Tom Cruise on the set of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

There are no post-credits scenes in the Mission: Impossible movies. There easily could be. Audiences are now conditioned for them, thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And since there’s always another impossible mission right around the corner, a post-credits teaser would be an easy way to signal what’s coming next and keep audiences speculating during the years-long wait between entries.

Instead, each Mission: Impossible film feels like a stand-alone adventure. There’s no homework you need to do before heading to the latest movie. No need to rewatch the previous story or read up on some forgotten character who’s about to make a cameo. For over three decades, the franchise resisted the seemingly irresistible trend of the cinematic universe and its trademark post-credits teaser.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, from writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, still doesn’t have a post-credits scene, but in almost every other way, it feels like the mediocre byproduct of an overextended cinematic universe.

This is a movie that expects you to be deeply familiar with the entire franchise, from forgotten minor characters to decades-old MacGuffins. The result is perhaps the most disappointing instalment in the Mission: Impossible franchise so far, even if its breathtaking final act is enough to redeem The Final Reckoning from failure.

Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt, Pom Klementieff plays Paris, Greg Tarzan Davis plays Degas, Simon Pegg plays Benji Dunn and Hayley Atwell plays Grace in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

The plot of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is so unimportant and nonsensical that it’s barely worth explaining. Here are the broadest of strokes: a sentient artificial intelligence called The Entity (established in

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