Monday, September 23, 2019

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

So Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) should be feeling pretty good about capturing criminal mastermind Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) back in Rogue Nation. Alas a whole new set of rogues is taking up Lane’s cause and are threatening to unleash some serious destruction using nuclear devices. Hunt teams up with his crew of Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Dunn (Simon Pegg), but the plan falls apart and now there is a bomb to recover. As usual the head of the CIA , Erica Sloane (played with intensity by Angela Bassett) doesn’t think the IMF is up to the challenge. So she sends her watchdog, August Walker (Henry Cavill) to keep an eye on things.

And boy is there a bunch to keep an eye on. Turns out Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) has an impossible mission of her own – is she working with or against Hunt and his team? There is also a black market dealer known as the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) who wants a piece of the action. And that action ramps up with a battle royale in a bathroom, an insane car/motorcycle chase in Paris and one of craziest helicopter pursuit put to film.  As the mission gets more and more impossible even Hunt has to wonder – have they actually bit off more than they can chew?

Good Points:
  • Top-notch action scenes and thrills
  • Some excellent performances
  • Keeps the plot moving with intensity and intrigue

Bad Points:
  • Goes for the full serious approach to the franchise 
  • Goes for a more grim visual style
  • The score’s more modern approach may not work for everyone

Overall:

This series just keeps delivering solid thrills and action. This film makes for a fine follow-up to the last film. It also manages to work in elements from all the previous films. It was great to so many familiar faces returning (Baldwin is back and he’s a blast). But the overall tone is so serious and grim, that the fun nature of the previous installments is missed. Still, had a great time with this one, and while I think I enjoyed the previous installment a bit more, Fallout is well worth seeking out.

Scores (out of 5)
Visuals:  4
Sound: 4
Acting:  4
Script:  4
Music: 3
Direction: 4
Entertainment: 3
Total:  4

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

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4 comments:

  1. I enjoyed it a great deal too. In fact on one movie forum someone asked what was your favorite Tom Cruise film, and I went with Ghost Protocol, but added the whole MI franchise is handled pretty well. I think overall these have been better than the rebooted 007 franchise for the most part.

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    1. I was about to argue with your comment on 007... but yeah I think you're right. Outside of "Casino Royale" which is really top notch Bond. The others have been good, but not great. And the M:I films have been very good to great most of the time.

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  2. Tom is extending the usual length of action roles for actors. Errol Flynn died at 50 and Douglas Fairbanks at 56.

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