Ethan Hunt's (Tom Cruise) latest impossible mission pits him and his team against an all-powerful artificial intelligence known as "the Entity." With astonishing set pieces, Cruise's death-wish level stunts and the chemistry of the core ensemble (Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson), MI7 delivered the adrenaline ride of the summer. These movies feel like magic tricks, built as they are on anticipation, familiarity, misdirection and spectacle. The fact that director Christopher McQuarrie and Cruise routinely set and then raise the bar for the gold standard of action movies is the lure of the franchise — but it's the characters, their foibles, their wit and their deep humanity that are Mission: Impossible's secret weapon.

D: Christopher McQuarrie, US, 2023, 2h43m, CC