Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Christian Movie Review)

The exhilarating stunts still thrill and the action set pieces remain unmatched, but a bloated runtime, a jumbled plot, and the reduction of its hero to virtual superhero suggest the series may have finally run its course.  

About the Film 

The history of cinema demonstrates a law of diminishing returns. One need only look at the current state of blockbuster franchises like Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Marvel, and Fast and Furious to see the inevitable decay that creeps into a series the longer it hangs around. Therefore, perhaps Tom Cruise’s most impossible mission of all has been to invert that trend and continue to up the ante with each new thrilling installment of the Mission Impossible franchise. With a world-ending scope of biblical proportions and the task of (potentially) serving as a finale for the series, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning may be the franchise’s biggest and most ambitious entry yet. Unfortunately, it may have finally found the series’ limits. The exhilarating stunts still thrill and the action set pieces remain unmatched, but a bloated runtime, a jumbled plot, and the reduction of its hero to virtual superhero suggest the series may have finally run its course. 

The film picks up shortly after the events of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (a mouthful title made even more unwieldy by the sequel electing not to adopt the “part two” label). With a seemingly ageless star and plenty of audience goodwill, whether this film truly marks the end of the series is anyone’s guess. But it certainly plays out as both a bombastic finale and a retrospective celebration of the franchise. The series’ simple spy and espionage roots are long gone, replaced by sweeping apocalyptic stakes that are saturated in biblical allusions and language about “destiny” and being “the chosen one.” While intriguing as cultural commentary, the AI plot remains convoluted. It is too undefined and impersonal to be as interesting as the more immediate stakes of prior films, and the sprawling cast of characters makes the story feel overstuffed at times.    

As a celebration of the series, The Final Reckoning also contains a gratuitous number of flashbacks to earlier films and lengthy exposition dumps that attempt to connect all the previous missions. Fans who have been following Ethan Hunt’s journey since 1996 may appreciate the stroll down memory lane, but the film (particularly during the first hour) spends so much time reminiscing about the past that it fails to establish momentum in the present. Shockingly little plot development happens during the nearly three-hour runtime, and characters spend more time talking about the significance of the mission than they do embarking on it.

As with the series itself, the immortal Tom Cruise may finally be showing some signs of age, but he remains the not-so-secret sauce that makes these films work. That the 62-year-old Cruise spends several extended scenes kicking butt while essentially wearing nothing but his underwear is evidence of his undiminished star power. He is once again great in the role, with an earnestness that helps sell some of the otherwise silly dialogue and plot points.

He may not look different, but Ethan Hunt has undergone some drastic changes through the years. He has gone from spy to action hero to—for all intents and purposes—superhero. He has become more of a physical force than an intellectual one. I kept waiting for the big “twist” that would recontextualize the events and demonstrate that Ethan had been one step ahead the entire time, but it never comes. Instead, Ethan is repeatedly outmaneuvered and has to punch his way out of trouble. Even the third-act climax feels uninspired. The mission involves breaking into a vault (a staple in the series). But when the heroes arrive, they find it abandoned with the door left open. Once inside, rather than finding obstacles they must cleverly overcome, things quickly devolve into a gunfight.

The intellectual twists and turns are exchanged for the franchise’s newfound reputation for spectacular stunts. Topping Tom Cruise riding a motorbike off a literal mountain in the previous film is a tall task, but the film manages to stage two more incredible sequences. The first takes place within the claustrophobic confines of a submerged submarine, and the second is set atop two soaring airplanes. Each one is thrilling from both a cinematic and a technical standpoint (all the more so with the knowledge that Tom Cruise is actually performing many of the stunts himself). If the series has become mostly about stunts, then The Final Reckoning is worth the price of admission on that basis alone.

Overall, I remain of the opinion that a subpar Mission Impossible film is still superior to most other action flicks Hollywood churns out every year. Perhaps audiences have become so accustomed to greatness that there is a sense of “we’ve seen this before” to the mind-blowing cinematic spectacle on display. The Final Reckoning is not a bad film. It’s just not a particularly great one. Even so, if this is indeed the end of the line for Ethan Hunt, then it’s a fine sendoff to an excellent series. 

Defying God and Becoming God 

As in Dead Reckoning – Part One, this film contains plenty of explicit biblical references and callbacks. The Entity (the AI force seeking to eradicate humankind) has developed a fanatical doomsday cult, and its adherents are shown quoting apocalyptic scripture. On multiple occasions, Noah and the Great Flood are referenced in relation to the Entity’s efforts to destroy the earth. The underground vault, which is intended to be a place for the Entity to wait out global destruction, is fittingly referred to as an “ark.” 

Whoever wields the power of the Entity has the ability to play God. Therefore, who—if anyone—can be trusted with such immense power? While many argue that the most prudent course of action is to “use the power for good,” Ethan seeks to destroy it. Yet he also demonstrates a willingness to step into that god-like role. As characters repeatedly point out, the “impossible mission” of the film involves gambling the fate of the world on “the blink of an eye.” One character chides him, “For every life you try to save, you gamble millions more. And now the fate of every living soul on earth is your responsibility.” Thus, while Ethan seems reluctant to grant such great power to a single individual, the film seems to suggest that noble men like Ethan not only can but should be trusted with the task.  

A closing monologue further underscores this humanistic perspective by declaring that “nothing is written” (a reference to the followers of the god-like Entity repeatedly saying “it is written” to express the inevitability of the Entity’s control). Instead, the speaker exhorts people to forge their own destiny. The theme in The Final Reckoning is not necessarily anti-Christian. But due to the way the Entity is seemingly aligned with religious fundamentalism and control, the closing sentiment of rejecting outside influence, forging one’s personal destiny, and trusting the goodness of noble men with the godlike power of life and death presents some worldview questions for Christian viewers to ponder.