It’s been a couple of years since Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One hit cinemas, leaving fans with a literal cliffhanger.

Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt secured both parts of a cruciform key that unlocks the source code of a rogue AI, known as the Entity.

Pushing humanity to the brink of nuclear annihilation, the IMF team have limited time to destroy it.

The only problem is that the point where the key can be inserted is aboard a sunken Russian nuclear submarine.

Two years on and Part Two has been retitled Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, although we highly doubt this is the last movie in the franchise, even if Cruise is pushing 63.

At almost three hours long, we were a little concerned with the runtime, especially for the second half of the same impossible mission. However, to our surprise, it flew by in one of the most unique films in the franchise to date. There may only be two major action set pieces (diving down to the sub and the plane stunt seen in trailers), but despite the lack of dialogue in these scenes, they are just as thrilling as ever, especially given that they were filmed for IMAX. The Final Reckoning has plenty of globetrotting and tongue-in-cheek comedy, with rewarding flashback references across 30 years of Mission: Impossible movies. It’s hard, then, not to feel that the franchise has entered its Fast and Furious sequel realm in all its ridiculousness, but why not when you’re having this much popcorn fun?

At almost three hours long, we were a little concerned with the runtime, especially for the second half of the same impossible mission. However, to our surprise. it flew by in one of the most unique films in the franchise to date. There may only be two major action set pieces (diving down to the sub and the plane stunt seen in trailers), but despite the lack of dialogue in these scenes, they are just as thrilling as ever, especially given that they were filmed for IMAX. The Final Reckoning has plenty of globetrotting and tongue-in-cheek comedy, with rewarding flashback references across 30 years of Mission: Impossible movies. It’s hard, then, not to feel that the franchise has entered its Fast and Furious sequel realm in all its ridiculousness, but why not when you’re having this much popcorn fun?

Yet it’s not all light-hearted japes, as amid the spectacle there are a number of dark moments, including a couple of tear-jerkers. So don’t expect everyone to make it out unscathed in a film that is very much left open-ended for Cruise to be pulling off more daring stunts well into his 70s. This latest outing may not reach the heights of Fallout with Henry Cavill, especially given the villain is of equal stardom, but there’s still plenty here to enjoy. Next time, maybe just do it all as one film rather than in two parts across two years?

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hits UK cinemas on May 21, 2025.