Movie Review: Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning (2025)

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025) co-written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is still on the hunt for the rogue AI that is turning the world upside down. The AI, known as The Entity, is trying to take over all the nuclear arsenals in the world and has established a doomsday cult of human followers. It's also deep-faking a lot of online information to heighten tensions between countries. The AI's plan is to take over all the nuclear arsenals and then hide in a heavily-fortified bunker in South Africa. Hunt wants to kill the AI even though every country (including the USA) wants to gain control of the AI to use it for world domination. Hunt has a small band of allies (Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff) helping him go through the various steps (of which there are many) to destroy the AI.

The plot is drawn from the worries and paranoia of today, making it exciting and engaging. A lot of characters claim that all of cyberspace will be lost if the Entity is destroy which isn't quite convincing, much like the technical jargon that is bandied about to describe how things are working. But nobody comes to a Mission: Impossible movie for sobering realism or technical accuracy. The movie has plenty of action and spectacle. The cast does a great job both in the fights and chases and in the small, human moments of connection and/or humor. Some of the stunts seem like redoes from other films (even outside of the franchise) but are still exciting. The film has a huge variety of locations, from underground networks to an abandoned submarine to a frozen tundra to aerial acrobatics. The sense of fun and drama is strong. Even at just shy of three hours, the film is never boring. It's a great finale for the franchise (if it really is the finale).

Recommended, highly for fans.

Movie Review: Mission: Impossible Catch-Up Part II

Seeing that the (maybe) final installment of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible series is coming out today (as I publish), I thought I would rewatch the series. Frankly, after the third film my viewing (and memory) is spotty. I am sure I watched at least one of the subsequent films in its entirety and parts of the other films but it is all a jumble in my head. To unjumble things, I am doing this series. See my reviews of the first three here! 

Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) directed by Brad Bird

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is busted out of a Moscow prison by an IMF team to help with a new mission. Someone is trying to steal missile launch codes from the Kremlin and the IMF director wants Hunt to stop it. Hunt naturally accepts with the help of Benjy (Simon Pegg) and Jane (Paula Patton). The Kremlin job literally blows up in their faces, causing high tension between Russia and the U.S.A., along with the disavowal of the entire IMF force. That won't stop Hunt from continuing the mission, which gets bigger and more outlandish as the plot moves along at a breakneck pace, traveling from Europe to Dubai to India, with plenty of amazing stunts, fights, and chases.

The movie is a big fun summer action entertainer. Sadly, they immediately dump Ethan's wife from the last film at the beginning, though that change becomes more plot-relevant later in the film at several moments. So the humanistic bent introduced by J. J. Abrams in the last film hangs on, raising this above just a dumb action film. The story is fun and much easier to follow. Having the whole IMF disavowed amps things up, but can they amp things up further? The spectacular set-pieces, including Tom Cruise climbing on the windows of a skyscraper, are amazing and fun.

Recommended--not as good as the last one, but in the same ballpark.

Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015) written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Ethan Hunt is sure that a new threat, The Syndicate, is out there ready to go from individual acts of terrorism to a full-out war of terrorism. The Syndicate uses rogue agents from countries all over the world, presumed dead but now working as the bad guys. Unfortunately, no one else is convinced and the CIA director (Alec Baldwin) gets the IMF Agency shut down by Congress. Hunt is still in the field and continues his pursuit of The Syndicate. He's helped by his usual crew (Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Jeremey Renner) while also working with a British mole named Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) in The Syndicate. The chase is world-wide and full of danger and intrigue at every step.

The plot really strains at the edge of believability but the movie moves so quickly along that it's hard to keep up, as if the holes in the story are part of the fabric the filmmakers are weaving. The action is amazing and still more over the top, though CGI is starting to infiltrate the purer stunt work. The cast is charming and enjoyable with characters that play to their strengths (Baldwin as the bit of smarminess and self-obsessed; Renner as the bit of reasonableness in an otherwise chaotic and over-the-top group, etc.). It is a fun ride that both demands and tries to avoid thinking it through too much.

Recommended--better than the last one, but number 3 is still number 1.

