"Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning" Trailer: Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt Must Use Everything He's Got to Complete His Biggest Challenge Yet in This Epic Action Finale
Ethan Hunt’s epic conclusion is here as Cruise teams up with familiar faces to battle a self-aware AI in the high-stakes finale of the Mission: Impossible saga.
When Tom Cruise launched the Mission: Impossible franchise back in 1996, he was in his early 30s. He had just come off a major run of award-worthy performances and Oscar-nominated films, where he starred opposite some of the biggest actors in Hollywood—Paul Newman in The Color of Money, Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, Robert Duvall in Days of Thunder, Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men, and Gene Hackman in The Firm. It was kind of like passing the torch from old Hollywood to new, with Cruise emerging as one of the biggest and brightest stars of his generation. But Cruise needed to establish himself as a viable commodity, both as a producer and a leading man. With Mission: Impossible, Cruise entered his blockbuster action star phase, and he never looked back.
Now, in his early 60s, he's completed seven Mission: Impossible films, and most young moviegoers today likely don’t even realize the franchise is based on an old 1960s TV show, thanks in part to Cruise’s total ownership of the franchise and the lead role. At this point, Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt, and Ethan Hunt is Tom Cruise. Both are resourceful, fearless, and always ready to risk it all for death-defying missions.
Now arrives Cruise's eighth Mission: Impossible film: The Final Reckoning, and it could very well be his last. Cue the tears, cheers, and salutes for a job well done. But if there's one thing we've learned from these films, it's that we should never count Cruise out, as he always finds a way to surprise us. While this may be IMF agent Ethan Hunt's “final” mission, it’s entirely possible the franchise could move forward with a new lead. Or Cruise might come out and just say, “Screw it! I’ll keep making these movies until I’m 80. Why the hell not?” Now that would certainly be a mission for the ages.
Once again working with his ride-or-die director Christopher McQuarrie, marking their fifth collaboration together that includes the last three Mission films, Cruise leaps back into action as Ethan Hunt, one of the most courageous and experienced spies in the world who always seems to get the job done despite how hopelessly impossible the mission turns out to be. Now Ethan has an aircraft carrier as he attempts to bring the world back from the brink.
The Final Reckoning is not only Ethan’s possible final mission, but also the epic conclusion to 2023's Dead Reckoning where Ethan and his loyal IMF team faced a highly advanced self-aware AI program called the Entity. And because of its God-like computing powers and its ability to calculate every possible scenario and outcome, the Entity has come up with a flawless plan to manipulate events and exploit powerful figures in order to gain global nuclear power. Ethan will have to use everything, all his knowledge and skills he has acquired over the years as an IMF agent and a rogue spy, to defeat the Entity. The problem is, the Entity has already calculated and predicted accurately what Ethan has done and will do next.
So, this just might be an impossible mission to complete. But if there is a way to beat the machine, Ethan just might be the only person in the world to do it. And in turn, Tom Cruise just might be the only actor in his 60s who can pull off death-defying stunts with the ease and grace of a much younger man, proving that age is truly just a number when it comes to action hero status.
With returning cast members and franchise regulars Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, and Henry Czerny back for this possible sendoff, The Final Reckoning just might be the last time we see Cruise in this iconic role, marking the end of an era for the Mission: Impossible franchise. So, there's no doubt it will be one of the biggest movie events of the summer, packed with high-octane action, mind-blowing stunts and fights, and all the thrills fans have come to expect from the franchise.
With Christopher McQuarrie back in the director's chair, working from a script he co-wrote with Dead Reckoning scribe Erik Jendresen, Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning just might be the most unforgettable chapter in the franchise yet, promising an epic conclusion to Ethan Hunt's legacy when it lands in theaters May 23rd. So, buckle up! 'Cause it's going to be a hell of a ride.
