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Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025) Movie Review · The K.B. Radio Network

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hello
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everyone and welcome to the concession stand here on the kb radio network i am your host kevin and this is the review
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of Mission Impossible
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The Final
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Reckoning, the eighth installment to the Mission Impossible film franchise starring Tom Cruise,
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Hayley Atwell,
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Vin Rames,
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Simon Pegg,
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and the great
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Angela Bassett.
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This film is written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie,
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and it is,
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as I stated before,
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the eighth film in this franchise.
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allegedly allegedly the final uh film in this franchise at least starring tom cruise now i don't i don't believe that personally i don't think tom cruise is letting this franchise go i
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will see we'll see and it really is dependent upon the uh uh box office returns of this film we'll see if this is a big
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uh moneymaker for paramount and mr tom cruise because if it is he's definitely going to return but we'll see personally i think it deserves to make money this was a really really good
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installment to the mission impossible franchise i enjoyed this movie from beginning to end it was very entertaining i had such a good time with this movie it
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you know it's kind of it's kind of biased in a sense because i'm a huge mission impossible fan i i've enjoyed a vast majority of these movies you know and you can make an argument that i i really had an enjoyment with all of the films even the ones that were kind of lackluster and it wasn't many you know out of eight films maybe one that
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you can consider bad and it wasn't
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It wasn't horrible.
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It wasn't,
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you know,
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unwatchable bad.
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It just wasn't Mission Impossible,
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and that was the second one in the franchise.
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So,
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with that said,
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I'm going to have kind of a biased view of this film going in.
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And coming off of Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1,
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or should we just call it Dead Reckoning because we don't get a Part 2.
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This was supposed to be Dead Reckoning Part 2,
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but they renamed it.
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So there you have that.
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Coming off of Dead Reckoning,
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you know,
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the film franchise kind of lost its lust.
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You know,
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it didn't,
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as much as I enjoyed
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Dead Reckoning,
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it just didn't pop as I was hoping it would.
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You know,
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it has some very exciting action in it.
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Some,
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you know,
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standout sequences throughout the film,
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but it's,
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as far as a story.
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it kind of left me wanting and i know it was in intentionally made to be a two-parter so it kind of left a lot out there but it just i don't know the story just didn't connect with me even though i did love a lot of elements more it
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was more pros than cons but it it left a lot on the table that i was hoping would you know uh get me excited for this one now
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I was excited,
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but not super excited for the final reckoning.
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And I'm glad that I went into it with that attitude because it exceeded my expectations.
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This movie was super exciting.
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The action was top notch.
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Of course,
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I wasn't doubting that at all.
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We know that Tom Cruise is going to swallow a grenade and blow up if that was going to entertain the audience,
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you know?
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He is a true showman.
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He is the last true movie star.
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He is the one man who will put his body and life and everything on the line to entertain us.
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You know,
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hanging off the side of a building,
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hanging off the side of an airplane,
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hanging or jumping from building to building,
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breaking his ankle and still finishing the scene and running at high speed.
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down a roadway in a straight line whatever the case may be he's going to put his self
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uh or push himself i should say to the limit and he definitely did it in this movie we already seen him hang off of a side off a side of a plane in a previous installment in this franchise so how do you top
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that well let's let's hang on a biplane let's let's hang on for dear life let's transport from one biplane to another he just did these
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just outrageous stunts throughout this film and that was boy that was a sequence that final sequence with those biplanes oh my god that was exciting meant for the biggest screen possible please go see that in the biggest screen possible what
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an exciting scene to watch and that wasn't the only exciting scene we had a scene uh that uh consists of ethan hunt uh exploring this
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uh,
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uh,
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crash submarine at the bottom of this ocean or the sea.
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Super exciting scene.
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I mean,
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throughout man,
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throughout excellent action,
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the story story was flushed out a little better in this film.
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I really loved this movie for the aspect of those of you who are mission impossible fans like myself who has watched
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every single one of these movies this is your love letter this is your thank you this is your nostalgia trip this movie found the way to connect every
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single installment and make it converge into the final reckoning and it actually makes sense it touches in on the first mission impossible it touches in on the third
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It touches in on
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Ghost Protocol,
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on
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Rogue Nation,
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on
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Dead Reckoning.
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It touches in on all of them.
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The only one that is not referenced or a part of that movie does not play a factor in the final Reckoning is Mission Impossible 2.
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Even they know that movie was horrible.
