Mission: Impossible – Fallout Review

Rating:

9.5 out of 10

Cast:

Tom Cruise – Ethan Hunt
Henry Cavill – August Walker
Ving Rhames – Luther Stickell
Simon Pegg – Benji Dunn
Rebecca Ferguson – Ilsa Faust
Sean Harris – Solomon Lane
Angela Bbadett – Erica Sloan
Vanessa Kirby – White Widow
Michelle Monaghan – Julia Meade-Hunt
Wes Bentley – Patrick
Frederick Schmidt – Zola
Alec Baldwin – Alan Hunley

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Mission: Impossible – Fallout ] is pretty punishing, because there is never a moment in the movie where you can take a break to go. From frame one, this movie moves to a breakneck pace, but it also knows when to stop and collect itself and give us the bits of character and plot that we need. Then it's off to the races again, all over the map – Belfast, London, Paris, Kashmir, has few other places. The action is unrelenting, giving us terrific sequences on a level we have not seen in years. There are a lot of comparisons to Mad Max: Fury Road Spielberg action at its best. There is a chase sequence here that seems to last forever (in a good way) that rivals the intensity and excitement of the Chase Truck in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's an all-timer, and that is not even the biggest piece of the film. This movie is a juggernaut.

Is it the best of the series? I'm still thinking it over, but I feel like it might be. Right now I'm flipping between this and Brad Bird's Ghost Protocol but what Ghost Protocol has gone against it is that its best sequence is right in the middle of the film, and Fallout Continues to top itself until its final insane. The film also has the advantage of giving us, at last, some exploration and depth in the character of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise).

Before I get people all riled up, I've never really felt that Ethan Hunt was all that great of a character. We rarely see him in stillness. We rarely get an impression of his motives or what makes him tick. Mission: Impossible 3 Addresses this somewhat, but that film may be the weakest one in the series (19459005) Mission: Impossible 2 which is directed by John Woo like he's being chased himself, and while the movie is spectacularly dumb, it's dumb in that and Furious way that makes it enjoyable). Mission: Impossible – Fallout manages to build character while never really stopping in key moments of exposure. We finally get a look at who Ethan Hunt is under the hood, and it's a long overdue.

Tom Cruise leaves you in this movie. He holds nothing back, and by the end of the movie, we're exhausted as he seems to be. Doing almost all of one's own stunts, Cruise can not be fired and determined in his own right, but it can not be avoided. And yet, we get a sense of what drives Ethan Hunt a little bit, beginning early on when Hunt makes a choice and his choice causes serious problems with world events. The Syndicate still exists, even though Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) has been captured, and Hunt, Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) are tasked to retrieve nuclear material that could be used by the Syndicate's splinter group, The Apostles , to wreak devastation on the world. Heather and his team lose the material, which causes head of the CIA Erica Sloan (Angela Bbadett), over the protests of the head of the Mission Impossible Force Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) agent August Walker (Henry Cavill) to help secure the plutonium. Also in play is Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), tasked with MI6 with her own mission. Of course, this is a Mission: Impossible movie, which means nothing is as it seems, and no one is loyalties are clear.

Christopher McQuarrie is the first director in this franchise to return, and for those Rogue Nation . While you're in the news, there are quite a few callbacks to the previous movies (even 2 !). If you're going to revisit any of them, you should watch Rogue Nation beforehand. As an action director, McQuarrie has never been better, and he was already a hell of a writer before this, if you're familiar with the clbadics in his roster. The craftwork behind Fallout is first-rate, with brilliant cinematography by Rob Hardy and editing by Eddie Hamilton. The stunt teams involved should get an honorary Oscar on their own (I'm sure this movie would win hands down).

Simon Pegg's Benji may not be the most skilled field agent, but he has a lot of heart. So does Ving Rhames, and there is a wonderful moment when Rhames is surprisingly emotional as he describes his loyalty to his friend Ethan. We also get Rebecca Ferguson returning, and the filmmakers were very wise to bring her back. She was a terrific character in the fifth movie, and she's just as extraordinary here. Alec Baldwin, Angela Bbadett, and Sean Harris play their roles nicely, and I really love the emotion that Baldwin brings back to this time. And then there is Henry Cavill, who feels like the first character in this franchise that gives Ethan Hunt serious competition in capability. Hunt may be older, but physically, Walker has it all, which makes for some very intense moments.

But for me, this series lives and breathes with Ethan Hunt, and I am happy to say that we are finally getting an Ethan Hunt that is truly compelling. I enjoy the Mission: Impossible movies, but my chief complaint has always been that things have happened, rather than one that makes choices. These choices are motivated by real emotion, fear, and drive. This makes Ethan Hunt much more heroic this time out – he's fighting for a purpose, his love and loyalty to his team and others is paramount to the mission, and that gives him an edge that Cruise makes us feel. I also love that Cruise, maybe for the first time, let us know that he's feeling his age – his exasperated looks to his team as they happily go out on a chase are priceless, and during the film's breathtaking climax, Cruise gives us an Ethan Hunt that may, at last, have reached his physical limits. Indestructible action heroes do not make for riveting cinema, and Cruise never plays him that way.

Yes, Fallout is a bit long, but there is not a wasted moment in it, and I certainly could not say how you can lose anything without losing weight. So You May Want to Rethink That Big Soda, Because You Can Strap in to Mission: Impossible – Fallout you're in for the whole shebang. This is why we go to summer movies – to be thrilled, moved, and awed. Dollar for dollar, pound for pound, this is the best entertainment of the summer, and I'm hard pressed to think it over. I'm very excited to see you try