“Tom Cruise has done it again!” That’s the very early verdict from press screenings for the Hollywood icon’s latest film, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, with the film variously described as “astonishing,” “jaw-dropping,” “insane” and the “action movie of the summer.”

Following a series of press screenings, first reactions to Final Reckoning are hitting social media after the embargo lifted on Monday night. The social media reactions come ahead of official critics’ reviews, which drop on Wednesday.

The eighth film in the long-running Paramount Pictures spy action franchise, Final Reckoning has a lot riding on it for the studio as well as the domestic box office. In November 2024, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the project has had a long and difficult journey, with a budget approaching a hefty $400 million amid production delays — partly due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes — making it one of the most expensive films ever made.

Additionally, despite the Mission: Impossible franchise’s enduring popularity, 2023’s Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning — Part One was largely a box office disappointment after making $566 million globally on a nearly $300 million production budget before marketing and promotional expenses.

Final Reckoning picks up the action a few months after the events of Dead Reckoning as Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the IMF team struggle to stop the ruthless assassin Gabriel (Esai Morales) gaining control of the world-ending rogue artificial intelligence “The Entity.”

As well as Cruise and Morales, the cast for Final Reckoning includes returning Mission: Impossible stars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Angela Bassett, Hayley Atwell, Henry Czerny, Vanessa Kirby and Pom Klementieff.

The press screenings come after the world premiere of Final Reckoning, that took place in Tokyo, Japan on May 5 and ahead of the film’s sure-to-be glitzy debut at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14. Final Reckoning hits theaters worldwide on May 23.