Is the Final 'Mission: Impossible' Really Worth Your Time and Money?

You may have heard that Tom Cruise is retiring from impossible missions. After the release of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, the movie series that began in 1996 has come to an end. But, with a massive runtime of almost three hours, is this epic Mission: Impossible worth your hard-earned time and money? The short answer is yes and no. Yes, because it's incredible to look at, and unlike any action movie you'll see this year. And no, because the story requires you to reinvest in some random plot point from two decades ago, most of which hardly make sense, and all add to a climax that ironically feels like the middle, rather than the end.

Here's the good, the bad, and the impossible for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and why fans of big, popcorn movies should see it on the biggest IMAX screen possible, while those who love subtle spy thrillers can probably wait for streaming. No major spoilers ahead.

The first thing to know about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is that the movie expects you to sort of nod knowingly every time a random detail is mentioned from previous Mission: Impossible movies. Do you remember what Ethan Hunt (Cruise) had to steal in the 2006 movie Mission: Impossible 3? If not, just pretend that you do. Ditto with the entire plot of the previous film, 2023's Dead Reckoning: Part 1, which, although absolutely crucial for the set-up of this movie, doesn't require a rewatch ahead of time. The paradox of The Final Reckoning is that it's a movie about information, with a lot of information stuffed into it, and ultimately, a movie in which most people will almost certainly not retain any of this information. 

The best way to enjoy The Final Reckoning is to accept that it's almost a spoof of itself, that the over-the-top action sequences of the movie justify themselves. Because if you think too hard about why any of this is happening, you'll have less fun. This trick is hard, to be clear, because much of the first hour of the movie is spent on a ton of technobabble and exposition that would make even hardcore sci-fi fans blush. Many moviegoers won't have a hard time buying the AI villain known as "the Entity," though the menace of this antagonist was somewhat more interesting in the previous film, in which its powers were more theoretical and ethereal. 

In Dead Reckoning, Part 1, you got the sense that the whole thing that made the Entity scary was that it could manipulate information, and basically erase truth. But in The Final Reckoning, it's just a mad computer program with the keys to all the nukes on planet Earth. 

Basically, The Final Reckoning pits Ethan Hunt and the gang against a cyber version of a Bond villain, and tries to convince us this is the engame to the entire film series, because of retroactive revelations that tie back to the first movie, and oddly, very prominently to the third movie, the aforementioned 2006 J.J. Abrams-directed Mission: Impossible 3. Again, you don't need to rewatch this movie to more deeply understand The Final Reckoning. And that's because the galaxy brain take on this movie is that it's beyond deep understanding. The deeper and more profound The Final Reckoning tries to get with its commentary on technology, the more dated and kinda of old-fashioned it becomes.

Related: Hannah Waddingham Just Turned the 'Mission: Impossible' Spotlight Away From Tom Cruise

But about the stunts? What about Cruise hanging off that prop plane? Well, it all looks appropriately incredible. But, be warned, you have to wade through quite a bit to get to those very cool points. There's nothing wrong per se with the movie, and criticizing its absurdity almost seems mean. 

And yet, at the end of the day, The Final Reckoning wants us to care deeply about these characters, and specifically about Ethan Hunt. But the reason to watch the movie has almost nothing to do with him. With this last Mission: Impossible, the spectacle is turned up to eleven. You'll be amazed and impressed, but rarely surprised. 

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is in theaters everywhere on May 23, 2025.

Related: 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' Turns Heads With Rotten Tomatoes Score