One Last Mission

Are we ready to say goodbye to Ethan Hunt next month?

The cinematic week began most spectacularly with the release of the official trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which was confirmed about 24 hours later to be celebrating its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 13, ahead of its theatrical debut a few days later.

The eighth installment in the film series based on the TV show created by Bruce Geller, The Final Reckoning is assumed to be the final chapter at least as far as Ethan Hunt is concerned, ending his story after almost three decades. This was very much the intention when Missions 7 and 8 were originally announced back in January 2019, although franchise protagonist and producer Tom Cruise has since downplayed that aspect.

And yet, the title is clearly indicative of a certain finality, as is the scene that concludes both trailers released for the new movie: Ethan, addressing his team, delivers the line “I need you to trust me, one last time.” In the teaser, that was his sole piece of dialogue, lending additional weight to the marketing of what is one of the most anticipated films of the year. Not least because Cruise, one of the last true movie stars in the traditional sense of the term (more on that here), is also saying that to the audience.

It's easy to forget now in the era of massive IP dominating box office charts, but there was a time when the right actor made a noticeable difference in terms of a film’s commercial performance, and Cruise was a textbook example of that: from 1992 to 2006, every single movie where he played the lead grossed at least 100 million dollars in the US alone. Ironically, that streak ended with Mission: Impossible III, whose underperformance compared to the previous two entries in the series led to a temporary break-up between the actor/producer and Paramount Pictures.

Such was Cruise’s clout in the ‘90s that, by his own admission, Brian De Palma agreed to direct the first Mission: Impossible because he was in dire need of a commercial hit, and a movie starring Cruise was a sure thing at the time. Less than 20 years later, that was no longer quite the case, as even the star of such successes as The Firm and Jerry Maguiresuccumbed to being largely dependent on a massive franchise or two to stay financially relevant. Not that his other movies weren’t successful, for the most part – they just didn’t draw the same crowds as when he reprised the role of Ethan or, in 2022’s Top Gun sequel, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

Then, in 2023, came Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (originally subtitled Part One, although that bit has since been amended on streaming services after the title change for the follow-up movie). Although it was the tenth highest-grossing film of the year, its 571 million dollar tally worldwide was a step down from the sixth installment’s 791 million. It was also a disappointment in light of a budget of almost 300 million dollars, although that figure requires an asterisk due to production circumstances, with multiple Covid-related shutdowns during which Cruise insisted everybody keep getting paid.

That it didn’t do as well as one would have expected is also darkly amusing given the metatextual elements of the film, an ideal companion piece to the juggernaut that was Top Gun: Maverick: the former was about the importance of the human element in a military industrial complex dominated by drone technology, while Dead Reckoning pits Hunt and his team against their most formidable foe to date, a massively powerful artificial intelligence known simply as the Entity. In other words, it’s Cruise asserting his continued relevance in a world that is more or less deliberately trying to move on from the likes of him.

That The Final Reckoning will debut in the Grand Théâtre Lumière in Cannes is also a testament to the actor’s unrelenting commitment to the theatrical experience, which reached its highest point in 2022: after keeping Maverick safely tucked away in a vault for two years because of the pandemic, Cruise also made sure the theatrical-to-streaming window was longer than usual – the movie came out in May, and didn’t hit Paramount+ until late December. Dead Reckoning had a slightly shorter timeframe, but still in excess of the customary 90 days (theatrical debut in July 2023, Paramount+ in January 2024).

Ethan Hunt is asking us to trust him one last time, but for Cruise, the battle against a changed film industry remains ongoing. It’s perhaps best encapsulated in one of the key scenes in the Top Gun sequel, as Maverick is leaving after a tense exchange with drone advocate Rear Admiral Chester Cain (Ed Harris). “Your kind is headed for extinction”, Cain says matter-of-factly. Maverick replies, “Maybe so, sir. But not today.” That is one mission Cruise will never choose to accept.