KSL Movie Show review: ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ delivers on the action

Editor’s note: This is an editorial piece. An editorial, like a news article, is based on fact but also shares opinions. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and are not associated with our newsroom.

I think we can all agree that Tom Cruise will do just about anything to create a mind-blowing stunt to take his audience to yet another level of exciting action. You’ve already seen glimpses of his high-wire act on a couple of biplanes if you’ve watched the film’s trailer. Not content with that, he also has an incredible sequence in a submarine that offers a different kind of thrill.

Nonetheless, also spectacular.

No one can argue that Tom doesn’t deliver on the action front. The question is, can he deliver on the in-between scenes that call for excellent dialogue, compelling character development and riveting plot lines? The answer is more in line with—occasionally.

Now I know it’s not fair to put all of this on Tom’s shoulders. After all, he’s just the star and one of the producers.

It takes a village to create a film of this magnitude —production costs hovering around $400 million— and the pressure to deliver something above and beyond can be and most likely was extremely daunting.

So here we go.

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If you recall in the last Mission: Impossible film, “Dead Reckoning,” a self-aware computer AI called The Entity has gone rogue and taken over a number of the world’s security systems, which now include several nuclear arsenals.

The U.S. is on the brink of losing control of its nukes as well, which could be catastrophic.

It is determined that any hope of reining in The Entity would require one to acquire its source code, which unfortunately, is at the bottom of the Bering Sea on a sunken Russian sub called the Sevastopol. Equally troubling, no one knows the exact coordinates, except for perhaps an old sonar array station on nearby St. Matthew Island.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) sends his IMF team to the island while he tries to convince President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) to give him control of the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush (filmed on the real deal) so he can dive on the wreck, but only if Benji and associates manage to retrieve the sub’s precise location.

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We’re just getting started here because if Hunt manages to somehow survive the sub-zero dive, they will then be off to South Africa to a secure digital bunker. There, The Entity will be away from human interference and can go about its business of controlling the world and perhaps eliminating the pesky human race, which has caused nothing but trouble (I can’t argue that one).

We haven’t even mentioned Luther (Ving Rhames) who has developed a “poison pill” to infect The Entity if they can catch it off guard, or Gabriel (Esai Morales) who once worked for The Entity but now thinks he can control it, if he can get his hands on the source code.

There’s a lot in this complicated plot to process, but fortunately, Tom is just minutes away from another out-of-this-world stunt sequence to distract you from all this heavy story lifting.

So, the bottom line is —come for the action, wade through the in-between and be prepared for the long haul, as this Cruise-a-palooza clocks in at nearly three hours. Oh and see it on IMAX if you can. It’s worth it.

‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ (B+) Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence and action, bloody images and brief language. Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales and others too many to name here. Co-written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie (he did the last three M:I films including “Dead Reckoning Part One” “Fallout” “Rogue Nation”) – filmed in the UK, Norway, Malta and South Africa. Running time: 170 minutes.

The KSL Movie Show with Andy Farnsworth and Steve Salles airs Fridays on KSL NewsRadio from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Follow the show on Facebook, and join The KSL Movie Show Club for exclusive perks by texting MOVIE to 57500. Message and data rates may apply. Text STOP to cancel. Message frequency varies.