The reviews for each new “Mission: Impossible” entry — and by extension every new Tom Cruise movie — are becoming harder and harder to start, because what can I say that I haven’t already written half a dozen times before?

Here’s how I began my review of “Dead Reckoning – Part One” in 2023: “One of the contenders for the hardest working person in Hollywood just scored another victory on his quest to make seeing the latest movie on the biggest theater you can find a tradition that continues long after his fight is through,” and that sentiment still holds true for this installment, changed from Part Two to “The Final Reckoning.”

And this is how I started my review of the sixth film back in 2018: “With the dedication of star/producer Tom Cruise, the more recent ‘Mission: Impossible’ films have continued to top their predecessors in terms of action, storytelling, suspense, production quality and performances from its actors.” Again, that mostly holds true here.

Of course, I think you should see this new installment, mostly because it’s fun to see what crazy stunt Cruise will actually do this time. If this does end up being the final movie as the marketing suggests, I know I won’t have to reckon with it as a disappointment, but another triumph.

Picking up two months after the last mission left off, Ethan Hunt (played by Cruise) and the IMF team (including Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Hayley Atwell) continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity — which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe — with the world’s governments and a mysterious ghost from Ethan’s past on their trail.

Joined by new allies (Pom Klementieff and Greg Tarzan Davis) and armed with the means to shut the Entity down for good, Hunt is in a race against time as they travel from London to the Arctic Circle to the savanna of South Africa to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever.

While neither my pick for the best one nor my personal favorite, “The Final Reckoning” might just have the two best set pieces in the entire franchise. I realize I’ve said that for the past three entries as well, but that just goes to show that Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie truly care about continuing to up the stakes and bring fresh, exhilarating action to the screen with each new outing.

At a whopping two hours and 50 minutes, this is the longest “Mission” to date, which is one way this one and its immediate “Part One” predecessor don’t quite reach the heights of earlier installments. Of course, quite a few scenes are devoted solely to waxing poetic about the legacy of the film series and getting everyone nostalgic about how past missions connect to this one.

Going even further, this felt like a real celebration of not only this franchise but Cruise and McQuarrie’s work in general. I’m not sure if this was on purpose or not, but some shots and moments evoke “Top Gun” and “Jack Reacher” and “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Valkyrie” and even “The Mummy.” Their love of this art and craft is in every scene, so it’s hard to be too mad at them.

I’m sure on a re-watch or a revisit some years later, this supposed grand finale will fit a lot more seamlessly into the complete series. As is, there is such a nice balance of genuine emotion and drama with a sense of cheesiness that leans into the self-seriousness here, and the film has fun with it. I’m never put off by the “You’re the only one who can do this, Ethan” lines that keep popping up, because Cruise is the only movie star left who keeps doing this, and I keep showing up to watch.

I still remember seeing “Mission: Impossible 3” for the first time in theaters and thinking it was pretty good — the story was solid, the stunts were cool, the performances were likable — but feeling like it wasn’t quite there yet. Nineteen years later, they got there. Even if this isn’t the best of the best, the sum of the whole makes the entire adventure worth it.