I’ll be honest: this is one of the toughest reviews I’ve ever had to write. The urge to just type ‘WOW’ in all caps over and over again is proving difficult to overcome. I’ll do my best to give you, the ever-supportive reading public, a critique worth your time. This is my mission, should I choose to accept it. Let’s hope I don’t self-destruct in five seconds.
Are there any film franchises out there that can claim their sixth entry as their best? Over the past two decades, Mission: Impossible has proven the rare example of a series that gets better and better as it goes along. With Ghost Protocol, director Brad Bird infused it with new life and now, with Fallout, returning writer/director Christopher McQuarrie and producer/star Tom Cruise have raised the bar for the action genre as a whole. They should have just called it Mission: Impossible - Standout.
At the film’s outset, things are grim for the IMF (That’s Impossible Mission Force, for you uneducated heathens out there). Ethan Hunt and his team are tasked with intercepting three plutonium cores in order to ensure they don’t fall into the wrong hands. Naturally, things go awry when Hunt makes a split decision that saves the lives of his friends but costs them the plutonium. It ends up getting snagged by The Apostles, a sinister organization comprised of members from the now defunct Syndicate group, which was dismantled in Rogue Nation. It’s up to Hunt and his team to recover the plutonium before The Apostles can utilize it for their nefarious purposes. You know, world domination, explosions, chaos and mass destruction - all that standard bad guy stuff.
From the get-go, Fallout contains a welcome element of grim intensity previous entries in this series have lacked. That’s not to say those films weren’t effective or that Fallout is all doom and gloom. It’s just that McQuarrie, the only director to return for a second Mission, has done an excellent job crafting a stronger set of stakes this time around, upping the ante and making the resulting thrills all the more potent. But while Fallout may have more of an edge than McQuarrie’s previous effort Rogue Nation, its fun quotient is still off the charts, managing to top Rogue Nation’s highest highs with ease. All other puny action movies are left to sputter in the dust.
That Fallout is such a successful effort is a pleasant surprise. I’ll admit I wasn’t rooting for McQuarrie’s return following Rogue Nation, which I enjoyed, but found a bit by-the-numbers, especially following Bird’s revitalizing and inventive Ghost Protocol. I’ve also been a fan of this franchise’s revolving door of directors, which gave each entry a unique stylistic stamp. Whatever reservations I had about McQuarrie’s return have been wiped clean by the resulting product. In fact, with Fallout, McQuarrie is elevated to the calibre of Great Action Directors of the 21st Century. There are sequences here that are simply unparalleled, made all the more breathtaking by the knowledge that the majority were done practically. In a cinematic landscape overwhelmed with admittedly awesome but undoubtedly cartoonish computer-generated action, Fallout sets itself apart and we, the audience, are the lucky saps who get to soak in all of these delights from the vantage point of of our (hopefully) comfortable theater seats while we munch away on candy and popcorn.
With one epic set piece after another, the danger is losing sight of the characters and stakes. Somehow, miraculously, Fallout thrives in this area, organically tying in storylines and characters from previous films in a way that enriches the plot, anchoring its intricate, criss-crossing happenings with surprising, but welcome emotional weight. We’ve got the return of all our favorite cast members, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson and Sean Harris, plus an excellent turn from Henry Cavill as August Walker, the brutal assassin with a killer mustache.
But while the supporting cast is superb and undoubtedly a crucial element regarding this franchise’s success, the star of the show, as always, is Tom Cruise, and God bless his monumental dedication to his craft. In the realm of big-budget action, Cruise is without peer. Throughout Fallout’s two-plus hour runtime, he seems intent on raising the threshold for action stunts so high, no other movie star not named Jackie Chan would dare attempt to match them. That HALO jump sequence? Yeah, that’s Tom Cruise skydiving from an ACTUAL AIRPLANE. That wince-inducing moment where he comes up short in a leap from building to building? Mr. Cruise actually broke his foot when he hit the building wall, delaying the shoot for months. (And yes, they used the actual shot this happened in, including the aftermath in which Cruise limps away like a total BAMF because he knew this was the only take they’d be able to get) And how about that breathtaking helicopter chase scene? Turns out, Cruise learned how to fly a helicopter to make the sequence as believable as possible, performing stunts that would give even the most seasoned stunt pilot pause. Cruise is so devoted to his craft, all you can do is watch in utter shock and delight and cheer him on. Don’t try to fight it. Just let it happen.
