If this is truly the end-of-the-line for Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in a historic 29-year run, then at least he’s going out with a bang in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Before heading in, know that with a runtime of 2 hours and 49 minutes this film is the longest of the franchise thanks to what my friend commented as “a lot of exposition in the first hour.” To be honest, I didn’t mind as it’s been a minute since watching the last instalment and all the dialogue and flashbacks helped set the stage nicely for the rest of the movie.

At 62, Cruise looks incredible and makes it more than believable Final Reckoning takes place only two months after Dead Reckoning, where the artificial intelligence antagonist The Entity is poised to end all life on Earth. Things pick up quickly with the game of cat and mouse between Hunt and terrorist slash AI liaison Gabriel (played by Esai Morales), who is on a quest to try and control the AI threat for his own benefit, resumes.

Director Christopher McQuarrie goes to great length digging up characters and references to the previous eight pictures. If possible, I recommend going through the series archives achieve the full experience, like celebrating the return of an unlikely character from the 1996 original. Of course, the core gang is back with Simon Pegg reprising the role as tech specialist and comedic relief Benji Dunn and Ving Rhames as lovable hacker Ving Rhames. There are some recognizable faces from contemporary television making their debuts as well.

Mission: Impossible is known for larger-than-life sets and non-stop action, and this latest entry manages to arguably top all the previous ones. There are some awe-inspiring scenes when Hunt revisits the now-sunken Russian submarine to retrieve an integral part needed to stop The Entity, and a sequence where he hangs off the side of an upside-down bi-plane — which is a mind-boggling real-life stunt performed by Cruise while the aircraft was flying at 8,000 feet.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning opens in theatres and IMAX across Canada today. Get your tickets at Cineplex or Landmark Cinemas.