I had almost forgotten we were meant to get a followup to Dead Reckoning—the prior instalment to the now pushing 30 years old Mission Impossible franchise. Would you know it, this is seemingly shaping up to be the final one…maybe the final one involving Tom Cruise, which is still something when we have a series that started as just another 60s TV show adaptation in the 90s. From the relatively grounded spy shenanigans Brian DePalma had back then (with its most iconic data vault sequence being pretty low key yet all too memorable compared to what he had later) to…whatever the hell was going on in MI:2, there’s certainly something to be said for the way this series has developed over the years, and how this one seems to be trying to tie to all together.
The plot is fairly straightforward despite that—our most favored scion of L. Ron Hubbard once again ventures on a most improbable venture up against a massive sentient AI, that is apparently stirring up strife around the world with deepfakes and editing. It’s almost getting dangerously close to topical commentary! Either way, with our staple companions Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, alongside Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff, it’s Cruise’s job to track down hidden macguffins to take down our computerized mastermind who may or may not be aided by bad guy Esai Morales.
We have returning faces and callbacks to the prior films galore—of which about one seemed interesting for actually inserting an unexpected character into the mix, whose agent must have been pretty pleased. There’s a rather amusing attempt to explain the mystery box JJ Abrams inserted into the third film, even if that doesn’t make that much more sense either. Still, at least it’s an attempt to give this a sense of finality, though we’ll see how producers feel about that.
The plot of course is all about nuclear standoffs and global paranoia as Ethan Hunt runs around across Europe and to the Arctic Circle and, well, between our US President (Angela Bassett) also getting her subplot as a result, it ends up feeling just a teensy bit overwrought. It’s drawn out long enough that you start to ask why they don’t just remove the fuel from their ICBMs, but as typical in such films, apparently hacking and DDOS attacks can do pretty much anything short of parting the Red Sea.
But that’s not really what most come here for—it’s the action sequences that Cruise, for all his…eccentricity has been able to pull off with just physicality. And, I’ll admit, the sequence of him exploring a drowned nuclear submarine is solid and tensely done, and we have a pretty neat aircraft chase towards the end. There’s of course plenty of running, as Cruise wants to assure us his Thetan-fuelled mojo hasn’t completely gone out in his sixties.
For its runtime the film tries its best to give the supporting cast their own moments and subplots, and it’ll vary how effective this is for everyone. Chris McQuarrie is certainly trying, and if nothing else there’s always a sense of scale here that lets you actually take things in as oppose to flurry with the editing like certain others would.
Honestly, there’s prior films in the series I prefer, and while this one does get a bit indulgent, for a big blockbuster sendoff it’ll get the job done to most viewers. You’ve got the bone-crunching fights, the stunts, and while the stakes got a bit too overboard for me, they’re enough to give reason to follow along.
So, if this is indeed the final one…well, I’ll at least give Cruise credit enough for picking one to leave off on, and considering he’s been riding his Hollywood train impressively long at near forty years now, it’s going to be interesting to see where he goes from now—as long as it’s not near Oprah’s furniture.
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