Tom Cruise, in the Final ‘Mission: Impossible,’ Delivers the Movie Magic Hollywood’s Been Missing

“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” is flying into theaters as an action-packed love letter to the American genre. Tom Cruise delivers everything Hollywood needs to recapture the glory of its golden age and fill theaters, turning audiences into fans and actors into stars.Mr. Cruise delivers a message before the movie begins, offering thanks for the “privilege” of producing the film. It was welcomed in the current environment, when political messaging has seeped into every corner of Hollywood and just entertaining isn’t enough for performers.During the “Final Reckoning” promotional tour, Mr. Cruise was offered the chance to pontificate on President Trump’s proposed tariffs on films that shot overseas. He declined, saying he’d prefer to talk about the film. That single-minded focus on his craft has fans calling him “the last movie star.”Mr. Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, looks weathered and weary of saving the world. He’s suffered loss in service of the Impossible Mission Force’s motto: “We live and die in the shadows for those we hold close and for those we never meet.”“Final Reckoning” is a globe-girdling adventure across land, sea, and ice. Mr. Cruise is up in the sky one minute and falling from it the next. His dive on a submarine wreck strewn across the Arctic ocean’s floor may defy logic, but audiences will suspend disbelief for a character tasked with doing the impossible.“Final Reckoning” is billed as the eighth and final installment of the series, which kicked off in 1996, based on the 1960s TV series. At 62, Mr. Cruise can’t play Hunt forever. But he looks as comfortable in his underwear as he did aged 21 in “Risky Business,” although the less audiences scrutinize his hair, the better.This columnist caught “Final Reckoning” in a theater where he’s screened movies dating back to Mr. Cruise’s 1980’s heyday. Few times, if ever, since has the audience reacted with the enthusiasm they showed for this film’s debut. Applause broke out multiple times. People gasped in surprise and cheered in support.After one death-defying feat, a young girl exclaimed, “Yes!” breaking the tension and sparking laughter in the theater — a rare communal experience in our isolated age. Mr. Cruise’s commitment to performing his own stunts helped the stakes feel real even when straining credulity — and the laws of physics.“Final Reckoning” relies on practical effects as much as possible. Avoiding computer generated images fits with its plot. A rogue AI, known as “The Entity,” seizes control of the world’s nuclear arsenals, bent on using them to wipe out humanity.“The Entity” debuted in “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning,” then titled “Part I.” AI has advanced in the two years since, bringing tragedies fictionalized in films like 1983’s “Wargames” and 1964’s “Fail Safe” closer to reality than ever.As Nagasaki and Hiroshima fade from living memory, movies can remind us that the nuclear bottle is best kept corked. Angela Bassett, as President Erika Sloane, is horrified by the prospect of unleashing Armageddon and demonstrates her internal conflict on screen without chewing the scenery.Ms. Bassett stands out for portraying a president who happens to be a black woman, not a stereotype defined by race or gender. Rolf Saxon — William Donloe from a previous film — likewise states only that visiting officials “talked down to” his Inuit wife. The audience is trusted to infer hows and whys.Characters from a submarine commander and an admiral to unnamed seamen and soldiers embody the Roman ideal that “fortune favors the bold” without long-winded civics lectures. “Final Reckoning” knows that audiences go to action movies to escape reality, not to have its troubles follow them into the theater.Given that “Final Reckoning” was launched on Memorial Day weekend, though, it was hard not to think of those who laid down their lives with exploits every bit as dangerous as those portrayed on screen. Few recent movies have shown the American military with the affection our GIs get deserve.“Final Reckoning” gives us heroes who save the world and make audiences cheer. It’s Hollywood’s mission — should they choose to accept it — to emulate Mr. Cruise’s passion, and embrace the rare privilege of entertaining all those people in theaters who they’ll never meet.

Tom Cruise, in the Final ‘Mission: Impossible,’ Delivers the Movie Magic Hollywood’s Been Missing

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