Having saved the world from numerous threats, over eight films, Ethan Hunt finally calls it a day with his last impossible mission.

It’s also the conclusion to 2023’s thrilling Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, as Nathan and his team close in on the threat that is the Entity.

Although Nathan (Tom Cruise), Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames) and new recruits Grace (Hayley Atwell) and Paris (Pom Klementieff) had made in-roads into getting close to the all-powerful AI the Entity, by recovering the two part cruciform key, it was only half the job.

Now Nathan and his team have to find the sunken Russian submarine that has the Entity’s original source code, and use it to stop the Entity from taking over the world. As if that wasn’t enough, Gabriel (Esai Morales) is still on the loose, and still has dastardly plans for the Entity himself, hoping to control it and be the most powerful man on the planet.

Only one man can stop him and save the world one last time, but can Nathan really succeed on this most impossible of missions?

After the breathless antics of part one, both Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie had a mountain to climb, with one hand tied behind their backs – natch – to bring this epic story – and franchise – home.

It transpires that the task was too much for even this pair, with the pacing falling dramatically for this one. Partly this is due to the fact that McQuarrie is keen to pay lip service to many of the other entries in the series, in a number of flashbacks, which certainly ramps up the nostalgia factor, but at the expense of slowing down the narrative.

This continues with the middle section of the film, that plays out almost like a silent film, focusing on Hunt boarding the Russian sub, then leaving it, feeling quite bloated. From a technical point of view, it's impressive, as you would expect from Cruise in action man mode, but it doesn’t quite work, certainly lacking the impact of the full-on first part and is surprisingly sluggish.

It finds its feet, ironically enough in the air, for its final third, which has Cruise defying gravity, as he does, in a bi-plane showdown.

In truth, the film is a little self-indulgent, but Cruise kind of deserves it considering what he’s put into the franchise since the release of the very first one in 1996.

Cruise has stated that this will be his last outing as Hunt, but we’ve heard that before from action hero stars, so time will tell.

The IMF may well continue however, with rumours that Hunt will be played by another actor, with rumours circling around that of Glenn Powell, who worked with Cruise on Top Gun: Maverick.

A fitting ending to the Tom Cruise series then, despite an almost impossible running time (ten minutes shy of three hours), and not being quite as thrilling as the first part.

Certainly the 63-year-old deserves to put his feet up for a bit, but you get the feeling that he still has a drive to make more of the impossible possible on the big screen, one way or another - should he choose to accept.