Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

image for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

Short takes

Not suitable under 12; parental guidance to 13 (violence, themes, scary scenes)

Age
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
classification logo

This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
  • a review of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 20 May 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 12 Not suitable due to violence, themes and scary scenes.
Children aged 12–13 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and themes.
Children aged 14 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Mature themes and action violence
Length: 169 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

The final instalment of the Mission Impossible series picks up a few months after the previous film, Dead Reckoning Part One, left off, where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has no choice but to embark on a relentless mission to stop ‘The Entity’, a rogue artificial intelligence that has infiltrated global networks and is intent on destroying the world. Ethan reunites with his old team, including Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg), and is joined by Grace (Hayley Atwell) a pickpocket turned IMF agent, to retrieve a device that contains the original source code which is rumoured to lie hidden within the wreckage of a long-lost Russian submarine. Racing against time to locate and secure this device – which is the only thing capable of containing or destroying the AI that intends to annihilate humanity – the team must outwit The Entity, outsmart the Russians and outmanoeuvre Gabriel (Esai Morales) an old enemy who is intent on taking control of The Entity and harnessing its power for his own sinister agenda. Meanwhile, the world teeters on the brink of destruction; nations fall to the power of the entity; governments and individuals betray each other; and Ethan, the only one capable of potential mass salvation, is thwarted at every turn. Will this be this mission that finally proves impossible?

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Global annihilation; The dangers of unchecked AI; World Domination; Violence as a means to solve problems or conflict; Sacrifice; Mistrust and Betrayal.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • There are flashbacks of explosions and death, as places explode and people are shot.
  • Guards are punched, kicked, hit, tasered, and knocked unconscious.
  • Two characters are held at gunpoint.
  • A character is pistol-whipped.
  • Ethan and Grace are both shot and injected with a substance that knocks them unconscious.
  • There are flashbacks as Ethan’s wife is held captive and ransomed. She has been beaten and has a gun held to her head.
  • A torpedo sinks a submarine.
  • Two men try to kill Grace.
  • Ethan appears to try to take his own life with a cyanide pull but uses it as a means to escape his restraints. He then attacks two men. There are lots of smashing sounds as the violence happens off-screen but their bodies are shown afterwards. One is crushed beneath some shelves, while another is lying dead with a knife in his back.
  • A nurse is stabbed to death and Luther is shackled to a bomb and killed.
  • Ethan is nearly trapped as tunnels collapse following an explosion.
  • Members of a security briefing are gassed.
  • Ethan is tasered by scuba divers as they emerge from the water.
  • A man tries to stab and kill Ethan as he runs on a treadmill.
  • Ethan’s team is targeted by Russians with machine guns and a firefight ensues.
  • As characters fight, candles are knocked over and a house is engulfed in flames
  • A man’s face is pushed into the track of a still-running treadmill and the skin is sanded off. A knife is pushed towards Ethan’s throat.
  • Ethan is pulled through the water towards the turbines of a submarine.
  • There are images of a submarine attack, including people sliding, explosions, and bodies floating in the water.
  • Ethan is nearly squashed by torpedoes as he tries to navigate his way out of a tipping submarine.
  • Ethan must cut off his wetsuit and pack as he escapes through a torpedo tube. He suffers from decompression sickness and nearly freezes and drowns before Grace manages to rescue him.
  • There is a gun fight, in which Benji is shot.
  • There is a high-speed chase in an underground cavern. Jeeps ram each other and try to run each other down. Eventually, Ethan’s car flips onto its side.
  • Ethan is nearly hit by a plane. He climbs onto another as it is taking off and punches the pilot in the head before letting the pilot fall to his death.
  • Benji is cut with a knife and a pen is injected into his chest.
  • Two planes nearly crash into each other.
  • A president nearly bombs an American city.
  • Ethan and Gabriel do mid-air battle in two small planes. Eventually, Gabriel is forced out of this seat and slices his head open while falling backwards into the tail.
  • Ethan attempts to pilot a damaged plane as it catches fire. He ejects with a parachute which smoulders, then bursts into flames upon opening, and Ethan plummets to the ground.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Ethan suddenly encounters a couple of dead bodies in a darkened submarine. The faces are distorted after spending decades under water.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Ethan sits in an AI chair with a helmet, within a box-like pod, where his memories are pried from his mind. He experiences pain whenever he resists and he is shown horrifying glimpses of the future if he doesn’t comply with what is “destined”. The flashbacks are violent and intense and, coupled with Ethan’s pain, may be distressing for some viewers.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • There are brief flashbacks of Ethan kissing his wife.
  • Ethan runs on the treadmill in his underwear.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Bastard.

In a nutshell

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is the 8th and final instalment in the Mission Impossible franchise. The film contains numerous intense action sequences, stunning landscapes and a fast-paced, albeit predictable, plot. The film is best suited to viewers over the age of 13.

The main messages from this movie are that we are the masters of our fate, that, no matter how impossible the situation, there are always choices; and that we will define ourselves, our humanity and our future by the actions we choose.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Teamwork
  • Trust
  • Loyalty
  • Resilience
  • Sacrifice.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Relying too much on AI and allowing technologies to go unchecked or unmonitored.
  • Stopping at nothing to gain or maintain power.
  • Betraying those you love or people who trust you.
  • Using violence to get what you want.