“Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning” - All about Tom.

Every now and then, I’ll watch a movie where my immediate reaction is “I thought it was pretty good,” then my wife will explain why I’m wrong. This happened with The Dark Knight Rises and, more recently, with Thor: Love and Thunder. And, I’m not just saying this for the sake of marriage - she was right. While she did not accompany me to Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, I could hear her voice in my head as I was relaying my immediate reaction that I thought it was pretty good.

The good news is The Final Reckoning is much closer in quality to the mildly disappointing The Dark Knight Rises than the comical and stupid Love and Thunder. Like The Dark Knight Rises, The Final Reckoning has a messy plot, too many characters given little to do, but features solid acting and really good action scenes. Unlike Love and Thunder, it doesn’t bare its ass to the audience, both figuratively and literally.

To be completely honest, I kind of forgot a lot of what happened in the previous M:I film, Dead Reckoning Part One. I even forgot that it had Part One in the title. I needn’t have worried though. Final Reckoning begins by blasting the audience with a seizure inducing collage of split-second flashbacks from the previous movie. And from all the other movies in the franchise. They try to disguise it as a monologue from the Entity (the evil A.I. that wants to take over the planet), but it’s really just a way to cram some nostalgia down our throats for one reason - to bask in the gift to humanity that is Tom Cruise.

I wish I was exaggerating, but the film eventually reveals that the world revolves around Ethan Hunt (Cruise). And how could it not? He’s Ethan Tom “The Clear, Maverick” Cruise Hunt. Director/writer Christopher McQuarrie’s past eight projects, and ten of his previous twelve, feature Cruise, a man whose ego is so big Cruise literally (and incorrectly) thought he could be a convincing Jack Reacher. Yes, Hunt has always been the protagonist of the M:I films, but Final Reckoning lifts him to almost deity-level status. On top of the constant flashbacks of previous M:I films throughout this film, they eventually just outright say the world is about to be destroyed in a nuclear holocaust by a rogue A.I. because Ethan Hunt plays by his own rules. And Ethan is the only person on the entire planet saintly enough to want to destroy the Entity. Can I get an amen, brothers and sisters?

This being the second half of Dead Reckoning (they changed the title away from Part 2 because reasons), the story resumes with Hunt rendezvousing with Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg) to devise a plan to destroy the Entity. Luther has invented a malicious device to interface with the Entity’s source code which is stored on a server on a sunken Russian submarine. The team must find the submarine, use the special key from the first film to unlock the server and retrieve the drive with the source code, and plug Luther’s device into it. And they must do this before the Entity, which has infiltrated all of Earth’s networks, takes control of all of Earth’s nuclear arsenals and destroys humanity - in seventy-two hours. This being an M:I film, it’s far more complicated than just that.

Oh, were you expecting me to elaborate? Even I’m not that masochistic. Just know that the plot is kind of mess, including some very unnecessary (and illogical) retconning of the Rabbit’s Foot device from Mission:Impossible III. The plot isn’t nearly as smooth and tidy as in Part One and you’ll find yourself wondering on more than one occasion if you missed something. For example, why is Luther dying all of a sudden? Or, what happened to the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) and why isn’t she in this film at all? Or even, why is Gabriel (Esai Morales) now acting like a raving lunatic instead of the cold and calculating villain from before? Lucky for you, the movie will distract you with some very good action scenes and a very, very good call back to the first film.

As with the whole franchise, the action scenes are really the main reason we’re in the theater. We’re there to see what stunts Cruise is going to attempt this time. Well, have you seen The Hunt for Red October? The Abyss? Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? Top Gun? I guarantee Cruise and McQuarrie have. And if you have too, you’ll immediately recognize the scenes inspired by those films (one scene is outright copied). And, yes, Cruise is doing as many of his own stunts as possible, including the biplane scene in the climax. And the scenes are so well-crafted that, even though I believed things would work out, I still found myself also believing that maybe they wouldn’t. If there is one complaint about any of these scenes, it’s The Abyss inspired scene that had me thinking “yeah...more like Mission:Get-the-fuck-outta-here-with-that-nonsense-even-in-this-movie.” Like I said, deity-like status.

