With Tom Cruise battling an AI villain, the New Mission: Impossible continues the series’ strong legacy

When it comes to big-budget American action films, the Mission: Impossiblefranchise has been the gold standard for almost a decade and a half. Earlier entries have their admirable qualities — iconic set pieces, stunning camera work, Philip Seymour Hoffman — but Ghost Protocol (2009) ignited a new era of formal virtuosity and “how-did-they-do-that” audacity for the franchise. This solidified under the dual authorship of writer-director Christopher McQuarrie and producer-star Tom Cruise, who are ruthlessly committed to creating escapist multiplex pop art sans superheroes.