Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (12A)

IMF agent Ethan Hunt is in exile with both halves of the 3D cruciform key that can unlock the source code of the rogue artificial intelligence known as the Entity. He returns to London to reunite with Luther Stickell, Benji Dunn and former thief Grace. The Entity's human henchman, Gabriel, is still on the loose so Hunt bolsters his ranks with vengeful French assassin Paris and US intelligence agent Theo Degas.

LondonNet Film Review

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (12A) Film Review from LondonNet

Considering Tom Cruise’s willingness to hurl himself into the slavering jaws of death for our big screen entertainment in the Mission: Impossible films, the franchise’s bombastic title has always seemed like a slight exaggeration. The Hollywood star broke his ankle performing one daredevil stunt for the sixth film but still managed to complete the take before heading to hospital. Anything is possible. The stakes feel monumentally high in the eighth chapter, which welcomes back director Christopher McQuarrie to tie up narrative threads from Dead Reckoning and circle back to the 1996 reboot that suspended Cruise on cables inside a maximum-security CIA vault…

The ripple effect of that nerve-jangling heist generates an extinction-level tsunami in The Final Reckoning and empowers a rogue artificial intelligence dubbed the Entity to seize control of every nuclear arsenal on the planet. In response, Cruise risks life and limbs to perform two of the most thrilling stunt sequences of the entire series: scrambling through the flooded belly of a submarine rotating through 360 degrees in the uncharted depths of the Arctic Ocean; and clinging on to the wings of two airborne biplanes as they somersault, swoop and dive over the breathtaking Blyde River Canyon in South Africa. Cameras remain thrillingly close to the actor so we can see he’s genuinely in the midst of these jaw-dropping sequences, flaunting a gym-toned physique that boggles the mind given Cruise will celebrate his 63rd birthday this summer.

Defying time’s natural wear and tear and career-ending injuries has surely been the real mission: impossible. As a pulse-quickening spectacle, The Final Reckoning exceeds many previous instalments. As a satisfying narrative experience, McQuarrie’s script co-written by Erik Jendresen is overly earnest in the opening 10 minutes and montages of Ethan Hunt’s earlier missions are nostalgia overkill, accounting for the unwieldy 170-minute running time.

IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is in exile with both halves of the 3D cruciform key that can unlock the source code of the Entity. “Surrender, or the blood of the world will be on your hands,” pleads US President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) in a VHS message that self-destructs in time-honoured fashion after five seconds. Instead, the IMF agent returns to London to reunite with Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and former thief Grace (Hayley Atwell). The Entity’s human henchman, Gabriel (Esai Morales), is still on the loose so Hunt bolsters his ranks with vengeful French assassin Paris (Pom Klementieff) and US intelligence agent Theo Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis).

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is a globe-trotting gallivant designed for the largest cinema screen that puts Cruise front and centre of each outlandish set piece. Scriptwriters aren’t afraid to sacrifice key characters in the melee and a callback to the first film is unexpectedly poignant. If this is Cruise’s breathlessly staged swansong then he departs before the action-packed series self-destructs.

– Sarah Lee