Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning (2025)

So much for calling it Dead Reckoning Part 2. Just as well. Once again, I watched at the earliest opportunity, only this time, it was to celebrate my birthday.

The movie begins two months after the end of the previous. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has acquired a key for apprehending the Entity, but he doesn't know where to use it yet. Murderous Gabriel (Esai Morales), having fallen from the Entity's favor, now hopes to gain everything needed to control the Entity himself. Both had better hurry, because the Entity is gradually seizing all the nuclear missiles in the world, evidently planning to annihilate humans but not itself. The CIA director-turned-U.S. president (Angela Bassett) gives Ethan three days before she launches a preemptive attack on the other nations. To make matters more difficult, the chaos sown by the Entity's expert deep fakes has inspired a considerable pro-apocalyptic movement, and not all its members are overt....

I said before that the malevolently deceptive AI was timely. Impressive how this sequel simultaneously hearkens back to the TV series' roots in the Cold War. Some viewers think the focus on a new one gets tedious, particularly with the 170-minute runtime, but I have never found the plot of an M:I entry more intense.

Part of the intensity comes from a less clear moral objective than usual. Ethan wants to destroy the Entity, but with its grip, it could take the entire Net with it. (For some reason, nobody entertains the idea of forcing it to retract its influence before destruction.) That's a little better than certain doom, but I for one would rather allow a group or an individual, even Gabriel, to wield its power than guarantee global impoverishment. In the end, we don't know exactly what choice Ethan makes, so I'd say the filmmakers punted.

Never before have I seen so many M:I callbacks, with the first movie disproportionately represented. Good thing I saw that one twice. This might be a sign, along with the title change and stakes, that the studio doesn't plan on continuing the series, barring a reboot or a new protagonist. There's nothing as definitive as in No Time to Die, but prepare to say goodbye to a recurring character.

I hesitate to call this the most serious entry. On one hand, even Benji (Simon Pegg) hardly tries to be humorous anymore, especially when critically injured. OTOH, it has an even less credible survival sequence than Cliffhanger. At least the action-packed fun is still there.

TFR lives up to my high expectations. I don't know that it's my favorite in the series, but it is worthy.