Mission: Impossible: Fallout (2018) written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Hunt's team loses three plutonium cores when Ethan has to choose between saving teammate Luther (Ving Rhames) and protecting the cores. Things start to spiral out of control as recovering the cores gets complicated. Ethan tries to imitate the buyer who is meeting the White Queen (Vanessa Kirby), though the buyer is both the head of the remains of The Syndicate from the last film and is targeted by Ilsa who is trying to prove her loyalty to MI-6. If that was not enough trouble, the CIA, who has been mopping up Syndicate remnants, saddles Hunt's team with one of their own operatives (Henry Cavill) to make sure the mission does not get messed up.

This is another stunt-and-chase extravaganza. The movie clocks in at almost two and a half hours, which is mostly excitement and action. There are human moments and comic moments to balance things out but I did find myself (1) watching this in two parts and (2) thinking at some points, "how much longer is this?" I wasn't really bored but I did feel like things were taking longer than they should have, squeezing in one more fight or obstacle that maybe didn't need to be there. Of course, if you are watching this for fights and obstacles, that's a plus.

Mildly recommended.

Here's my previous review of the penultimate movie, so you don't have to click through a link...

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) co-written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has a new mission--he needs to track down half of a special key that is part of a larger conspiracy that threatens the whole world, though his employer doesn't know what the key unlocks. Just it is a big threat. Viewers have seen where the key goes in a pre-credits sequence--a new AI system on a stealth Russian submarine goes rogue and scuppers the sub. The AI has been infiltrating many intelligence agencies from many countries, making it a valuable weapon for whichever country can get control of it. Ethan's mission is to find the key and return it to HQ. Ethan, who has had a problem with going rogue before, decides he needs to destroy the AI if he can find the original source code. A lot of action and hijinks follows with an unresolved cliffhanger ending (not a spoiler since the movie's title ends with "Part One").

The plot is the usual over-the-top nonsense that comes from this franchise. The execution is so much fun, it makes up for the daftness of the story's core. Ethan has to get the old band back together, so Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and Rebecca Ferguson are back. Grace (Hayley Atwell) is an exceptional thief who is also after the key for a mysterious employer (guess who?). Ethan crosses swords with her before he winds up working with her and recruiting her for the Impossible Missions Force. The action sequences are fun and over-the-top, so fitting with the story and the series as a whole. Cruise is his usual charming self and the rest of the cast also shines. The movie is an entertaining popcorn romp. Even though it is only half the story, it is still almost three hours long. I never found myself bored watching it, so it is like the Peter Jackson King Kong, which was way too long but I find it hard to recommend what to cut out.

Recommended.

It's probable that I will wait till home video for the final installment of this franchise. The three-hour running time is a bit daunting. Time will tell...

Movie Review: Mission: Impossible Catch-Up Part I

Seeing that the (maybe) final installment of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible series is coming out this summer (2025 as I write), I thought I would rewatch the series. Frankly, after the third film my viewing (and memory) is spotty. I am sure I watched at least one of the subsequent films in its entirety and parts of the other films but it is all a jumble in my head. To unjumble things, I am doing this series. First up, the first three!

Mission: Impossible (1996) directed by Brian De Palma based on the television show

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is an agent of the Impossible Missions Force. He and the team, led by Jim Phelps (Jon Voigt), are deployed to Prague where they will catch a spy stealing and selling a list of secret agents operating in Eastern Europe. As soon as the theft happens, the situation falls apart. The entire team, except for Hunt, is wiped out in a matter of minutes. Hunt reports in to their next level supervisor, Kittridge (Henry Czerny), who reveals that the operation was a mole hunt for someone betraying IMF. Since Hunt is the only survivor, he must be the mole. Hunt knows he isn't, so he makes a daring escape and hunts down the real killer and the client who wants the list (who clearly was in contact with the actual mole).

The movie is a summer action thriller. The plot is a bit convoluted, structured in a way to highlight fantastic action sequences, of which there are many. Cruise is on top form as a charming and sincere hero caught in a messy situation. The rest of the cast is also good. The visual style has lots of dutch angles and pov shots, making it more visually appealing and intriguing. The story was high-tech in 1996, though the use of email and internet looks quaint 30 years later (do today's kids even know what a modem is?). Some of the twists and machinations are very hard to believe, but the action sequences are so exciting and well-executed that viewers have a hard time not being charmed by the whole package.

