Something is wrong with Tom Cruise. Or he has life completely figured out. I haven’t decided yet. But the older Tom Cruise gets, the more he is living his best life (cue Lil’ Duval here). The older this man gets, the wilder his stunts get. In Mission: Impossible – Fallout he finally hurt himself, almost shattering his ankle. AND HE KEPT THE SCENE IN THE MOVIE!!!
Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the 6th entry in the series and the first direct continuation. After the take down of Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) and the Syndicate in Rogue Nation, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his IMF team race to stop Lane’s remaining followers from causing catastrophic nuclear strikes across the globe.
This plot may seem pretty formulaic, but that is because Fallout takes what has made the previous entries so great and continues to build upon it. Take characters you have connected with, antagonists that have an unnerving calm (Harris’ voice is still enough to make you cower), and ever expanding action scenes, and you get one of the best action movies of the year in the best action franchise of the decade. Fallout may be the most action-packed movie of the series, with not one lull in the entire two and half hours. Choosing to focus on longer set pieces instead of rapid fire fights, each action scene is like a roller-coaster that keeps building on the initial climb and finally drops you when anticipation is at its peak. The final helicopter battle raises the stakes with every increasing minute and never lets up. The movie even made a minutes-long scene of Tom Cruise running (again) entertaining.
This unceasing action is coupled with just the right amount of comedy that didn’t take you out of the film. This is primarily provided through returning stars Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, whose performances continue to elevate the film past just your regular action flick. Rebecca Ferguson also returns, commanding the stage just as much (if not more) than the main star. Newcomers Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, and Henry Cavill fit right into the tone of the movie, but seem to have just a little something missing. In Bassett and Kirby’s cases, it may be that they just didn’t have enough time on the screen. With Cavill, he didn’t have as much impact as the trailers suggested. His performance was a great addition to the movie, but there was a tiny bit of weightiness that was missing. This “something” that can’t be named is also what makes this entry rank slightly below the previous two.
Rogue Nation and Ghost Protocol had a kinetic energy beyond the action which Fallout didn’t have. The new additions to those movies created a captivating dynamic between the IMF team that Cavill and Bassett didn’t create as effectively. Truthfully, it’s gotta be because people keep disrespecting my man Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner was the only missing returning character from Nation and Protocol). In the end, Mission: Impossible – Fallout is an amazing entry to the series and cements its place as a comparable rival to James Bonds’ long-term hold on the action-spy film genre. As long as Tom Cruise is crazy enough put his life on the line, we will be waiting in lines to watch him do so. I give Mission: Impossible – Fallout 8.5/10 Tom Cruise couch jumps.