Tom Cruise gives Cannes another thrill with latest ‘Mission: Impossible’

By Tom Page, CNN

(CNN) — Tom Cruise was last at Cannes in 2022, when the film festival gave him an honorary Palme d’Or and, in return, got one of the last bona fide Hollywood stars to grace their red carpet as he launched “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Fighter jets swooped overhead, and Cruise, who hadn’t been to the festival in 30 years at that point, flashed that megawatt smile. Before you knew it, “Maverick” soared past one billion dollars at the box office.

Which needed the other more – the festival or the star? It doesn’t matter, the formula worked so well they commissioned a sequel to the whole spectacle.

On Wednesday night, Cruise ascended the steps of the Palais de Festivals once more for the gala premiere of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” As the cast assembled on the red carpet, an orchestra struck up a live rendition of Lalo Schifrin’s theme tune, Cruise flashed that smile and… well, as Jerry Maguire once said, “Show me the money.”

The film, which leans heavy on the franchise’s three-decade legacy, played well with the audience. Inside the Grand Theatre Lumiere, there was sporadic applause throughout for Cruise’s spy Ethan Hunt, series regulars Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames and newer recruits including Hayley Atwell.

Prolonged applause during the credits gave way to some words by director Christopher McQuarrie, who recalled being “one of those kids who didn’t quite fit in” when he was growing up.

“A lot of my life was imaginative play. I got to grow up and have my very own action figure, who was actually willing to do just about any crazy thing I could think of,” he said, gesturing to Cruise.

“I’m grateful for your support, your friendship, your insanely unquestioning devotion to this craft, and most of all for your artistry,” McQuarrie, a four-time director in the “Mission” franchise, added.

Cruise for his part noted McQuarrie’s expansion of the franchise’s ambitions while looking forward to making “a bunch of other kinds of movies” with the director.

The comment further muddies the picture of whether this is the final “Mission: Impossible” film. It was unclear from the film’s marketing if that were the case, and it remains unanswered even after watching all 165 minutes of the movie.

Shot in the UK, South Africa and Svalbard in the Arctic, “Final Reckoning” picks up where 2023’s “Dead Reckoning” left off, with Cruise’s Hunt pursuing the destruction of pervasive AI enemy The Entity. The stakes, already high, are ratcheted up significantly; arguably, Hunt and co. have never faced a graver scenario.

An exposition-heavy opening third, prone to repetition, offers a wobbly scaffolding on which Cruise and McQuarrie hang some truly spectacular set pieces. If the film spent less time worrying about explaining itself – or drifting into a reflective, sometimes somber mood – it might be more straightforward and more fun.

That said, when Cruise is firing all cylinders, in the well-advertised acrobatic biplane scene, and a nightmare-fuel deep sea diving sequence, he’s a marvel to behold.

The actor has long been in a category of one when it comes to his on-screen pursuits, and this is no different. It’s no easy task for a director to keep up with Cruise, but McQuarrie does admirable and inventive work, and wisely lets the action do the talking when the film is at its best.

Despite the positive notices at Cannes, “Final Reckoning” will face stiffer headwinds than Cruise hanging off the side of an airplane to reach profitability. The film reportedly cost around $400 million, and studio Paramount will no doubt be nervous given “Dead Reckoning” relatively underperformed. The 2023 film, originally billed as “Dead Reckoning – Part One,” grossed $571 million worldwide – down from the franchise’s peak of $792 million for “Fallout” in 2018 – although it was faced with the box office tidal wave of “Barbenheimer” shortly after its release, something the latest movie has steered clear of.

Will “Final Reckoning” be a critical and commercial slam dunk like “Maverick”? Paramount will care more than Cannes and more than McQuarrie. The festival got its star, and the director got to play with his action figure once more.

“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14 ahead of its release in cinemas from May 23.

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