Mission Impossible Fallout
Some years after the capture of Soloman Lane, Ethan is on the mission to track down three plutonium cores that maybe used for deadly terrorist attacks.
Lane’s former group, The Syndicate – now known as The Apostles – have been hired by an extremist named John Lark, who wants to free an imprisoned Lark – and wreak havoc on the entire world.
With the help of CIA agent August Walker, Hunt and his team must track down the plutonium, and stop Lark, Lane and The Apostles.
Direction
Christopher MacQuarie returns to the helm of directing, the first time a director has returned to the chair a second time.
This time around we get much more batsh!t crazy stunts from Cruise, who goes above and beyond the call of duty.
The cinematography here is second to none, with many set pieces that should be mentioned. First, that long take H.A.L.O jump. Absolutely incredible. While a little CGI heavy, it is awe inspiring that they attempted this 106 times to get it right.
There is a brilliantly filmed sequence when Hunt is breaking Lane out of jail, where Lane is in the back of an armored truck. The truck is submerged in water, sideways, and Lane must take a deep breath before the water over takes him. The camera angles, while the water is at the side is brilliantly done. Bravo!
Cast/Characters
Tom Cruise, proves he is one of the last true Hollywood stars. He is willing to go above and beyond what is expected of any actor of his caliber. Fun Fact, Cruise, who here was the same age as his ‘protege’ Jon Voight was in MI1. He gives us countless moments of awe inspiring action (HALO, Bathroom fight, Jump across buildings, Helicopter climb and flying). You might not like him as a person (while I will not say this as I’ve never met him), you can’t say he doesn’t deliver as a performer.
Returning cast members are ;
Simon Pegg, as Benji, back for his fourth outing. They don’t have as much heart to heart here as they did in the previous film, or the proceeding film, but he’s still and integral part of the MI universe.
Ving Rhames, back again, he is the only other cast member who has been in every film. He gets much more to do here, especially in the third act with…
Michelle Monoghan as Julia – has her third outing as Ethan’s former wife, who gets to return to the fold. She has an important arc in the third act.
Rebecca Ferguson, is back as Ilsa Faust, back for her second outing. The relationship between Ilsa and Ethan becomes more serious here. Once again she keeps her employers identity a secret for the most part of the film, and why she needs to find Lane.
Alec Baldwin as Alan Hunley is back, now as the Secretary for the IMF division.
Sean Harris is back as Soloman Lane, the first villain to return (and now sporting Harris’ signature beard).
New cast members are Angela Bassett, as the new CIA director Erica Sloan, and Henry “the mustache that killed the Superman franchise” Cavil as August Walker.
Bassett always delivers in anything she does, so I wish we had more of her here, but she will return in #7 & #8. More on Cavil in a moment.
Vanessa Kirby also makes her debut as The White Widow/Alana Mitsopolis – the daughter of Max from #1.
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
New addition of Henry Cavil is welcome, however the ‘twist’ of his character is fairly predictable. It was sensible to include this so early into proceedings, which allowed enough time for the tension between him and Cruise to build.
The worldwide filming locations include most of the film taking place in Paris, with some fun moments like, the bathroom fight sequence (including Cavils bicep pump, the rooftop chase sequence, a fun car chase sequence (completely devoid of conversation or non diegeitc sound), and that rooftop jump that ended up breaking Cruise’ leg.
The final arc which takes place at the edge of India and Sri Lanka, brings back Hunt’s former wife. She only gets a small moment between Ethan, with more of her scenes going to Luther while they try to dismantle the bomb. This is quite a poignant scene, as he has really been the only other person to know their entire history.
There is also a silly moment that was really only added for extra tension, between Benji, Ilsa and Lane. You would think that seasoned agents like these two would be smarter than to fall into Lane’s trap.
There is a very fun helicopter chase sequence between Hunt and Lark, with Tom Cruise climbing into a helicopter from below, then flying it himself (what can’t Cruise do). This culminates in a cartoonish crash, with a throwback to Hunt’s rock-climbing from #2.
There is also “Hollywood” bomb timer countdown, where the 15m timer on screen – takes about 25m of screen-time.
At 2.5 hours long (with the credits beginning at the 16m mark), this never feels like it over stays its welcome. It utilises every minute and leaves you wanting more.
Overall
Who would think that a film franchise could continue to deliver such intense action and character development six movies in; yet because of Cruise’s attention to detail and his craft that’s what we get.
With strong supporting cast members, and not a screenplay not afraid to let go of some (which will continue in #7 & #8), this is to date the best in the franchise (in my opinion).
4/5