If it isn’t already clear, I adored this movie. In a franchise filled with monumental highs and minimal lows (for shame, Mr. Woo), Mission: Impossible - Fallout might just be the best yet. No other summer blockbuster this year comes close. Few action pictures this century come close. Accept this mission with all your being and make sure to buckle up.
Are there any film franchises out there that can claim their sixth entry as their best? Over the past two decades, Mission: Impossible has proven the rare example of a series that gets better and better as it goes along. With Ghost Protocol, director Brad Bird infused it with new life and now, with Fallout, returning writer/director Christopher McQuarrie and producer/star Tom Cruise have raised the bar for the action genre as a whole. They should have just called it Mission: Impossible - Standout.
At the film’s outset, things are grim for the IMF (That’s Impossible Mission Force, for you uneducated heathens out there). Ethan Hunt and his team are tasked with intercepting three plutonium cores in order to ensure they don’t fall into the wrong hands. Naturally, things go awry when Hunt makes a split decision that saves the lives of his friends but costs them the plutonium. It ends up getting snagged by The Apostles, a sinister organization comprised of members from the now defunct Syndicate group, which was dismantled in Rogue Nation. It’s up to Hunt and his team to recover the plutonium before The Apostles can utilize it for their nefarious purposes. You know, world domination, explosions, chaos and mass destruction - all that standard bad guy stuff.
From the get-go, Fallout contains a welcome element of grim intensity previous entries in this series have lacked. That’s not to say those films weren’t effective or that Fallout is all doom and gloom. It’s just that McQuarrie, the only director to return for a second Mission, has done an excellent job crafting a stronger set of stakes this time around, upping the ante and making the resulting thrills all the more potent. But while Fallout may have more of an edge than McQuarrie’s previous effort Rogue Nation, its fun quotient is still off the charts, managing to top Rogue Nation’s highest highs with ease. All other puny action movies are left to sputter in the dust.
That Fallout is such a successful effort is a pleasant surprise. I’ll admit I wasn’t rooting for McQuarrie’s return following Rogue Nation, which I enjoyed, but found a bit by-the-numbers, especially following Bird’s revitalizing and inventive Ghost Protocol. I’ve also been a fan of this franchise’s revolving door of directors, which gave each entry a unique stylistic stamp. Whatever reservations I had about McQuarrie’s return have been wiped clean by the resulting product. In fact, with Fallout, McQuarrie is elevated to the calibre of Great Action Directors of the 21st Century. There are sequences here that are simply unparalleled, made all the more breathtaking by the knowledge that the majority were done practically. In a cinematic landscape overwhelmed with admittedly awesome but undoubtedly cartoonish computer-generated action, Fallout sets itself apart and we, the audience, are the lucky saps who get to soak in all of these delights from the vantage point of of our (hopefully) comfortable theater seats while we munch away on candy and popcorn.
With one epic set piece after another, the danger is losing sight of the characters and stakes. Somehow, miraculously, Fallout thrives in this area, organically tying in storylines and characters from previous films in a way that enriches the plot, anchoring its intricate, criss-crossing happenings with surprising, but welcome emotional weight. We’ve got the return of all our favorite cast members, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson and Sean Harris, plus an excellent turn from Henry Cavill as August Walker, the brutal assassin with a killer mustache.
But while the supporting cast is superb and undoubtedly a crucial element regarding this franchise’s success, the star of the show, as always, is Tom Cruise, and God bless his monumental dedication to his craft. In the realm of big-budget action, Cruise is without peer. Throughout Fallout’s two-plus hour runtime, he seems intent on raising the threshold for action stunts so high, no other movie star not named Jackie Chan would dare attempt to match them. That HALO jump sequence? Yeah, that’s Tom Cruise skydiving from an ACTUAL AIRPLANE. That wince-inducing moment where he comes up short in a leap from building to building? Mr. Cruise actually broke his foot when he hit the building wall, delaying the shoot for months. (And yes, they used the actual shot this happened in, including the aftermath in which Cruise limps away like a total BAMF because he knew this was the only take they’d be able to get) And how about that breathtaking helicopter chase scene? Turns out, Cruise learned how to fly a helicopter to make the sequence as believable as possible, performing stunts that would give even the most seasoned stunt pilot pause. Cruise is so devoted to his craft, all you can do is watch in utter shock and delight and cheer him on. Don’t try to fight it. Just let it happen.
If it isn’t already clear, I adored this movie. In a franchise filled with monumental highs and minimal lows (for shame, Mr. Woo), Mission: Impossible - Fallout might just be the best yet. No other summer blockbuster this year comes close. Few action pictures this century come close. Accept this mission with all your being and make sure to buckle up.
No comments:
Post a Comment