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It is nothing they can use in that film.
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for for this movie to make it better it was hilarious sitting there watching the movie i'm like okay that's a reference from the third one oh they made a reference to the uh to the uh the fifth one they made a reference to the first one the one the reference to the first mission impossible that's in this movie is
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like my chef's kiss it was so funny yet poignant and it actually
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elevated the movie i thought it was going to be when it first was introduced and and as you can tell i'm bouncing around uh non-spoilery uh when it was first introduced i thought it was going to be like a throwaway type cameo thing no
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it actually played a major major uh factor into the final conclusion and i'm like man that is cool the element from the third film that
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was so throwaway you know the mcguffin from the third film uh uh that ethan hunt had to retrieve that we never got any explanation to why that thing was so important
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and no conclude it was just open-ended never revisited we got it in this film and it just made the third film that much better you know even when you
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go back and think about it i thought this was genius the way they did this you know as a final goodbye if this is truly a goodbye this only works if it's a goodbye if this is the final one if they come back next year or in a couple of years with mission impossible the
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real final wrecking it's not gonna have the same impact but i love that element of it tom cruise man
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Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt for quote-unquote the final go-around here.
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Probably one of his best performances as
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Ethan Hunt.
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He had so much more to do.
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And coming off of
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Dead Reckoning where I felt he was kind of old and just there.
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You know,
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it was really nothing to
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Ethan Hunt in
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Dead Reckoning Part 1.
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I did not like him in there,
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you know.
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He had nothing to do.
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He was just there to run.
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and you know what i'm saying to do action sequences he didn't really push the forward uh push forward the story and he's supposed to be the lead character here you know he's the hero he's the protagonist but i didn't feel that in that uh previous
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film this one here oh my god he did an excellent job as ethan hunt
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I love the dialogue.
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I love the emotional moments that we have because we have a big emotional moment.
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I will say at the end of the third act,
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oh,
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not third act,
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end of the first act of this movie that will kind of,
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you know,
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kick you dead in the gut.
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But it was cool to see Tom Cruise play off of that moment.
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And
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I just loved his character.
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I really fell back in love with Ethan Hunt in this film.
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And it...
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Once again,
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if this is the last go around of Ethan Hunt,
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you know,
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what a perfect way to send that character off.
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The rest of the cast was great.
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You know,
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Vin Rames,
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Allie Hatwell,
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Simon Pegg is a gem.
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I mean,
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Simon Pegg is,
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I didn't think he was going to play such an important role in this franchise.
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after the third film where he was introduced,
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that character of
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Benji was introduced.
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But,
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you know,
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there is no Mission Impossible without Benji.
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And there's no Benji without Simon Pegg.
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He is that character.
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And once again,
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he got a good hero moment in this film.
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The comedy worked.
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You know,
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the little comedy portions of the film where they sneak in a couple of jokes there.
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It worked,
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you know,
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to break the...
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levity there of this heavy content that was in this film.
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I thought that worked as well.
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And Angela freaking
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Bassett.
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My God,
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this woman don't have a trophy on her mantle.
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I don't understand it.
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Her as the president in this film.
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She was in a previous
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Mission Impossible film.
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I think it was Rogue,
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no,
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Fallout.
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She was in Fallout.
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as uh the cia director now she's the president in this film man bro she was so powerful and she always is i mean she was the queen in black panther and she showed how powerful she was in that role earned her uh academy award nomination which should have been a win but whatever uh
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she is so powerful and she holds the screen she i mean you can't help but respect her
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in this role.
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I can see her.
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I can see her as this character,
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as the president.
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I bought it.
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It wasn't a DDI type casting thing.
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Angela Baskin can be the president,
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man,
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in this role.
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But she,
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I mean,
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she owned it.
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She owned it.
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She demanded respect.
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She wasn't a token.
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You know what I'm saying?
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It was perfect.
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She was perfectly
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suited for this role loved her role throughout and she had an emotional moment as as stern and as dignified as a world leader that she was throughout the film she
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had a really cool emotional moment towards the end of this movie that you was like oh i felt that and you can only get that from a stellar actress of her caliber
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Man,
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awesome,
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awesome role and awesome performance by
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Angela Bass.
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Where this film kind of filters,
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where it kind of fails a little bit,
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is the villain.
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The villain,
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man.
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The villain.
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What villain?
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I mean,
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we're going up against AI.
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It's the same villain from the first film,
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so there's no shocker there.
