MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING is a terrific spy thriller starring Tom Cruise as a heroic American spy who must overcome doubts about his judgment and convince the President to let him lead his team one more time to stop a powerful artificial intelligence trying to take control of the world’s top nuclear powers and end the human race. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING is an exhilarating, patriotic, stirring, and even profound thriller with many positive Christian allusions, but the edge-of-your-seat action contains intense violence, and the movie has several mostly light obscenities, so it merits caution for older children.

FINAL RECKNONING is a sequel to the previous MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie, but you don’t need to have seen the last movie to appreciate the new one, though it could help. As the movie opens, a powerful artificial intelligence called The Entity has infiltrated every electronic, digital device in the world. Making matters even worse, The Entity now wants to take control of the top eight nuclear powers to end the human race.

However, to protect itself from the nuclear holocaust, The Entity must infiltrate a “Doomsday Vault” in South Africa, which is impervious to digital takeover. The only way for The Entity to get inside the Vault is if a human being manually lets it inside.

The Good News is that Luther, Ethan’s hacker expert, has invented a poison pill that can render The Entity powerless. The Bad News is that Ethan’s arch nemesis, Gabriel, a mad assassin, has stolen the poison pill. The other Bad News is that, in order to use the poison pill, trap The Entity and render it harmless, Ethan must dive 500 feet below the Artic sea to retrieve The Entity’s Source Code in a wrecked Russian nuclear submarine. If, and that’s a big if, Ethan can do that, they must find Gabriel, capture him alive, take the poison pill from him, and insert it into the device carrying the Source Code.

Ethan has one huge problem. The bureaucrats in Washington don’t trust him any longer. They question his judgment because they think he’s the one most responsible for The Entity getting loose and Gabriel getting the poison pill. So, Ethan must convince the President to trust his judgment and let him lead his team one more time.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING is an exhilarating, patriotic and even profound thriller. Also, the pulse-pounding action is laced with some stirring poignant scenes, plus a few delightful comical asides, between the characters. For example, one character gives a funny endearing wink at another character during a pause in the action. There are also heartfelt goodbyes between Ethan and several team members when they have to part to do an important task or escape a deadly situation. Despite the movie’s length, which is well over two hours, everything works together, almost like clockwork.

As usual, the cast is first-rate. Hats off to Cruise and his team of super-spies, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, and Greg Tarzan Davis. Esai Morales is great as the human villain, Gabriel. Angela Basset is superb as the President. And, Nick Offerman is excellent as a general whose loyalties are suspect. His character adds some extra tension in the scenes with the President and her advisors.

FINAL RECKONING has a strong Christian, redemptive, moral worldview. It has many Christian allusions. For example, Hayley Atwell plays Tom Cruise’s love interest, a secret agent named Grace with pickpocket skills. At one point Grace saves the hero, and at another point it can be argued that Grace saves the whole world. Also, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character is considered a messianic hero at two or three points in the script. Ethan is also filled with compassion for human life, not only the world but also his individual team members and other people. For example, when he leaves a team member or the team to do some daring feat that only he can do, he makes a point to show his team that he cares that they will survive even if he doesn’t. Ethan’s closest friend, Luther, tells Ethan that his destiny has led Ethan to this point. Luther also says he admires Ethan because of his values. He lauds Ethan’s focus on looking out for his team members as well as other people and Ethan’s duty and ability to always do the right thing from moment to moment. Some critics may argue that these MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movies are a bit of an ego trip for Tom Cruise, but he’s so good at playing this hero, and he clearly devotes a lot of effort to entertain the viewers seeing these movies. He and Writer/Director Christopher make a wonderful team, so they should be commended.

FINAL RECKONING extends its Christian metaphors to the creation of its villains. For example, The Entity is referred to as an “anti-god device,” an apocalyptic entity that intends to destroy the world. So, The Entity clearly has Satanic traits that sound like it’s an Anti-Christ. Gabriel, the main human villain, is a mad demon who at first seemed to be serving The Entity, but in this movie, he becomes the right-hand Judas who betrays The Entity and wants to control it so that he can control the world for himself.

Furthermore, the messianic hero undergoes a symbolic death and resurrection at one point. However, he isn’t the only one willing to sacrifice their lives in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING. So, are the hero’s team members and two married people they meet along the way. The married people are an older man and his Inuit wife living in a cabin in a surveillance station in Alaska. The older man worked for an espionage agency but was banished to Alaska when he made a big mistake at work. The man doesn’t regret his mistake, however, because he met his wife as a consequence of being banished to Alaska. The scenes with the man and his wife very endearing. They’re one of the many joys of watching this movie.

Happily, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING has one of the lowest foul language counts of a PG-13 action blockbuster in recent years. The seven obscenities are mostly light, and there are no “f” words or “s” words. The movie also has no strong expletives profaning the name of Jesus or God. One person does say, “For God’s sake,” however.

FINAL RECKONNG also has no overt implied or depicted sex scenes. There is, however, a romantic moment between Ethan and Grace as their lie together after Grace gives Ethan CPR when she pulls his unconscious body out of the ocean from his mission to the wrecked submarine.

MISSION: IMPOSSOBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING does have lots of strong, intense action violence, including gunfights and rough hand-to-hand combat. One fight scene, however, takes place offscreen and involves Ethan and a bad guy fighting over an ominous sledgehammer with small nobs on it, like a wooden meat tenderizer. The camera focuses on Grace watching the fight with horrified and cringey expressions on her face. Eventually, Ethan emerges from the fight with a glob of blood on his white shirt.

The movie’s action violence and brief foul language merit caution for older and especially younger children.