The eighth movie in the series and the sequel to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, this film begins two months later, as the rogue AI known as The Entity has begun hacking its way into nuclear arsenals, aided by a doomsday cult that worships the code. Only Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team can stop it. Luther (Ving Rhames) has already been working on a virus to destroy it, which leads The Entity to tell Ethan directly that it plans to kill his best friend.

Joined by former enemies Theo Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis) and Paris (Pom Klementieff), they must go to the wreckage of the sub from the first movie, transmit a Poison Pill into the AI and somehow stop Gabriel (Esai Morales) from aiding the AI in dropping nuclear bombs on the planet.

This brings back just about every character in the series, either in new footage or flashbacks, even revealing that one of the CIA agents is the son of disgraced IMF commander Jim Phelps.

At three hours, the first third drags a bit. But hang with it, as the end is filled with massive stunts and set pieces. I rarely seek out big Hollywood movies, but if you’re going to do that, this is the one to watch. It’s dizzying in its array of situations it puts Ethan into, and there are actual emotional stakes throughout.