‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ review: a fitting farewell to Tom Cruise’s all-action hero

For eight films and almost 30 years, Tom Cruise has starred as Mission: Impossible‘s super-spy Ethan Hunt. The 1996 original (adapted from the 1960s TV show) wowed audiences with its post-007 blend of masked trickery, double-agents and thrilling stunts. Ever since, the Mission: Impossible series has become arguably the greatest action franchise of modern time. Cruise does many of his own hair-raising stunts and is often referred to as the biggest film star in the world. The Final Reckoning is rumoured to be his last outing in a franchise that’s only gotten more daring over the years. No pressure, then.

• READ MORE: ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ review: staggering stunts can’t make up for the nonsensical plot

The story follows on directly from 2023’s Dead Reckoning. Impossible Mission Force’s (IMF) Hunt is on the trail of his arch-enemy Gabriel (Esai Morales), trying to stop him from using a super-advanced AI program named the Entity to bring about nuclear war. The source code for Entity is trapped on Russian submarine Sevastopol, which just so happens to be at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean after the sneaky AI tricked the crew into torpedoing themselves.

It sounds thrilling but long-time fans expecting the usual high octane opening of pulse-racing set pieces in swish locations are going to be disappointed. Final Reckoning begins with a convoluted 80 minutes of screen time mostly devoted to Hunt, senior members of the CIA and various politicians including the American president (Angela Bassett) debating about the best way to stop Gabriel.

It’s as if writers Erik Jendresen and Christopher McQuarrie – the latter of whom also returns to direct his fourth Mission: Impossible – saw Oppenheimer and wanted to make their own tense masterpiece from people talking. Thankfully all that chat is eventually interrupted by a quintessentially daring escape by Hunt, who’s also had enough of the talking.

We’re on firmer ground when he dives down to dig around in the bowels of Sevastopol for the Entity source code. Cruise and McQuarrie are justifiably proud of the sequence, which is brilliantly devised and executed – a franchise stand-out to match the plane lift-off in Rogue Nation and Dead Reckoning‘s motorcycle jump.

Incredibly, it’s topped by a remarkable final act that sees Benji (Simon Pegg) and the rest of Hunt’s IMF crew trying to disable Entity using tech wizardry while Hunt chases Gabriel through South Africa, via a bi-plane. The stunt-work harks back to the silent era in terms of spectacle – albeit far grander and more dangerous. Seeing Cruise clambering around in the sky like this needs to be seen to be believed.

Away from the stunts, a character returning from the first Mission: Impossible and a montage of key moments from other films in the series will delight fans, while a small role for Severance star Tramell Tillman as a submarine commander is an unexpected highlight. There’s ultimately lots to love about Final Reckoning and if this is the end, Cruise and Co are finishing on a high. It’s just a shame it takes so long to get going.