Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Mission background:
This year marks the 22nd anniversary of Tom Cruise’s blockbuster franchise. Based on the 1966-73 series by Bruce Geller, the premise was given its first cinematic instalment in 1996 by director Brian De Palma, with Cruise leading an all-star cast of super spies against a vague but dangerous-sounding plot device.
Since then the franchise has never failed to draw in box-office success and critical approval. Each instalment has featured the style of different directors, including J.J. Abrams, Brad Bird and ‘Jack Reacher’ director Christopher McQuarrie.
The new mission … should you choose to accept it:
‘Fallout’ brings with it many of the traits that we have come to expect from the franchise: insane stunt sequences, helicopters and familiar faces like Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames. However, the film also adds a few new elements into the mix. It’s the first time that a director has returned for a second shot at the series, in this case regular Cruise-collaborator Christoper McQuarrie who directed the series’ fifth entry. There’s a greater amount of emphasis on the film’s villains, played expertly by Henry Cavill and Sean Harris. We also have stunts that greatly surpass any seen before, and certainly more spectacular than the majority you’ll see in the Bond films.
The film is carried on the most part by the tremendous amount of physical energy Cruise puts into the action sequences. One cannot help but feel the 56-year-old will surely outlive any viewers in their mid-twenties such as myself. The plots in these movies are often thin to say the least, mostly serving to drive the amazing set-pieces the franchise is renowned for, and the word ‘disavowed’ is thrown around a great deal, usually alongside some contrived plot to start World War Three by a forgettable villain.
It is nice to see here that the plot is delved into a little bit more, with a simple but defined story which leads appropriately into the stunt scenes. The world-ending scheme is orchestrated by DC star Henry Cavill as the deadly and seemingly invincible August Walker, and Solomon Lane, the enemy and leader of The Syndicate from ‘Rogue Nation’. Harris and Cavill are defiantly the most memorable of the villains, a nice change in a series where the likes of Jon Voight, Venessa Redgrave and Phillip Seymour Hoffman have been largely forgotten.
There’s more emotional development in Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, linking the events from both the third and fifth films – another welcome addition, since all of the films before have barely contained even arbitrary references to previous events.
Mission assessment:
Arguably the best in the series, the franchise shows no signs of growing stale. Coming out of the cinema, it’s hard not to smile at the experience, with the predominant question you have being ‘how will they ever top that?’
4.5/5
