Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018) - Written Review

There are now officially six Mission: Impossible films starring Tom Cruise, and yet the franchise doesn't seem to be stagnating or over-saturating the film industry in the same way that (arguably) franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, JK Rowling's Wizarding World, X-Men, Worlds of DC (or whatever you want to call it), Fast and Furious, etc. have. Perhaps this is because the series has been going for about twenty years now, so each instalment has felt quite spread-out. Besides, the series has only really had four good films, so we're still technically only on the fourth solid entry into the franchise.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout is a direct sequel to 2015's Rogue Nation, and serves to continue the leftover ominous presence of the Syndicate by transforming them into a new threat that's as equally disposable and serves to undermine their IMF-equal status established in the last film. Sean Harris' Solomon Lane from Rogue Nation too returns here, and is just as weak a villain as he was in that. It's no one's fault in particular, but the character has no gravitas. I can't remember what Phillip Seymour Hoffman's plan was in Mission: Impossible III, but I can remember how imposing a threat he was - a threat we haven't really seen in any of the other Mission: Impossible movies. Another villain is added to this film in what could be intended as a twist but feels spectacularly mishandled if that was indeed the case. They too are very underwhelming, and serve merely as a surface-level threat that feels a little one-dimensional, despite the film dumping exposition to justify their antagonism.

Instead the focus mostly rests on the shoulders of Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, who hasn't had so much of a character over the six films as much as doing whatever Tom Cruise felt like doing with each film. Here though, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie dedicates a whole scene to exploring Ethan's character arc over the past few films, which does manage to justify it all...as long as you continue to forget the first two movies (which is probably for the best). The return of Michelle Monaghan as Ethan's former wife Julia does preserve some continuity from Mission: Impossible III and Ghost Protocol, and her comeback is a nice inclusion. Rebecca Ferguson returns from Rogue Nation in what ultimately feels like more of an audience-pleasing role as opposed to being necessary to the plot. Illsa Faust seemed to go down as the MVP from Rogue Nation, so it's no surprise to see her (admittedly welcome) return here.

Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames serve well as Tom Cruise's comic foils, even if neither get to stand in the spotlight in the film. Instead we have Henry Cavill for Tom Cruise to bounce off of, who just feels incredibly wooden throughout. Granted, Cavill is great in the action sequences and has some lovely comic timing, but never manages to create an interesting or compelling character. On the up side, he does manage to make Tom Cruise seem like a much more charismatic movie star than he actually is, which is probably a plus for the main star.  Cruise has always been great as these very simple earnest characters who don't so much have character arcs as much as they have obstacles to face - and quite often literal ones at that for Cruise to show off his spectacular (insane) action talents.

Because ultimately Mission: Impossible - Fallout is two-and-a-half hours of tense action set-pieces pushing Tom Cruise to the limit to see how far he can go before he seriously injures himself. And, of course, he did, which is enough evidence to suggest how intense the action is here. The emphasis on stunt-work makes for riveting action sequences, while McQuarrie is more than happy to hold on certain shots to really emphasise the fact that what everyone's doing is actually happening in-camera. Granted, certain things are cheated with camerawork or visual effects - they refuse to do a single-take with the masks in this entry - but the bar is set so high that I can't really criticise the work on this film at all.

The Mission: Impossible crew have upped the ante with this entry, and it really shows in the final film. Each set-piece feels incredibly tense, so much so that you're in constant question as to how they can possibly get out of each new situation facing them. The sequences are long, drawn-out, and never serve to undermine the peril the characters are in at any point. I have no idea what the standout would be, but the chase across London with Ethan Hunt in pursuit of the film's villain manages to not only poke fun at how preposterous these sequences keep getting but also to ramp up the tension even more. Can Ethan Hunt reach the person in time?

I was very disappointed to see that Lorne Balfe was composing the score to Fallout, given how great Michael Giacchino and Joe Kramer had been previously, and while Balfe hasn't been redeemed in my eyes, he has maintained the themes from the previous films, and uses them to great effect in many pivotal moments throughout Fallout. Otherwise, his score is very generic, so much so that the first half-hour of the movie seemed ridiculously repetitive. Tense music, then string music, then tense music, then string music...I did start to wonder how much more I could handle. The score does pick-up though, and Balfe manages to create a real sense of tension in many of the action cues, even if perhaps he doesn't do anything particularly interesting or unique.

What more could be said for Mission: Impossible - Fallout though? It's an action movie, through-and-through, sprinkled with humour, character beats and some terrific set-pieces that push the series' limits through the roof.  It may be the sixth entry in the franchise, but it's certainly the best of the lot, pushing the envelope on what a series like this can do. I've already gone through my problems with the film, but each entry in the franchise has them. Mission: Impossible III has a mostly weak supporting cast, Ghost Protocol has a completely forgettable villain and Rogue Nation's ending didn't seem to quite resolve everything (although given Fallout's story, the main problem probably reverts to Solomon Lane and the Syndicate being naff villains), but Fallout manages to create a more compelling and tense narrative despite its weak villains. It's a brilliantly intense, action-packed thrill-ride that's up there with the year's best films. I've no idea how they can possibly top this, but I'm intrigued to see what McQuarrie and Cruise do next. 9/10