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The time for reckoning has arrived for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, as its review embargo has lifted at the Cannes Film Festival, and accumulated scores from critics are now available on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.
The eighth Mission: Impossible spectacle starring Tom Cruise is largely believed to be the final entry in Hollywood’s most acclaimed spy-action franchise. The stakes could not be higher after seven years of back-to-back production and an accumulated $700 million budget for this and Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning (via The Numbers).
The Cannes extravaganza has not disappointed reviewers and followers of the franchise, though not all feedback is entirely positive. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has been received, following its five-minute standing ovation, with an 87% “certified fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes as per 97 reviews (at the time of writing). Over on Metacritic, the score is 71, with 34 top publishers assigning their ratings.
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These numbers are indeed strong — nearly double that of the year’s only other conspiracy thriller-actioner, Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World (48%) and comparable to other recent films within spy lore: the James Bond finale No Time to Die (83%) and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (70%). However, it is only when compared with previous entries of Cruise’s “paramount” filmography, particularly those directed by Christopher McQuarrie, that Final Reckoning appears deficient.
Beginning in 2011, when McQuarrie joined for on-set script rewrites, the Rotten Tomatoes scores for Mission: Impossible films reached astronomical heights. Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (94%), Rogue Nation (94%), Fallout (98%), and Dead Reckoning (96%) all carry a magnificent reputation, lucidly larger than Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The duo’s other recent collaboration, Top Gun: Maverick, also scored 96%, with an inimitable audience rating of 98%.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’s Rotten Tomatoes credit has broken and established records in rapid succession, most notably becoming the first entry in the 29-year history of Mission: Impossible to receive a Rotten Tomatoes score in the range of 80s. Though the first three installments, with respective scores of 65%, 57%, and 71%, all pale in comparison to the admiration received by Final Reckoning, the latter nonetheless ranks as the least critically praised Mission: Impossible film since 2006’s Mission: Impossible III. This has also brought the franchise’s 14-year streak of films scoring 94% or higher to an end, a feat only tied by the Toy Story franchise.
While Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has tamed several critics with its flabbergasting set of stunts, others seem not to have showered them with the same appreciation. The timing of its “disappointing” reception could be better. With a $400 million budget (via The Numbers), the break-even point is emerging as a concern for Tom Cruise’s magnum opus.
Scheduled to release alongside Lilo & Stitch, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is tracking up to $88 million over its extended opening weekend in the states, and around twice that figure internationally.
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