I don't always agree with Jeff's reactions (in fact it's probably more like 50/50), and hopefully I end up likening the movie myself, but my point is that what we're seeing on the negative side isn't at all what we've seen in the past. Early reactions for the last three movies never involved this kind of consistent "mess" talk. This is something else.

We will see. I would bet part of it was the hype coming into this one, where anything short of mind blowing and nearly 30 year series ending /satisfying was going to be a let down for some. If I'm proven wrong I'm proven wrong, it certainly could be a disappointment, but I would bet when average fans finally see it, it will be comparable to the last few.
Jmo.

These reactions are such a rollercoaster. I'm strangely even more curious/excited now than I was 24 hours ago…

Multiple early reactions to Final Reckoning comparing it to Rise of Skywalker might be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me

— J-Boi (@JboiHQ) May 13, 2025

Tom Cruise and McQ must really like AVENGERS: ENDGAME and STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER is all I'm gonna say until my review drops.

— James Preston Poole (@JamesPPoole) May 13, 2025

in no world did I anticipate that I’d be having to defend Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning as a truly great movie but here we are I guess

— Ethan Simmie (@EthanSimmie) May 13, 2025

I loved The Final Reckoning but unfortunately I have not seen one bad review that I disagree with. It is clunky, poorly edited, and way too fast in its first half. But it also features two of the greatest action set pieces ive ever seen and made me cry multiple times

— Chandler misses Beyza (@chandlerVol3) May 13, 2025

This is gonna suck...

So it will end with every character they've ever put on screen showing up in time for an air and land battle against the AI villain to save the world?

This may be a post for another thread, but: Is the standard for what constitutes a good, well reviewed movie higher than it used to be? Put another way, if Final Reckoning was released 30 years ago, would everyone be saying "Holy cow, best action movie ever!"

I think that's partly true, though there's also some still amazing 25+ year old action movies (hello Matrix).

But I think the MI franchise is also a victim of its own success, these last several movies have been SO good that anything less than outstanding feels like a step down.

I love a good trainwreck, even if that's what this is.

I do not love 3 hour long movies, however.

double aught said:

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This may be a post for another thread, but: Is the standard for what constitutes a good, well reviewed movie higher than it used to be? Put another way, if Final Reckoning was released 30 years ago, would everyone be saying "Holy cow, best action movie ever!"

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From what I can gather, this one might simply be trying too hard to connect dots, tie all the movies together, tie things to Ethan's past, feel like a true culmination, etc. Even if past M:I movies were "complicated," they weren't attempting to connect basically eight stand-alone movies over 30-years into a single story, leading to one, inevitable ending. And for some people, it seems the burden of that task apparently weighs the movie down in terms of endless set-up/exposition.

I don't think it's anything more big-picture than that, re: audience trends/expectations or whatever.

That said, the 90% critic review so far is certainly encouraging.

You don't see Ving Rhames because he's monitoring the entire scene from a van parked around back. https://t.co/0IiXsASJHx

— Lon Harris (@Lons) May 14, 2025

almost everyone I know who's seen it has said "yeah, it's a gigantic mess but my god the last hour is mostly amazing" so this basically makes sense! I think there's been alarmism about the "negativity" since we aren't good with nuance now but a lot of people will enjoy this movie https://t.co/VAfRbfSIjU

— Brendan Hodges (@metaplexmovies) May 14, 2025

mission impossible fallout ends differently than i remember pic.twitter.com/uiLn6P8XMq

— Stephen Ford (@StephenSeanFord) May 17, 2025

Saw it tonight in IMAX in a packed theater. After seeing some of the tweets posted here I definitely tempered my expectations but it was still really good. M'lady, who is a very casual M:I fan, thought it was great. We also didn't notice the run time at all.

That said, I get some of the complaints though. It's far from perfect. If Fallout is a 10/10, I'd say this is somewhere in the 7.5-8/10 range (M:I2 being a -1000). I think I liked it as much or maybe slightly less than Dead Reckoning, but the action scenes in this one are absolutely bonkers and well worth the price of admission. Ultimately, I still prefer Fallout and Rogue Nation.


