Double agent Ethan Hunt is back – dashing here, dashing there. In the seventh instalment of the Tom Cruise spy series, his mission is to find the two halves of a diabolically powerful key. So, once again, Ethan has to put himself in harm’s way in ravishing locations (including Rome, which has only just recovered from Fast X) while his off-the-grid pals race against time to solve all sorts of puzzles and riddles.
There is much that is stale, over-stuffed and daft about these proceedings. But Cruise and his director, Christopher McQuarrie, are canny old stagers and deliver a final third that changes everything. Essentially, the action and the acting in (and around) a train bound for Innsbruck is as joyful and jolting as anything we’ve seen all year. Cruise, credited by Stephen Spielberg with “saving Hollywood’s ass” after Covid, with Top Gun: Maverick, has pulled off another miracle.
