Culture catch-up: The Mission: Impossible special - Is 'The Final Reckoning' Tom Cruise's best yet? - video Dailymotion

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Culture catch-up: The Mission: Impossible special - Is 'The Final Reckoning' Tom Cruise's best yet?  In this week’s Cultural catch-up, we dive into the high-octane world of Mission: Impossible - breaking down the franchise’s legacy, where 'The Final Reckoning' lands in the rankings, and what’s next for Tom Cruise.   READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/05/24/culture-catch-up-the-mission-impossible-special-is-the-final-reckoning-tom-cruises-best-ye  Spark your senses, wake your wonder. Euronews Culture seeks to show creativity in action and inspire our audience to explore the world through the five senses. Start your journey through the best of Europe's arts, gastronomy, traditions and high-end craftsmanship.

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00:00do do do do do do do do do do do do do do well welcome to this week's special edition of

00:13our cultural catch-up and we're concentrating on the massive franchise which is mission impossible

00:19joining me is my special covert spy david morricand you know i know what you've been

00:25doing behind you i know what you've been doing behind that desk you've been secretly looking

00:29at the history of this franchise which has been going on for now 30 years just you must have

00:34started like watching the first one with that thumb in your mouth david uh well not quite but

00:39nearly um so yeah no i've i've before the the release of uh final reckoning i did put myself

00:46through more than 900 minutes of the whole franchise i re-watched the whole thing from

00:501996 uh mission impossible by brian de palma all the way to 2023's uh dead reckoning part one

00:58and it is a special franchise to the extent that it has bucked the franchise trend it's one of these

01:06kind of series of films that is this almost blockbuster anomaly to the extent that ever

01:11since its beginning it's gone from strength to strength as opposed to several other series where

01:16there are dips now granted mission impossible 2 the john woo film was a little bit of a of a

01:22disappointment but if you hire john woo you get a john woo film certainly do lots of dubs yeah

01:27dubs flying everywhere where they should be singed pigeons instead but for some reason they're impervious

01:32to fire and and essentially this is like a franchise that has over the years over three decades really

01:39kind of not faced many diminishing returns except in 2023 with dead reckoning part one which we saw

01:48together and it was bloated it was weirdly underwhelming yeah and it represented a little

01:56bit of a for me at least a bit of a franchise load it was memorable for perhaps all the wrong reasons i

02:02would say yeah and and this is the thing now we come to the final reckoning it was originally supposed

02:07to be dead reckoning part two they've renamed it as the final reckoning and it has been billed as

02:13the final installment of mission impossible where ethan comes back and finishes off the story that

02:21started with dead reckoning part one so you know you've seen it and i know you've looked at all the

02:26french all each one in the franchise very very carefully so how does this one rate compared with the

02:34rest rock bottom

02:36i need you to trust me one last time it is all over the shop it's an absolute mess of the film and it

02:52gives me absolutely no pleasure to say that because like i said i really enjoy the way that directors

02:58over the years have put their individual stamp on the film so you had brian de palma doing an espionage

03:03film then you had john woo and it went all over the shop as well but it was deliriously entertaining

03:08it was a very kind of early 2000s films loads of shiny leather jackets shades you know explosions in

03:15the background and then then you had jj abrams coming in and kind of giving it a little bit of a

03:20of a reboot or a rejuvenation brad bird afterwards for ghost protocol which was a fantastic adventure

03:26and then you had christopher mcquarie who came in and who really kind of tweaked the formula

03:31and got it to where it needed to be with rogue nation and fallout which in my mind is the franchise

03:39high in 2018 and now you have the final reckoning which suffers from the same problems as dead

03:47reckoning which is very exposition heavy it's very clumsy the script is just all over the shop so

03:55essentially you you you pick up where it left off where there is the entity this um ai parasite

04:03which distorts the truth which sows seeds of division stokes fear if we want to bring the world

04:13back from the break we have to deal with him should we choose to accept

04:18really the concept is excellent because it does speak to a time it does speak to kind of

04:27very very topical fears and at the beginning of um the final reckoning we hear about fanatics

04:33who are pledging their devotion to their digital overlord and you're like brilliant go with that go with

04:40truth distortion with post-truth with governments being divided and but no instead it it completely

04:48throws everything at the at the at the script and essentially the gaping digital sphincter that is

04:56the entity is both doomsayer um manipulator of doomsday and essentially is you have 72 hours to save

05:06the world from complete nuclear annihilation and this is the franchise forgetting what makes it so good

05:15at the beginning which is espionage films but you know obviously which is you know some of the action

05:22some of the stunts some of the states are completely ludicrous but you could suspend your disbelief

05:28because it was so deliriously entertaining

05:29there is a lunatic reliance on flashbacks you get these little snippets of the previous films

05:48because this film has been built of as it's all led up to this but it hasn't it almost retcons

05:56and and tries to kind of link the previous films to this one and you're just like why there's

06:02absolutely no need to do so but in doing that it really kind of puts the character of ethan hunt

06:09at the center and and mythologizes him there's there's dialogue cringeworthy dialogue that says

06:16you know oh it's been 35 years mr hunt you were always the best of men in the worst of times

06:22you you are the chosen one that is a line in the film and you're just like i'm not watching a mission

06:27impossible film it's it's it's i'm stuck in the matrix there's you know now ethan hunt is no longer

