Film Influencer 2025 - Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

I love a two movie film week. Following Thunderbolts* earlier in the week, next up (still in LUX at Hoyts) Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Getting a weekend release in place of a usual Thursday release, the action/spy film directed by Christopher McQuarrie, which is the direct sequel to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One from 2023.

This is the eighth instalment in the Mission: Impossible film series.

Starring Mr Mission Impossible, Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, and 9-1-1's Angela Bassett.

Back in 2019, Cruise announced that the seventh and eighth Mission: Impossible films would be shot back-to-back with McQuarrie writing and directing both films. 

Plans for the eighth film later changed in February 2021. Returning and new cast members were announced soon after, including Lorne Balfe, who composed the score for two other films in the franchise, returning to score Final Reckoning, although Balfe later left the production and was replaced by his longtime collaborators Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey. 

Filming began in March 2022 in the United Kingdom, with other filming locations including Malta, South Africa and Norway. 

Production was halted in July 2023 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, resumed in March 2024, and concluded in November 2024. 

The film, originally titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, dropped its subtitle in October 2023, and the new subtitle was announced in November 2024. With an estimated budget of $300–400 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made. And it looks it. The stunts, the stakes are SUPER high, the entire film!

The Final Reckoning had its world premiere in Tokyo at the start of the month. It was also screened out of competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival on May 14, and is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on May 23, by Paramount Pictures. 

The latest Mission Impossible film, has received positive reviews from critics, particularly Cruise's performance.

Last June, McQuarrie told Fandango that Dead Reckoning and The Final Reckoning would not necessarily end the series, and they were developing ideas for future instalments.

However it does very much feel like a final film in the series. Particularly that last scene.

Clocking in at almost three hours, this will also be one of the longest films of 2025! So with all that, what's my view?

Dead Reckoning, is a Cruise in full flight (literally).

This film was high energy, will be box office gold and will see the cinemas full again this weekend. Another large amount of rain will also help that along.

I don't love a long film, however this film does move at a fairly rapid pace.

Angela Bassett really would make a fab US president too. Her TV roles are great, but hot damn, she belongs on the big screen. Without even saying a word, y'all know what she is thinking.

Doctor Odyssey may not have been her finest guest star, however this film was a fun ride with her finger hovering over the nuclear button.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is popcorn cinema at its best. 3.5 Stars.