Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoninghas arrived, and it’s a fitting conclusion for this long-running action franchise. The movie feels like a very holistic celebration of the series as a whole, as it could be Tom Cruise’s final one as Ethan Hunt. His IMF agent goes on a dangerous mission to try and stop The Entity and Gabriel, and it all culminates withMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning’s endingdelivering plenty of thrills.
Potentially wrapping up the franchise means there are many subtle Easter eggs and major story connections that expertly connect with the sequels that preceded it. TheMission: Impossiblemovieshave never been too heavy-handed with their connections to past films, focusing more on recurring characters and vaguely building on the legendary missions Ethan and his IMF team have accomplished.The Final Reckoningtakes a slightly different approach, including literally showing viewers familiar moments.
9The Entity Cycles Through Mission: Impossible’s History
A Montage Of The Previous Seven Movies Kicks Off This Chapter
The very beginning ofMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoningis loaded with franchise callbacks, as The Entity flashes dozens, if not hundreds, of glimpses at the franchise across the screen. It’s too difficult to run through every single scene that’s shown, but the montage practically includes every significant, iconic moment from the franchise. The montage helps set the tone for the next nearly three hours and how it reuses old footage to let viewers see prior moments as they’re discussed.
In addition to showing scenes and even reusing some old dialogue as voice-overs, this sequence also runs through several characters who have been part of Ethan’s life. Major characters like Luther, Benji, Ilsa, and Julia are all seen. The Entity also shows Max from the first movie and Alanna, her daughter, from the previous two installments. Other one-off characters in the series, like Jane Carter and Lindsey Farris, are shown too. It’ll take a frame-by-frame breakdown ofThe Final Reckoninglater on to call out every scene and character featured here.
8The Rabbit’s Foot
The Events Of Mission: Impossible III Make An Important Comeback
Perhaps the most powerful revelation inThe Final Reckoningis that Ethan is directly responsible for the creation of the Entity through his actions inMission: Impossible 3. That movie follows Ethan’s hunt for the mysterious Rabbit’s Foot, a dangerous weapon thought to contain some kind of biological or chemical that could end the world. On multiple occasions,Ethan calls it “the Anti-God”,and that religious imagery comes back inThe Final Reckoningwhen it’s revealed that the Rabbit’s Foot was a primitive AI that ultimately helped develop the Entity.
This subtly explains the religious imagery that’s associated with the Entity (such as its cruciform key and the “acolytes” who worship it), tying it back to Ethan’s concept of the Anti-God and proving that everything in this whole franchise is connected. It’s a very cyclical revelation thatbrings everything from the previous movies together, giving Ethan a much stronger bond with the Entity and onloading him with guilt surrounding its creation.
7Owen Davian & Julia
Mission: Impossible 3’s Story Is Called Out
There’s also another very direct reference toMission: Impossible IIIwhen Gabriel begins talking about the film’s villain, Owen Davian, and Ethan’s then-wife, Julia. Gabriel uses them both as a way to taunt Ethan while he and Grace are captured. The Entity’s former chosen one reminds Ethan of how Davian used the threat of harming someone he cared for to coerce him into doing something he didn’t want to. InMission: Impossible 3, Davian kidnaps Julia and threatens to kill her if Ethan doesn’t bring him the Rabbit’s Foot.
ForThe Final Reckoning, Gabriel wants to replicate a successful villain plot. He threatens to kill Grace if Ethan doesn’t bring him a hard drive that will help him control the Entity. Unfortunately for Gabriel, things don’t go according to his plan.
Image via Paramount Pictures
There are several new additions tothe cast ofThe Final Reckoning, but the film also brings back a few memorable characters from earlier in the franchise. One of these is William Donloe, the CIA agent who inadvertently lost his job after Ethan broke into Langley in 1996’sMission: Impossible. Though he was only a minor character in the first movie,The Final Reckoninggives him plenty more to doand proves that he’s just as brave and noble as Hunt’s other colleagues.
This ties back to Donloe’s fate in the originalMission: Impossible, as he was sent away from Langley for mishandling the break-in.
Grace, Benji, and Paris encounter Donloe after traveling to a research center in the remote arctic to discover the coordinates of the ruined Sevastopol submarine fromDead Reckoning. This ties back to Donloe’s fate in the originalMission: Impossible, as he was sent away from Langley for mishandling the break-in.It clearly wasn’t planned way back in 1996,but it’s such subtle writing that it makes complete sense.
