Final ‘Mission Impossible’ movie sees Tom Cruise at his daredevil best

TOM CRUISE returns for one final mission in the epic conclusion to his iconic action franchise in Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning.

Making good on its ominous title, this film truly feels like the concluding chapter to a sprawling saga and fans will be happy to hear that it is most definitely a satisfying finale. While it may suffer from minor issues such as some early scenes of exposition-heavy dialogue and a thinly-written villain; the good certainly outweighs the bad in this thrilling action extravaganza.

Following on from the events of 2023’s Dead Reckoning, the appropriately titled Final Reckoning sees super-spy Ethan Hunt continue his mission to stop the rogue artificial intelligence known as The Entity from unleashing nuclear Armageddon upon the world. As usual, the odds are stacked against Hunt and his trusty team, pushing them beyond their limits as they realise they must be ready to sacrifice all in a bid to save humanity.

While previous entries in the franchise may have felt somewhat predictable as the seemingly impossible missions inevitably turned out to be, in fact, quite possible, that is not the case here. With The Final Reckoning***, the stakes have never felt higher and a foreboding sense of finality hangs over the entire film. Though the terms ‘edge of your seat’, ‘nail-biting’ and ‘heart-racing’ may sound like overused soundbites, no film has ever been more deserving of such taglines as this. One sequence in particular, involving an excursion through a sunken submarine, will no doubt see many a bag of popcorn take flight as audiences struggle to cope with the stress-inducing events on screen.

Having played this character for nearly 30 years, the leading man is reliably perfect in the role, delivering his usual Tom Cruise charm. While it may not be Oscar-level acting, the fact that Cruise performs all of the film’s incredible stunts himself adds such a layer of believability to his performance that you cannot help but be awed. The returning cast are also equally strong, with Simon Pegg once again coming close to stealing the show from Cruise. The only weak link is Esai Morales as the villain Gabriel. It is probably unfair to critique Morales’s performance too harshly, as the two-dimensional nature of his character leaves little room for the actor to interpret anything else. While his part may have been somewhat disappointing, it is only a minor flaw in an otherwise excellent film.

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning delivers everything fans of the franchise have come to expect. The variety of truly jaw-dropping action set-pieces are some of the best the series has ever seen and credit must be given to Tom Cruise’s undying devotion to keeping cinemas alive with groundbreaking action spectacles. This truly is event cinema.

Film reviewer John Davis is a 23-year-old law student from Ballybrittas