In the nearly 20 years of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, Tom Cruise, as special agent Ethan Hunt, has shown a derring-do and physical endurance that would exhaust Superman. He has defied torture, gravity, electrocution, drowning and hypothermia. And at least once in every film, we glory to see him sprinting across the screen, like a furious little piston, to avert some crisis.
Cruise, and director and co-writer Christopher McQuarrie, bring all of that to “Final Reckoning.” But the results are somewhat mixed, to the extent that the film resembles a Marvel blockbuster.
The film concludes a two-part story that began last year, under the title “Dead Reckoning”, about an evil A. I. program called The Entity, which is taking over cyberspace, inspiring a cult of doomsday followers, and is, one by one, absorbing the weapon systems of countries around the globe. There’s also a human bad guy, played by Esai Morales, hoping to co-opt the power of The Entity.
Beyond the digital jargon, though, the phantom menace might as well be an evil genie, or a dark lord.
Also in the vein of Marvel, the film is asking audiences to check their notes and look back over the franchise’s history, including the first “Mission” film in 1996.
“Final Reckoning” runs over two and a half hours, and it feels like it takes nearly a third of that time for the story to crank into gear, after the plot is explained, characters are introduced, and Ethan assembles his new team.
The squad includes Ethan’s faithful sidekicks from previous films — Luther, played by Ving Rhames, and Benjy, played by Simon Pegg. Hayley Atwell portrays a skilled thief named Grace. Two characters who were adversaries last year — a French assassin named Paris and a government agent named Theo Degas — come over to Ethan’s side.
Perhaps the most fun twist is that a minor character from the 1996 film — a sad-sack analyst who was outwitted by Ethan — resurfaces, joins the team, and certifies his hero credentials.
The IMF team hatches a cunning plan to corral The Entity, but don’t worry if the details make any sense. Just enjoy the spectacle of Tom Cruise dangling from a biplane, plunging into Arctic waters and facing the stout-hearted U.S. President, played by Angela Bassett, and asking her to trust him just one more time, to save the world.
“Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning” rates three and a half stars on a scale of five — although one major plot element isn’t resolved, so I don’t believe this is the final reckoning.
By the way, Tom Cruise again introduces his film with a brief curtain speech. He clearly wants audiences to, again, be thrilled to sit in a movie theater. That may truly be the Impossible Mission.
