David Ehrlich at IndieWire has perhaps one of the harshest reactions, calling Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning "dull and dysfunctional" and says "as someone so supportive of Cruise's crusade to save the movies and whatnot this was a massive heartbreaker."

Given how it's been framed as Ethan Hunt's grand send-off to the Mission: Impossible franchise, The Final Reckoning was always going to elicit big, bold reactions from critics and early audiences. But even The Entity itself might not have foreseen just how mixed the response would be to the eighth Mission: Impossible instalment.