5Briggs’ True Identity
Shea Whigham’s Character Has A Shocking Secret
While the return of William Donloe and the presence of the Rabbit’s Foot were both teased inThe Final Reckoning’s trailers, one major twist thatwasn’thinted at is the true identity of Shea Whigham’s character, Jasper Briggs. In atense moment between Ethan Hunt and Briggs, it’s confirmed thatBriggs is actually the son of Jim Phelps- Jon Voight’s character from the originalMission: Impossible.
While this seems like nothing more than a fun Easter egg on the surface, it’s actually a very smart character decision that adds a whole new layer to the conflict between Hunt and Briggs.They’re not just adversaries because of their existing allegiances, but rather because of the past rivalry between Hunt and Briggs’ father. This subtly explains why Briggs was so eager to fight against Hunt inDead Reckoning, and it makes their reluctant alliance inThe Final Reckoningeven more potent.
4Ethan’s CIA Briefing
The Final Reckoning Includes A Fun Recap Of Hunt’s Previous Crimes
After Ethan hands himself into the CIA and gives up the cruciform key at the beginning ofThe Final Reckoning, Holt McCallany’s Secretary of Defence reads a list of crimes that have been leveled against the IMF agent in the past. He starts off by referencing the“CIA black vault break-in”,which is a key event in Brian de Palma’s originalMission: Impossiblemovie, before mentioning an explosion at the Kremlin and an infiltration of a CIA security briefing.
The Kremlin bombing refers to the explosive first act ofGhost Protocol, when Ethan and Benji’s infiltration of the Kremlin is intercepted by Kurt Hendricks and the IMF is falsely blamed for the event. The security briefing infiltration references the beginning ofDead Reckoning, when Ethan works his way into Kittridge’s inner circle by posing as a member of security.These are two of Ethan’s most dangerous and, more importantly, mostillegalactionsthroughout theMission: Impossiblefranchise, so it makes sense that the CIA would still hold a grudge.
3Donloe Returns Ethan’s Knife
The Knife Represents Hunt’s Past
Another small moment inThe Final Reckoningthat plays out in a hugely rewarding way is the dynamic between Ethan and Donloe. As they’re traveling to South Africa to meet with Gabriel and deplete the Entity’s grasp over the world’s nuclear forces, the pair share a heartfelt moment in whichDonloe forgives Ethan for the Langley heistbecause, without it, he never would have met the woman that he loves. He gifts Ethan a knife as a symbol of forgiveness; this is the very same knife that Ethan left behind during the heist.
Mission: Impossibleis typically known for its high-risk stuntsand high-speed action scenes, butThe Final Reckoningreally makes an effort to focus on the smaller, character-driven momentsin the story. This moment between Ethan and Donloe is a perfect example of that, giving the two characters closure through the silent (but very symbolic) gesture of Donloe returning Ethan’s knife. It’s a very fun Easter egg that rewards long-time fans of the franchise, but it also represents Ethan’s story coming full-circle in its final moments.
2“Phineas Freak”
Luther References His Old Nickname In His Final Moments
It’s a much less noticeable callback, but Luther calling himself Phineas Freak in his final moments is one ofThe Final Reckoning’s most emotional lines. Ethan Hunt referred to Luther as Phineas Freak during their very first meeting in 1996’sMission: Impossiblebecause of his reputation as the only person to hack NATO Ghostcom. It’s this reputation that drew Ethan to Luther in the first place, and by evoking the same nickname inThe Final Reckoning,Luther is subtly reminding Ethan of the many years they’ve spent together- while assuring his friend that he’s perfectly capable of defusing the bomb.
The friendship between Ethan and Luther has been one of the few constants of theMission: Impossiblefranchise since the very beginning, and whileLuther was always a likely candidate to die inThe Final Reckoning,that didn’t make his sacrifice any easier to deal with. However, the fact that he still maintained his sense of humor in those final moments proves that Luther had no problem laying down his life for the people he loves - a key theme that runs throughoutThe Final Reckoning.
Another very small detail that only the keenest eyes will have noticed inThe Final Reckoningis the date President Sloane’s letter to her old friend: July 20, 2025. While it’s explained in-universe as the date of an important tragedy that Sloane uses to convince the naval captain to give Hunt what he wants, the date has a much broader significance in that it’s the dateMission: Impossiblefirst opened in theatres.
It’s a small detail that doesn’t really affect the plot (as it’s unlikely that Sloane’s event had anything to do with that original story), but it subtly reaffirmsMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning’srecurring themes of full-circle storytelling and our lives being the sum of our choices.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
Cast
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning follows Ethan Hunt and his team as they pursue a formidable AI called the Entity that has compromised global intelligence networks. With new allies and a haunting figure from Hunt’s past in pursuit, they must act quickly to avert a global catastrophe.