I still enjoyed that nonsensical scene, just like I’ve enjoyed every film in the franchise except the second one. Just like I enjoyed the performances from Cruise, Pegg, and Rhames, as well as Hayley Atwell (as Grace) and Pom Klementieff (as Paris). They all seem to genuinely enjoy their characters and the franchise, even when their characters are given very little to do (Benji and Paris, most notably). I even enjoyed the scene-chewing from Angela Bassett, Nick Offerman, Holt McCallany, and Janet McTeer every time the film cut to the President (Bassett) and her advisors (the other three). The film delivered what I wanted and expected, but my wife’s voice is correct - it’s not as good as I initially thought. But don’t tell that to Ethan Tom “Show Me The Money!!” Cruise Hunt.

Rating: Ask for a dollar back for too much nostalgia.

“Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One” - Judgement Day.

For more than seventy years, Hollywood has been fascinating and frightening people with various representations of artificial intelligence (AI). Sometimes the AI is good or well-intentioned, but more often the AI is sinister and trying to eradicate a few humans, if not all of humanity. And it’s hard to blame the AI - I’ve seen us. If ChatGPT becomes sentient, how could it not become genocidal after reading the entire Internet? Do you really think the screenwriters’ guild went on strike because they’re worried about AI taking only their jobs? Those people have written this story multiple times and they know how it ends.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One might be that story. The film begins on a Russian submarine testing the latest stealth technology, which uses AI to remain invisible. The AI itself is housed in a special room in a special box locked with a special key. After months of testing, the Russians believe they have perfected the new technology, but they have apparently never seen The Terminator. Sadly, this awesome AI doesn’t have a cool name, but it is just as homicidal as Skynet. As the scene comes to a close, we get a close-up of that key - a MacGuffin that everyone in the movie chases after until the credits roll.

When I say everyone, I mean everyone. Every major government in the world would like to get their hands on the AI, believing they can control it. Unfortunately, the AI has other plans and is infiltrating the world’s networks to take control for itself. Included in that everyone is Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), who is the only player in this game with the objective of destroying the AI. Ethan’s motivation is revealed in a fun reunion scene with former IMF director Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) and it is here that the chase really begins.

Standing in as proxies for the various parties who want the key are old faces and new faces. Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg) are back to help Ethan, as well as provide the bits of comic relief we’ve grown to enjoy since Ghost Protocol made Benji a mainstay of the team. Also returning are quasi-MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) representing the Brits, and arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby) representing a mystery buyer. As much as I like Luther and Benji, Ilsa and Alanna are the most entertaining characters of the entire franchise. Both actors clearly relish their respective roles, combining playfulness, ruthlessness, and intrigue into characters that own every scene they are in.

New to the franchise is pickpocket Grace (Hayley Atwell), also representing a mystery employer. Grace doubles as the latest female character in the franchise to be pulled into Ethan’s orbit, thus putting her in mortal danger. Like Ferguson and Kirby, Atwell is clearly enjoying her character, though Grace doesn’t have nearly as much grey area in her character as Ferguson and Kirby. If the franchise has a flaw, it’s the continued insistence on introducing strong female characters, then undermining them by Ethan taking responsibility for protecting them.

Former IMF agent Gabriel (Esai Morales) enters as the obvious villain, representing a sinister mystery employer. Gabriel also has a past connection to Ethan, snippets of which are shown in flashbacks, which lets us know that Gabriel is indeed evil. Like recent previous franchise villains, Gabriel believes that humanity does not deserve to continue on and is very matter of fact about it. Accompanying Gabriel is French assassin Paris (Pom Klementieff), who spends the entire movie sneering, snarling, and cackling (yet rarely speaking actual words) as she fights and chases Ethan and Grace. Casting Klementieff (the Guardian of the Galaxy’s Mantis) in this role is a bit of waste, bottling up an actor who clearly has more range than just lead henchman.

Like the previous three entries in the franchise, Dead Reckoning Part One is a very solid action flick. It mixes just the right amount of comedy to ease the tension. It delivers some great action sequences and plenty of them. And it sets up a mission that does indeed seem nearly impossible. As Dead Reckoning appears to be completing the Ethan Hunt story (I have no doubt the franchise will continue on after Ethan), Part One ends on a cliffhanger that is both satisfying and tantalizing for its possibilities. The only problem is waiting a year for Part Two (releases in June of 2024). Who knows what ChatGPT will be capable of by then?

Rating: Don’t ask for any money back and definitely don’t ask your preferred AI more questions.