170 min | PG-13 | May 23, 2025 | Paramount Pictures
Tom Cruise says goodbye to Ethan Hunt in the longest Mission: Impossible film. Christopher McQuarrie directs the final mission with scope and sentiment in equal measure.
Franchise finales are difficult. They need to deliver spectacle for longtime fans while providing emotional closure for characters we’ve followed for decades. The Final Reckoning attempts both and mostly succeeds. Ethan Hunt faces his final mission and the film takes its time saying goodbye. The action is as spectacular as ever. The emotional beats are earned instead of obligatory.
Tom Cruise plays Ethan for the eighth and final time with the same commitment to practical stunts and physical performance that defined the franchise. He is sixty-three years old and still doing his own stunts. The film uses this reality to add weight to Hunt’s mortality. Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg return with roles that give them actual character work instead of just reaction shots. Henry Czerny and Angela Bassett provide solid support. The ensemble feels like a family saying goodbye.
Christopher McQuarrie directed the last three entries and understands what makes these films work. The action sequences are practical and clearly staged. The film shoots on location across multiple continents. The set pieces are inventive and escalate in scale. The climax delivers the kind of impossible stunt the franchise is known for. McQuarrie balances the spectacle with quieter character moments that let the actors act instead of just run.
The film runs two hours and fifty minutes. That is long. The film earns most of it. Some sequences could be tighter. The middle section drags. But the finale delivers and the emotional resolution feels appropriate for a character who has been risking his life for our entertainment since 1996. This is a fitting end.