Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning review: When even Tom Cruise can’t save the world (or the script)

Dubai: When Hollywood’s most well-preserved action star Tom Cruise looks you earnestly in the eyes and implores, “You need to trust me one last time,” there’s a good chance you’re ready to donate half a kidney to this magnificent specimen. With Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning — dubbed his glorious farewell and swan song from the iconic action franchise — we felt the onus of loving the film. I mean, where else do you find actors who take such madcap, adrenaline-fuelled risks like scaling the Burj Khalifa or swinging off zany planes, narrowly missing craggy cliffs?

But nostalgia and fan-service can’t keep a franchise afloat forever. And with great trepidation, I must admit: there were moments when Ethan Hunt — the world’s ultimate saviour, who single-handedly saves us from certain annihilation — felt a bit like... a snooze fest. Hear me out, don’t kill the messenger.

The plot? The world teeters on the brink of doom (again) — this time thanks to a rogue AI (because of course). Much of the action unfolds underwater in a sunken submarine, and for practical survival reasons, Hunt is in a full-body suit and helmet. While technically justified, it creates a frustrating disconnect — we don’t see or feel Cruise. There are layers, literally and figuratively, between him and us. And that’s a problem when your biggest asset is his star power.

There were a few moments I shamefully glanced at my phone — and that’s cinematic sacrilege. To have a megastar like Tom Cruise hidden under an unrecognisable suit and helmet for long stretches was a bold creative gamble… one that didn’t quite pay off. The film lacked the visceral punch of its predecessors.

But all is not lost. The camaraderie within Hunt’s team crackles with energy. Their banter and emotional beats are what keep the film — and our interest — alive. Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Simon Pegg et al — the band of brothers and sisters who are Tom’s eternal cheerleaders — are in great form.

Sure, we adore the spectacular action and still get a kick out of Cruise executing death-flirting stunts: whether it’s hanging off a moving plane or pummeling the villain while dangling from a yellow Stearman (yes, those tiny, cute planes). But there's no denying a certain fatigue has set in.

Also, they take forever to get to the point. The build-up feels bloated. For a franchise that once thrived on precision, this one meanders more than it should.

Can we also take a moment to marvel at how caricaturish Angela Bassett is as the stoic U.S. President, on call to make some very serious decisions — like nuking half the world in the name of national security. The scenes set in the Situation Room feel painfully staged — like grown-ups playing Monopoly with apocalyptic stakes. The gravitas just doesn’t land.

The actual plot? A sentient AI called The Entity has gone rogue and threatens to upend global power structures by infiltrating every system imaginable. Think digital Armageddon with a side of espionage. Ethan Hunt and his crew must retrieve two interlocking keys — the only way to access and possibly shut down the Entity’s hidden core, which, surprise surprise, is buried in a sunken Russian submarine at the bottom of the Arctic.

So yes, the fate of humanity rests on Tom Cruise scuba-diving in a high-tech suit while everyone yells “We're running out of time!” in ten different languages.

Somewhere along the way, the world has moved on from the U.S. always being the ultimate saviour and the Russians the eternal villains. But not this film. When the plot twist includes enemies zeroing in on developing countries like India — while the U.S. nobly shepherds everyone to safety — you realise the writers may have been snoozing just like the audience during certain stretches. At least pretend to be woke, guys.

But the movie is saved from being completely annihilated from my mind thanks to Tom Cruise. Even when he's writhing in pain, sprinting like a machine on a treadmill, or gunning down enemies without so much as a scratch, you buy into the madness. The fantasy. The hyper-masculine theatrics. He’s the backbone, the spine, the pulse.

But there’s only so far you can stretch a successful franchise before the cracks start showing. This one felt laboured, even exhausting. While the action was spectacular, the film lacked soul and emotional connect. And honestly, Tom Cruise — so disciplined at 61, and the man who turned Mission: Impossible into a pop culture touchstone — deserves a better farewell.

That’s not to say Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning is a total misfire. It’s just not the flawless, jaw-dropping crescendo we were promised. Plus, stringing together a series of magnificent, insanely orchestrated stunts just doesn’t cut it anymore. We’ve seen Tom Cruise cheat death so many times — on cliffs, planes, bikes, trains, and now submarines — that what we’re craving isn’t scale. It’s soul.

Where is the story? Where is the depth? Where is the emotional payoff for fans who’ve stuck by Ethan Hunt through every ticking bomb and betrayal?

Fans need closure. And Cruise — who has given this franchise his body, mind, and literal bones — deserves better. Final Reckoning should have been a love letter to the character and the legacy. Instead, it plays like a loud, chaotic footnote to what was once the gold standard of action cinema.