Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (M) – 169 minutes

I have enjoyed and largely appreciated the Tom Cruise-led Mission: Impossible franchise, which now extends to eight movies (dating back to 1996).

There is, no doubt, that some of Cruise’s stunt work has been breathtaking.

And the convivial relationship between Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and him has been a pleasant enough watch.

Now we come to The Final Reckoning, which – for all the spectacular stunts – I found far too drawn out and, surprisingly, pedestrian (compared to the others).

The story picks up soon after the events of the previous film (Dead Reckoning – Part One).

The villain in the piece is again Gabriel Martinelli (Esai Morales), who wants to get his hands on an all-powerful artificial intelligence program known as “The Entity”.

Control it and you control the world, which, because of The Entity, faces oblivion.

You see, it has grown even more powerful since the last instalment.

Now The Entity has assumed control of the nuclear facilities of all but four countries and is fast closing in on the remainder, which includes the US.

With obstacles at every turn and a countdown clock, it is left to Ethan Hunt (Cruise), with a little help from Benji Dunn (Pegg), Luther Stickell (Rhames), Grace (Hayley Atwell) and Paris (Pom Klementieff), to save the day.

First, Hunt has a tense, face-to-face meeting with the US President (Angela Bassett).

Then, he must make his way to the bottom of the Bering Sea and retrieve a source key.

Inevitable confrontations with Martinelli are par for the course.

The best of those is the pair having it out in two (and then one) biplanes above picturesque South Africa.

The underwater work, in which Hunt is on his own and narrowly avoids being drowned inside a submarine, seems to go on forever. It is unnecessarily long.

Of course, like previous chapters, ultimately there is nothing that Hunt can’t do, even in the most invidious of circumstances.

In this, supposedly the final salvo, but perhaps not, a fan favourite meets his maker (or does he?).

I also felt the script writers (Erik Jendresen and director Christopher McQuarrie) laid on platitudes with a trowel when it came to Hunt’s heart always being in the right place. They eulogise him.

Super-fast edits are prolific, including a retracing of what Hunt has already gone through up to this point.

I liked the earnestness that Atwell again brings to former thief and now tight Hunt ally Grace.

In a memorable, somewhat amusing scene, the pair is quickly trapped and padlocked by Martinelli at the start of the film, before Hunt turns the tables.

In conclusion then, see The Final Reckoning for the stunt work and for little else.

Rated M, it scores a 6 out of 10.