Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning review says the action will keep your heart pumping and your head spinning.

Thrilling? Check! Adrenalin pumping? Of course! Action filled? Obviously! Absurd? Absolutely! That very absurdity is half the fun. It’s called Mission: Impossible, for heaven’s sake. It’s supposed to be filled with death-defying stunts and outlandish circumstances that only Tom Cruise, er, excuse me, Ethan Hunt, can pull off.

That’s exactly why most of us go to see these films. We want to see Tom Cruise running and doing all sorts of wild things that would never happen in real life.

And do we ever get a boat load in this two hour and 49 minute juice fest. Don’t let the length intimidate you, there’s not one minute of lag time, and that’s coming from someone who is easily bored by films that are too obvious or indulgent.

Perhaps the overly complicated plot is intentional, just to keep viewers awake and on their toes. It involves Ethan acquiring a computer drive (from a missing submarine at the bottom of the ocean) and teaming up with his crew in different parts of the world so they can make all the right moves with all the right items, including that interlocking key-thing from Dead Reckoning Part One — in the same split second.

This is all in an effort to save the world from nuking itself under the direction of the evil AI force known as The Entity.

Favorite crew members who haven’t died in previous missions impossible are back, including Hayley Atwell as Grace,  Simon Pegg as Benji and Ving Rhames as Luther. Come to think of it, some of Ethan’s mates who didn’t fare so well in past movies are indeed featured…in numerous flashbacks, which include many of Cruise’s most scintillating stunts.

At first, all those flashbacks seem to indicate that this is really the final Mission: Impossible film as we know it. But don’t say goodby just yet…there is some indication that director Christopher McQuarrie may have the opportunity to run with Cruise yet again, if this one does well. Crossing my fingers.

Rated: PG-13

2 Hours 49 Minutes

If this Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning review encourages you to run like Tom Cruise to the local cineplex, better reserve a seat on Fandango ASAP. And don’t forget to see it in IMAX for full effect.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning review says the action will keep your heart pumping and your head spinning.