There’s no denying that the two big set pieces of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning are incredible. Each is one of the most impossible missions star Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie have ever conceived or shot, and each is probably worth the price of admission alone.
Unfortunately, though, there are two other hours of the movie surrounding them.
As we watched The Final Reckoning, and the film continues to hammer you over the head with extraneous narrative and repetitive exposition, our minds began to wander. We had questions about specific scenes, lines of dialogue, decisions made within the plot, etc. And so we thought we’d bring those up to see if you had the same questions—or maybe even some answers.
Fair warning: we are going to be doing some major, major nitpicking, so if you don’t like that, we want to be forthcoming, this article is not for you. Full spoilers follow.
How did the President contact Ethan if no one could find him?
The film makes it very clear that between movies, Ethan has gone off the grid. No one can find him or the key he possesses. However, totally butting up against that sentiment, the President, played by Angela Bassett, gets him a VHS tape. We know she has been one of the peoples searching for him but nevertheless, this tape finds him. Props for it being VHS, which is analog and thereby untraceable by the Entity, but if that level of detail was under consideration, why not some brief aside about how something or someone was able to locate him? You could explain this a million ways, but the film does not.
What was the point of the Entity having a cult?
Early on in the film, it’s pointed out that over the years, a cult of people who unequivocally believe in the Entity has emerged, and they’re dangerous. We get the real-life parallels, so we assumed this would be a big part of the movie. A major obstacle in Ethan’s path. But, as far as we can tell, it was just an excuse for one person to attack him on the submarine and another to try and kill the President at the end. Both of which are exciting moments, but don’t really further the plot in any way.
So what exactly was the story with the Gabriel and Ethan flashbacks?
A big part of Dead Reckoning was the revelation that Ethan somehow knew Gabriel because of a very formative moment in his past. A moment we see numerous times in both movies involving a mysterious woman being killed. Now, we all assumed The Final Reckoning would explain that somehow—but unless I fell asleep, I don’t think it did. There are some broad breadcrumbs about Gabriel framing him for murder, which forced Ethan to make the IMF “Choice,” but we already drew that implication from the previous film. We want to know why. Who was she? Why was she important? How did Gabriel come into it? Somehow, this movie completely whiffs on paying off the central mystery from the last installment.
When did Luther get sick?
Months have passed between the seventh and eighth Mission: Impossible movies and, somehow, in that time, Ethan’s oldest friend Luther is now dying. Surely, sickness can come on that strong, but doesn’t having it happen off-screen feel a little jarring? Why did he have to be sick at all? Did McQuarrie want to ease the blow of his coming doom? Was it because actor Ving Rhames could only film for a certain number of days, so they kept him in one location? Something along those lines feels more plausible than what we see in the film.
Why did Ethan beat a man to death off-screen as Grace watched in horror?
Every Mission: Impossible film has that big, fun action beat that leads into the opening credits scene. In The Final Reckoning, that scene is Ethan and Grace escaping capture, followed by Ethan beating a man to death off-screen as Grace watches in total shock. It’s oddly out of character for him and tonally out of line with the movie. These movies are never overly goofy or violent. Plus, this evil streak doesn’t come back or pay off in any way. It’s just weird, so why is it in there?
Did the Entity really change Ethan?
One of the central catalysts of the film is when Ethan and the Entity meet face to “face.” Before the conversation, Paris tells Ethan that the Entity will change him and, after the Entity shows him the future, that sure seems like the case. He’s manic, he’s different, and then that all goes away. Ethan is just the same old Ethan again after that scene. So, did the Entity change Ethan? And if not, what was the point of that line?
Was there a point to Ethan telling Grace to stay off the ice?
One of the revelations the Entity shows Ethan is an alternate version of the future where his mission fails, and everyone on the ice who’s there to save him dies. That’s why, when he gets out of the machine, he tells Grace to stay off the ice. Makes sense. We get that part. What doesn’t make sense is when Grace gets to the aforementioned ice, there isn’t a moment’s hesitation about going on it, and nothing happens. If you weren’t going to pay off such a big, dramatic line, why have it at all?
Why was Hannah Waddingham in this movie?
