When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.<\/i><\/p>\n Credit: Skydance Productions \/Paramount Pictures<\/p>\n As someone who grew up in the years immediately following the end of the Cold War, as well as a resident of a town across the river from an Air Force base, I\u2019ve always been scared of nuclear war. Over the years, I\u2019ve also been something of an AI alarmist, probably from watching too many great sci-fi movies<\/a> where machines take over. Well, I recently watched Mission: Impossible \u2013 The Final Reckoning a few months after it dropped on the 2025 movie schedule<\/a>, and now I\u2019m spiraling\u2026<\/p>\n It’s no surprise, right? I mean, the latest installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise<\/a> manages to take two fears I\u2019ve long thought to be somewhat irrational and unrealistic and make my anxiety seem totally plausible. It was a fun action movie with Tom Cruise going to hell and back to defeat the Entity before it destroyed the world, but it had me shook.<\/p>\n Credit: Paramount<\/p>\n As someone who loves watching Tom Cruise run<\/a> like there\u2019s no tomorrow, pull off some outrageous stunts, and save the world all in a couple of hours, I went into Mission: Impossible \u2013 The Final Reckoning thinking it was going to be a fun capper on one of the biggest franchises of all time. For the most part, that ended up being true.<\/p>\n The movie, which is admittedly a bit overstuffed, paid homage to nearly all of its predecessors, brought back multiple characters from the very first movie, tied other characters to one another, and provided a new perspective<\/a> on some of the biggest moments from the previous seven films. In that regard, it was a great sendoff for both Ethan Hunt and the franchise as a whole. Watching Christopher McQuarrie, Tom Cruise and company pull out all the stops to wrap up a story 30 years in the making was an awesome achievement, and a cinematic experience I won\u2019t soon forget.<\/p>\n So, what about these fears? Well, about that\u2026<\/p>\n Credit: Paramount Pictures<\/p>\n As mentioned above, Mission: Impossible \u2013 The Final Reckoning\u2019s race against time to prevent a rogue artificial intelligence in control of the world\u2019s nuclear arsenal from launching thousands of warheads had me spiraling, and I mean both during and after the movie. If Ethan Hunt and his IMF team were one second late, it would be all she wrote, and there\u2019s no way Tom Cruise could outrun a nuclear bomb, let alone thousands of them.<\/p>\n Scenarios of nuclear war and AI takeovers have been used countless times over the years, both in sci-fi movies and some of the best action films<\/a> ever made. However, none seemed as realistic, rational, or plausible as the one that unfolds in the eighth and possibly final M:I movie<\/a>. With the world feeling more and more like a powder keg by the day, and AI technology advancing at an exponential rate, it feels like it\u2019s only a matter of time before something like this, or close to it, happens in real life. I hope this irrational fear is just that: irrational.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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I Went Into Mission: Impossible \u2013 The Final Reckoning Expecting A Fun And Epic Sendoff To Ethan Hunt And The Franchise<\/h2>\n
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The Movie Made My Irrational Fears About Nuclear War And An AI Takeover Seem Plausible<\/h2>\n