Mission: Impossible - Fallout is the sixth installment of this franchise and it is in the midst of the most consistent action/spy franchise to date as the James Bond series has been a bit inconsistent as of late with Casino Royale and Skyfall being great whereas Spectre was a bit of a letdown yet decent enough and Quantum of Solace was forgettable. This Mission Impossible franchise seems to keep on going with its momentum of creating better movies ever since Mission: Impossible III, where the franchise seemed to be dying off a bit but it had a memorable villain with the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman but it was Ghost Protocol, the fourth movie, where each movie started to become an event because of how good director Brad Bird made that movie. Then, Rogue Nation was very good but a bit lesser of an effort than its predecessor. With Fallout, this movie raises the bar on not solely the franchise but in action genres. This is technically, without question, the best action movie since Mad Max: Fury Road and as time goes on, I think it will cement itself as one of the best action movies ever made, definitely this decade.
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is in a safe house in Belfast being brought up his latest mission. Since Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) has been captured, the remaining members of the Syndicate, now named the Apostles have been continuing their terrorist activities throughout the world, including releasing an outbreak of smallpox in Kashmir. The mission is to stop the Apostles and a mysterious figure named John Lark acquiring three plutonium cores before they can use it for what they want. Ethan Hunt fails to get the plutonium because the Apostles captured Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), which he saves in exchange of holding onto the plutonium.
The following day, Ethan meets with new IMF Secretary Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin), who tells him that Lark is set to meet with an arms dealer named the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) in Paris that evening at a party at the Grand Palais to get the plutonium. However, they are met by CIA Director Erica Sloan (Angela Bassett) and her agent, August Walker (Henry Cavill). Because of the failure in Berlin, Sloan does not trust IMF and decides to let Walker shadow Hunt during the mission so it would not be compromised.
After a sensational halo jump sequence into Paris and an awesome bathroom brawl in the Grand Palais between Cavill, Cruise and Liang Yang who assumed to play John Lark, Hunt, Walker and Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), the MI6 agent from Rogue Nation, make their way into a room to gain access to the White Widow, as he arouses suspicion from her brother, Zola (Frederick Schmidt), but Ethan convinces her that she needs his assistance. They plan an exchange as the cores will be given to him once the White Widow gets her hands on Lane. Even though Ethan thinks he may kill police during the mission, he has a solution as he breaks out Lane without killing innocent bystanders or the police but has the Widow's henchmen after him along with CIA and MI6 agents all trying to get Ethan once he finds out he becomes framed.
I was blown away by the immaculate details behind the story, characters and most particularly, the action sequences. The movie is nearly two and a half hours long and this is the second Mission: Impossible movie where I did not feel its length as the story keeps us the pace with its stunts and its twists and turns. What the franchise has done successfully that it does not solely rely on the stunts/action sequences because those scenes take care of itself but it is all about the story, even though it is a bit simplistic than other movies, it was surprising emotionally complex in terms of the character development surrounding Ethan Hunt. He has gone through some stuff since Rogue Nation after Solomon Lane's arrest and other things in his personal life with Michelle Monaghan's character, who plays Julia, which is his wife.
Tom Cruise is so committed to the character that even though he commits to performing the insane stunts, (come on, I was actually scared for him after he broke his ankle during the production shoot and also when he performed the climactic helicopter stunt that could have killed him.) the movie raises the stakes for his character as Solomon Lane is tiptoeing around him and pushes his buttons. Speaking of Lane, I felt this time that Sean Harris was scarier than in the fifth movie because he is more menacing being silent with his soulless eyes and cold presence knowing one step ahead of Hunt. He is chilling. Henry Cavill's presence with that famed mustache from that Justice League campaign is quite solid as the suspicious agent with sheer terror when he is silent. Rebecca Ferguson is not as active in this one as she is in the background for most of the movie but she is definitely Tom Cruise's equal in terms of acting chops and performing her stunts. She is quite great once again. Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are part of the team once again as Pegg becomes a bit more serious this time around whereas Rhames has a moment out of nowhere that is surprisingly emotional connecting to his history with Ethan.
This is the first time where a director has returned to helm a movie in this franchise as director Christopher McQuarrie takes the reigns and catapults the franchise into a more dour, complex film that is balances the cerebral aspects of the simplistic but tricky plot and the spectacular action sequences with such grace. It also helps with cinematographer Rob Hardy, who shot Annihilation and Ex Machina, behind the direction as he stages each scene with great lighting that captures the visceral experience up in the air or the style on the ground during the fight scene and the Paris chase scene with great sound design behind it too. I felt that McQuarrie had taken notes from some Christopher Nolan films as at times, it felt like a Nolan film with Lorne Balfe composing the score too, who is Hans Zimmer's protege. It had a Dark Knight vibe to this movie too.
The action set-pieces are executed beautifully, immersed with the detailed stunt coordination and action with the great cinematography behind it and it is jaw-dropping. I mean there is a stunt that heralds back to Mission: Impossible 2. Actually, the whole movie plays with the references from all the movies, a few more with spoilers than others. I said technically it is one of the best action movies ever made but in terms of story, I have a couple of quibbles regarding the revelation of a character which is a bit predictable but it is done with great, clever fashion. Also, the subplot is a bit familiar. But, those are tiny criticisms compared to what a great rollercoaster ride this was as a cinematic experience combined with a sublime screenplay also done by McQuarrie. It is a toss-up between this movie and Ghost Protocol as to which movie was my favorite of the franchise but I cannot determine which is on top right now. And, I read rumors that this may be the final movie of the franchise, if it would be, this movie would be a satisfying conclusion. This may be the blockbuster movie of the summer and since it is a great year for the movies, don't be surprised that this may sneak up on the best movies of the year list along with another blockbuster of the summer, Incredibles 2.
***1/2
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