McQuarrie then followed Cruise’s suggestion and presented the film in chronological order, but that didn’t work either because the first scenes discussed the Enтιтy without revealing what it was. As a result, McQuarrie added a cold opening to the film, featuring the President’s message to Ethan to reintroduce the Enтιтy and make the story clearer for audiences. The director also added the scene where Ethan talks directly to the Enтιтy two days before he “locked [the] picture” to lay out the story even more and help viewers understand it better.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Cut Several Major Storylines To Streamline The Narrative

The Final Reckoning Abandoned Huge Subplots Involving Ethan, Gabriel, And Marie

To make The Final Reckoning‘s story тιԍнтer and more enjoyable after ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning, McQuarrie tried to make it shorter than originally planned. Though The Final Reckoning ended up with a longer runtime than its predecessor, the film still left some intended scenes on the cutting room floor. While the changes made to The Final Reckoning‘s story may have smoothed things over with Ethan’s conflict with the Enтιтy, it also steered clear of other major subplots that began in ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning.

For instance, the sequel all but abandoned the background story with Ethan and the villain Gabriel (Esai Morales), which showed the latter killing Marie (Mariela Garriga) and framing Ethan for the murder in the past. Since Gabriel’s killing of Marie was the reason Ethan ended up becoming an IMF agent, his role in working for the Enтιтy in a quest to control the world made Ethan’s conflict with him especially personal.

Likewise, The Final Reckoning didn’t expand on Marie’s idenтιтy, what kind of relationship she had with Ethan, and why Gabriel even killed her. McQuarrie did film a scene exploring more of Ethan’s past with Marie and Gabriel, but he ultimately chose to exclude it from the final film, arguing that their backstory was always going to be left with some ambiguity, no matter how he presented it.

The Final Reckoning Was Meant To Work As A Standalone Mission: Impossible Movie, Not A Part 2

The Final Reckoning Became A Different Story During Production

Overall, the drastic changes made to The Final Reckoning‘s story were meant to make it function as its own movie. While the film continued Ethan’s quest to stop The Enтιтy, the narrative was meant to feel more like a singular story rather than the second part of another. Thus, the film went from being called ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning – Part 2 to The Final Reckoning.

While this move may seem questionable, McQuarrie claimed that, had The Final Reckoning been released the summer following ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning‘s premiere, it would have remained the second part of the initial installment. In the end, McQuarrie argued that the extended amount of time between the two movies, caused by the strikes in Hollywood, allowed him and his team to “let ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning go” and turn The Final Reckoning into a standalone film.

Did Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’s Changes Help Or Hurt The Movie?

While The Final Reckoning Was Exciting, It Could’ve Been More Satisfying

The way that The Final Reckoning was presented in theaters, Ethan and his IMF pals went out on a thrilling and emotional last adventure as they raced to stop the Enтιтy from wiping out humanity in a nuclear apocalypse. Unfortunately, however, the film still failed to reach the heights it could have soared to because it left behind the subplots set up in the previous movie.

Specifically, by failing to expand upon Ethan and Gabriel’s relationship after it was teased in ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning, the sequel made the latter character far less compelling than he should have been. Gabriel ended up feeling more like an obstacle Ethan had to overcome rather than a fully developed character.

On a similar note, by not elaborating on Marie’s character and her connection to Ethan and Gabriel, both her and Gabriel’s characters were left appearing one-dimensional. This was especially jarring given their significant roles in Ethan’s origin story. In leaving Ethan’s history with both of these crucial characters so ambiguous, the film risked leaving audiences wanting to learn more, unsatisfied with this movie as Ethan’s final mission.

McQuarrie was wise to acknowledge the feedback from his audience after ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning‘s commercial disappointment. Nevertheless, the director and his team went too far trying to step away from the film’s alleged flaws when developing Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. By abandoning the subplots involving Marie and Gabriel, the filmmakers deprived The Final Reckoning of some of the emotion and closure it should have had as Ethan’s last journey on the big screen.

Source: Box Office Mojo, Happy Sad Confused