Warning: for those who haven’t seen Mission: Unattainable – The Closing Reckoning simply but, there are huge spoilers in play right here.
Whereas I’m not completely satisfied that the 2025 film schedule is the final time we’ll see Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, I’ll say that Mission: Unattainable 8 leaves the character in a formidable checkmate. You’ll be able to learn extra about that by means of my ideas on The Closing Reckoning’s definitive ending, however in reflecting on the finality of this new blockbuster, I’ve to share two issues I’m nonetheless interested by.
One topic is tied to how an enormous franchise query bought an surprising, however very satisfying reply. Which is one thing that solely highlighted one other misplaced alternative, I see as an excellent difficulty within the franchise lore. If you happen to select to simply accept, be at liberty to learn on, however for those who’re nonetheless nervous about spoilers, you may try my Mission: Unattainable – The Closing Reckoning evaluation to remain recent, whereas studying extra.
I’m so glad that the looks of Mission: Unattainable III’s Rabbit’s Foot in The Closing Reckoning teaser wasn’t only a flashback. Whereas director Christopher McQuarrie and co-writer Erik Jendresen included loads of references to the IMF’s fashionable operational historical past, we lastly know what that J.J. Abrams-directed macguffin really was. For my part, the reply didn’t disappoint, particularly after revisiting that image by means of my Paramount+ subscription.
It seems that Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) wasn’t on the lookout for a organic weapon to promote to the best bidder. Slightly, the Rabbit’s Foot’s packaging was a canopy for its true prize – the earliest code used to create The Entity. So due to Ethan Hunt making an attempt to save lots of his now ex-wife, Julia (Michelle Monaghan), the world was delivered to the brink of nuclear armageddon. Oh, the issues we do for love.
The Entity’s Origins In Mission: Unattainable III Show Ethan Hunt’s Closing Reckoning Was In Play For Some Time
What we find out about Mission: Unattainable’s Rabbit’s Foot has solely modified when it comes to the kind of risk we’re coping with. That signifies that the digital havoc of The Entity has existed, in a technique or kind, since 2006’s prototype code fell into the incorrect fingers. However yet another line of dialogue that will have slipped previous in all of the fast-paced motion hints at an excellent earlier purple flag.
As espoused by exiled coding legend William Donloe (Rolf Saxon) upon the arrival of the IMF staff led by Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), The Entity is one thing he’s been warning individuals about for a while. Whereas Donloe has been in Alaska for nearly 30 years, when precisely he began expressing these issues has by no means been pinpointed. However that will not cease me from returning to my huge Mission: Unattainable idea involving The Syndicate – one final time.
Not Tying Solomon Lane Into The Closing Mission: Unattainable Film Is A Free Thread
I get it: some reviews “presume” that Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) is useless after being turned over to MI6 on the finish of Fallout. I’m not a kind of individuals, and even when we noticed him chunk the massive one on display screen, I flip to Christopher McQuarrie’s remarks on a possible Henry Cavill return. With Lane not taking a hook to the pinnacle from a falling helicopter, the previous head of The Syndicate feels very a lot in play, and will have been the general villain in The Closing Reckoning.
The general framework of the Rabbit’s Foot and its historical past would have been a tremendous simple technique to affirm Ethan Hunt’s combat towards The Syndicate as a career-long chess sport. What’s extra, that recommended plotline would have strengthened one other legacy character’s return into one thing way more highly effective.
Eugene Kittridge Might Have Been The “Anti-God” To Ethan Hunt’s Heroic Presence
Even with out Solomon Lane’s presence in Mission: Unattainable – Lifeless Reckoning and its current sequel, The Syndicate/The Apostles’ total purpose might have been served by Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny). In his present kind, the motivations he’s pursuing appear muddled at occasions, as he each desires to own The Entity, but in addition trusts Ethan Hunt within the discipline.
However what if Kittridge was an O.G. Syndicate, utilizing that submit to affect the son of disavowed IMF agent Jim Phelps? Why else would the twist of Jasper Briggs (Shea Wigham) being revealed as Jim Phelps Jr. exist, apart from a deep reduce easter egg?
Tying into Benji’s “God/Anti-God” speak from Mission: Unattainable III, these two males would have been a extra becoming risk than the nonetheless mysterious Gabriel (Esai Morales) – a person who’d fairly die in a sick mid-air motion sequence than give us his backstory.
All Roads (Ought to) Lead Again To Ethan Hunt’s Mission: Unattainable Origin Story
Talking of backstory, we’ve to circle again round to our buddy William Donloe. Along with his surprisingly beefy function in Mission: Unattainable – The Closing Reckoning, Rolf Saxon will get to redeem one of many franchise’s strolling punchlines right into a residing/respiration character. Clearly Ethan Hunt’s Mission: Unattainable journey is one thing that does attain again to his first cinematic mission, due to Kittridge and Donloe exhibiting up once more.
Extra importantly, due to the revelation that William has been warning us about The Entity for a while now, The Syndicate play would have been even stronger. We don’t know precisely when Mission: Unattainable’s secret hero began issuing mentioned warnings, however since he’s been residing in Alaska for the previous 30 years, it just about butts as much as this cinematic origin story.
I nonetheless very a lot get pleasure from Mission: Unattainable – The Closing Reckoning, because the story principally ties issues up for Ethan Hunt in a approach that he by no means wants to point out up once more. However with that mentioned, I’m nonetheless type of sore that all the constructing blocks to this gorgeous superior story arc have been there – they simply weren’t woven collectively in a approach that might have delivered a grand espionage-fueled finale.
However be at liberty to both try The Closing Reckoning once more, or for the primary time, to be able to try to show me incorrect. Because the movie is presently in theaters, the virtually three-hour image has a lot extra pleasure and twists to dig into.