मिशन: इम्पॉसिबल - द फाइनल रेकनिंग

Lamest movie in the series, if not ever! I unfortunately spent money in the theatre to watch this so waste of time as well as money! I don't even want to waste any more words writing this review but unfortunately cannot post this until and unless it contains three hundred words so to sum up... Lamest movie ever!

This movie successfully concluded this 30-year-old franchise. The action was superb but not over-the-top. There are a lot of characters from the past that being brought back naturally, which I feel is a nice touch. It serves their purpose and doesn't feel out of place or forced. However, not all are to my liking - the twist wasn't as impressive as previous movies and the plot felt a bit linear and thin. It's almost 3 hours so I feels like a road trip rather than a roller coaster. Despite this, I enjoyed the ride and it reminded me of what MI is really about: "We live and die in the shadows, for those we hold close, and those we never meet."

It was quite clear this film had lofty ambitions since the previous entry.

And considering what it is, what came before it and the legacy it was meant to conclude.. I was expecting to be wowed! Not bored at the start, anxious for something to happen in the middle, and losing all hope to at least be surprised by the end.

It is almost 3 hours long, and the little that does happen, is buried between too much nothing. Awful pacing, dull and meanders dialogue that often goes nowhere nor builds-up to something, a completely dull villain and threat. And worse of all.. what is the point in a movie that constantly tells you exactly how it is going to go? And by virtue of being what it is, there is absolutely no mystery about its conclusion. Not playing with a viewer's expectation is NOT a requirement in storytelling.. but you have to give them something! A bit of tension and intrigue.

It's a shame because I can see what it wanted to achieve with its premise, but it feels stuck in the past while trying to use more modern tropes.

Still, it is entertaining enough, and provides spectacle-scenes so incredible anyone would be hard pressed to replicate them in such quality. The cast is okay, the locations good, great production, visuals and cinematography.

But a film has to be more than a few set pieces and scenes.. it has to work as a whole and be more than the sum of its parts.

It's a fact that not all previous entries have been stellar. So I'm somewhat sad this is how M. I. "ends".

The Good: There are two standout action set pieces here-masterfully shot, expertly choreographed, and absolutely worth the price of admission on their own. When Mission: Impossible leans into what it does best-practical stunts and high-octane tension-it soars. Tom Cruise once again gives it everything, backed by a stacked A-list cast that brings gravitas and charm to the chaos.

The Bad: Unfortunately, the film struggles under the weight of its own ambition. It's long, bloated, and paced like a slog. The exposition dumps are painful-overwritten, unnecessarily complex, and made worse by clunky dialogue that bounces awkwardly between multiple characters and locations mid-scene. It kills momentum and disengages the viewer. The villain is a caricature with little dramatic weight, and despite the runtime, there are surprisingly few action sequences compared to earlier entries. Instead, we get manufactured drama and overwrought tension that never really pays off.

The Verdict: This is still an entertaining ride, but one unlikely to earn many repeat viewings. Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, and Fallout remain the high watermark of the series. While Final Reckoning lands a jaw-dropping finale, the first half is too bogged down to call this a great send-off. A fitting end to an epic run-just not the ending it deserved.

Quite a mixed bag.

Amazing stunt work but the first half of the movie really tests your patience before getting there.

The formula and sexy intro from 3,4,5,6 and even 7 is not here.

I get the impression they were disappointed with the box office from 7, saw Oppenheimer's success and hastingly tried to restructure what they had already filmed for 8 into a bizarre Mission Impossible - Oppenheimer mixture with a very Nolan-esque talking in riddles first half.

That's exactly what this is. And for me it does not work.

Bringing back ground characters back from previous MI movies, who cares?! Tying the entity to what we saw in MI3. Why? We already had the setup in Dead Reckoning? Why make it any more complicated?!

None of the epic / surprise set pieces such as the Kremlin bombing in Ghost Protocol are here. It very much needed something in the first 90 minutes, such as a nuke going off. Instead we are just told what the threat is and it goes on and on.

No Masks, no Ethan completely surprisingly outsmarting the bad guy. It needed something epic, which I was expecting (Ethan had to outsmart the Entity and be a step ahead according to Luther!) For example Elsa could have surprisingly made it and just faked her death or so (in the party club scene in DR we saw Gabriel knives - I thought Ethan may have swapped them for dummy ones or so, the tools were there to do this).

I'm not sure what they were thinking with this one.

A real shame. Too much talk and hardly any fun.

Worth seeing for the action.

But stick to 4,5,6 and 7 for the best of the Mission movies. Those are funny, action packed and have much more heart.