Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (12A) |Close-Up Film Review

Over thirty years ago, I first encountered Mission: Impossible on my dad’s old VHS player. The grainy quality, the flickering tracking, and that iconic theme tune lit a fuse that’s been burning ever since.

From Brian De Palma’s original paranoia-drenched thriller to the increasingly operatic, stunt-fuelled blockbusters of the last decade, this saga has never stopped evolving. It’s been a wild ride — and now, with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, that journey may finally be coming to an end.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie and co-written with Erik Jendresen, The Final Reckoning is the eighth instalment in the franchise and a direct sequel to 2023’s Dead Reckoning Part One. With a reported budget between $300 and $400 million, it also ranks among the most expensive films ever made. And you feel every cent on screen. Clocking in at a whopping 170 minutes, it’s long — ridiculously long — but rarely dull.

Tom Cruise returns as the indomitable Ethan Hunt, joined once again by franchise stalwarts Ving Rhames (Luther), Simon Pegg (Benji), Hayley Atwell (Grace), Henry Czerny (Kittridge), and Angela Bassett (Erika Sloane). Their mission this time? To eliminate “The Entity,” the rogue AI that now threatens global annihilation if it falls into the wrong hands — which, let’s face it, includes just about everyone.

Picking up in the immediate aftermath of Part One, Ethan and his team are scattered and wounded but not defeated. Grace is more fully integrated into the team and finally beginning to understand the weight of an IMF mission. Meanwhile, Ethan is haunted by losses, particularly those tied to Gabriel (Esai Morales), who continues to manipulate events from the shadows. As nations and corporations race to control the Entity, Ethan must stay one step ahead — even when it means going rogue once again.

From icy Norway to sun-drenched Malta, the film hops continents with a fierce energy. Some of the most striking sequences were shot in South Africa, including a heart-in-your-mouth escape across a collapsing cliffside compound. The globe-trotting visuals, captured by cinematographer Fraser Taggart, are stunning. McQuarrie has a way of blending espionage grit with Bond-sized spectacle, and here he takes it to the next level.

Let’s talk about those stunts. Cruise continues to defy reason and physics. There’s a train sequence that makes Part One’s finale look quaint by comparison, a sky-high helicopter jump that had my audience gasping in disbelief, and a chase through a flooded tunnel that feels like The Poseidon Adventure on steroids. The action peaks in a third act so audacious, so nerve-shredding, I barely noticed how numb my legs were becoming.

And yes — I genuinely needed to stretch. At nearly three hours long, The Final Reckoning makes you feel the weight of its mission. There are moments where the pace lags, especially during exposition-heavy midsections where characters discuss quantum encryption, predictive algorithms, and surveillance blackouts with all the urgency of a boardroom meeting. These lulls dilute the momentum built up in the first act, making the film feel a bit disjointed overall. But I still didn’t want to leave my seat. I was super-glued to it — equal parts frustrated and fascinated.

The performances help carry the quieter moments. Cruise remains magnetic as ever, blending grit, charm, and a haunted vulnerability. Atwell, stepping up from side character to co-lead, holds her own with wit and steel. Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames add much-needed warmth and humour, and Angela Bassett’s limited screen time still lands with gravitas. Henry Czerny’s return as Kittridge gives the story a satisfying full-circle feeling, a nod to where it all began.

The musical score, composed by Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey after the departure of longtime composer Lorne Balfe, strikes an effective balance between high-stakes bombast and thematic callbacks. Aruj and Godfrey — who’ve collaborated with Balfe on past projects — bring a kinetic pulse to the action sequences while adding a touch of melancholy to Ethan’s more introspective moments. It’s not as immediately memorable as previous scores, but it’s layered and effective.

Behind the scenes, the film’s production story is nearly as epic as its plot. Originally planned to be shot back-to-back with Part One, Final Reckoning was delayed due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Filming spanned several continents and resumed in 2024, finally wrapping in November of that year. The subtitle change from Dead Reckoning Part Two to The Final Reckoning — announced just months before release — suggests a definitive end. And emotionally, it lands that way.

The final act doesn’t just bring the stunts; it brings the feels. There’s a sense of legacy at play here — of sacrifice, consequences, and what it means to give everything for a cause. Whether it’s truly the end of the road for Ethan Hunt remains to be seen (this is Hollywood, after all), but if it is, it’s a thunderous farewell.

Is it a perfect film? No. It’s bloated. It’s occasionally clunky. But it’s also breathtaking, ambitious, and wildly entertaining. It’s a movie that dares to go big in a time when many franchises are playing it safe. And for longtime fans like me, who’ve been on this ride since the days of fuzzy VHS tapes, it’s a reminder of what movie magic really looks like.  It may not be the franchise’s cleanest or most cohesive entry — but it’s one of its boldest, most emotional, and most explosively cinematic. Whether you’re here for the spy craft, the stunts, or the sheer audacity of Tom Cruise risking his life for our entertainment, this is one final mission well worth accepting.  Bloated but breathtaking. A sprawling, superglued-to-your-seat spy spectacle with a spectacular third act.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is released in cinemas on Wednesday 21st May