There is something to be said for the staying power of the Mission: Impossible franchise. Over thirty years Tom Cruise has set about building bigger and bigger stunts to stun and wow audiences across the world. But, it has to be said the choice to split the finale of his action opus into two parts resulting in mixed results. With less than projected box office, it's not surprising that Dead Reckoning Part 2 has been renamed The Final Reckoning.

The film still picks up the dangling threads from part one. The rogue AI, known as The Entity, has taken control of the world's nuclear arsenal and is threatening global annihilation. Ethan Hunt is on the run from the government with his crew trying to stop Gabriel, the Entity's human go-between and discover a way of bringing the AI down once and for all.

The much publicised bi-plane action sequence is one of the series best, it's a breathtaking sequence where you feel the amount of energy Cruise is putting into the film, and it's one of those spectacles you need to enjoy on the biggest possible screen. It shows his attention to really pushing the envelope of what film can be.

But, the rest of the film simply cannot match that. The film flits between po-faced chatter about AI and destiny and bouts of comedy and caper. The first hour is painfully slow, poorly edited and often weirdly shot with sequences that exist solely to explain the plot to people; it goes beyond hand holding and becomes condescending. The film also wants to wrap up the entire franchise, often inserting clips from previous films over and over as if it has time to fill and at nearly three hours it's pushing it's luck.

Most of the secondary characters become sidelined, and so plot threads are never explained despite the runtime to do so. Who is Gabriel? What was the crime that got Ethan into the IMF? Why is Luther in a hospital bed? Are we really doing a surprise child reveal – again?! It feels like a first draft of a script that has been stitched to action sequences.

It also hurts that most of the fantastic supporting cast – Holt McCallany, Angela Bassett (not doing the thing), Nick Offerman, Janet McTeer get nothing to do but stand around looking bored, while franchise favourites like Simon Pegg and Pom Klementieff are left to try and make something of underwritten roles.

There's no denying Cruise's magnetism but his Ethan Hunt has become such a cipher for action sequences he's as much a machine as The Entity, meaning the well shot and staged action means nothing because there is no emotional engagement. It feels like a franchise that has run out of ideas and coming off the back of Fallout, both reckonings have felt like they're just spinning wheels.

Sadly, the fuse burns out with a fizzle not a bang.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is in cinemas from May 21st