Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning is a pretty fun cinematic experience as long as one doesn’t examine the actual plot too closely. Tom Cruise returns as super operative, Ethan Hunt, leader of the Impossible Missions Force, with Christopher McQuarrie as director. McQuarrie also co-wrote the script with Erik Jendresen.

This film continues the storyline which began in the immediate predecessor, Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning. Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames also return as Benjo Dunn and Luther Stickell, respectively. Hayley Atwell is back to help Ethan against the battle against a powerful Artificial Intelligence known as the Entity. Angela Bassett, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, and Greg Tarzan Davis are included in the cast.

When the film starts, Ethan Hunt has been in hiding for a few months after taking possession of a vital component to controlling the Entity. He rejoins his team and spends much of film trying to stay ahead of Gabriel, played by Esai Morales, who is trying to stop Ethan from achieving his ultimate goal of neutralizing the Entity. Ethan will have to decide who or what may be sacrificed in order to save the world from the Entity’s dominion.

As usual, there are some astonishing and sometimes ludicrous action sequences that are definitely eye-catching. Cruise puts out a strong performance which is likely his last turn as Ethan Hunt. This film is being touted as the final one in the franchise, but when it comes to Hollywood, who can say for sure?

The film is a bit of a jumble when it comes to the plot. There are some engaging callbacks to the earlier installments. Rolf Saxon reprises a role from the first film that was not much more than a cameo, and he has much more substantial part to play here.

There are times when the transition to different locations seems a little jarring, but the film is pretty long anyway. McQuarrie throws in quite a bit of death-defying moments in this film that almost makes it to three hours.

The problem is that Hunt at times seem too superhuman for the suspension of disbelief to be maintained. Although these films are not really designed to be grounded in reality, it is still a bit distracting when Hunt gets himself in some of these outlandish predicaments.

I thought Morales was pretty well cast as the main villain. There was nothing too spectacular about his performance, but he was not particularly bad either.

Overall, I was glad to have made it to the likely end of this franchise, or at least the end of this phase. It’s a film with some flaws and falls short of any real artistic greatness, however it was an enjoyable diversion from the daily pressures of real life. It certainly is better than many of the recent films I have seen.