MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING (2025)

Is it just me, or does anyone else find the liking and appreciating of actor/producer Tom Cruise to be a divisive topic? I mean, it’s not like he comes up all the time or anything, but when he does, on occasion, arise in conversation, the reaction is almost always either a sheepish “I like him” or indifferent “not for me”. Cruise has been a mainstay in popular culture for over four decades, meaning wherever you land on the fondness level for him, you’ve very likely seen or heard of the films that legitimize his constancy. To name a few, in my personal and particular order: Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Tropic Thunder (2008), Edge of Tomorrow (2024), Mission: Impossible III (2006) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). As well, you’ve likely endured or avoided all of the the following: Mission: Impossible II (2000), Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016), The Mummy (2017) and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025). Some might argue Cocktail (1988) should be on this list, but I only listed what I feel are the thoroughly unenjoyable and Cocktail is hilarious. The cinematic highs and lows are understandable. Cruise takes big kicks at the can and I’m happy he did and does, but unfortunately this summer’s offering and final film in his 30-year spanning franchise is not for me. And there are so many reasons. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) was too long and not nearly as fun as its predecessors (Mission: Impossible II excluded), making for a lukewarm lead-up to the final and acceptable establishment of a forgettable villain (Esai Morales). But instead of hitting the ground running and amping up the energy, viewers are subjected to a gluttony of flashbacks and meetings with a pretegious and overstuffed cast, all of whom wait patiently for their perfectly timed chime in of exposition or aghast reaction to the mission to end all missions before them. I can feel everyone urging me to be excited and to feel the gravitas of the final film, though, even Cruise appears to be in a hurry to get on with it, most obviously as he exchanges last words with a long-standing character as he nobly sacrifices himself for the sake of thousands of innocent lives, including the franchise’s latest and lamest get-along gang. All I saw was Cruise looking distracted, as if he was trying not to give away that he’s in a continual state of scanning for small planes in the midst of take off so that he might go and try and hang off of one. Mind you, the midway stunt (the showcase for each of these films) involving a sunken submarine is good, even if it takes a parade of actors to explain it, while looking astounded and amazing by the risks and the man about to attempt it. I started to suspect that this whole film was an exercise in coaxing me into mirroring these sentiments. Let’s be real, there’s no Ethan Hunt, it’s only Tom Cruise and he’s hammering himself for our entertainment. Cruise wants us to enjoy ourselves. And I like him for that, always have, but he tired me out this time with nearly three hours of him displaying his vigour. I applaud it, but it’s impossible to ignore the overtones, no matter how innocently he appeared to have found himself in a knife fight wearing nothing but his underpants.

WATCH OR NOT: NOT

Additional musings: Why were all of the other men in and around Cruise’s age rocking natural greys, yet Cruise looks like he’s sponsored by Just For Men?