In The Final Reckoning, Mission: Impossible forgets to be fun

Arguably the heaviest hitter in this year's summer blockbuster lineup is Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. 

The eighth movie in the franchise just landed in theatres, and it picks up where Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One left off a couple years ago. 

Tom Cruise is back leading as special agent Ethan Hunt, whose latest impossible mission finds him trying to take down an AI enemy technology called the Entity.

For 30 years, the Mission: Impossible franchise has promised audiences a fun night out at the movies. But does this latest — and perhaps final — installment deliver?

Today on Commotion, culture critics Teri Hart, Rebecca Jennings and Eli Glasner join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to get into the highs and lows of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, including a discussion about the incredible AI-generated errors recently published by a lauded Chicago newspaper, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Eli, the idea that this movie is weighted by the legacy of the franchise itself — eight movies, bajillions of dollars made — that's interesting to me. So walk me through the franchise and then arriving at this moment in the franchise.

Eli: The problem with this film is that it takes itself so seriously. When Mission: Impossible started, let's remember: this was a remake of a kind of wacky TV show where people had disguises, and the main gambit when the Mission: Impossible movies started with Cruise was they had masks…. That was fine. That was nice. So it was basically like an off-brand James Bond. Like, "OK, Bond's got that thing covered — he's suave, he's international. We don't have that. We're gonna get Cruise to run around. Things are going to explode. He's going to get his gang of friends," and it was fine…. It was just fun.

Elamin: But it got bigger. 

Eli: But then it got bigger. And I think the problem is, it got to this point where they didn't remember what we enjoyed about it. It wasn't an event when Mission: Impossible movies started, but it was fun. Like in between the various Bond films, check out a Mission: Impossible, and it was a good time. But now, it's so reverential—

Elamin: He's carrying the box office on his back, Eli!

Eli: But he's not. The problem of the film is that it treats it like he is, and like this is the most important thing in the world. Even the plot now is so nonsensical that there's no enjoyment anymore. The problem is they assume that we have a level of interest and knowledge of the franchise. Like, there's a bad guy, Gabriel — I can barely remember his backstory. They're doing all these callbacks!

Elamin: I don't want continuity. Like, please, this is Mission: Impossible we're doing here. 

Eli: I didn't do my Mission: Impossible homework. I just went in kind of blind, and they're pulling all these things … I don't remember. The movies are all convoluted on their own, and now to try and weave together 30 years of shenanigans — there's so much gravitas, it's like we're on Jupiter. It is so solemn. It is so reverential. 

Elamin: Rebecca, we come to this place for magic, you know? There's something to be said about the escalating scale of the Mission: Impossible movies…. The gambit was, this will be a good time at the movies. You're not going to remember the plot. You don't need to remember who Gabriel is. But you will remember the stunts. You'll remember the thing as an event. For you, as you were sort of walking in and being like, "I'm saying goodbye to this universe." Did you feel the weight of that watching this movie?

Rebecca: Well, I think the movie really wants you to feel the weight of that…. The first hour is mostly flashbacks or flash-forwards. The point of a Mission: Impossible movie is you go into the theatre, and then it all completely erases from your brain the moment you step out of it.

Elamin: The minute you leave, it's gone.

Rebecca: And that's why I love Mission: Impossible. But even though the movie was so divorced from reality in any stake sense, and it had to keep reminding you about what the timing was, but it's like, oh, that's not really the time. I think because this one was so weighed down by the myth of Mission: Impossible, which no one really cares about — it's not like a Marvel or a Harry Potter movie, you don't have to watch the previous ones to get it. But I think if they're calling this the final one, then great, wipe the slate clean. Start a new thing with the same name. But don't make us care about Gabriel, and Tom Cruise's 75 love interests over 30 years. Like, the way they kept flashing back to these various women that Tom Cruise has kissed, I'm like, who was that?

Elamin: Well, the whole thing was that he was trying to protect his wife at the end of the first one…. You guys don't remember that? That's crazy to me.

Rebecca: The fact that he had a wife, I'm like, what? This is like, just insert some brunette lady; that's his love interest. Watching movie stars do crazy stunts, that will never get old. But you don't need the Entity and Gabriel and the wives to do that. 

Elamin: "The Entity and Gabriel and the Wives" sounds like a great sequel, by the way, if any executive is listening.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Amelia Eqbal.