06:33a special agent for the imf it's it's a messianic figure and and it's so dull because the the first

06:42half of the film is like peddling through hummus because there is so much exposition it is it is so

06:49deadly just contrived and the worst part is with all these flashbacks and in the final reckoning

06:56is every time i saw like snippets from the previous film i was like that was good that was a really

07:02really good film that was fun and it just reminded me of films that i would rather watch as opposed to

07:08be stuck in the final reckoning and another problem that it it retains from dead reckoning part one

07:15is not only very very clumsy dialogue and a bloated script but also just characters i mean

07:22the cast do admirably well they are really really good they're giving it socks but there's there's a

07:28problem is that the villain played by a sign morales who plays a character called gabriel is so

07:33underwhelming he's he's a charisma vacuum in this and and he was that in dead reckoning part one and in

07:41the final reckoning it's the same thing and and a film especially an action thriller is only as good

07:46as its villain and when you've had in previous films philip seymour hoffman in mission impossible 3

07:52um sean harris in um rogue nation and fallout who were fantastic villains and and and you know gave

08:00the the the series a sense of menace here you're just like okay you're a silver fox in a plane

08:08good for you what exactly is your plan

08:13it came to the point i was so bored by this film that at one point there's another useless callback

08:29from the first film um which leads us to this isolated cabin and this cabin is gorgeous

08:36it's got wooden beams it's got fantastic shelving there's books everywhere there's a little

08:42fireplace and this place because of the narrative i won't spoil it just well i will spoil it goes up

08:48in flames at one point and i was so just uninterested in this bloated narrative that i was just like what

08:56about the cabin what what what what what happens to the cabin these two people were living their lives

09:01you know their best lives in an absolute gorgeous chalet and you're just like you've ruined it for

09:06them what about the cabin tom cruise doing what he can for said designers around the world i mean it's

09:13not his fault he does he tom cruise as per usual is is great he does he does the stunts and there are

09:20plenty of really really good stunts in this as per the the rest of the franchise but even they feel

09:26bizarrely a little bit over underwhelming i i just i i was bored tokes to be bored in a mission

09:32impossible film i mean that it's unforgivable sounds incredible and you're making it sound like a real

09:38snore fest and where does this therefore if this is like at the bottom of the the mission impossible

09:44rankings you know what does this say about the future of the franchise you know tom cruise has you

09:49know it's been they've been questioned so many times about the future could could you see him

09:56coming back it's an interesting question i mean in recent interviews he said you know he's been a bit

10:01cagey obviously because because it's billed as the final reckoning it's a little bit of a marketing

10:05campaign to say this is the last one it's all been leading up to this if you enjoyed the previous ones

10:10you have to see this one and and really for me no you don't have to see this one you you for me

10:17the franchise high was 2018 fallout and even that had just a better ending to answer your question

10:24this feels like it could be the last one it is purely because it's it you can't top the stakes

10:32nuclear annihilation you again it felt like a michael bay film it felt at times like even a film directed

10:39by mcg which is possibly the lowest compliment i can pay anything because this has absolutely gone to

10:46a whole other level it's just no you you stop it there it's done but really realistically what

10:55they're going to do is wait a few years and reboot the franchise and the only way they they can do this

11:02is by going back to the espionage routes with you know a new team maybe tom cruise coming back as this

11:09kind of elder spy who who who plays the the the father figure to is there is there an heir apparent

11:16within the films well not really at first it was going to be uh jeremy renner uh who came i think

11:22in ghost protocol and who was uh in in in the latter films but here he's completely absent and and no

11:29there isn't and and in this case there shouldn't be it should be a brand new team tom cruise will

11:34probably come back as the jim phelps kind of character for this new team in a few years time

11:39so there is that but the the issue is and this is a mild spoiler it has to be said is that final

11:45reckoning just really lacks the conviction of its beliefs if it's all been leading up to this and we

11:52mentioned the bond franchise that under daniel craig it the the last bond film no time to die

11:59did this spectacular thing of let's kill off james bond it's never been done before a bold move a very

12:06bold move and it kind of worked and and the thing is is that here there is a sequence in this film

12:11again mild spoiler is that at one point a parachute malfunctions and you're just like ah this is it

12:18he's gonna fall to his death and his last moment is to put the flingamajig in the thingamibob

12:24and and and save the world you know just at the last moment and then splat but no he he shows up

12:32at the end everything's fine he's you know they've trapped the the the ai in a little glowing box and

12:39it's just like well yeah isn't tom cruise isn't ethan hunt great and and yeah so it does leave the

12:45door open a little bit depressingly so but it has to be said this series of films the the the mission

12:52impossible ip needs the pants down spanking that jason born and mission impossible ironically enough

12:59gave the bond franchise to basically just go you've gone over the deep end lads you can't just have you

13:06know pierce brosnan kind of kite surfing over a digital wave you can't have tom cruise just you

13:11know miraculously surviving being in the mariana trench and then you know no consequences at all here

13:17you need to go back to something that is rooted in something that is believable and then stretch

13:23credibility but because it is rooted in real stakes you feel something i felt nothing here okay well

13:31mission impossible seems to be a flop you've made that very clear david uh our super spy uh taking that

13:37mission on see us out right this video will self-destruct in five seconds

Culture catch-up: The Mission: Impossible special - Is 'The Final Reckoning' Tom Cruise's best yet?

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