Spoilers below:

The good:

-Action scenes were top notch. No clue how they do some of this stuff but the final act over South Africa was both gorgeous and breathtaking. While watching, and knowing that was Tom Cruise on the plane, I genuinely cannot understand how they pull some of this stuff off. Literally heard people sighing in relief when the intensity officially ended.
-The submarine scene had the whole theatre stressing, in a good way.
-The US Navy sub commander stole ever scene he was in.
-Great chemistry amongst some of the newer members, Paris especially.
-There was a great shot when Ethan lands on the sub and the flares he fired a few moments prior fall behind him and illuminate the structure.
-Plenty of good call backs to the older films. Hilariously, M:I2s only callout was the cheesy face reveal and the doves.
-Luther's death. I love the character, but really enjoyed his tie-in to the end scene.
-The cameraman's framing during the CPR scene between Haley Atwell and Tom Cruise. You'll know what I'm talking about.

The bad:

-Almost too campy with the callbacks to old films. Had you not seen them or it's been awhile, you'd probably forgotten some of the more important plot points (M:I3 and the whole rabbit's foot was mentioned again in this film). It felt like because of that, they explained the plot almost too much, which, to me, made it seem like they overcomplicated things.
-Some of the dialogue in the government scenes were a bit corny. Nick Offerman was a honey baked ham.
-The Gabriel character wasn't a great villain IMO.
-The submarine was supposedly 500' on the ocean floor yet TC swam (almost) to the top without oxygen? I know you're supposed to stretch the imagination but that's completely unrealistic, even for this franchise.
-Wasn't the biggest fan of the whole Jim Phelps son reveal, but whatever.
-I have to assume TC is done, but I wish we'd have gotten some kind of hint as to where the team goes next.
-No Vanessa Kirby



Holy hell I had a tough time with the spoiler tags.

Awesome.

That's great to hear (without yet having read your spoiler tags, of course), and what I'm guessing/hoping most general audience reactions will be.

Thanks for the rundown.

I rewatched Dead Reckoning twice over the weekend, my first rewatch since it came out. First time I was interrupted by a phone call from my daughter, so I watched it again yesterday. There's a lot going on in that movie, and for the most part, it was good and hit all the right beats. I expect more of the same when I go to the theater on Friday.

I might not be able to make it through 2:49. What's that website that tells you the best time to take a bathroom break during a movie?

FancyKetchup14 said:

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If Fallout is a 10/10, I'd say this is somewhere in the 7.5-8/10 range (M:I2 being a -1000). I think I liked it as much or maybe slightly more than Dead Reckoning. But I would put this between that and Rogue Nation.

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Sounds about as good as I was hoping it would be. Thanks for sharing.

toucan82 said:

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I might not be able to make it through 2:49. What's that website that tells you the best time to take a bathroom break during a movie?

---

https://runpee.com/

though I believe the info is only on the app, so you gotta download it. I've used it before. Works well.

To add onto the Tom/popcorn lore: I need y’all to realize THIS is how he eats popcorn pic.twitter.com/TZ9UT3xcxb

— Seif 🇵🇸 (@seifwtf) May 19, 2025

thank you. you're doing the Lord's work

This is how I will eat popcorn when I watch it
Absolutely cannot wait to see it!!

TCTTS said:

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To add onto the Tom/popcorn lore: I need y’all to realize THIS is how he eats popcorn pic.twitter.com/TZ9UT3xcxb

— Seif 🇵🇸 (@seifwtf) May 19, 2025

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Coolest way to ever eat popcorn lol.

Thought the same thing.

Finally… tonight is the night!!!

Hell yeah. Can't wait to see some of the board's reactions here. Part of me wants to catch another showing in the coming weekends just for the third act.

I am seeing it with my family tonight and with my brother tomorrow night

I'm sure it's one that will require a second view at the theater for the spectacle (IMAX!) and the story (similar to Maverick)

We're going tomorrow night. Can't wait.

Watching tonight.