Tom Cruise’s last run may start slow, but it ends in full throttle.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is overlong and heavy on exposition, but when it finally shifts into gear, it delivers some of the most thrilling action in the series.

Touted as the final chapter, the film attempts to tie together nearly 30 years of stories, characters and high-stakes missions. The first act, unfortunately, is weighed down by flashbacks and lengthy exposition that dulls the momentum. And while Mission: Impossible has its flaws, “boring” has never been one of them – until now.

Thankfully, the final 90 minutes more than make up for the sluggish start. These scenes are suitably ridiculous too, seeing Ethan Hunt crushed by a nuclear warhead, stave off hypothermia in the Bering Sea, and hang upside down from a vintage biplane. It’s Mission: Impossible, after all. It’s what we sign up for. We certainly wouldn’t have made it to eight films in a Mission: Probable Success franchise.

The franchise’s standout stunt sequences – from scaling the Burj Khalifa, to riding a motorbike off a mountain, to leaping from a plane without a parachute – have become its signature. The final set piece in The Final Reckoning is a more-than-worthy capstone to the series and includes moments that genuinely defy comprehension.

Were it not for his continued press appearances, one might think Tom Cruise didn’t survive the shoot, so extreme are the acrobatics he puts his seemingly ageless body through.

As an added bonus for local audiences, the jaw-dropping third act takes place in South Africa! While the filmmakers take a few liberties with geography – jumping from the Blyde River Canyon to the ocean and back to the Drakensberg in under 10 minutes – they earn points for showcasing our stunning landscapes on the big screen.

The Final Reckoning may be misshapen and slow to get into gear, but once it does, it becomes one of the most memorable entries in the series. Watch it on the biggest screen you can find.

Rated 13 for Language and Violence.
3.5/5.

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