How ‘Mission: Impossible’ Is Saving Cinema

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning may look like yet another action film where Tom Cruise performs a bunch of crazy stunts for the amusement of moviegoing audiences everywhere. But dig a little deeper and you’ll see that its storyline, where Cruise’s super spy Ethan Hunt attempts take down a rogue AI known as the Entity, is about a lot more than the biggest possible set pieces. It’s all one elaborate allegory for Cruise’s mission to save the big-screen experience and old-school practical effects from a world of streaming and computer generated images.

That’s what our latest Mission: Impossible video is all about. We break down the plot, the ending, the Easter eggs, the secrets of The Final Reckoning, and explain what this film got right and wrong, and why it is the right finale for this long-running blockbuster franchise and its mission preserve the theatrical world. Watch our full breakdown video below:

If you liked that video on The Final Reckoning and how the film could save cinema, check out more of our videos below, including one on recapping the entire Mission: Impossible franchise, a video full of trivia about the Mission: Impossible series, and one on all of the wildest stunts in the Mission saga that nearly killed Tom Cruise. Plus, there’s tons more videos over at ScreenCrush’s YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to catch all our future episodes. Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is now playing in theaters everywhere.

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Every Mission: Impossible Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best

From the original Mission: Impossible in 1996 through The Final Reckoning in 2025, here are the eight Mission movies, ranked from worst (which is still pretty decent) to the best (which is one of the all-time great action films).