Rob Reviews "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning"

You can say that the Mission: Impossible franchise has been entertaining audiences worldwide for thirty years, but I am counting these films as part of a much bigger picture.  The base material goes back to 1966 with a seven-season television series (that even had Easter Eggs in the 1966 film directed by Brian De Palma) with a two-season revival in 1988, so the adventures of the Impossible Mission Force have been in the pop culture landscape for about four generations now.  And with that, the final chapter of this latest iteration seems nigh with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Originally Dead Reckoning, Part Two, this one picks up right after the previous film leaves off with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in hiding after the discovery of The Entity causes this AI to run amok, basically holding the world hostage. President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) is begging Ethan to turn himself in since he is the only one that can get to The Entity and control it using the key that he has to get to its source code in a sunken submarine.  Along with Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), and Grace (Hayley Atwell), they race against time to not only stop The Entity before it causes World War III but also evading the government that wants him in prison and trying to capture the bad guy that wants all of it for himself in Gabriel (Esai Morales).

It’s been a while since a three-hour film didn’t feel that way, and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is actually one of those films.  It moves at a good pace, knowing when to slow down for exposition and balancing that with high-octane action.  There are even certain references to the other seven films in this series (one of which answers a question that has been around since M:I: III), and ties things together in a way that was reminiscent of the last couple of films in the James Bond franchise (which I also had no issue with).

I don’t know if it is because there have been so many films in this series or because of how long it has run, but this type of film never gets old to me.  However, I seem to not be in the majority as I have spoken with quite a few people that have gotten “tired head” here.  Perhaps it is because this type and scale of film has become more commonplace than it used to be (I fully acknowledge #OldManRob here) or because its marketplace has become so saturated, but any time you have a globe-hopping, cat-and-mouse spy movie, you at least get me once.  And with this one, I am considering a marathon of all of them when this one releases on Blu-Ray.

While the COULD be the last of his chapter of the Impossible Missions Force (remember, I am the guy that bought The Undertaker’s retirement at WrestleMania 33… we all know how that turned out), it does leave the door open for further adventures.  Granted, with the previously mentioned James Bond films as well as things like Indiana Jones and their futures being either non-existent or up-in-the-air, I would be OK if Mission: Impossible did a soft reboot with new and existing characters.  There is ALWAYS room to leave your brain at the door and watch stuff ‘splode.