for Ethan Hunt then it feels like he tried to hand off the baton, but no one picked it up. Every Mission Impossible movie is about a team working together to accomplish the mission, with Ethan playing the role of the linchpin. If they really wanted to pass the baton then someone else should have been the linchpin in this movie. Again, this final mission would have failed if not for the actions of every team member, but the story makes it look like Ethan is the hero. I wish they had either downplayed the role that Ethan played in the end, or better yet, give the hero role to someone else on the team.

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Conclusion

If Final Reckoning were a meal, it would be a salad with tofu, mushrooms, and iceberg lettuce; on their own, each is tasteless, but add enough herbs, rich dressing, and sprinkle in some cheese, and it covers up the spectacular blandness of the main ingredients. That’s what Final Reckoning does. The acting, the dramatic pauses, and the tension are all dialed to maximum to cover up the fact that the underlying story is a chaotic and meaningless mess.

Grade: B

For Readers Who Enjoy This:

• The Bourne Legacy (AI surveillance themes)
• Person of Interest (TV series about AI threats)
• Ghost in the Shell (technology vs. humanity)

About The Peetimes: All of the Peetimes are good, but I would recommend the 3rd. It’s at the midpoint of the movie and doesn’t involve any plot or exposition.

There are no extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Plot
Our lives are the sum of our choices. Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.