CRUISE CONTROL

So here we are, eight episodes into the Mission Impossible franchise and Tom Cruise, now 62, is demonstrating that age is just a number. And yet, with each jaw-dropping stunt, you begin to feel he’s cheating death. Enough, Tom, you’ve proven your point. You’re superhuman.

“The Final Reckoning” is the sequel to the first “Reckoning” and also an official Part Two.

Frankly, the first movie was a letdown for me. Yes, there were jaw-dropping stunts, but the villain didn’t have what I consider the requisite menace. That’s because the driver of the mayhem is an AI presence called The Entity. All-seeing, all-knowing. But all invisible.

I look back to the James Bond franchise and the villains were real people played by real actors. Consider Dr. No, Auric Goldfinger, Ernst Blofeld. The villainy could be a raised eyebrow, a pet cat or a deadly swagger. Bond: “Do you expect me to talk?” Goldfinger: “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.”

The mad men were evil made flesh and all the more chilling because of it.

In the final two MI’s, The Entity is AI run amok. But still lurking in the shadows. The Entity’s onscreen henchman is played here by Esai Morales, a very good actor, but only in the service of an angry and vengeful digital creation, like a Donald Trump-turned-coffee maker.

In both parts one and two, the chase is on to find a code that can render The Entity impotent, but not before it threatens to unleash a nuclear Armageddon. Find The Entity’s vulnerability and save the world. Something that, by now, Tom Cruise can do in his sleep.

The narrative here is more dense than is necessary and, frankly, the screenplay could use some deft editing. At two hours and 45 minutes, the movie feels too long. And there are moments when the plot holes yawn like the Grand Canyon.

But there is enough action to justify the length, especially in the third act when Cruise shows his mettle as one of the most daring stuntmen of the era. I kept thinking he needs to pull back and let younger professionals take over. But he gives his usual 100 percent and to great effect.

For my money, “Final Reckoning” is an admirable addition to the MI franchise, but is not the best of the series. Still, it’s a thrill ride that’s rare today in movies that don’t carry the Marvel pedigree.

One major character is sacrificed in the service of the plot, but gives the entire series a satisfying, if not nostalgic, coda. And you might shed a tear or two.