Tom Cruise and company are back for one last (well, technically, two—as this is only Part One) impossible mission, and the stunts are yet again off-the-charts crazy. Also crazy is the 2:43 run time, but that can be mostly forgiven due to the sheer spectacle of this thing. Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie continues to up his game, and the result is a non-stop, globe-trotting action flick that fits nicely into the ‘M:I’ canon, while adding new faces Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, and Pom Klementieff. What it lacks in subtlety (remember that quiet, tense secure-room set piece in the 2006 original film?) it more than makes up for in wham-bam thrills… and then some.
4.5/5 stars