In a rare misstep amongst the modern era of the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise, Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie seem to be a bit high on their own supply with ‘The Final Reckoning.’ It’s been marketed as the last film in this near thirty year run of close to perfect popcorn entertainment. As a result, the filmmakers have opted to ratchet up the stakes to nuclear apocalyptic levels with Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character poised as some kind of godlike savior of the human race. It’s like they have completely forgotten what made the best of this series so good and sucked the fun out of the proceedings.

It’s not like ‘The Final Reckoning’ is unwatchable. There’s plenty to enjoy in Cruise’s performance, an assortment of guest stars (Tramell Tillman of ‘Severance’ fame is a particular standout), and of course some incredible stunt action set pieces, including an impossibly death-defying finale that is quite something to behold. The movie just takes itself way too seriously, showcasing Cruise’s personal anti-technology stance a bit too obviously. It also suffers from some of the most painful exposition and repetitive dialogue in the worst screenplay since M:I 2. Perhaps the strangest aspect of this is a sense that McQuarrie (and co-writer Erik Jendresen) don’t trust the audience to follow the plot. This is truly head-scratching as fans of this series keep coming back to films that have been knocked for being convoluted, and the release date between this and its predecessor is the shortest yet (two years as opposed to the average four to five).

As the title suggests, this ‘Reckoning’ is the most direct sequel yet, starting a mere months after 2023’s “Dead Reckoning” (even though the title card still bears the “Part One”, it’s been scrubbed everywhere else). Ethan had obtained both halves of the cruciform key that threatened the existence of The Entity, an all-knowing AI embedded ubiquitously. He had lost the heavy Gabriel (Esai Morales), who was the physical proxy for The Entity. This is all recapped / explained via VHS tape with voiceover from now President Sloane (Angela Bassett), in the one expository sequence that actually works. The problem is this is followed by scene after scene of explanation of not only the plot, but the themes and the emotional throughput that is intended to be injected. These conversations unfold over a blaring, dramatic score and flashback after lazy flashback of events from previous films.

It’s interesting that ‘The Final Reckoning’ relies so heavily on “legacy” without fully understanding what the legacy of this franchise truly is. Cruise’s ‘M:I’ made its bones on constant reinvention followed by remixing. The first four films all vary in style, as Cruise tapped different directors with different approaches, from De Palma’s Hitchcock inflected voyeurism conspiracy to Brad Bird’s precisely clockwork actioner. McQuarrie has helmed the latter four films, which all featured similar plot points yet mixed up the expertly framed action set pieces and chases. If they really wanted to honor the “legacy” of M:I, they could’ve honored not just its pulse-pounding nature, but the sense of playful ratcheting up of the stakes. Instead they opt for famous talking heads – look there’s Nick Offerman without much to do, oh here’s the great Shea Whigham inexplicably tied to Jon Voight’s Jim Phelps.

Once the action is set up however, the movie really takes off. There’s a tense, wordless underwater sequence involving the downed submarine that opened “Dead Reckoning”, some brutal fistfights and shootouts, and quite simply the most jaw-dropping in-air bi-plane dogfight imaginable. It’s so good that it elevates this film so far above its clunky dialogue and silly proclamations, thus justifying the movie’s existence as a possible send-off for this franchise. If this truly is it, based on the final product, perhaps it really does make sense to end it . . .

Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie

Written By: Christopher McQuarrie & Erik Jendresen

Rated: PG-13

Running Time: 169 min.

* * 1/2 (out of 4 stars) -OR- C+