Noah Robinson

Mission: Impossible, originally based on the classic TV series of the same name, has remained one of the most consistently entertaining action/spy sagas out there thanks to its compelling characters, its thrilling storylines with nail-biting stakes that live up to the franchise’s namesake, and of course the depth-defying stunts done by Tom Cruise himself. This eighth installment in the series, The Final Reckoning, thankfully had all of those elements. However, what made this particular entry in the series different was the fact that, as the name implies, this is essentially the final installment. Because of this, all of the elements mentioned earlier were cranked up to eleven. (That biplane stunt was insane!) This includes a three-hour runtime and plenty of callbacks to previous films. In terms of pros, the extended runtime gives the audience a lot more time with the characters and the story, ultimately raising the already high stakes and making for a much more emotional sendoff when the credits start rolling. In terms of cons, however, the callbacks and references to previous Mission: Impossible films, while welcomed by fans of the franchise such as myself, weren’t always done in the most cohesive way and gave portions of the film a needlessly faster pace. Overall though, I still think this was a very satisfying conclusion to the Mission: Impossible saga, and I’m very interested in seeing where this franchise goes from here. Score: 8/10