I remember fans of the TV show complaining about one of the plot twists though that did not bother me then (I had only seen occasional episodes in reruns) and the twists is cliched now. 

Recommended--this is great action fun.

Mission: Impossible II (2000) directed by John Woo

At the beginning of the movie, we see a scientist working in Australia who wants to take some medical thing to Atlanta, Georgia. He injects himself with it and only has twenty hours to make the delivery. His plane is hijacked by the bad guys who discover he only has the cure (called Belerophon) in vials, not the disease. They assumed one of the vials had the disease (called Chimera). A cure with no disease is not particularly lucrative.

Ethan Hunt has a new mission from a new supervisor (Anthony Hopkins). He's to recruit an exceptional thief, Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton), to help him find out what was stolen from Australia (they don't know about the disease/cure situation). After a sexy encounter with Hall, Ethan eventually recruits her only to find out that the supervisor wants her to get back in bed (literally) with Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), the rogue agent who stole the vials. Ethan also recruits old friend Luther (Ving Rhames, who was in the last movie in a minor role) and Billy (John Polson) as aids. They start worming their way into Ambrose's set up.

The movie's plot is a bit convoluted and lots of parts don't fit together. These holes are papered over with over-the-top action sequence and the high stylization of director John Woo. The movie looks great but you brain can't be in neutral, it's got to be in reverse. Even the fight sequences use all sorts of martial arts moves that look impressive (flip kicks and twists and such) and that also look very impractical for actual hand-to-hand combat. Cruise is always charming but I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters.

Not recommended--they tried too hard for style with no substance underneath to hold it up.

Mission: Impossible III (2006) co-written and directed by J. J. Abrams

Ethan Hunt has stepped back from field work and is training new recruits. He's also engaged to Julia (Michelle Monaghan), a nurse in the DC area who does not know about his real job (she thinks he works for the Department of Transportation). Ethan gets called back in by his buddy Musgrave (Billy Crudup), who wants Ethan to help extract one of the agents Ethan recommended for field work (Keri Russell). Ethan joins the team to extract her from the clutches of underworld ne'er-do-well Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). The plan goes awry. Now Ethan is in a struggle with Davian to stop him (1) from selling a horrible weapon and (2) from getting revenge by killing Julia.

This sequel takes a big twist with the story. Ethan is semi-retired and trying to go back to a normal life. Of course, that's not what fans want to see, so he gets drawn back in for action and intrigue. The plot does a good job balancing the two tensions and Cruise gives a much more vulnerable and identifiable performance as a more weary and love-motivated character. He's still Ethan Hunt, but he is much more human. Hoffman is good as the villain, more menacing in his attitude. The supporting cast is very good, with standout performances by Laurence Fishburn as the IMF director and Simon Pegg as an IMF tech (his role becomes recurring like Ving Rhames's Luther). 

Recommended--this is a fun jaunt with some heart to it.

Movie Review: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) co-written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has a new mission--he needs to track down half of a special key that is part of a larger conspiracy that threatens the whole world though his employer doesn't know what the key unlocks. Just it is a big threat. Viewers have seen where the key goes in a pre-credits sequence where a new AI system on a stealth Russian sub goes rogue and scuppers the sub. The AI has been infiltrating many intelligence agencies from many countries, making it a valuable weapon for whichever country can get control of it. Ethan's mission is to find the key and return it to HQ. Ethan, who has had a problem with going rogue before, decides he needs to destroy the AI if he can find the original source code. A lot of action and hijinks follows with an unresolved cliffhanger ending (not a spoiler since the movie's title ends with "Part One").

The plot is the usual over-the-top nonsense that comes from this franchise. The execution is so much fun, it makes up for the daftness of the story's core. Ethan has to get the old band back together, so Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and Rebecca Ferguson are back. Grace (Hayley Atwell) is an exceptional thief who is also after the key for a mysterious employer (guess who?), so Ethan crosses swords with her before he winds up working with her and recruiting her for the Impossible Missions Force. The action sequences are fun and over-the-top, so fitting with the story and the series as a whole. Cruise is his usual charming self and the rest of the cast also shines. The movie is an entertaining popcorn romp. Even though it is only half the story, it is still almost three hours long. I never found myself bored watching it, so it is like the Peter Jackson King Kong, which was way too long but I find it hard to recommend what to cut out.

Recommended.