Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

After eight chapters spanning three decades, there’s a sense of closure in Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, the tentpole franchise that has heretofore refused to self-destruct.

Of course, there will be financially motivated spinoffs and reboots down the line. However, this bloated yet ridiculously satisfying installment enables Tom Cruise to take a victory lap with a self-referential highlight reel that nostalgically ties the entire series together while both contemplating and celebrating the legacy of his superspy protagonist, Ethan Hunt.

After all, Cruise’s effortless charisma has fueled the franchise’s appeal while transitioning from a twisty suspense yarn adapted from the 1960s television series to a compilation of spectacular globetrotting action set pieces and death-defying Hail Marys designed to outdo one another.

Given those motivations, this new fan-service exercise delivers with a slick and stylish package of ludicrous ticking-clock heroism that’s both funnier than intended and more thrilling than it should be.

The story is a direct sequel to its unresolved predecessor, which ended with almost a literal cliffhanger. Ethan, known for never following orders from his superiors while shielding Earth from imminent destruction, must outwit the Entity, a massive rogue AI that has hijacked the global nuclear arsenal with plans to launch.

Ethan quickly assembles his loyal team to track down the source code, which might be buried in the ocean off the coast of Alaska. Getting there requires eluding Russian submarines plus confronting Gabriel (Esai Morales), who seeks control of the Entity for nefarious reasons.

“I need you to trust me, one last time,” Ethan convinces the harried U.S. president (Angela Bassett) against the advice of her cabinet and high-level experts. Cue the theme song.

Returning director Christopher McQuarrie again demonstrates remarkable craftsmanship in seamlessly combining stunts and special effects during Ethan’s against-the-odds schemes, whether he’s engaged in a midair fistfight in a vintage plane or navigating a shipwreck in freezing water without a functioning wetsuit or air tank.

The convoluted script takes itself much too seriously as a high-tech cautionary tale or a plea for geopolitical cooperation in a time of ideological division. Try to count the variations on phrases such as global annihilation, doomsday Armageddon, or total planetary extinction employed to artificially escalate the stakes.

Following a familiar narrative template, The Final Reckoning has Cruise shouldering not only the fate of humanity but selling moviegoers on this incoherent nonsense. He’s just nimble enough to do it.

Rated PG-13, 169 minutes.