Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 was just about the most thrilling movie of 2023 but it was a disappointment at the box office, so part two has be renamed ‘Final Reckoning’ with heavy hints in the trailer and from Cruise this will be the final instalment in the series that remarkably started way back in 1996. With the exception of the ropey number two, the standard of the films has been incredibly high. Of course Tom Cruise returns once again as IMF agent Ethan Hunt with Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Henry Czerny all reprising their roles and Christopher McQuarrie is back on directing duties. Picking up two months after the last film ended Ethan continues his mission to stop Gabriel (Esai Morales) from obtaining the AI program known as “The Entity”.
This is the longest of the eight films in the series, and more time is given over to exposition than is usual, particularly in the early stages. In truth, the plot is quite ridiculous and no amount of explaining it makes it believable! However, I don’t come to Mission: Impossible movies for realism, so that was not a problem for me. Dead Reckoning had two amazing action sequences, one involving a car chase through Rome and the other the infamous driving a motorcycle off a mountain and the subsequent cliff hanger, literally, on The Orient Express. Final Reckoning has only one set piece to rival that but what a jaw dropping one it is, as Hunt and Gabriel battle in old fashioned prop planes. Cruise once again shows his fearlessness taking on some incredible stunt work as he hangs from a plane.
There are other very entertaining sequences, particularly where McQuarrie intercuts two different action scenes together and Pegg provides the customary laughs as Hunt’s close friend, Benji. It definitely felt like it was made for the die hard fans of the series, as there are numerous call backs to films 1 and 3, in particular, and the surprise re-appearance of a minor character from an early instalment.
Overall, the 169 minute run time flew by and I was highly entertained. Is it amongst the very best of the franchise? No, it does not have the sustained brilliance of Rogue Nation or Fallout or the genius direction of the original, but if this is the end, it is a fitting send off.
Rating: 8 out of 10