This has, honest to God, two of the best action sequences I've ever seen put to film (car chase + bridge scene) but the lows throughout are simply too low to be excused - up and down, which is especially unrewarding for a film of this length - with a sleepy middle portion that, with exception to the second movie from John Woo, might be the least exciting stuff of the entire franchise. Super tiresome.

It's surprising that this story was the one chosen for a presumably 5hr+ two-parter since this plot is really not that good in all honesty. The whole 'key' thing felt like I was watching Lord of the Rings and the AI/digital angle, while understandable, feels forced to me.
Still, I'm looking forward to see how it concludes next year on the big screen.

The reason we watch, though, is because of Tom fucking Cruise. A man who refuses to be labelled a mere mortal and will probably end up dying on set just to be forever known as a martyr for American action movies. And speaking of, the Mission Impossible movies are really the only blockbusters left that keep the traditional values of all the American classics - fully embracing both a masculine nature ("cold, logical and unemotional") and the white hero archetype which other newer sequels/reboots have sadly given up either through making them old, wrinkly and tired or having other characters start saving them - and I reckon this is Tom Cruise's doing - "Produced by Tom Cruise" might mean more than we think; he's either in the writing room too or changing the script on set. After all, who would argue with him, he's a proven king of this shit...and this is his franchise.