Somewhere out there is a man, a singular force of nature upon whom rests the sole responsibility for keeping the entire world from tearing itself to shreds through willpower, an unerring belief in the natural grace of humanity and a supreme willingness to hurl himself from great heights armed with nothing but a smile and the understanding that… somehow… all of this will get figured out in the end.

He could be Ethan Hunt, super spy extraordinaire, tasked with regularly saving the world from secret menaces that could obliterate it with nothing but wits and hope and a laundry list of insane stunts to become, as one character once put it, “the literal manifestation of destiny.”

Or he could be Tom Cruise, the actor and producer who has been playing Hunt for the better part of 30 years trying to save the world of filmmaking from the menaces which could it obliterate it,...