I love Hannah Waddingham. Ted Lasso, Apple singing specials, she’s a delight. And the idea of her in a Mission: Impossible movie is perfection. But she has very little reason to be in this story. She’s the leader of an aircraft carrier that Ethan goes to while looking for a submarine that’ll bring him to the sunken submarine. And, for some reason, we learn Waddingham and the President shared an important memory on the day the original Mission: Impossible film opened—May 22, 1996. We love the Easter egg but let’s move past it. The note tells Waddingham that Ethan is for real and, as a result, she hires two helicopters to bring him to the submarine location. So she’s in the movie for what? Just give him helicopters? Wasn’t there a cleaner, simpler way to figure that out? Was her scene unmovable because the crew paid for, or built parts of, this aircraft carrier?
How was Ethan able to survive the ascent after the submarine scene?
This is one of my biggest issues. The Final Reckoning spends several minutes explaining all the problems Ethan Hunt is going to have diving deep into the ocean to take down the Entity. Even his special suit can’t save him, but it’s pretty clear he’d die without it. The film makes sure the audience is well-versed on these dangers, which raise the stakes and make things more dramatic when Ethan has to start ignoring it all. However, he ignores them to the point where he eventually has to swim hundreds of feet in the freezing water, naked. Now, we understand that he “dies” near the surface (as predicted), but once he’s revived and put in the (suddenly incredibly large?) pressurization chamber, he suffers no after effects. In fact, the next day he’s swinging off an airplane. Why spend so much time explaining how dangerous this dive is, to then just totally ignore it?
Wasn’t the dog sled joke scene also pointless?
Grace goes on the ice with Tapeesa, Donloe’s wife, who explains to Grace how to control their dogsled. Because there’s a language barrier, we get a funny little scene of Grace trying to figure out what Tapeesa is saying. It provides a little levity in the middle of a tense situation and, we assumed, would be a precursor to her having to solve some sort of sled-related problem. But that never happens. So, again, is the odd comedy in any way additive if it has no payoff?
Did the Russians actually have a second key?
When Ethan’s team is on the island trying to get the submarine coordinates, they come up against a team of Russian soldiers. The Russians are also after the coordinates and, we’re told, have a second key to unlock the submarine. Now, this means one of two things. One, the Russians are incredibly stupid because everyone knows there’s just one key (the whole previous movie is only about that fact). Or two, the filmmakers are incredibly stupid and are undercutting themselves. Clearly, it’s meant to suggest the first one, but it’s not handled like that. It’s handled very seriously. Plus, again, it doesn’t pay off. Basically, it’s not something that needed to be mentioned unless it was important, and clearly, it’s not.
Why was Shea Wingham’s character retrofitted to be Jim Phelps Jr.?
Shea Wingham’s character in Dead Reckoning is so good. He’s a fantastic agent who continues to get frustrated as he’s outsmarted by Ethan. And here, it’s a bit more of the same… except when we are told his character is the son of Jim Phelps, Jon Voight’s turncoat character from the first movie. It provides a nice wink back to that original movie, which is clearly a major throughline of this film, but it feels so random and gets resolved in an underwhelming, small moment that would’ve been exactly the same if this hadn’t been revealed.
Is Ethan actually done at the end of this movie?
Though no one has ever, officially, said this is the last Mission: Impossible movie for Tom Cruise, the film sure hints at it. It’s made clear, over and over, that the Entity is kind of a final boss from all of Ethan’s previous Missions and that the stakes have never been higher. Watching it, you very much expect Ethan to hang up his mask at the end in some kind of meaningful, emotional way, especially after the loss of Luther. Only that doesn’t happen. The team reunites, they kind of smile, and walk off, almost exactly like they did four movies ago. Ethan and his crew are very much still in play at the end of the film and you almost feel a little let down that this story with such huge stakes didn’t stick the landing.
What happened when the Entity went offline?
One of the biggest reasons everyone was so scared of stopping the Entity is that—as it’s made very clear, time and time again—the Entity has become too important to the infrastructure of the world. It is completely interlaced with the entire internet and killing it could have catastrophic results. We know this. It adds to the stakes of the final mission and, when Ethan wins, we’re intrigued to see what the result is. But nothing happens. They capture the Entity, and despite so much screen time being focused on this potential problem, we never find out whether it was a problem or not. We assume not, since it’s not brought up… but at least acknowledge it!
Will Ethan destroy the Entity?
After a very convoluted, logistical finale involving source codes, poison pills, and thumbnail drives, Ethan and the team capture the Entity. Victory! And, it’s implied, Ethan will now hold onto the Entity because no one else in the world can be trusted to do so. Okay, we can buy that, but what’s next? Does it go into a safe? The bottom of the ocean? Why not just destroy the thing and be done with it? That lack of closure again just makes this “final reckoning” really feel more like a “nearly” final reckoning.
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