Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

A Franchise Finale That Talks Too Much and Trusts Too Little

When franchises now purport that they’re making the last film in a series, it’s usually just a question of whether the movie makes money or not. Despite much-touted and seemingly definitive farewells in X-Men, Harry Potter, or The Lord of the Rings, these properties keep being unearthed and milked until there’s nary a cent left. The Mission: Impossible franchise has been surprisingly resilient—consistently delivering increasingly elaborate stunts for Tom Cruise to risk life and limb in. But now, the latest entry is marketed as the final outing for the character of Ethan Hunt.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) is a direct sequel to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part 1(2023)—already one of the longest-titled films in blockbuster history—which now awkwardly retains its “Part 1” subtitle, while its sequel gets a fresh coat of paint. Once again, we’re in a world where an all-powerful AI known as The Entity wants to bring about the end of mankind. Having obtained the key to stopping it in the previous film, rogue agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) must now travel to the Arctic to locate a sunken Russian submarine containing the source code. The fate of the world (again) rests in his hands. He’s joined by old friends like Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), and Grace (Hayley Atwell), along with former enemies Paris (Pom Klementieff) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis).

The Final Reckoning is once again helmed by Christopher McQuarrie, who has now directed the last four installments of the franchise—and in doing so, helped craft some of its best. But with the pressure of creating a “finale,” McQuarrie stumbles into overcomplicated plotting and endless callbacks, losing the franchise’s greatest asset: its sense of tightly executed, high-octane fun. Co-writing with Erik Jendresen (also a writer on Part 1), McQuarrie delivers a script that somehow manages to overexplain everything while also making less sense the more you think about it. The dialogue, plotting, and editing feel like they’ve been dumbed down to a shocking degree—treating viewers like they’re watching the film with one eye on their phone and the other half-closed.

As with Dead Reckoning: Part 1, The Final Reckoning doesn’t just repeat itself—it hammers you with repetition until it becomes unbearable. Every plot beat is stated, then restated by another character, just to make sure we really, really get it. It’s not just redundant—it’s patronizing. The film seems genuinely afraid that the audience will forget what’s happening if it doesn’t spell it out again every five minutes. And the editing doesn’t help. The film frequently cuts back to the same shot or moment from seconds earlier, repeating visual cues just in case you momentarily forgot what a submarine or USB key looks like. Final Reckoning feels like a movie edited by someone who assumes you’re doomscrolling TikTok mid-scene.

This constant handholding means the actual plot doesn’t kick into gear until over an hour in. I checked my watch, and characters were still busy either recapping the previous film or rephrasing the very simple premise: “go to the submarine, stop the AI.” McQuarrie further complicates things by adding groan-worthy connections to previous films, and having characters make mind-numbingly illogical decisions—just so we can get to a manufactured “tense” moment. It’s the kind of lazy plotting that feels more Fast & Furious than Mission: Impossible.

That said, when The Final Reckoning finally leans into what this series does best—spy thrills and over-the-top action—it briefly remembers how to have fun. The submarine infiltration is a standout sequence, smartly constructed and genuinely suspenseful. It earns its place in the franchise’s pantheon of impossible missions. The finale, involving two propeller planes, tries to raise the stakes—but the pacing drags and the climax never quite reaches the adrenaline-pumping heights of past finales. Instead of a crescendo, it feels more like a decent mid-tier set piece that overstays its welcome.

Cruise still gives it his all, but the age is starting to show—despite the best efforts of makeup and lighting. The rest of the cast gets sidelined. Pegg and Atwell, who previously offered sharp comic and emotional beats, are reduced to glorified exposition machines. Esai Morales as the villainous Gabriel once again overacts and delivers the shallowest of villains, leading to his sidelining for much of the film. Meanwhile, the film clearly wants to land a big emotional punch between Ethan and Luther, but the writing doesn’t quite deliver the weight it’s aiming for.

In the end, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is a disappointment—following the already bloated Dead Reckoning: Part 1. It leans too heavily into endless exposition, condescending repetition, and frenetic editing that’s allergic to letting any scene breathe. The lack of trust in the audience drags down the first half. Still, once Ethan finally gets moving, a strong submarine set piece and a decent airborne chase remind us of why we came. With a tighter script, smarter pacing, and just a little more faith in its viewers, The Final Reckoning could have delivered the thrilling supposed send-off this franchise deserved.

6.0/10