The first Mission: Impossible movie hit theaters in 1996, making the franchise one of the longest-running in history. At the start, the films feel like a lot of other early 2000s action projects, featuring CGI that doesn’t hold up after a few years and cringeworthy dialogue. However, over the last several installments, Tom Cruise’s mission has been to reinvent Mission: Impossible into a series that goes bigger and bolder every time. And all that hard work pays off in a big way in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which sees Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team go up against their toughest foe yet in a heart-pounding adventure.
The Final Reckoning really feels like the end because the stakes are just that high, meaning there’s no way to continue the franchise without completely retooling things. Well, an oversight in the eighth Mission: Impossible movie may be just what the doctor ordered, as it opens the door for a reboot that could supply another set of action-packed films.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
The Final Reckoning Ends One Story but May Kickstart Another
After barely escaping the events of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Ethan goes into hiding while figuring out a way to fight back against the Entity, an AI program that’s terrorizing cyberspace. The world doesn’t have much time, though, because the Entity is gaining access to nuclear missiles all over the world and plans to launch them to raze the Earth. Ethan returns to the field and meets up with Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames), who have been working on learning as much as they can about the Entity and creating technology to destroy it.
The group’s plan is to use Gabriel (Esai Morales) to get them close to the Entity, and while he’s willing to play their game initially, he has ulterior motives. He kills Luther and forces Ethan to steal the Entity’s source code. Ethan gets the job done and meets up with Gabriel in South Africa, but he’s not planning on letting the villain escape alive. Gabriel taunts Ethan about killing Luther when he gets his hands on both the source code and the poison pill, and all it takes is that extra nudge to send the spy into overdrive. He catches up to Gabriel, bests him in a dogfight, and saves the world by helping the rest of his team trap the Entity. However, at no point during the conflict does Ethan mention Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), the MI6 agent whom Gabriel kills in Dead Reckoning.
Ilsa’s death should motivate Ethan as much as Luther’s, especially because the Entity is the reason she dies, throwing Ethan off her scent at the very last moment. But The Final Reckoning doesn’t mention her at all outside of a brief reference to her death scene during a montage. While that could just be the movie deciding it’s got enough going on, there are always other options to consider in a world full of spies and espionage.
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Ilsa Faust Could Lead the Mission: Impossible Reboot
Throughout The Final Reckoning, President Sloane and others tease that taking the Entity offline could have major repercussions. While there don’t seem to be that many when Ethan and his team meet up one final time, that doesn’t mean the world is now all sunshine and rainbows. There are still members of the Entity’s cult to deal with, and if Ethan isn’t all that broken up about Ilsa, it’s possible she’s still out there, ready to take on the new threats the Earth is facing.
A “reboot” of sorts could see Ilsa build her own team of spies and continue Ethan’s mission of ensuring peace. Other characters from the franchise, such as Paris (Pom Klementieff), who has plenty of experience with the Entity and what it can do to people, may also have a role to play. The Final Reckoning certainly acts as a swan song for Ethan, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the fantastical world he’s part of has to retire with him.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is in theaters now.
Were you surprised Ilsa Faust wasn’t mentioned in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning? Do you think she could lead a reboot? Let us know in the comments below!
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