Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (Movie Review)

It's been nearly three decades since Tom Cruise first donned the mask of IMF agent, Ethan Hunt. And if, for some reason, you'd forgotten about most of his past exploits, you can rest assured that Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning would remind you of them at every given opportunity. It is not only the eighth entry in the long-running series, but the conclusion to the two-part story arc introduced in Dead Reckoning - Part One. But is the film the culmination of the entire franchise as it was marketed, or is it merely leaning on nostalgia to help sell some tickets? 

Set after the events of Dead Reckoning, the movie has Ethan (Tom Cruise) and the rest of his band of IMF agents once again on the trail of the rogue AI known as the Entity. Ever since their failure to contain it in the last film, the world has fallen into chaos and is on the verge of full-scale nuclear war. In order to stop this, they must seek the help of friend and foe alike. But with the odds stacked against them like never before, they will have to live up to the name of their unit as they struggle to complete their most impossible mission yet.

When it was first revealed that the seventh Mission: Impossible movie was the first of two parts, many were undoubtedly skeptical about having to wait an additional year or two before they would get the complete story. And following the muted box office reception of the first of those two parts, the fate of that second one seemed all but sealed. But if there's any actor who has earned enough goodwill to forgive an occasional underperformer, then it is certainly Tom Cruise.

And so the second part had gone ahead as planned, with only a minor changing of its title to The Final Reckoning being the clear concession to that original vision. This was no doubt done to make the movie pass itself off as a standalone feature. But don't be fooled into thinking that knowledge of the previous film isn't required to make sense of this one. I'd even go a step further and say that basic knowledge of all the movies in the franchise is a requirement. 

Thankfully, the filmmakers themselves seemed to know this, which is why they'd included numerous flashbacks to help give context to what was happening and how it related to what came before. This was particularly necessary because of how intricately connected the various plot threads and characters were, weaving a complex web of a story that stretched all the way back to the 1996 original. But for all of its complexities and various twists and turns, I was still able to follow along without too much hassle, and I imagine most others would as well.

One downside of that complex plot is how exposition-heavy it made the dialogue. So expect to hear more than a few characters launch into paragraphs worth of background information. The story itself is also what I would consider far-fetched and over-the-top, especially how we are meant to believe that entire nations could be so easily played like pawns by AI. Yes, I realize the irony of that statement considering how social media algorithms currently shape the beliefs and values of people in societies today, but seeing it on this scale, as depicted in this movie, just felt too far from reality in my opinion.

But aside from a story filled with twists and turns, the things these Mission: Impossible movies are perhaps best known for are the various action setpieces. And I think that The Final Reckoning delivers some of the more creative ones seen in the franchise thus far. The knowledge that Tom Cruise usually performs as much of these stunt sequences as is physically possible only adds to the thrill. So I found myself holding my breath while watching him dangling precariously from the flimsy frame of a biplane.

The one stunt that held me on the edge of my seat the longest, though, was a prolonged setpiece set in the bowels of a sunken submarine. Everything from the way the scene was lit, to the shifting orientations, to the ratcheting stakes as everything that could go wrong did, just had me in awe, as I wondered what was accomplished practically and what was done using CG. The sequence is certainly up there with the HALO jump from Fallout as one of the most awe-inspiring scenes in the franchise, and is another benchmark for action setpieces in general.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is a thrilling conclusion to Dead Reckoning - Part One that also works as a potential coda to the Tom Cruise era of the franchise. It is hard to say what the future holds for the IP but I imagine a lot of that hinges on how well this current movie does at the box office. And while there is no denying that the movie lays it thick with the member berries, with frequent flashbacks and callbacks to previous movies, it at least does so with the requisite amount of care and respect for those older films. 

Thunderbolts* (Movie Review)

The MCU is back, baby! Or at least that's what you'd be led to believe, going off of the buzz from those early Thunderbolts screenings. But being the skeptic that I am, I still had doubts the film could possibly right the ship for a franchise that seems to keep careening off course with every other entry. And it was with that same skepticism that I ultimately went into Thunderbolts, cautiously optimistic and hoping to be won over. So, is the MCU truly back on track, or is this merely another sign of greater things to come?

