Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning – Film Review
by Fran Winston

Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny Angela Bassett, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Hannah Waddingham, Janet McTeer, Greg Tarzan Davis

In cinemas May 21

In case you were wondering, this is the eighth instalment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, which began way back in 1996 when Tom Cruise was a fresh-faced 34-year-old. Fast forward 29 years and he is now a not-so-fresh-faced 62-year-old (soon to be 63), who looks incredibly good for his years but has clearly “lived” a bit. Much like his character in this franchise, Ethan Hunt.

To ensure we remember his dedication to the franchise, the opening sequence sees a montage of his “best bits” play over an almost seven-minute monologue from Angela Bassett as the President of the United States, mainly telling us how wonderful and appreciated Hunt (and by default, Cruise) is.

Cruise seems keen to let us know that he’s still “got it” and less than 30 minutes into the film, his shirt is ripped open (as part of the plot, of course) to show off his abs. To further showcase what great shape he is in (and enhance the plot, of course) he spends a significant portion of the movie in nothing but tiny swim shorts.

Naturally, he incorporates several death-defying stunts (which he does himself, don’t you know) as he saves the world yet again.

That’s the film in a nutshell.

There is a plot about some AI overlord, The Entit,y taking control of the nuclear codes around the world. While amazing actors such as the aforementioned Basset, Hannah Waddingham and Janet McTeer are wasted sitting around looking anxious, Cruise goes in search of the “Podkova” device, which is on board a wrecked Russian sub somewhere on the seabed. Seemingly, when combined with a digital “poison pill”, this will allow them to trap the Entity.

Don’t worry if you got lost there – at the screening I attended, I could see even the most steadfast reviewers scratching their heads at the complex and bonkers plot, which seems a rather OTT way of expressing your disdain for AI.

Hunt is ably supported by his sidekicks – thief turned IMF agent Grace (Atwell), IMF technical field agent Benji Dunn (Pegg), IMF computer technician Luther Stickell (Rhames), former US Intelligence agent turned Hunt ally Degas (Davis) and French assassin Paris (Klementieff) who switches sides to the good guys for this film.

They have a couple of fight scenes, but despite many of them having action credentials, their main purpose is to prove the seemingly lone wolf Hunt is actually a loyal team player who will put himself in danger to save them – no man or woman left behind and all that.

By eight movies, most franchises are running out of steam, and this is no exception. Silly plot and wasted stars aside, even one of the main stunts proves tedious. A deep-sea diving scene goes on far too long and doesn’t have quite the same sense of urgency as dangling off a clifftop or climbing up the front of a skyscraper. While technically, this is a very dangerous scene, it is not very exciting and could easily have been shorter.

The final stunt set piece, which sees Cruise hanging off old school bi-planes is far more thrilling (and a classic that has been in place pretty much since the dawn of movies) but given that the film runs for close to three hours by the time it gets to it you may be distracted by your discomfort/need for the bathroom.

This could easily have been an hour shorter. In throwing everything at it, they have diluted the final effect and are sending the franchise out on a fair to middling offering instead of a great high.

When this works, it works really well, and it looks great (absolutely can’t fault the cinematography). There is no denying Cruise’s dedication to the role, and he plays it like Shakespeare. However, the patchy pacing, convoluted plot and unnecessarily long running time make it more meh than marvellous.