Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

If this is the end of the Mission: Impossible franchise, it sadly is ending with a wimper instead of a roar. It's a real shame that this is plagued by the issues it has, as somewhere buried beneath is a film which would feel like a proper send-off to this franchise.

The first hour of this film is perhaps the worst hour in the entire franchise. It's exposition dumps, it's unnecessary flashbacks, it's a persistent need to tie everything together, and it's the mythologising of Ethan Hunt to become the most important man alive. "You are the chosen one" is a literal line from this movie.

Moreso, it's all of these issues coupled with the fact that the film feels the need to take itself so seriously, it loses what makes these films special. Even Dead Reckoning, which is hampered by issues, still keeps the tone consistent as has this level of whimsy which makes these films what they are, this is completely missing from this movie.

It would be fine if the tone did anything interesting for the film but all it does is make this self agrandising for Ethan, and Tom Cruise, and it's just boring. That first hour is simply that. Boring. Not a word I would ever use to describe this franchise even in its worst moments.

However, once you get past that first hour, the film finds it's footing. It doesn't completely mitigate the issues the film has. It's still wildly convoluted, features way too many characters and some bad writing, and the villains remain plain. But the sheer spectacle of the stunts and set pieces counteract this in a massive way.

This is what makes this film better than the majority of action slop that's came out recently. Once you're in these set pieces, time flies by. It's shot so confidently and with such control, they're always interesting and evolving and building on each other. It's just pure adrenaline and action-packed fun that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

It makes sense why you can still walk away from the film feeling like it was a good time as the majority of the film is filled with these set pieces. It's a shame there wasn't a more elegant way to write that first hour which really could be condensed down as this film would perhaps function a lot better.

I don't think the criticisms can fully be contained in that first hour however, I think there's a lot of character assassination in this, or perhaps a better way of doing this is that there's so many characters that the film is just uninterested in giving them much to do, which sucks because there's a plethora of interesting characters this franchise has helped build. Instead that's sacrificed for exposition.

There's a character in particular who I find it completely bizarre that we don't get their reaction to a major thing that happens at the start of the movie. Sadly also this falls into the trap that a lot of Mission Impossible movies have, where Hayley Atwell's character loses most of her autonomy, and what makes her interesting, in service of her being another woman for Ethan to fall in love with.

It's so pulled down by issues in its writing, however I still can't rate this super low because the action in this movie, the stunts, the set pieces, the dedication to the the thrill and spectacle of cinema, is so much better than anything else that we get in these large action blockbusters that still makes this a fun film. However as a finale to one of my favorite franchises this was a major disappointment and letdown

Ethan Hunt Hair Rating - 6/10 it's ok but longer