The One Thing That Really Sets 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' Apart

There is so much to like about 'The Final Reckoning,' but this is the one thing that truly makes the last 'Mission: Impossible' (maybe) an instant classic.

The trope of nuclear destruction is well-worn action territory - rarely do the stakes feel as dire as they’re meant to suggest. But Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning presents the scenario with appropriate scale and tension. For the last two hours of the film, you will truly believe we are on the brink of nuclear annihilation.

You’ll get plenty of drama and suspense in the awe-inspiring set pieces, as you might expect, but those are crucially buoyed further by corresponding moments of agony among the president and her advisors, as they weigh one horrifying option after another that could result in the end of the world. It’s a breather among the true “action,” but these scenes are no less suspenseful and do a lot of the grounded legwork to keep the audience feeling those apocalyptic stakes.

There is a lot to love about Final Reckoning, but that genuine sense of doom pervasive throughout is what makes it an instant classic and something distinct from the rest of the series. The other Mission: Impossible films sometimes had that sense of generic villainy to them, simply a means to Ethan Hunt’s inevitable triumphant end.

Finally, this felt like an adversary worthy of Hunt’s godlike willpower. It’ll be interesting to see if the first thirty minutes or so of the movie feels as clunky on a rewatch, but getting all the pieces in place can be as messy as it wants when the payoff is this good.

Besides, Final Reckoning is a miracle of a movie in its own right anyway - it survived various reshoots, rewrites, and COVID-related delays. The fact that this was the final product is nothing short of divine intervention. Or just Tom Cruise’s own godlike willpower to see it through to the end.

Much like Mad Max: Fury Road and Top Gun: Maverick, you’ll walk out of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning feeling like you just saw something life-altering, something that takes this art form to heights you never thought possible. From that point forward, you’ll know deep down in your core that you’re a different person for the better.

Maybe you just need a colon in your movie’s title to really conjure up the magic.