In order to stop the Entity — which was introduced in the previous movie, DEAD RECKONING — legendary IMF agent Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise), is on a quest to find the Padkova which houses the Entity’s original source code. The problem is, the Podkova sits on board a doomed Russian submarine laying in the Arctic Ocean. Hunt needs his usual team of Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) as well as newcomer Grace (Hayley Atwell) to use their unique skills to help complete the mission. After Gabriel (Esai Morales) gets to Luther, the team scrambles to find the long-lost coordinates of the Sevastopol. Through a series of surprise assists by the US government, Hunt and his team locate the missing sub and he dives to a depth of 500 feet to retrieve the Podkova. The team reconnects and heads to Africa where Gabriel is waiting in an effort to control the Entity. Hunt and his team, of course, want to destroy it and have only one specific way to do so, putting the fate of the world at risk if they fail.
In a film franchise that is easily one of the most fun, exciting and clever sagas in the history of cinema — except for 2. We don’t talk about 2. — THE FINAL RECKONING is a disappointing way to end a Hall of Fame career.
Remember when Michael Jordan became the greatest basketball player of all-time with the Chicago Bulls only to eventually retire wearing a Washington Wizards jersey? Well, THE FINAL RECKONING is that Wizards jersey.
Don’t get me wrong, much like Jordan at 70% was better than most players at 100%, THE FINAL RECKONING is entertaining and has moments of hold-your-breath action. But it’s slow to start, slow to end, presents zero finality to the saga, is unnecessarily repetitive and much longer than it needs to be.
The dog fight scene, in particular, screamed “how much time can Cruise spend flipping around on the wing of an airplane?” Cut that scene in half and the movie impacts the audience exactly the same.
And what about the scene where Hunt is being transported back to the United States and we find out Briggs is actually Jim Phelps, Jr., the son of his IMF mentor from the first film back in 1996? It’s a completely unnecessary subplot. Cut that scene altogether and the movie impacts the audience exactly the same.
FINAL RECKONING is for die hard MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE fans and not for average movie-going audiences. As someone who’s been there on opening night of each film since the original, I loved it. I had a great time in the theater, I bought the popcorn bucket, I’ll go back a couple more times and I’ll absolutely buy it when it’s released. But, if you’re not a fan of the entire saga — again, except 2 because nobody cares about 2 — you can skip it and you’re only missing out on a few cool scenes, not a touchstone moment in pop culture like the other installments produced.
JKG SCORE: 6.5
Untitled Film Project 