To say I’m disappointed with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is a huge understatement. Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t dislike the film. But given what we saw in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning? I’m embarrassed for everybody involved. Clearly, y’all ran out of steam, making me wonder why nearly six hours of film was necessary on this project.
Everything was better in Part One. Everything. The stunts, the acting, the script, the drama, the cinematography, the drama, the feel. What’s more is for a film of this nature – action/adventure with a dominant male lead, Dead Reckoning was about as feminist as pictures get, giving badass roles to four (4!) different actresses: Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Pom Klementieff. Final Reckoning loses Ferguson and Kirby, waters down Klementieff and Atwell, and replaces what’s missing with Admiral Hannah Waddingham and President Angela Bassett. I love that there are important roles for women in the M:I franchise, but do you see how much more empowering it is in an action film when women are doing the actioning instead of the ordering?
Speaking of President Sloane (Bassett), this character alone made me weep. The idea that a Black woman could have been President was so close and so tantalizingly far away, she should have been played by Maya Rudolph. Oh, and to see a President who respects subordinates and actually weighs consequences of actions, imagine that! I could just cry. Imagine a President of the United States who took responsibility. I know it was only five months ago, but it seems like another lifetime. If you care about our genuine future instead of this -clearly- fictional one, Final Reckoning can be a very depressing film.
In Part One, we learned of “The Entity,” a mysterious ultimate AI force weaponized through a conduit of the mysterious Gabriel (Esai Morales). In a key sequence in Venice, we learn exactly the power of The Entity, where it takes over IMF communications, imitating IT guy Benji (Simon Pegg) to lure IMF team leader Ethan Hunt (Tim Cruise) into a trap while Gabriel is free to do damage without being “Hunt”-ed. For a franchise that has made its bread-and-butter on deception, this was a key understanding: the tables had turned; now our heroes could be played just like they play others.
And yet, Final Reckoning didn’t really showcase either the power of The Entity, nor the treacherous behavior of Gabriel. Huh. Well gee, the film was almost three hours long; what did it have?
Ethan Hunt has the key to The Entity and intends to destroy it, but doesn’t know what the key opens or where to find the lock. His idea to locate and somehow destroy The Entity is easier said than done, especially as -early on- Ethan has to surrender to American forces in order to get to the sunken Sevastopol Russian sub which houses The Entity’s code. There has to be a better way than that, doesn’t there? The Entity is through with taking over individuals; now, it wants to take over every nuclear arsenal in order to destroy all life on the
planet and start over. Oh, Entity, when will you learn?
Part of the problem here, of course, is that only a select handful of people know what’s going on … and they differ wildly as to the solutions. Putting all life on Earth in the hands of Ethan Hunt seems a suspect gambit as Ethan doesn’t know where the Sevastopol is, doesn’t have the physical ability or tools to dive or surface from the sub in question, and will be navigating foreign and hostile waters alone to do so. But, sure, Madame President, hear him out.
I guess they don’t call it Mission: Impossible because it’s *just* improbable.
This film is an acceptable ride. I have to view it outside of sequel context to appreciate it properly. There’s plenty of tension and a few decent stunts; it was just nowhere near the joy and exhilaration and depth of Part One. Does it matter? It matters to me. Will it matter to you? Probably not. But get a load of Cruise channeling Top Gun mode for the climax with barnstormers. I liked this film more than I didn’t, but in retrospect, it feels like the quality of entertainment drop-off between Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
There once was an agent named Hunt
With a massive Mission to confront
To save the whole planet
And the jokers who ran it
This calls for a good bi-plane stunt
Rated PG-13, 169 Minutes
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Writer: Bruce Geller, Erik Jendresen, Christopher McQuarrie
Genre: Loose ends
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: If you like the first seven M:I films, this one won’t hurt you
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Those really let down by the magnificence of Dead Reckoning
