Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

“The women of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning are instrumental to saving the world.”

Title: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)
Director: Christopher McQuarrie 👨🏼🇺🇸
Writers: Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie 👨🏼🇺🇸 and Erik Jendresen 👨🏼🇺🇸 based on the TV series by Bruce Geller 👨🏼🇺🇸

Reviewed by Gavin 👨🏼🇬🇧🌈♿

—MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD—

Technical: 4/5

Over the last decade, filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie and star Tom Cruise have elevated the Mission: Impossible franchise into a must-see spectacle full of show-stopping stunts. Marketed as the final outing for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his team of Impossible Missions Force (IMF) operatives, the jury is still out on whether this truly is the last Mission: Impossible film, as McQuarrie teased future instalments a while back. If The Final Reckoning does end up being the series finale, they’ve closed out with a thrilling ride that has some bumps along the way.

The first hour of this nearly three-hour-long feature can get tedious. McQuarrie forces callbacks to every M:I entry with no meaningful effect, as audiences are bombarded with exposition that tries to tie all eight films together. The film painstakingly makes sure you’re aware of exactly what is happening using on-the-nose explanations. There’s also little action, save for one or two minor chases and fistfights, which makes the film feel even slower.

But when The Final Reckoning finally kicks into gear, the film soars. A tense, claustrophobic sequence with Hunt infiltrating a sunken submarine is nerve-shredding stuff, thanks to immersive sound design and a haunting score. Some well-designed fights between the larger action scenes help keep the pace going, but the heavily marketed biplane finale is one of the most incredible stunts ever put on film. Jaws will surely hit the floor as Cruise clings onto the side of a spiralling plane and jumps from one aircraft to another. Sure, the narrative and themes don’t really land, but the stunts and action make up for it. And isn’t that the reason we’re watching these movies anyway?

Gender: 3.5/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES

Ethan Hunt may be the focus here, but he’s supported by a diverse team of specialists who are crucial to the mission’s success. Professional thief Grace (Hayley Atwell) is far more capable here than in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning (2023), where she needed Hunt to constantly hold her hand. In The Final Reckoning, Grace stands her ground in fights, saves Hunt’s life, and uses her pickpocketing skills in the grand finale. Pom Klementieff returns as Paris, a former foe and assassin who now works with the IMF team. Paris has a small role but shines whenever she’s on screen, as she takes out goons and causes laughs with her serious nature breaking up the team’s otherwise jovial banter.

Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett), the CIA director from Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018), is back, now acting as the President of the United States. With nuclear armageddon on the horizon, Sloane makes high-level decisions that affect everyone in The Final Reckoning. Bassett brings gravitas and emotion to the role of a president facing impossible choices. Meanwhile, Hannah Waddingham stars as Admiral Neely, but she only serves to move the plot forward by assisting Hunt in his mission.

All together, the women of The Final Reckoning are instrumental to saving the world, thanks to their dexterity or leadership and decision-making. They don’t have in-depth character arcs—though to be fair, no one does in this film—but they’re portrayed as capable and vital.

Race: 3.5/5

Surrounding Hunt is a racially diverse cast of supporting characters. African American actor Ving Rhames is as soulful as ever as Hunt’s right-hand man, Luther, but unfortunately, he doesn’t have too much screen time. He does, however, make an impact with his smaller role by providing an emotional anchor for the film. Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis, who’s also African American) is a new addition to the IMF team, expanding on his role from Dead Reckoning. Whilst he has some fun exchanges with Paris—played by French-Korean Klementieff—Degas otherwise fades into the background ensemble whilst white characters Hunt, Grace, and Benji (Simon Pegg) take centre stage.

The most surprising aspect of The Final Reckoning is the introduction of Tapeesa, played by Inuk actor Lucy Tulugarjuk. Tapeesa is the wife of an important character who appears later in the film, but she quickly becomes a part of the IMF crew, getting physical with adversaries, navigating the team across hostile environments, and even disarming bombs. One scene stands out: Tapeesa showing Grace how to command a dog sleigh. Presenting the language barrier between English and Inuktitut doesn’t come off as a cheap joke, but rather, it’s endearing and charming as the women work together.

Causing some of the biggest laughs and cheers during my screening was Tramell Tillman, a Black actor playing Captain Bledsoe, the commander of a submarine. Off the back of his star-making turn in Severance, Tillman cranks up the charisma as he’s given some of the funniest lines. While race never comes up in The Final Reckoning, leaving the diversity more shallow than substantial, characters of colour do avoid racial stereotypes, and each has their moment—however brief—in the spotlight.

Mediaversity Grade: B- 3.67/5

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is messy at times but it sticks the landing thanks to incredible action and stunt work. Amongst all of that noise—and still following behind the white male lead—women and people of colour do stand out as capable individuals with personality.

Like Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning? Try these other summer blockbusters with spectacular action sequences.

*John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019)*

Grade: BLiMay 26, 2025