If you thought Ethan Hunt had nothing left to prove, think again. In Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Tom Cruise barrels full throttle into a high-stakes showdown with an invisible enemy — not a face, not a nation, but an algorithm. Yep, we’ve hit peak 2025 cinema, folks.

This maybe-final-but-probably-not-final chapter in the long-running spy franchise drops you straight into a hurricane of stunts, global chases, and moral mayhem. Cruise is back doing what he does best — sprinting, skydiving, and generally disrespecting the laws of physics. The man’s still got it.

If there’s one thing you don’t question in a Mission: Impossible film, it’s the stunt game. From cliff dives on motorbikes to brutal brawls on moving trains, the action sequences are visually bonkers — in the best way. Cinematographer Fraser Taggart frames every set piece like a symphony of chaos, and you’ll find yourself holding your breath more times than you can count.

Enter Hayley Atwell as Grace — a thief with a heart, sass, and serious chemistry with Cruise. She’s not just a sidekick, she’s a scene-stealer. Pom Klementieff goes full menace as Paris, a mostly-silent assassin with wild eyes and wild moves, adding spice to the otherwise tech-heavy tension.

Here’s where things get dicey: the film’s Big Bad is an AI called The Entity. And while that sounds timely (hello ChatGPT), it’s executed with all the clarity of a CAPTCHA test at 2AM. We get the idea — information warfare, digital ghosts, the death of privacy — but the exposition is so dense it occasionally feels like a TED Talk in the middle of a chase scene. Esai Morales, as the human villain Gabriel, tries to add menace, but lacks the bite of a proper MI antagonist.

Surprisingly, Lorne Balfe steps aside and lets new composers Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey take the wheel. While the score hits the necessary beats during action moments, it doesn’t quite stick in your head the way iconic MI themes usually do. It’s serviceable, not spectacular.

At nearly three hours, the movie feels bloated. The middle act, especially, gets bogged down with AI jargon and side quests that don’t always pay off. For a series known for tight storytelling and explosive pacing, this entry leans more thinkpiece than thrill ride in some stretches.

The Final Reckoning brings the heat where it counts — Cruise’s daredevil energy, jaw-dropping stunts, and spy-genre spectacle. But the villain’s weak sauce and a plot that’s trying to be smarter than it is prevent this from being a perfect sendoff.

Final Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Not the best in the series — that crown still belongs to Fallout — but it’s a worthy ride if you’re in it for the adrenaline and nostalgia. Plus, if this really is the end (lol it won’t be), it’s a bold, if uneven, curtain call!