Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning review – Tom Cruise is in full control of this epic mission

Both films feature Tom Cruise doing exactly what you’d expect from Tom Cruise. Once again, the last great movie star is fighting, shouting, flying, schmoozing, driving, running – always running.

From what, exactly, we’re never entirely sure. But look at him go. You’d lose your breath just watching this guy sprint. Cruise’s hazardous yet hypnotic screen antics make our heads spin, our palms sweaty, our hearts beat faster than they should.

You can’t take your eyes off Tom Cruise – you don’t want to

After 27 years and seven films, the Mission: Impossible saga should look and sound a little worn out, a tad rusty perhaps.

Not yet. The last film, 2018’s Fallout, was an undisputed triumph, and this one is right up there. At 61, Cruise is in the form of his life, and these breathtaking pictures continue to astound.

They work because they know what they’re doing. There is always a MacGuffin, a yappy enemy, a world that needs saving. Pay no mind to the interchangeable plots. We’re here for the thrills, for the action, for those demented yet fabulously choregraphed stunts that deserve to be experienced on the biggest screen imaginable.

After all, it wouldn’t be a Mission: Impossible feature without a parachuted Cruise riding off the edge of a cliff on a motorcycle, would it?

Longstanding followers of this eager, episodic franchise are welcome to share their homework – but newcomers should have no problem with a lively, straightforward chapter that begins on a Russian submarine and concludes with an epic stand-off on board the Orient Express.

Basic duty requires us to fill in at least some of the blanks.

Thus, our story involves a mysterious golden key that, if matched with another, has the potential to unlock and control a sinister, self-aware AI software that will almost certainly bring about the end of civilised society. Systems begin to crash, governments start to panic – you know how these things go.

If the wrong person gets their hands on this digital parasite (“the entity”) it will be game over for planet Earth, and so IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) rounds up the familiar troops to help him locate and destroy the other half of this elusive cruciform key.

​Welcome back to the room computer-whiz Luther (the delightful Ving Rhames), tech maestro Benji (a solid Simon Pegg) and former MI6 agent Ilsa (the always reliable Rebecca Ferguson).

Along the way, our nifty, nimble pals encounter Grace (a never-better Hayley Atwell), a globe-trotting master thief with ulterior motives. Elsewhere, director and co-writer Christopher McQuarrie carves out space for Vanessa Kirby’s black market arms dealer, Pom Klementieff’s brutal henchperson, and a mysterious new adversary who calls himself Gabriel (Esai Morales).

McQuarrie’s film balances intricate, operatic action with fizzy wit and electric charm

It’s hardly worth explaining more, especially when the film does it for us. Dead Reckoning Part One (part two is due next year) is loaded with the sort of chewy exposition that usually drives me nuts.

But McQuarrie’s clever, capable film is in on the joke. Every now and then, it rounds up everyone involved for a yappy, long-winded reminder of who’s who, what’s what and why we’re here. Fair enough. The party lasts a whopping 163 minutes – it’s understandable that Cruise and his company might require the occasional recap.

There’s a lot of chit-chat, then, but the delightful, deadpan punchlines make all the difference.

Some are hidden in plain sight (see comic actor Rob Delaney’s casting as a deadly-serious US security chief). Some are more obvious, like when Shea Whigham’s grumpy agent yanks at a stranger’s face believing it to be one of Ethan’s slippery super masks. Well played, everyone.

Indeed, McQuarrie’s film balances intricate, operatic action with fizzy wit and electric charm. A mid-section chase sequence – during which Hunt, handcuffed to Grace, navigates a yellow Fiat 500 through the streets of Rome – ranks among the finest set-pieces in contemporary cinema.

The practical effects are awesome – the editing is top-notch, and a charismatic Cruise commits himself to the cause. We are invested in every line, every punch, every death-defying stunt. You can’t take your eyes off him – you don’t want to.

The most spectacular blockbuster of 2023.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Four stars​