If generative artificial intelligence was all the rage back in 2023, when Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One premiered, it’s now practically inescapable — embedded in every app, startup, and subscription service with a login screen. Naturally, this futuristic, energy-hungry, and vaguely apocalyptic technology has wormed its way into the plot of Tom Cruise’s final outing as Impossible Mission Force agent Ethan Hunt in Final Reckoning.
Picking up where Dead Reckoning Part One left off, Hunt resumes his pursuit of “The Entity,” an all-powerful rogue AI poised to trigger global annihilation. Arguably the film’s most vexing aspect is this fixation on artificial intelligence, a subject director Christopher McQuarrie grasps only tenuously, resulting in mind-numbingly clumsy dialogue, especially painful for viewers burdened by tech backgrounds. Lines such as “That’s what The Entity wants!” or “Nobody can control it, it must be destroyed!” land more like cheesy riffs on The Lord of the Rings than ominous warnings.
The convoluted plot revolves around Ethan retrieving the AI’s source code from a sunken Russian submarine, working alongside trusted tech guru Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) to infect it with malware and trap it in a five-dimensional flash drive. Does any of this remotely make sense? No. Malware has nothing to do with “access to source code.” Yet McQuarrie and Cruise appear convinced that piling on progressively absurd techno-jargon will sufficiently confuse audiences into submission, redirecting their attention entirely toward Cruise’s trademark death-defying stunts.
While I can appreciate the metaphorical appeal of AI as Hollywood’s ultimate villain, the film’s narrative quickly devolves into gibberish so contrived it’s impossible to take seriously. Characters earnestly spout nonsense such as “there are three redundant ground wires” and “destroying The Entity would destroy all of cyberspace,” while their co-stars dutifully feign grave concern. None of this feels remotely believable, and such contrivances steadily chip away at any credible sense of tension.
Among the film’s ample flaws is its frantic attempt to juggle far too many characters and interconnected plot devices: The Entity, the source code on the Russian submarine, the poison pill, an isolated data warehouse, the 5-D flash drive, and the broader specter of global nuclear war.
It was either by intent or effect that the villain Gabriel emerges as precisely the sort of vacuous and vacant spy-movie antagonist that AI might churn out, much to the film’s detriment. He lacks motivation or purpose but possesses so many 30-megaton nuclear weapons you’d think he’s buying them in bulk at Supervillain Costco.
Gabriel’s Francophone muse, Paris (Pom Klementieff), also returns from Dead Reckoning Part One, now bent on vengeance against her former employer. One particularly awkward exchange has Paris furiously lunging at Gabriel, only to be halted dramatically by Hunt: “Not yet, you’ll get your chance.” Her immediate, calm compliance borders on parody. We should really expect better from a Tom Cruise production.
Much of Final Reckoning feels pieced together from discarded scenes left over from previous installments, held loosely together by nostalgia and Cruise’s manic energy. Making matters worse is the unjustifiable three-hour runtime, especially when audiences are subject to such scenes as a long sequence of Cruise sprinting on a treadmill in his underwear, followed by an equally inexplicable underwear-clad fight scene that adds nothing to the narrative.
From its onset, the Mission: Impossible formula has worked best when Ethan’s team splits off to accomplish intricate side missions, leaving Cruise’s character free to execute his obligatory series of increasingly ludicrous, death-defying stunts before a synchronized payoff. And yes, Final Reckoning dutifully checks these boxes — Cruise, 62, dangles upside down from a speeding biplane and navigates a sinking nuclear submarine. That these scenes still generate genuine tension, despite the comforting knowledge that Cruise may well be immortal, is a testament to his relentless pursuit of authentic stunts over CGI’s soulless imitations.
Historically, Mission: Impossible felt like America’s answer to Britain’s James Bond. Ethan Hunt shared Bond’s charisma and physique, trading British sophistication for louder explosions, bigger bullets, and flashier cars — 007 dialed up to 11. Unfortunately, Final Reckoning strays dangerously close to Fast & Furious territory, prioritizing spectacle and stakes over substance and drifting from its espionage roots.
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The film does manage a nostalgic nod back to its 1996 origins, affectionately referencing the franchise’s beginnings — one of the few genuinely charming touches in an otherwise indulgent, unfocused coda. Sure, there are thrilling moments scattered throughout, but stunts don’t make a great movie. We ought to hold our movie stars, and especially franchises of this magnitude, to higher standards, precisely because they’re capable of meeting them.
Before the film began, trailers rolled for Marvel’s upcoming Fantastic Four, DC’s rebooted Superman, a Smurfs revival, a reboot of Naked Gun, and yet another Jurassic Park. Suffice it to say: Originality in Hollywood remains elusive. If Cruise genuinely intends to spend his twilight career years carrying the torch for cinema, his next mission, one he hopefully accepts, ought to involve bringing audiences fresh, creative films. Given the current Hollywood landscape, that mission may indeed prove impossible.
Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) is a film critic for the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a software engineer, holds an MBA from the University of Toronto, and writes about wine at BetweenBottles.com.