Ethan Hunt has chosen to accept another mission.

The most explosive movie franchise of the modern era is back. And this time, like each and every time before this, it promises even more pumping adrenaline and edge-of-our-seat thrill set pieces. And it delivers as much as it doesn’t.

First the bad news. The only drawback of this latest MI franchise is the pace of the movie. The movie unfurls slowly, drawing out the narrative, the set pieces (arguably the USP of the film franchise) and it takes its own sweet time getting to the point.

But, in its defense, this is also the first time that we’re getting a Mission Impossible film in two parts. Ergo, they had the luxury of time - five hours instead of the usual two and a half. And they could tell their story better. Because truth be told, this slower narrative actually works towards a better end-product.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning is believed to be the last of the franchise - but I’ll, honestly, believe it when I see it. A perfect little bow that brings to an end the exemplary life of Ethan Hunt and his comrades-in-arms. So it needs to unfurl slowly, it needs to get there, it needs to cover everything and do it in a compelling manner.

At least, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning tries doing just that. The intent is there. Picking up, more or less, from where we left off, Ethan Hunt comes face to face with a nemesis (Esai Morales) from his past (in kayfabe, the audience doesn’t know this character from the earlier movies) who is very close to getting his hands on an artificial superior intelligence that is out to takeover the entire world. And naturally, when the odds are this stacked against the side of the righteous, who else but Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) to balance the situation out.

Aided by his group of near superhuman loyal friends, Hunt runs through the various challenges that crop up on his path ahead. With Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames), Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) and new heel-turned-face entrant like Grace (Hayley Atwell), they cut through the pretty bits of Europe and the sandy stretches of the Rub’ al Khali in Arabia in the hunt for two parts of a “key” that resets the AI that seeks to tear the world down into a state of anarchy.

There’s really nothing different from every other Mission Impossible film that we’ve seen so far. It has all the right bits of action, the attempts at a cheap laugh every now and then - and then of course, the now patented Tom Cruise death-defying stunt - and all of it making for extremely enjoyable viewing. Even at the slower pace of the storytelling, not for once do you lose interest in the story that is being told.