Mission Impossible — The Final Reckoning
In hiding for several months following the last run in with a deadly A.I. known as The Entity, Ethan (Tom Cruise) and the rest of the I.M. team find themselves called back in to action as their old nemesis, Gabriel (Esai Morales) has resurfaced with The Entity in tow and sinister intentions for humanity. Stopping the annihilation of all life on earth is the impossible mission for the final reckoning, this message will self destruct in five seconds.
Written by Bruce Geller, Erik Jendresen, and Christopher McQuarrie and Directed by McQuarrie this final installment of this version of the I.M. franchise aims to go out as big and as bold as possible offering set piece action sequence after set piece action sequence punctuated by a handful of rather droll lulls and convoluted plot points– end result, an oddly balanced but enjoyable romp through the franchise’s greatest hits, multiple call backs from the last 30 years, and of course, lots of Tom Cruise running, lace up those track shoes for your eyes, you’re going to need them. Meanwhile, perennial favorites Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg return again to put the family bow on top of the tree along with relative newcomers Pom Klementieff and Hayley Atwell to add extra punch. But, action and callbacks be damned, the two hour forty nine minute runtime definitely feels long in the tooth by act three, and that seems to be the hardest pill of all to swallow, bloat for bloat’s sake. It’s as though the editors were instructed to specifically NOT trim for length, woof. That said, pace yourself on beverages going in and get ready for hair raising stunts, to that end you can’t go wrong. Mission Impossible–The Final Reckoning is rated PG-13