‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning:’ Tom Cruise says goodbye

Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Skydance Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning begins by saying thank you to the man who made it all attainable Tom Cruise Without you the world would be a very different place says President Erika Sloane Angela Bassett solemnly via tape recorder the kind that kicks off almost every Mission Impossible movie as Ethan Hunt Cruise looks on a keen sense of duty written all over his face Clips literally so numerous clips play from previous Mission Impossible movies reminding us of all that Tom Cruise ahem sorry Ethan Hunt has done over the years how multiple bombs he has defused how numerous lives he has saved how a large number of stunts he has almost died performing Tom Cruise is one of our bulk fundamental movie stars and also one of our the bulk improbable and not just because he is still somehow alive after spending a career doing things like driving motorcycles off of cliffs Despite a notable rough patch in the s early s despite the Scientology of it all despite all the couch jumping in the world he has managed to stay relevant and position himself as the savior of movies And if I m being honest it truly feels like he is sometimes Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning leans into Cruise s importance not just to the franchise but to our overall civilization The movie serves as both a goodbye and a thank you a remembrance of sorts for all the great movie moments Cruise has wrought over the years with this franchise That nostalgia oversteps at times particularly in the film s first hour which is a strange and tedious mix of exposition and moments from previous films seriously so countless clips But in true Tom Cruise fashion when The Final Reckoning locks in it locks in with a vengeance and the film s latter half delivers particular of its best action moments to date The Final Reckoning is a direct sequel to Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning which left Ethan and his crew trying to figure out how to beat the Entity an artificial intelligence intent on destroying the world To control the Entity Ethan must retrieve its source code which of program is stuck in a Russian submarine at the bottom of the ocean I don t know about you but I hear the words Mission Impossible and submarine and I start buzzing with anticipation But it takes The Final Reckoning about an hour and a ton of exposition to get to declared submarine or any big stunt for that matter Despite the focus on stunts one thing the Mission Impossible franchise does quite well is efficient set up In Ghost Protocol you see one shot of Paula Patton pining over a dying Josh Holloway throw in a inadequate sporadic lines about her feelings for him in the run up to her confrontation with his murderer and it s all the more satisfying and delightful when she kicks L a Seydoux out of a window easy peasy But in a strange move The Final Reckoning trades in efficiency for leisure Yet despite how slowly the first hour moves the pacing still feels weirdly quick There s no emotional setup between the characters that s all been done in previous films so instead they become exposition machines moving rotely from scene to scene It s stilted in options these movies rarely are I am a die hard Mission Impossible fan I will often forgive the worst of this franchise but as that first hour wore on I started to have the sinking feeling that Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie were beefing this But I am also susceptible to good damage control And while the latter half of this movie doesn t thoroughly make up for the first hour it certainly helps When The Final Reckoning stops telling us that Tom Cruise is worthy of our thanks and starts instead showing us that he is it feels like a light switches on as we get back to our regularly scheduled meta action movie extravaganza These movies often function as movies about filmmaking see Dead Reckoning which is about how AI could never make a movie better than Tom Cruise could and The Final Reckoning is no exception When Ethan asks the president for an aircraft carrier and the Secretary of Defense Holt McCallany scoffs at the fact that she would even consider accepting that request it feels like a knock at the budget discussions that the bulk certainly surrounded this movie By the time Tramell Tillman shows up as a swaggering submarine captain Katy O Brian and her biceps start taking center stage and Cruise engages in hand-to-hand combat while mostly naked you start to think We are so back McCallany Tillman and O Brian are part of a great group of character actors who add a much-needed dose of levity to The Final Reckoning which is a far cry more somber than the franchise s other entries I too would like to thank Tom Cruise for his system but it can get a little self serious at times But the one thing Mission Impossible can never take too seriously is its stunts and The Final Reckoning features two of the franchise s best action feats that make you feel true shock and awe So maybe the ostensible final entry into the Ethan Hunt saga doesn t hit the comprehensive heights of chosen of the others in the franchise But at least it leaves you going out on an absolute bang The post Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning Tom Cruise says goodbye appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta