Mission: Impossible Fallout review
How many franchise films reach the number six and still have any surprises to offer? And how many can conjure up the same thrills made you fall in love with the franchise in the first place? Mission: Impossible movies have boasted smart scripts and action set-pieces that would make Michael Bay grin but its latest steps things up even further.
The job this time around seems almost straightforward: bad people have some plutonium and plan to make nukes and the team must get it back. But subterfuge and spy craft muddy the waters and soon CIA hitman Walker (Henry Cavill with that impressive ’tache) is along for the ride to babysit the team and track down the material at any cost.
What’s impressive is the way the plot blends in elements of the previous film Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation and some PTSD dream flashbacks from Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), without them feeling laboured. It’s also packed with characters who escape the usual one-note problem action flicks are known for. Blunt instrument Walker is the perfect foil for Hunt, while Vanessa Kirby’s White Widow oozes so much sex appeal and sass that you really buy her bag girl act.
Character doesn’t come at the expense of spectacle, though. Whether its halo jumping into a storm, calling out Bourne with a thrilling chase through Paris or creating a helicopter battle that’s as brilliant as it is insane, there are plenty of heart-in-mouth moments.
Along the way there are some good lines (“We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it” or “Hope is not a strategy,” with the reply, “You must be new”). There’s even a bit of cheesy Bond-esque humour that winks at the audience when its payoff stumbles. Plus there are some pleasantly subtle nods to potential twists that will entertain amateur sleuths in the audience.
Mission: Impossible Fallout has heart, morals, surprises and thrills. It’s the late-in-the-day franchise movie every other tired sequel wishes it could be.
INFO
Release: 25 July 2018 (UK), 27 July 2018 (US)
From: Paramount
Format: Theatrical Release
Age Rating: 12A
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