Photo by Giles Keyte/Giles Keyte – © 2024 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
In the previous film, Tom Cruise stunned audiences with an unprecedented no-stunt motorcycle jump and skydive off a precipice. The “off-the-wall action” that has become synonymous with the series seems to be alive and well in this film, just like what Tom Cruise was set out to do from the beginning of the franchise, which is giving a cinematic experience to the audience.
For the most part, you can enter each movie without much prior knowledge of the previous ones, and probably most of the critics didn’t even remember the ones. However, this time around, it appears that “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning“ may require some homework if you want to get the most out of its story.
Do you remember the Rabbit Foot? In “Mission: Impossible 3” frequently discusses the danger of the Rabbit’s Foot and the potential consequences of its release, but fails to explicitly reveal what it would do, is it a bomb or virus, something that is beyond our comprehension? But before we dive into what Rabbit Foot is, we need to pick up from the previous film.
Photo by Giles Keyte/Giles Keyte – © 2024 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) was able to escape from the Orient Express at the conclusion of the previous movie, this time, the narrative takes place two months after the incident, this is the first film in the series to be made in a serial format and is directly related to the previous film, “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning”.
The assassin hoping to possess and control the artificially intelligent virus known as the Entity. What is Entity? The Entity is an advanced, self-aware rogue AI capable of penetrating cyber-security and predicting probable futures, with the ability to infiltrate defense systems, banks and cyber-security, which can lead to nuclear crisis, how’s is possible? But do they need to explain? We saw “The Terminator 2 : Judgment day”, didn’t we? A lot like Skynet in that film, the audiences understand the idea that AI taking over all the world’s computers is a threat. But the governments around the world compete to control this Entity, searching for two connected keys, while the IMF also searches for the keys, aiming to destroy the Entity to prevent further sabotage.
But Ethan as always has gone rogue from the American government. Usually, Ethan goes against the government or military, even his own superior, but this time around, potentially facing the end of the world, the government and military are reluctantly but there’s no choice to support Ethan and his assembled team of agents, thieves, and assassins, Hunt races against the villainous Gabriel (Esai Morales) for control of the world’s fate.
Photo by Giles Keyte/Giles Keyte – © 2024 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
We know that in the future, most jobs could be done through the A.I, in the mind of a chat GP, what could be a better villain than A.I, particularly against the human with all the intelligence combined? Of course, the Entity has no character, personality or a thing to say for itself, which could be scary if they pulled the tricks like Hal in “2001 : A Space Odyssey”, but remember this film isn’t the work of auteur, just a fun-loving cinematic experience.
In order to prevent sabotage, Ethan has to track down the Russian submarine “Sevastopol,” which sank at the beginning of the previous film. What’s engaging about this film is that Tom Cruise willing to go to the submarine deep dive at the age of 62, well probably a year before when they shot.
In oder to pull this stunt, they developed the hand signals underwater sequences, when they need to take it longer or close-up shots, so you feel the tension and sense of danger underwater throughout the sequences, then top-off with arial stunt on airplane, in this sequence Tom Cruise wears the Snorri Rig camera his stomach, which locks the camera’s perspective to the actor, capturing an immersive, emotionally charged point-of-view shots that we really feel the edge of your seat, it’s really worth to see at the IMAX.
Ethan’s spy organization, the IMF, is left with only a few friends from the previous film. With Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) having lost her life and Luther (Ving Rhames) going off on his own, Benji (Simon Pegg) is the only one left to rely on. However, at the end of the last film, Grace (Hayley Atwell) announced that she was joining the IMF.
Photo by Giles Keyte/Giles Keyte – © 2024 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
The previous film saw the much-talked-about return of Kittridge, and several characters from previous films in the series will also return to the story in the new film. The most notable is William Dunlow, who has not appeared in the first film for almost 30 years, and who was assigned to handle classified files at the CIA but was transferred to Alaska after Ethan’s famous hanging in mid-air break-in scene in which the files were stolen. Another character, Erica Sloane, played by Angela Bassett, makes a return after a seven-year absence since the sixth “Fallout” film. She was the director of the CIA back then, she is the President of the United States with her son in the military.
The fact that Kittridge and Erica Sloan, who have been at odds with Ethan in the past, back up Ethan as his allies in this film is sure to be a heartwarming development for fans. And in this film, they made contribution to support this rogue agent, because it doesn’t really matter to them whether he was once enemy or not, they knew that only this rogue agent could pull off one last “Mission Impossible.”
The stakes of each film continue to get raised, as stunts become increasingly dangerous, and relationships at the core of the story strengthen, the film continues to gain momentum, this series consistently delivers thrills.
So back to what is Rabbit foot, the origin of Ribbit Foot means a must have for every superstitious gambler or risk taker, in the film as an Anti-God, kill everything in sight. But it feels like more of a risk taker than anti-god, maybe that is another perspective worth having in its message.
In the end, it’s so clear that Tom Cruise did all the stunts by himself for fans, the entire franchise is intended for fans to have a cinematic experience, nothing more, and certainly not for the critics that are trying to find the plot hole or meandering about each character.
Grade : B+
Photo by Giles Keyte/Giles Keyte – © 2024 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
If you like the review, share your thoughts below!
Check out more of Nobuhiro’s articles.
Here’s the trailer of the film.