Film Review - Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018)

Mission Impossible: Fallout is the sixth entry in the franchise and the second directed and written by Christopher McQuarrie and the story this time sees Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) go after the remains of the Syndicate from Rogue Nation who are known as The Apostles who desire to burn the old world order down and build a better one but Hunt and his IMF team (Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames) are now being watched by CIA agent August Walker (Henry Cavill) who may have some motives of his own.

Mission Impossible: Fallout is a terrific thrill ride that even at 147 minutes went by like Cruise running at top speed after one of his targets and TC is where I want to start diving more into this movie.

Firstly it is still such a giddy thrill to see him doing all of these crazy stunts climbing onto helicopters, running through London streets like Quicksilver from the X-Men franchise, flying helicopters, racing through streets on cars and bikes and even jumping from building to building and all of it is done so well, shot so well and comes with the knowledge that it is him himself doing those insane stunts and courting death only to give the grim reaper the middle finger and say “Not today.”

And also in the character of Ethan Hunt it really feels like the Americans after so many years have found their James Bond and this along with the Kingsman movies have really stolen the thunder of the 007 franchise and in some ways done it better with a new and fresh style relevant to modern audiences, exciting action and a central character at the centre of it all who values one life as much as millions of others and Mr Bond if he is to be relevant again needs to return to that style.

Secondly Christopher McQuarrie really kicks it up a notch in terms of his direction and like his old partner in crime on the Usual Suspects Bryan Singer when he made X-Men 2 it is that feeling of knowing how to direct action and special effects and really being able to go for it and all of the action scenes look gorgeous and are properly filmed and when I was watching them I was gasping in my seat and also going “Oooh that’s gotta hurt.”

But also the storytelling this time feels the most polished as outside of these big action set pieces the scenes of characters sitting around and talking to each other and trying to figure out their next move feels important and it really feels like everyone gets a chance to shine be it with a fun one liner or an action gag or some dialogue and whereas some of the earlier MI films stumbled with their storytelling this one comes together story wise really well.

And lastly Mr Henry Cavill is equal to Cruise in every way and the 2 play off each other really well and Henry first off can throw down really well and as Superman we barely got to see him do that and it was showcased best in Justice League last year and again going back to Bond he would be a great replacement for Daniel Craig when he exits the role after his fifth film next year as he can be charismatic, handsome, handle one liners but also bring out the ruthless streak and throw some mean punches.

And the MI films have again struggled at times in the past to give Ethan a good offsider and here it feels like they’ve finally done that and again much like with the more polished storytelling it really benefits the film.

And so that was Mission Impossible: Fallout and you should run as fast as you can to see this movie as it is really really good and right behind the Post as my favorite film of the year so far, 4.5 out of 5.