Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

[mr_rating_result]

“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is opening for Memorial Day Weekend. It’s what studios call a tentpole movie – one that props up the finances of a major studio.

The Hollywood Reporter declares “Tom Cruise has done it again!”

Critics are describing “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” as “astonishing,” “jaw-dropping,” “insane” and the “action movie of the summer.”

This latest entry in the long-running Paramount Pictures spy action franchise has a lot riding on its success. After many production delays – partly due to the pandemic; largely due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes; and even due to a submarine malfunction – it has become one of the most expensive films ever made, the budget approaching a “hefty $400 million.”

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” officially holds the record as the most expensive film ever made, with a net budget of $593 million (adjusted for inflation).

The previous “Mission: Impossible” film – “Dead Reckoning Part One” – cost only a measly $300 million (adjusted for inflation).

Originally titled “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two,” this epic outing changed its subtitle last year. 

“Final Reckoning” picks up the action a few months after the events of “Dead Reckoning” as Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the IMF team struggle to stop the ruthless assassin Gabriel (Esai Morales) gaining control of the world-ending rogue artificial intelligence known as The Entity.

Along with Cruise and Morales, the cast includes returning “Mission: Impossible” stars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Angela Bassett, Hayley Atwell, Henry Czerny and Pom Klementieff.

Director Chris McQuarrie delivers astonishing action scenes combined with a sprawling story filmed in the UK’s Longcross Studios and the scenic Lake District, as well as Malta, South Africa, Norway, and the Apulia region in southern Italy.

Known to do many of his own stunts, and lots of running, in his movies, Tom Cruise may have set a new record – “the most running in an M:I movie to date,” says one viewer.

The stunts range from skydiving without a parachute to walking on the wing of a biplane, to a dangerous helicopter jump, to diving off an aircraft carrier into icy water. 

Cruise believes that performing his own stunts “enhances the realism and believability of his performances, allowing audiences to feel more immersed in the danger and excitement of the scenes.” He has a reputation for constantly pushing the boundaries.

As PopViewers sums it up: “His stunts are not only a marketing highlight – they’ve helped redefine what audiences expect from blockbuster filmmaking.”

“It’s the biggest, wildest and most consequential Mission movie yet,” says a long-time fan. “It really does go all in and it’s a good time, for sure. When I was a kid, my dad would tell me Tom Cruise is a guy who gives you your money’s worth at the movies. I’ve always agreed with that sentiment, and I definitely still do ….”

Me too!

I’ve been a “Mission: Impossible” fan since its debut as a 1966 TV series that ran for seven seasons and was revived in 1988 for two more seasons. But the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) came into its glory in 1996, when Tom Cruise launched the film franchise. 

Now with eight films (grossing over $4 billion), Cruise and McQuarrie are reportedly working on the next installment of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, widely speculated to be the final one for Tom Cruise. Rumor has it he’s tapped his “Top Gun: Maverick” co-star Glenn Powell to take over the IMF reins. But we heard a similar rumor years ago, when Jeremy Renner appeared in the fourth and fifth “Mission: Impossible” installments. It was said Renner was being groomed to “take the whole series over from Tom Cruise if he ever got tired of jumping out of planes or climbing up the sides of buildings.”

But at 62, Tom Cruise shows no sign of letting up. He’s Hollywood’s Energizer Bunny.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com