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Well,
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not the first film,
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but the last film,
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the previous film.
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um it just it just didn't have an impact you know it's when you have a hero of ethan hunt's caliber you need a villain that's equal to or greater than for him to go up against to make you question whether
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ethan hunt can survive this mission you know because this is mission impossible it's an impossible mission and so he has to overcome some uh
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death defying obstacles to defeat the villain which he does you know it doesn't skimp on that but you know this ai threat
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And they established the threat that it posed and whatnot.
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All that was,
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you know,
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there.
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But I just didn't feel it,
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you know,
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because it was no physical threat there.
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You know,
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there was no physical presence.
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It was AI.
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The only physical presence was the character of Gabriel,
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who is portrayed by Esau Morales,
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who from
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Dead Reckoning Part One.
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Now,
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the character of Gabriel.
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And that film was top notch.
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Esau Morales was a beast in that movie and posed an actual threat to Ethan Hunt.
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You know,
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and it made you want that character more to see how Ethan Hunt was going to defeat this character.
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And so when we move over to this film,
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he turned into this mustache twirling villain,
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like one note villain.
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No,
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nothing.
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there was nothing it was just tunnel vision there was no i don't know i can't put my finger on it but it was nothing to that character that to whereas he was a threat and he disappeared for a large portion of the movie you
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know and i'm sitting there and at one point in the film like Why is he even in the movie?
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You know,
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why is he even in this movie?
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It makes no sense.
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The movie didn't even need that character,
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to be 100%
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honest with you.
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And that's sad because it was a well-established character from Dead Reckoning,
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and you wanted to see more,
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so we got a little more,
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and you're like,
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man,
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I want him to go away.
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It's just like they really failed that character,
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and it wasn't Esai Morales'
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fault.
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It was the way that character was written in this version,
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in this installment.
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uh sadly it's very sad um my other kind of bugaboo is the length of this film as much as i enjoyed every minute of this movie i don't see me you know the rewatchability of this movie because it is almost
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three hours long i think it's two hours and 45 minutes it is long you know now it was good it's not like it was
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a taxing uh close to three hour movie whereas you're sitting there you're looking at your watch and you you know antsy in your seat or whatever but once the movie's over and you realize you've been in there that long and
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you go back and you you're like oh man i would like to see that again but do i want to sit there you know it makes you question you know do i want to sit there for three hours do i have three hours to give you know not counting
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previews and whatever you know that's close to three and a half almost four hours that you're investing to go see this movie but it is it is not unwatched this is an exciting exciting
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film overall i i really did enjoy it if you are a lover of this franchise or if you're a lover of great action movies great spy thrillers and uh so on and so forth
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this is the movie for you i think it was a great blend of mission impossible and hunt for red october and uh maybe even a little james bond thrown in there you know it is it is a really really good spy action
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thriller and that's all you can ask for in this franchise is it the best mission impossible film in the franchise no it's not the best in the franchise but i would
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definitely put it off the top of my head i would say maybe top three maybe top three you know or knocking on the third you know who is in the four definitely top five let's just settle with that top five which
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kind of sounds redundant when you say that because there's only eight films and so it is it's up there i think it's really really really good
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and one that i highly recommend and highly recommend you go see it in the theater in the biggest screen possible mission impossible the final reckoning gets a letter grade of a b plus yes it was fun man it was super
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fun yeah yeah i could see myself investing three more hours to go see it again it's that good it is good it's just one of those things where you like man
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do i want i gotta carve out three hours of time to go see it you know it's just hard for me to carve out three hours to uh go sit in the theater and to watch one movie you know
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Life be lifin so it's hard for me to do that But if I have to do it,
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I would definitely do it for Mission Impossible the final reckoning I would like to know are you planning to go check out Mission Impossible this upcoming weekend?
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And if you are,
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please let me know what you thought of The film email the show KB radio podcast at gmail.com You can also search for this show on all social media platforms just search
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for the kb radio network don't forget about youtube ladies and gentlemen subscribe to the kb radio network channel and like this video if you don't mind don't forget about the five stars the reviews and sharing this show if you're listening on apple podcast spotify iheart radio wherever you are currently listening to the concession stand here on
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the kb radio network Everybody,
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thank you for joining me for the review of the
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8th.
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installment to the Mission Impossible franchise.
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Mission Impossible,
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the final reckoning.
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Want you all to know that I love you.
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Continue to love everyone.
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And until we speak again,
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you all be blessed.