Mission: Impossible

4-minute read
movies

Tom Cruise

Could the next Mission: Impossible film be the last of the long running series? It almost seems so with the trailer for the eighth film titled The Final Reckoning. The Final Reckoning is rumored to have a budget approaching $400 million because of production delays. The previous film, Dead Reckoning - Part One (now known as Dead Reckoning) was not a dud, but did not perform well. I thought the movie was fine, but felt a bit old and stale — recycling from other Mission: Impossible films over the last almost 30 years.

So, if the series is really coming to a finale and not to the end that Tom Cruise had in mind, then who killed the Mission: Impossible film franchise?

I would say it’s Christopher McQuarrie. Before you start typing up a reply, let me explain. McQuarrie is super talented and has written/directed the best film of the series: Mission:Impossible - Fallout. But, he has also introduced so much mythology into the series that the series is getting hard to engage with. His movies (and titles) have become increasingly long and he may have overstayed his welcome:

  • Mission: Impossible (1h50m) - Brian DePalma
  • Mission: Impossible II (2h3m) - John Woo
  • Mission: Impossbile III (2h6m) - J.J. Abrams
  • Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2h12m) - Brad Bird
  • Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2h11m) - Christopher McQuarrie
  • Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2h27m) - Christopher McQuarrie
  • Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part One (2h43m) - Christopher McQuarrie

At the rate in which the runtime of the movies have been going under McQuarrie, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning could reach the three hour mark.

The Mission: Impossible series used to be episodic and fun. The reason for this was that the first five films had different directors, writers and crew. This brought a freshness to each movie that is hard to replicate after McQuarrie took over directorial duties with Rogue Nation (2015). The other thing that happened was that the franchise became heavily serialized with Rogue Nation. Much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, once things became heavily serialized, the barrier of entry got higher and higher with each following movie.

Coming into Dead Recoking in 2023 and having to know the backstory of Ilsa Faust from Rogue Nation in 2015 is already asking a lot from casual Mission: Impossible viewers. Pulling Kittridge (Henry Czerny) back into the franchise was a neat treat for fans of this franchise. But, for those who haven’t seen the original film from 1996, well, he might as well be a new character.

Remember when it was fun to see a set of fresh agents working with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise)? Sure we all love seeing Luther (Ving Rhames) in each movie and also seeing Benji (Simon Pegg) grow as an agent over the last half of this franchise. But there was something special about having memorable agents on screen in each outing:

  • Krieger (Jean Reno, M:I)
  • Jack Harmon (Emilio Estevez, M:I) “Red light, green light. Come up against a lock you can’t pick, you mash them together… boom. Hasta lasagna, don’t get any on ya.”
  • Zhen (Maggie Q, M:I III) - “It’s just a little prayer that I used to say to get my cat to come home.”
  • Brandt (Jeremy Renner, M:I Ghost Protocol) - “Next time, I get to seduce the rich guy.”
  • Jane (Paula Patton, M:I Ghost Protocol)
  • Hanaway (Josh Holloway, M:I Ghost Protocol)
  • Faust (Rebecca Ferguson, M:I Rogue Nation)
  • Briggs (Shea Whigham, M:I Dead Reckoning - Part One) - “For all intents and purposes, ladies and gentlemen, a mind-reading, shape-shifting incarnation of chaos.”

I also liked seeing new visual styles and ideas with each of the first few movies. Brad Bird brought to the series a sense of levity that has benefited the series and I am glad has continued on. Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning is the fourth film in the series that Christopher McQuarrie has worked on, it’s time to hand the torch over.

Maybe it’s also time for Ethan Hunt to hand his torch over also — Hunt doesn’t have to leave the series, but maybe take a backseat and let a new lead take over — they introduced a perfect one in the last movie with Shea Whigham’s Briggs. Briggs would make a great lead for the IMF and he can form his own crew of agents going forward.

While the next film maybe the Final Reckoning for Ethan Hunt, maybe it can also be a way for the franchise to soft reboot itself and start with a fresh IMF team – and reenergize the franchise with something new and exciting.