Flying High on the Fountain of Youth

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning | Director: Christopher McQuarrie | Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell

He can hang from a glider, dive under­water, fly off buildings and generally put himself on the line to save the world. Tom Cruise has been doing so since 1996 as Ethan Hunt. Yet as one surveyed the packed hall on the first day of the release of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and the collective gasps every time Cruise did something daring, it was clear his star is undimmed. The plot is simple enough: the world is ending, with eight nuclear ready nations ready to launch their weapons thanks to an AI anti-hero. In case anyone has doubts about the ethnicity of the nuclear nations, their missiles have their flags etched on them (causing random, wild cheering in the hall when India’s tricolour appears). Anyway, after a natty diplomatic party, an underwater subma­rine wreck, a Doomsday vault powered by the sun, and two gliders flying high over mountains, there is a silent goodbye at Trafalgar Square, which appeared in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023). There are several Easter eggs and clips from Mission: Impossible’s past, which require the viewer to keep up, but there is only one thing that keeps this franchise afloat—I am still not sure it has ended—and that is Cruise and his unstoppable enthusiasm to entertain. He is an ageless 62, and the world has seen him grow from Cocktail boy to serious actor to global star, and loves him for it.

Christopher McQuarrieHayley AtwellMission: Impossible – The Final ReckoningTom Cruise