Overview:

"Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning," the new and (supposedly) last installment in the action franchise, is playing at movie theaters around the region to excited fans of Tom Cruise.

Metro Cinemas in downtown Eugene, a boutique multiplex, programs foreign film, art house picks and independent cinema for the city’s cinephiles. Its next selection, a long-awaited film, will bring a saga of found family, honor and existential threat to the fabric of society to a close. 

It also stars Tom Cruise. 

Even the art house can’t deny the pull of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” the eighth and (for now) final installment in the long-running action series that began in 1996. The new installment hits theaters nationwide today, May 23.

“We play about a 50/50 mix of mainstream and indie fare at the Metro, so we’re certainly on board and kicking off the summer movie season with Lilo & Stitch’ and ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ this weekend,” Metro Cinemas managing director Edward Schlessi said in an email. “However, we’re most excited about the weekend’s other wide release, off-beat comedy ‘Friendship,’ starring Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson!”

While “Friendship” features the comedic stylings of Robinson, a luminary in awkward situational absurdity, it does not feature Cruise dangling perilously from a biplane. 

The “Mission: Impossible” series, which focuses on special agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise), and the tight bonds that form between him and his teammates during the impossible missions he chooses to accept, is a stunt work spectacle, with the new installment timed as a Memorial Day blockbuster; industry analysts are expecting the movie to have a $210 million global debut at the box office.

At an early 2 p.m. screening on Thursday, a smattering of fans gathered at Regal Cinemas in the Valley River Center, the only IMAX theater in the area, to see the movie a day before the wide release and purchase commemorative popcorn buckets.

Tonya Louie was wearing a pin with an illustration by her daughter, Natalie Johnson, of Cruise’s other action movie hero, Maverick from “Top Gun.” Johnson said she was a fan of Cruise because of the actor’s obvious passion. 

Tonya Louie shows off a pin with an illustration of Tom Cruise done by her daughter, Natalie Johnson, at an early fan screening of “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” at the Regal Valley River Center. Credit: Annie Aguiar / Lookout Eugene-Springfield
A woman wearing glasses smiles and holds a commemorative soda cup for a screening of "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning," while sitting next to a younger woman giving a thumbs up and also smiling at the camera.
Louie and Johnson both took the day off from work to watch the new “Mission: Impossible” movie at the Regal Valley River Center. Credit: Annie Aguiar / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

“I mean, he literally is [going to] jump off a cliff because he loves doing it, and it’s like he’s doing it for art,” Johnson said. (Cruise’s cliff jump was a featured stunt in the last installment, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.”)

Both Johnson and Louie took the day off of work to see the new installment.

“I told my boss, ‘My friend Tom’s coming to town,’” Louie said. 

Where can I watch “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”?

Metro Cinemas 

Metro Cinemas, located in downtown Eugene at 888 Willamette St., has showtimes in standard format from now until May 29.

Regal Valley River Center & IMAX 

The Regal Valley River Center, located in the mall at 500 Valley River Center, has showtimes in both standard format and IMAX listed from now until June 6.

Cinemark Eugene Springfield 17

Cinemark Eugene Springfield 17, located in Springfield at 2900 Gateway Street, has showtimes in standard format listed until June 4.

Annie Aguiar is the Arts and Culture Correspondent. She has reported arts news and features for national and local newsrooms, including at the Seattle Times, the Washington Post and most recently as a reporting fellow for the New York Times’ Culture desk covering arts and entertainment.