The film features a ragtag team of antiheroes, some of whom might be recognizable if you've been keeping up with the MCU over the years. But in the quite likely scenario that you haven't, the team is comprised of Bucky (Sebastian Stan), Yelena (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). Each one is a secret operative working for the director of the CIA, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). But when her shady operations give rise to a new threat, the eponymous Thunderbolts are forced to work together for a shot at redemption.

As Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe winds to a close, concerns for what is to come next are understandably high. After all, we've been promised two new Avengers movies in the form of Doomsday and Secret Wars, and we've gotten very little indication of what those films could be about within the MCU itself. So it is indeed high time we start to see the results of all those behind-the-scenes shakeups following the pivot away from Kang's Dynasty and the announced return of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.

This is why I felt that Thunderbolts had its work cut out for it. But coming out of the movie, my initial reaction was perhaps more muted than I would have anticipated. This is not to say that the movie was not entertaining in its own right, or that it didn't deliver on the promise of its trailers. Far from it. In fact, it is easy to see why those early reactions were as gassed up as they were and how many would consider this a return to the glory days of the MCU. So while I did come out of it pleased overall, I still felt like it didn't hit as hard as I wanted. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In terms of the things that I liked, I really appreciated the fact that the film does what those early MCU films managed to do so well, namely, building off of what came before while also building towards what's to come next. Gone are the frustrations from disconnected events like the ones that made up a large part of Phase 4. This film, by contrast, feels like a logical follow-up to the events of Captain America: Brave New World, with more than a few references to that other movie, while also laying the groundwork for what we can expect in Phase 6.

I also like that the stupid asterisk at the end of the film's name is finally explained, although you'll have to wait till the very end of the movie for that explanation. But how you feel about that revelation probably hinges on how much faith you have in Marvel Studios and their ability to honor any drastic changes to the direction of the franchise beyond the confines of this particular movie. The skeptic in me suspects they wouldn't, at least not for very long, and a huge reset is probably already planned to bring things back to status quo.

I know I'm being a bit cagey with details here, but trust me, you'll know what I mean once you see the film. One thing I can reveal, though, is my thoughts on the story. The plot was fairly predictable, especially if you're the type who watches every single trailer. Some of it was also a bit too heavy-handed for my tastes, especially when characters act in contrived and uncharacteristic ways. It did offer a good blend between the usual MCU humor and some deeper adult themes, exploring mental health and how to overcome past traumas in ways you typically don't see in a superhero movie.

The problem is, I was quickly turned off by how overly sentimental and on-the-nose the handling of those themes got. It felt like something out of a Pixar animated movie, and I don't mean that in a good way. But your mileage may very well vary, and I still have to give the writers kudos for eschewing the typical third-act superhero slugfest for something more emotionally resonant, although how much of that was purely out of necessity, given the power discrepancies between our heroes and the threat at hand, is anyone's guess.

But perhaps my biggest issue with Thunderbolts was just how safe the whole thing felt. A part of me can't help but wonder what a movie like this would've looked like in the hands of a writer or director like James Gunn, with his knack for fleshing out and elevating B and C-tier characters, as seen in Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad. But in the absence of a James Gunn, it falls to reason that this is perhaps the next best thing, given the dire state of the overall MCU in recent years. And when I view things through that particular lens, the more I grow to appreciate the movie we got for the things it got right.

Thunderbolts is the soft reboot that the MCU desperately needs. The movie doesn't so much act as a course correction as it does a full-on retooling, and for the first time in a long time, it actually looks like the franchise is building up to something worthwhile. It remains to be seen how great that destination will turn out to be, but in the here and now, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little more excited for what the future holds than I was before seeing the movie. So even though I still feel we are far away from Avengers: Endgame levels of hype, this is certainly another pivotal step in the right direction.