Cannes, France – If Cannes is where global cinema goes to parade its finest, then Tom Cruise is the rare Hollywood constant who knows how to steal the whole show.

Two years after “Top Gun: Maverick” lit up the Croisette (and went on to cross the billion-dollar mark at the box office), Cruise made his return on May 14 for the highly anticipated premiere of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” And just like before, the energy was dialed up, the crowd roared, and the red carpet transformed into something closer to a blockbuster runway.

With orchestras playing the iconic Lalo Schifrin theme live, Cruise ascended the steps of the Palais des Festivals, smiling as only he can, backed by castmates Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Hayley Atwell, and the architect behind this modern spy saga, director Christopher McQuarrie.

For a franchise now entering its fourth decade, “Final Reckoning” doesn’t just feel like a sequel—it feels like a cinematic victory lap. Inside the Grand Théâtre Lumière, applause rang out not just for the stunts or the story, but for what Cruise has become: the last of a dying breed of stars who still insists on doing it all, often at 10,000 feet.

And yet, the film itself resists closure. Despite the title, there’s still no confirmation that this will be Cruise’s final run as Ethan Hunt. Even after 165 minutes, the future of the franchise remains a well-guarded secret.

Filmed across the UK, South Africa, and the icy frontier of Svalbard, “Final Reckoning” picks up the threads left dangling in 2023’s “Dead Reckoning.” This time, Hunt is on the trail of a rogue AI known simply as The Entity, a threat that feels disturbingly prescient in today’s digital climate.

The narrative leans heavily into exposition and emotional weight in its opening third—perhaps too heavily. But once Cruise takes to the skies in a biplane or plunges into nightmare-inducing waters, the film finds its pulse again.

The stakes off-screen may be just as intense. With a reported budget of nearly $400 million, “Final Reckoning” faces the same industry pressures that made “Dead Reckoning” fall short of expectations last year. Despite grossing over $570 million globally, it didn’t hit the franchise highs of 2018’s “Fallout”, thanks in part to the juggernaut summer of “Barbenheimer.”

This time, the timing is cleaner. But the question remains: can Cruise’s stunt-powered cinema still guarantee box office dominance in an era of streaming fatigue and superhero burnout?

Paramount hopes so.

Cannes, of course, got what it always wanted: glamour, global attention, and a Hollywood icon to headline the night. Cruise, in turn, received a standing ovation, a warm embrace from world cinema’s capital, and the rare chance to stretch his wings far beyond the Hollywood hills.

As for Cruise himself, he hinted at new horizons.

Whether or not this is Ethan Hunt’s swan song, one thing is clear: Tom Cruise is still on a mission—and cinema is better for it.