‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ Review: Tom Cruise Delivers A Big-Screen Spectacle

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is many things: over-the-top, excessive, and absolutely thrilling. It’s the eighth entry in a franchise that never knew when to quit and maybe that’s been its secret weapon all along. If this really is the final curtain call for Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, he’s leaving everything on the table: every stunt, every beat, every ounce of blockbuster bravado.

Picking up where 2023’s Dead Reckoning Part One left off, Hunt remains front and center, tackling a threat that feels ripped from today’s headlines: an all-powerful AI, ominously named “The Entity,” that’s destabilizing global governments and rewriting reality with deepfakes and digital manipulation. The stakes? Nothing short of human extinction.

The core mission is to retrieve a two-part key that can supposedly shut down the rogue intelligence. One half was secured in the last film. The other is inside a wrecked Russian submarine at the bottom of the ocean. Naturally, only Hunt and his team Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), and Grace (Hayley Atwell) have the skills and sheer recklessness to get it done.

There’s no denying it: the film revolves almost entirely around Cruise. He’s the engine, the fuel, and the flame. This franchise has always been Cruise’s playground, and he still plays with unmatched intensity. His dedication to practical effects and real-world stunts is once again on display, whether he’s wrestling the laws of gravity in a submarine or free-falling between two antique biplanes mid-air.

The film’s tone oscillates between tense and brilliantly absurd. There are moments when it genuinely resembles a Cold War thriller, with leaders sweating over nuclear codes and collapsing alliances. Then, out of nowhere, Hunt’s leaping from a plane like he’s auditioning for the next Avengers film. And yet, somehow, it works. That’s the Mission: Impossible magic serious stakes met with operatic spectacle. New faces join the mix and impress. Tramell Tillman shines as a submarine commander with charisma to spare. Pom Klementieff returns as the formerly ruthless assassin Paris, now a wildcard ally.

It’s a fitting send-off, Tom Cruise has cemented his legacy, built one death-defying leap at a time.

The first half moves a bit slowly, burdened by the need to recap and set up. It’s heavy on exposition and backroom briefings. But once the pieces are in motion, director Christopher McQuarrie delivers a couple of show-stopping set pieces that remind us why this series stands above most modern action films. One standout sequence an underwater dive into a shifting wreck is a masterclass in suspense and visual design. The final aerial sequence, meanwhile, is simply jaw-dropping.

These two major set pieces define The Final Reckoning not just as highlights of the film, but as arguments for why cinema still matters, and why this kind of film deserves to be experienced in a theatre, not streamed on your laptop. The underwater sequence set inside the rusting remains of a sunken Russian submarine see Ethan Hunt plunged into the dark abyss, navigating a labyrinth of collapsing corridors, malfunctioning doors, and shifting wreckage. It’s claustrophobic, pulse-pounding, and brilliantly disorienting. The camera follows him in long, unbroken shots as the environment physically rotates and rearranges around him, creating a dreamlike sense of danger, it’s an absolute spectacle that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

And the finale is everything we’ve come to love and expect from Tom Cruise, clinging to a vintage biplane mid-flight. It’s filmed with such clarity and scale that it triggers genuine vertigo; you see the altitude, and you believe, for a moment, that Cruise might actually fall out of the sky. Again, this is not something to squint at on a phone. It’s built for IMAX, it’s a proper cinematic experience.

There are also quieter moments, rare but impactful, where we see a more reflective Hunt. He’s not just saving the world he’s questioning the cost of doing it. The film draws a subtle through-line from his past missions, showing the emotional toll under the mask and behind the sprint. It’s a surprisingly introspective note in a series known for running full tilt.

The Final Reckoning is built around Ethan Hunt like a perfectly tailored suit. The narrative orbits him, past allies reappear to underline his importance, and flashbacks nod to his long list of impossible feats. But rather than feeling indulgent, it plays more like a celebration, a well-earned salute to a character, and a star, who has given everything to keep audiences riveted for nearly three decades.

Whether this really is the end remains unclear. The final shot leaves the door slightly ajar, just enough for one more impossible mission. If it is the last, though, it’s a fitting send-off, Tom Cruise has cemented his legacy, built one death-defying leap at a time.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hits UK cinemas on May 21, and lands in the US on May 23.

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