Film and Media

'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning', Ethan Hunt's spectacular last mission

Tom Cruise returns as the famous secret agent for the eighth instalment of the franchise

by Andrea Chimento

23 May 2025

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Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning

3' min read

Key points

A film that grows at a distance
Holly

3' min read

An eighth chapter that encompasses all the previous ones: 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning', the new (and last?) feature film in the famous spy saga is a journey into historical memory, where multiple memories and passages from the previous stages of a franchise started by Brian De Palma in 1996 are to be found.

Inspired by the television series of the same name from the 1960s and 1970s, the 'Mission: Impossible' saga, after a second and a third chapter that were halfway convincing, has soared since the fourth film ('Ghost Protocol', directed by Brad Bird), and has managed to grow even more with the most recent films directed by Christopher McQuarrie.

The American director, who has taken the reins of the franchise from the fifth film onwards, naturally also signs this new feature film, although, once again, the feeling is that the real signature behind 'Mission: Impossible' is that of Tom Cruise, producer together with the director, protagonist and absolute star of a series of films that have found a strong identity thanks above all to his charisma and that of his now very famous character Ethan Hunt.

This new film picks up directly where the previous one, 'Dead Reckoning', ended, with the secret agent called upon to save the world from a global threat known as the Entity.

Reasoning on the theme of artificial intelligence, this film in which the planet will have to find a key to solidarity in order to save itself against a threat (virtual, only in appearance) that could reduce human beings to slavery or, even worse, mass extinction.

The narrative bases are basically the canonical ones for a product like this, but everything is magnified more than ever in an ambitious and magniloquent, often excessive but nevertheless spectacular film.

“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning“ e gli altri film della settimana
Photogallery4 foto

A film that grows with distance

Initially, 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' struggles to get going, due to a series of rushed sequences in which the sense of old-fashioned romanticism that has been one of the most successful aspects of the entire saga is completely missing.

As the minutes pass, however, the film fortunately grows a lot, culminating in a long sequence in alternating montage where Hunt starts a chase aboard a small plane, while his fellow companions must try to defuse the Entity by capturing it and rendering it harmless.

The pace picks up so much that it makes for adrenalin-fuelled viewing, even if the most successful sequence is a beautiful long scene inside a submerged submarine, completely wordless and capable of showing how this saga has great strength even in the most static moments.

The result is a work that is perhaps imperfect, but nevertheless a worthy conclusion to a series of films that are both exciting and intelligent.

Holly

New releases also include 'Holly' by Belgian director Fien Troch.

At the centre is the story of a bullied teenage girl with decidedly unconventional powers. One day Holly calls her school saying that she would not be leaving the house that day and, a few hours later, a fire breaks out in the school where several students lose their lives. Anna, one of the teachers, is fascinated by Holly's strange premonition and invites her to join her group of volunteers. The girl's mere presence transmits serenity, warmth and hope. Soon, however, everyone wants to meet her and benefit from her extraordinary powers.

A film about adolescence and bullying, this small feature is elegantly shot by its author. If the start promises a lot, as the minutes go by the film unfortunately deflates and ends up disappointing the high expectations created with the first sequences.

Especially in the concluding part, it seems that Fien Troch has somewhat lost the reins of the work and what remains is a film that is capable of stimulating, but too confused and coarse to be truly successful.