Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is in cinemas now, but we’ve noticed a plot point that potentially spoils the end of both the movie, and the franchise.
If long-standing rumors – and the film’s title – are to be believed, The Final Reckoning is the end of the Mission: Impossible franchise. And if that isn’t the case, it’s almost certainly the last time we’ll see Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt.
But the world’s biggest movie star is going out with a bang, as we wrote in our Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning review that “Cruise has raised the stakes for action, emotion, and impeccable storytelling, and no Mission: Impossible fan will walk away from the farewell feeling hard done by.”
Though while the series ends in emotional fashion, we clocked something early in the movie, that could change how everything that happens after is viewed. MAJOR SPOILERS ahead…
How The Entity wins at the end of Mission: Impossible 8
The Entity is the overarching villain in Dead Reckoning and The Final Reckoning.
Ethan Hunt defeats The Entity at the end of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, but the conclusion is a little too neat, and that’s got us thinking that maybe his AI opponent ultimately got the upper hand.
During the movie’s finale, Ethan survives a spectacular battle in the sky, as well as his parachute burning up as he tumbles to the ground. During that fall, Hunt fuses the Podkova with the Poison Pill, Grace ejects the 5D drive at just the right time, and BOOM, The Entity is trapped.
Ethan makes up with Kittridge and Briggs, then heads for Trafalgar Square, where he shares a moment with Grace, Paris, Degas, and Benji, before the credits roll with nuclear war averted and the world saved.
But what if none of that was real? Throughout the movie, characters talk about living in The Entity’s “reality.” While early in the narrative, Ethan steps into the AI’s pod, dons the Entity’s head-gear, and receives a vision of what’s to come.
What if that vision didn’t end, and the rest of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is an alternate reality that The Entity is broadcasting in Hunt’s head?
Ethan Hunt’s new reality is our Final Reckoning
What if Ethan Hunt is still asleep?
Moments after entering the pod, Ethan is retrieved by his friends, and asks, “Is this real?” as he touches them to prove they actually exist. The team assures Hunt he’s back in the real world, but we have no evidence of that beyond their words, meaning everything from here-on-in could be illusion; a fantasy playing in Ethan Hunt’s mind, to keep him occupied while The Entity does its worst.
The story couldn’t be too perfect either, for fear Ethan would smell a rat, and realise he’s in a virtual world. To counter that The Entity adds a spot of tragedy to maintain credibility. So someone close to Ethan dies, as during impossible missions, someone close to Ethan always dies. In this case, the unfortunate (apparent) victim is Luther.
The Entity writes them a tearful farewell, and Luther bows out with an act of bravery that inspires Hunt, motivating him to save the day. But the death could also be an invention to keep Ethan convinced that what he’s experiencing is real.
So while the end of the movie is Ethan smiling at his colleagues before heading off into the London night, the real conclusion could be a hard cut to them standing around that pod, trying to wake Hunt from the dream designed for him, while The Entity wins, and nuclear bombs drop all around.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is in cinemas now. For similar fare, check out our list of the best spy movies and the best action movies ever made. While you can also keep tabs on what’s coming out this year with our 2025 movie calendar.
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