Tom Cruise is back! (Did he ever leave?) Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning brings a bombastic conclusion to the Mission: Impossible franchise. With submarines and biplanes, TWO nuclear bombs, and a whole lot of flashbacks, does it bring a worthy conclusion to our favorite spy-demigod, Ethan Hunt?

Short answer, yes! But I have some gripes. My main one is that it doesn’t work as a standalone movie. My favorite part about every Mission: Impossible movie is that they have an “episodic” feel. “What’s Ethan Hunt up to this week?” type schtick. But Final Reckoning was originally titled Dead Reckoning: Part 2 (until they realized nobody saw that movie and changed the title), being a DIRECT sequel to Dead Reckoning. But the funny thing is that this movie treats you like you haven’t seen the first one, with a several-minute-long recap of Dead Reckoning at the beginning of this movie, given to Ethan by the amazing Angela Bassett, explaining what Ethan did…to Ethan? He was there! Furthermore, there are flashbacks to previous movies galore throughout the film, and it gets annoying pretty fast.

But let’s sing some praises, and golly, are there some. Ethan’s fight scenes throughout the movie, although not the best in the entire franchise, still exude extraordinary expertise in choreography and skill by Tom Cruise. And of course, the stunts. My gosh, the stunts. From a ginormous spinning and half-underwater submarine set to literally ON TOP OF A BIPLANE, this film has possibly the best stunts of the franchise. (Burj Khalifa still has it beat. Sorry, not sorry) The ensemble cast of this film certainly shines too, from Simon Pegg’s hilarious chemistry with Pom Klementieff (in a returning role, and much expanded upon) and, of course, my favorite, Esai Morales as the intimidating yet charismatic Gabriel. Oh, and we CANNOT forget Rolf Saxon returning as William Donloe. (the guy in the vault in the first movie, who Ethan gave diarrhea to. Yeah. Him) A surprising return, but Saxon gives one of the best performances in the movie.

But yeah. The Final Reckoning is an amazing sendoff to one of the greatest action movie franchises. If you are a fan of Tom Cruise, the Impossible Mission Force, stunts, movies, even if you aren’t a fan of movies at all, go see The Final Reckoning. You’ll have a great time…if you choose to accept it.