As with my review of Across the Spider-Verse it is, again, important to point out that it is difficult to review a film, when the story is not complete. How you feel about Part Two will always colour how you feel about Part One.

Dead Reckoning Part One does, in its defence, handle this a little more gracefully the Spider-Verse did. For one, it is open at the start - including the phrase part one in its title - about what it is. Secondly, the ending here does feel like more a natural closing point. Enough plot points have been resolved for it to feel like a more satisfying ending, with enough threads left, tantalisingly, dangling to test us back in to the next film.

But, ultimately, Part Two will be what defines this duology. What they achieved, and set up, in this film, will always be tainted if they do not stick the landing in the next.

That being said, Dead Reckoning Part One is a lot of fun.

It will be a surprise to no one that it sees Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) on a globe hopping trip to save the world. This time, in an alarmingly prescient piece of script writing, his enemy is, in the main, a sentient AI system known as The Entity. An AI system with its sights set on taking over the world.

For reasons unknown to anyone but the The Entity itself, Ethan is put on the trail of a key. Split into two parts, and thought to be the key to controlling The Entity, Ethan is naturally not alone in his hunt, as governments and mercenaries are hot on his trail.

Alongside Cruise we have returning cast members including Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Rebecca Ferguson and Ving Rhames, as well as newcomers including Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff.

Naturally, the main thing that anyone will want to talk about in a Mission: Impossible film is the action and, more specifically, the stunts. And Dead Reckoning Part One does not disappoint.

Tom Cruise continues to put his life on the line for his craft as they continue down their road of putting him in bigger and bigger set pieces.

It is no spoiler I think, as it has been used in the vast majority of the promos, that in Dead Reckoning Part One he rides a motorbike off a cliff, before leaping from it and parachuting onto a moving train.

It would be thrilling to watch this generally, but the knowledge that Cruise himself did this in reality - not once, but 5 or 6 times in an attempt to get the perfect shot - just adds to the sense of stakes.

It is perfect action movie fare. The whole train sequence has everything you could want from a Mission: Impossible film. High speeds, fast action, it’s own particular brand of latex spy gaming. It is the series at it’s best.

This might be the grand climax, but that is not to say that what comes before is any less exciting. Tom Cruise does, what Tom Cruise does across the world. Each new location treating us to something different from the Genre. Rome gives us high octane car chases, Abu Dhabi against the clock missions, and Venice beautifully shot fist fights.

Everywhere the film goes they switch up the action, ensuring the the film manages to feel fresh throughout its near-three hour run time.

The moments where Dead Reckoning Part One falters however, are those moments between the set pieces.

The plot, as timely as it is, is relatively standard spy action fluff. There as a thing they need to get, to stop the end of the world from happening. The AI threat is a fairly new twist, but the bones of the plot remain fairly close to what we have seen before.

This might be rectified in Part Two but we can only go with what we’ve been presented with up to now, and the slower, plot heavy, sequences jarred with the speed of the action.

Part One lays some good foundations for what is to come, and ultimately, no one will remember a Mission Impossible film for the plot, but it does affect the pacing of the film, which did become an issue for me at times during the second act.

Whether Dead Reckoning Part Two will capitalise on the good groundwork of Part One remains to be seen. And, as mentioned, the success of the two parter is still yet to be confirmed.

The action is exactly what you want from a Mission Impossible film, and this is, ultimately, what will draw in the crowds.

When seen as a two parter the pacing of the plot may make more sense, but this is, in reality, a minor issue, when the strength of the action is so high. And if action is what you want, you will not be disappointed.