Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett, Esai Morales, Mariela Garriga, Pasha Lychnikoff, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham
Writer/Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Rating: 3/5
Runtime: 169 min

One of the most expensive films ever made, with an estimated budget of $300-400 million, Cruise’s Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning, 8th one in the franchise series, has McQuarrie writing and directing and longtime collaborators of Lorne Balfe, Max Aruj and Alfie Godfrey composing the score. Covid and SAG-AFTRA strike notwithstanding, the film finally makes it to the theaters. 

At 169 min it’s a long haul with Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt riding an unwieldy, repetitive and pretentious first hour to eventually convert the experience to one that is hugely extravagant but bearable.