First things first, expect loose ends. “Part One” in the title should provide enough hint. But those loose ends don’t mean you won’t have your fill. Besides, it’s Mission: Impossible. It’s a franchise built on excess, spectacle, and sensory overload. The results may not always completely enlighten, but they can never be faulted for being dull. No installment was ever bereft of flaws, but they weren’t bereft of thrills either.

It’s supposedly the series finale. And following the lead of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, we’re conditioned for an ending so epic, it can’t be contained in one chapter. It also makes sense. Tom Cruise was already 58 when production began. That means he was already older than Jon Voight was when he played IMF head Jim Phelps in the first movie. So, unless they intend to pull an Indiana Jones and give us octogenarian Ethan Hunt 18 years from now, a swan song may, indeed, be nigh.

It was in 2019, one year after Fallout,when plans to jointly film Part Seven and Part Eight were announced. Attached to direct once again was Christopher McQuarrie, who first worked with Cruise in Jack Reacher and has been praised for revitalizing this series since Rogue Nation.

Filming was scheduled to begin in February 2020 with a July 2021 target release. But for reasons vastly known by now, that timeline had to be pushed back.

It sure felt like Production: Impossible, but the studio had to persevere. And under extreme risk and heightened precaution, filming finally commenced in September 2020. The parameters were there. Protocols had to be observed, quarantine periods had to be followed, and franchise mainstays, like Angela Bassett, had to drop out due to travel restrictions. Also missing out is Jeremy Renner, whose absence is not explained. The first major on-set hurdle occurred one month later, when 12 crew members tested COVID-positive in Italy. Consequently, filming was halted for a week.

Initial publicity wasn’t exactly pleasant either. In December 2020, audio recordings of Cruise berating two crew members for committing COVID-19 safety lapses leaked online. The said incident originated in London and caused the resignation of some staff. Reactions were mixed, with some calling out the toxic work behavior. On the other hand, industry peers like George Clooney and McQuarrie himself quickly condoned the actor, saying that the dreadful conditions warranted the rants. The virus was still at large, after all. And vaccines were yet to be distributed. At that juncture, production couldn’t afford any more delays, and they were already well beyond budget. As a result, this is now the most expensive Tom Cruise movie ever made.

Thankfully, after two years of fits and starts, filming finally did wrap up in late 2021. But the delays didn’t end there. With Top Gun Maverick was still soaring in cinemas at the time of target release; the least they wanted was to pit Cruise against Cruise. Much as those reasons were valid, imagine how explosive that showdown could have been. Because, as it turns out, MI7’s well worth the wait.

“Dead reckoning” is a term used in navigation, where moving objects are located based on their previous positions. Not that they’ve gone the Hunt for Red October route, mind you. In fact, the maritime application of the term begins and ends in the opening submarine sequence. Clearly, it’s the metaphor they’re after here. Put colloquially, it’s like “picking up where you left off.” And that’s exactly where we find Ethan and posse.

Set not long after Fallout, MI7 finds the heroic Hunt accepting one last self-destructive message. His mission, which he obviously chooses to accept, is to head to Yemen and retrieve half a cruciform key from Isla Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), renounced and placed on bounty by the IMF since her last appearance. While infiltrating a meeting attended by Director of National Intelligence Denlinger (Cary Elwes) and CIA Director Eugene Kittiridge (Henry Czerny, back for the first time since 1996), he’s told about the terror that belies his task.

Hunt learns about The Entity, an indestructible AI weapon that’s rapidly developed sentience since its creation and has begun infiltrating defense systems through its own will. It’s a timely antagonist, given how thousands of entertainment and media careers hang in the balance, both in real life and in real time. If left unchecked, The Entity could inevitably pose a global threat. The only way to harness its power is with the cruciform key, granted they find the other half, and fast.

Along the way, Hunt touches base with his accomplices, Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg, a mainstay since MI3) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames, only actor besides Cruise to appear in every movie). Together, they embark on the quest, only to be disrupted by a hired burglar named Grace (Agent Carter’s Hayley Atwell, blending in with ease). Turns out, she’s connected with Fallout returnee Alanna Mitsopolis (Oscar nominee Vanessa Kirby), a black-market dealer who goes by the alias, The White Widow.

In the process, they also cross paths with Gabriel, played by Esai Morales, who replaced the much-younger Nicholas Hoult. As The Entity’s agent, Gabriel reveals its precognitive abilities, and can therefore foretell future events. This is when the antagonist draws spiritual parallels: how he sends messages from an unseen omnipotent force, much like his archangelic namesake – except, evil. He is joined by a French accomplice, the enigmatic but deadly Paris (Pom Klementieff, Mantis from Guardians of the Galaxy).

What follows, naturally, is one riveting sequence topping the other, crossing continents at that. In true MI fashion, everything unfolds in breakneck speed, leaving it up to viewers when to catch their breaths.

Unsurprisingly, it’s Cruise who carries the weight of it all with ease, not just this installment, but also that of the 27-year-old franchise. Arguably, the series’ bread and butter has always been his own stunts. Not only does he not disappoint here, he also delivers a series highlight. It’s not exactly a spoiler, since it’s already in trailers, but let’s leave it with this: it involves a motorcycle.

Several turning points aside, it all feels inconclusive. That’s because it is. Again, the title already establishes as much. It’s a build-up to the finale, not the finale itself. But as anticipation will remain prolonged for at least another year, we can already relish what this first half achieved. Despite being technically incomplete, this film fully satisfies. It feels whole, even. In time, it might even be regarded as among the best of the action genre.