Without making this a cop out of a review, I can honestly say that this finale film of the Mission: Impossible franchise will be one of two possible things.

Depending on your readiness to suspend disbelief and your devoted commitment to the previous installments of the franchise, this Final Reckoning is either ludicrous, self-indulgent, and the gloomiest of action films, or it’s a resounding victory lap, the best MI Greatest Hits collection, and an apocalyptic joyride.

That’s two very contrasting reactions to the film, but it’s partially explained by just how schizophrenic this film is, narrative-wise.

For the first half of the film, you could be excused for nodding off and wondering if there was even a kernel of a new plot to this conclusion to the Entity concept introduced in Dead Reckoning (the previous MI film, released in 2023).

Most of the main characters from Dead Reckoning are back, with just a handful of new characters. This first half is even filled with dialogue that harks back to the previous adventures, and we get montage after montage of the prize ‘moments’ from all of the Mission: Impossible adventures. 

The storyline, if there is one, revolves around the Entity AI taking over the missile and defense systems of countries with nuclear capabilities. At the start of the film, only the UK, China, the USA, and Russia still have independent control of their warheads. The Entity has taken over all other countries.

So of course it’s Ethan Hunt’s mission to get his MI team together and find a way to thwart The Entity. The first half is taken up by successive attempts to explain this all to us, with cutaways, lookbacks, and even ‘what if’ sequences that drill into us precisely what is going on in this film.

And I think this is a stretching of a magnitude normally unseen in action films, as we know why people came to part with their hard-earned pesos, for the action, and not for all this chatter that we get.

Fortunately for us, the second half of the film acknowledges that they may have spent too much time on exposition and setting the stage.

This second half, with set pieces staged in an abandoned sunken submarine, or with two biplanes, or through excellent film editing that puts us in two separate fight sequences - they all work very well in giving us the action, tongue in cheek banter, and MI gang camaraderie, that we came for, expect, and demand. On this count, you can’t fault the film for how it’s making up for the dismal first half of the film. I’m not going to provide details or attempt an excruciating analysis of why these MI films click and have done so well.

You have requisite shots of Cruise running, as it’s been said, he runs pretty well. There is also an anti-AI, anti-tech slant to the storyline. That’s probably Cruise giving Director McQuarrie tips on what moves him, and has motivated him to do his stunts, and eschew CGI. Hayley Atwell (Grace), Simon Pegg (Benji), Ving Rhames (Luther), and Pom Klementieff (Paris) are all back, and given scenes where they can shine and leave a lasting impression.

Esai Morales returns as the main human villain, but honestly, with The Entity around, the promise of Gabriel is never truly realized, and you’ll wish more was done with this character. If this truly will be the last film in the franchise, then it’s been a glorious 29 years - the first film was released in 1996.

Despite the gloom and apocalypse overtones, there’s still much to like about this Final Reckoning, buoyed by the brisk second half of the film.