Run, Ethan Run: Tom Cruise’s Epic Sprint in Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning (2025)
- Dan Brooks
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
Ethan Hunt and the IMF team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity - which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe - with the world's governments and a mysterious ghost from Ethan's past on their trail. Joined by new allies and armed with the means to shut the Entity down for good, Hunt is in a race against time to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever.
Strap in, cinephiles, because Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning doesn’t just punch your adrenaline gland, it gives it a full cardio workout. I half expected my entourage to file for overtime by the time Tom Cruise vaulted off yet another airplane, but hey, I signed up for this franchise to see a sixty-something stunt performer defy both gravity and common sense. And Cruise, now barreling toward his 63rd birthday, pulls it off with the gleeful abandon of a thirty-something Ethan Hunt. (Fun fact: when the first Mission: Impossible debuted on May 22, 1996, yes, the same date that President Sloane ominously sends Admiral Neely a communiqué in this film, Cruise was a fresh-faced 33, blissfully unaware he’d still be dangling from planes three decades later.)
Speaking of familiar faces, the IMF squad reunion reads like an all-stars convention. Ving Rhames, the eternal Luther Stickell, and Simon Pegg, our digital McGyver Benji Dunn, return as constants in a series that ironically is all about the variables. Hayley Atwell makes a terrific return as Grace, equal parts cavalry and loose cannon, and Esai Morales skulks about as Gabriel, the mysterious ghost haunting Hunt’s past. It’s gratifying to see these characters tossed into the blender alongside throwbacks to every Easter egg from Rogue Nation to Fallout. Bravo for nodding to franchise lore instead of tacking on a woke checklist, this is a hero action movie, folks, not a corporate diversity seminar.
Plotwise, the IMF is on the trail of “the Entity,” a rogue AI that’s infiltrated the globe’s intelligence networks faster than you can say “Skynet who?” With governments hot on their tail and a cadre of new allies armed with the only kill-switch code, Hunt is in a race against digital entropy to ensure the world doesn’t reboot itself into a Matrix-style rerun. It’s a tidy metaphor for our paranoia-infused era, except the real terror is Cruise’s unhinged commitment to practical stunts, why CGI when you can risk life and limb for real? The plane-flying sequence alone is worth the price of admission, though I maintain Cruise was literally born to jump off things.
Here’s what worked:
Roster Roll Call: Every recognizable face from the franchise vault pops up—like bumping into old classmates who’ve mysteriously returned for their closeup.
Franchise Tribute: Easter eggs abound. From a throwaway quip about IMF protocol to silhouettes of bygone villains, it’s the cinematic equivalent of trading baseball cards.
Woke Vacuum: Not a hint of Hollywood’s latest moral lecture. Instead, a refreshing focus on espionage and explosions—no diversity panels required.
Death-Defying Antics: Tom Cruise is still the maniac we love. Plane stunts? Check. Motorcycle freefalls? Double check. I half expected him to orbit the Earth next.
Series Send-Off Potential: If this truly is the swan song, it’s pitched perfectly for a TV revival. With Hunt’s rogues gallery bigger than a Netflix lineup, the small screen could be begging for more.
But before you start crowning it the greatest blow-‘em-up blockbuster since Die Hard, let’s talk landmines.
There were more running scenes here than in a marathon training montage. I’m convinced Cruise peeped the Internet memes skewering his sprint and thought, “Hold my protein shake.” Second, that jaw-dropping introduction felt cobbled together, rumor has it they last-minute-salvaged it, and it shows. The pacing jolts you awake, sure, but at the cost of narrative grace. Next, at a bloated two-and-a-half hours, this thing outstays its welcome, though if it is the grand finale, I’ll grant it a pass. Finally, the characters sometimes deliver monologues like they’re auditioning for Law & Order: AI Edition. Enough with the exposition dumps, just let the stunts speak.
Yet despite its flaws, The Final Reckoning still nails what it promises: a gloriously unhinged action spectacle that honors its lineage. It’s the film equivalent of finding a vintage sports car in your garage, patched up, full of quirks, but damn impressive when it roars to life. And hey, if this is our last hurrah, it gives the franchise a send-off more explosive than Hunt’s entire vault of EMP grenades.
Now, before you slip your Mission badge into retirement, let’s score this caper:
7.8/10
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