“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” isn’t set to premiere until May 23, but some critics have already caught a glimpse and are sharing their early thoughts online. With a hefty burden to bear, this film is under the spotlight as Looper anticipates it might turn into one of 2025’s largest box office flops, largely due to its enormous $400 million budget. Audiences might also have to come to terms with the movie potentially being a notch lower in quality compared to franchise peaks like “Fallout” and “Dead Reckoning Part One.”

Here’s the silver lining: the action sequences seem to deliver as promised, according to reactions surfacing on X. Jake Hamilton from ReelBlend shared, “First time I’ve cried in the series. Plane sequence is one of cinema’s greatest stunts. I loved it.” Similarly, Erik Davis from Fandango lauded the film’s grand, awe-inspiring moments, saying, “Two of my favorite all-time Mission action scenes are in this film – one plays like a horror movie and one took my breath away.”

This theme runs consistently through all “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” reactions. Daring stunts are a staple in any Tom Cruise film, as the superstar seems set on continuously seeking new risky challenges. With the film bearing the subtitle “The Final Reckoning,” it might be the last “Mission: Impossible” installment for some time — or at least the last featuring Cruise, prompting him to make a memorable exit. However, while “Final Reckoning” seems to excel in certain aspects, it appears to stumble in others.

While “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” apparently went all in on its stunts, perhaps it needed to spend a bit more time getting the story right. Germain Lussier of Gizmodo is one of many critics to call out the plot. “It’s long, it’s plotty, it’s repetitive, but when those scenes do hit? Holy s***. They’re incredible,” he wrote. “So I’m pretty mixed on it overall. High highs, low lows.” The reaction from Geekly Goods’ Leo Rydel suggests these issues are most prominent at the start but fade away by the end, stating, “After a poorly paced first act, #MissionImpossible Final Reckoning revs up the engines for a full speed adrenaline rush to the finale!”

Some action fanatics out there may not mind a lackluster story too much because, after all, the “Mission: Impossible” franchise is all about seeing Tom Cruise hang from airplanes and ride motorcycles off cliffs. As long as the action hits, everything else is just a perk, right? According to Eric Hardman, however, those big moments are too few and far between. “Less action-heavy than you may expect and in many ways feels incredibly bloated,” he wrote. “Exposition is handled better, and when the action is happening, it’s jaw-dropping. Some really high highs, but some really low lows.”

It’s interesting to see two reactions use the same phrases of “high highs” and “low lows.” It suggests that when “Final Reckoning” works, it features some of the best action we’ll probably see in a movie theater this year. But when it’s focusing on the plot, it sounds like it’ll be a slog to get through.

Overall, the critical consensus is that “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” is a mixed bag. “Dead Reckoning” set up a lot of plot points that “Final Reckoning” has to deliver on, and maybe that task was too insurmountable to achieve, even with Ethan Hunt at the helm. Of course, critical opinion should only be one factor in deciding on whether to see a movie, and anyone wanting some epic action will likely be pleased with what the film has to deliver.

Ultimately, it’s a matter of personal taste as to whether “Final Reckoning” succeeds or not. Isaac Joel didn’t seem to mind any pacing issues, for example, saying, “The Final Reckoning isn’t just the best #MissionImpossible movie. It might be the greatest film ever made!” IndieWire’s David Ehrlich pretty much had the opposite response, however, stating, “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is dull and dysfunctional in a way i didn’t think this franchise was capable of.” 

But even Ehrlich offered praise toward the action later in his post, indicating that it’s very possible this will be the most divisive “Mission: Impossible” installment to date. With all of these “Final Reckoning” reactions in mind, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to support your local theater on May 23 to see Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt — possibly for the last time.