Written by Sam Clark
Certificate: 12A
Running Time: 169 minutes
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
''Thank you, Mr. Cruise, thank you'', are the first words that I must say straight away here. Never have we encountered an actor who gives this much on screen (risking his life every single time), has this much dedication to delivering us- the cinemagoers - the best possible cinematic experience as Tom Cruise does by doing all of his own stunts, no matter the danger. What makes this even better, is the amount of times he has been warned against it. The fact that he chooses to do what he does (not to mention how well he does it anyway) and the extent that he will go is truly baffling, but it is all in order to give us blockbuster entertainment, and we are lucky to have him. Whatever your opinions of him are, as he has been no stranger to controversial tabloid news in the past, his effort and love for this craft (he has expressed genuine passion for film and cinema in interviews throughout his career) is staggeringly unparalleled, for which no one can fault him. At the age of 62, he still shows no signs of wanting to slow down or stop, if that is not telling, I don't know what is. Without him, the action genre would not be what it is now. He is the greatest to ever do it.
''I need you to trust me...one last time'' says Cruise's seemingly invincible Ethan Hunt, a piece of dialogue that almost acts as a self-aware fourth wall break towards the audience, as he is about to set our pulses racing, our palms sweating and our chest pounding for the last time, and boy does he know it... and boy does he seem to enjoy it. If we don't trust him or believe in him by now, what's the point? As each entry of the Mission: Impossible franchise has arrived on the big screen, the question has always remained: what on earth can / will they possibly do now? Scale the world tallest building? Check. Hang on the side of an aircraft carrier taking off from the ground? Check. Hold your breath for six minutes? Check. Ride a motorcycle off a cliff? Please. Well, it seems clinging for dear life on the side of a plane soaring through the sky seems to be a popular choice for him, so why not doing it again?
Photo credit: IMDb / Paramount Pictures / Skydance
You can do all the stunts that you want, but once in a while, you do have to remind the audience that there is a plot and story, one that I wish was handled more... delicately let's say. Christopher McQuarrie (who Cruise first worked with on Jack Reacher in 2012 and has continued to do so ever since) returns to direct after helming the previous two, and it is evident the two are now almost inseparable, announcing that they are working on even more projects together. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is a culmination of the past thirty-years of Mission: Impossible films, and it shows. We continue the story set up in the last film, Dead Reckoning, with Cruise facing an AI threat known as ''The Entity'', as well as adversaries from the past- such as Esai Morale's Gabriel. Team members Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Grace (Hayley Atwell) return. This software has infiltrated major intelligence networks and has manipulated technology to its advantage, in turn threatening to destroy humanity primarily with the use of nuclear warfare. Essentially, what any and all technology based threat seems to always do in cinema.
In order to stop this, the team must access the ''The Entity's source code and destroy it from within, once and for all. With any film that is bringing a story like this to a final close, you want it to feel as natural as possible. Right from the beginning, the film, which is almost three hours long (as these things always are), rams the entire history and back catalogue of Mission Impossible down your throat with a series of flashbacks and edits. What I found surprising from the get-go was this odd sense of panic and having to rush everything along as soon as the film starts. This is the longest instalment and, as a result, you have the most amount time to organize and sort out your narrative. Having said this, I do understand why they chose to do this as it is, at the end of the day, the quickest, easiest and most efficient way of catching the audience up without having to worry if they will remember past events or not whilst watching the film. It is thirty years worth of story after all, and not everyone will be familiar. But surely most people have seen most of them by now, right?
Photo credit: IMDb / Paramount Pictures / Skydance
A tricky conundrum, but one that did not impact the experience too much. I never expect the story to be necessarily perfect, but The Final Reckoning also comes with another surprising and unexpected caveat. I always know when to suspend disbelief with certain things (*cough cough Fast and Furious *cough cough), but there is a blatant, logical flaw that happens after a big moment which so clearly didn't make any sense, even for this series. They have always been somewhat believable, but they may have been caught out this time. Now, only time will tell if I have missed something (and I will have to research into it), but I'll leave you with this and only this: where did that parachute come from?
I would not usually care about something like this, but it did heavily determine what happens later. It must be said, this is the most stressed I have ever been watching Mission Impossible, or any film for that matter, and that is truly saying something. The set pieces here, for my money, were somehow able to put Dead Reckoning to shame, and are undeniably the most staggering I have ever seen. Cruise is certainly forefront here, but hat's off to Christopher McQuarrie for his direction with these films. Yes, Tom Cruise does the stunts, but its his job to make them and him look good. A challenge and obstacle for any director working with someone like him, but one he has more than risen to. How they are able to top themselves every single time is beyond comprehension, let alone how they actually do it. It goes without saying, but try and see this on an IMAX screen as more and more films are using the format and this demonstrates exactly why they should. This is the future of cinema and I am in awe every time.
I know we have said this before, but this does feel like the farewell to the franchise as there is simply nowhere else to go. Tom Cruise has long been rumoured to be the first person to shoot a film in space (who else could it have possibly been). That happens to be the one place Ethan Hunt has yet to go, but believe it or not, it is not Mission: Impossible based and he is instead reuniting with Doug Liman, whom he worked with on Edge of Tomorrow. So, heaven only knows what that will be like. But, as for where Cruise's legacy as Ethan Hunt stands: mission accomplished.
In cinemas Wednesday 21st May.
