A dream foreshadows an ominous time for Ethan Hunt, played for the 6th time by Tom Cruise, in Mission Impossible:Fallout. Getting a call from his IMF liaison Alan Hunley, played by Alec Baldwin, gets Ethan, Luther and Benji, reprising their roles again are Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg, back into action. They have to make a deal to buy some weapons grade plutonium from from some Irish arms dealers. When the deal goes south all hell breaks loose. It turns out a group of men calling themselves the Apostles led by Solomon Lane are responsible.
This gets the CIA involved and Deputy Director Sloane, played by Angela Bassett, is not a happy camper at what happened in Berlin. She sicks her dog otherwise known as Walker, portrayed by Henry Cavill, on Ethan. They have to remain together for the rest of the mission to get the plutonium back from these terrorists. So they both go to France to broker a trade with The White Widow, portrayed by Vanessa Kirby, from the Netflix show The Crown. Add in the return of Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa and you have another remarkable edition to the Mission Impossible Franchise.
Tom Cruise is known for doing his own stunts in these Mission Impossible films and others over the years. A bathroom fight scene is nothing to shake your head at though. Walker and Hunt are in a fight for their lives and they barely make it out alive. Then again you know they will. Trying to do a prisoner extraction Ethan has to to run from quite a few French police officers. This leads to an incredible motorcycle chase scene. Even incredible for Tom Cruise. Ilsa even gets to join in on the fun. That’s nothing compared to this though. A helicopter scene near the end of the film will take your break away. I was hyperventilating watching this scene unfold on screen. It’s one of the most harrowing scenes I’ve seen in my entire movie watching life. And I’ve been watching movies for 35, nearly 40 years. The stunt coordinator deserve their pay and some for that scene alone. The cinematography is breathing as well. Especially during the helicopter scene.
Of course if you read the title of the film you know bombs or explosions are a big part of the film. This could have multiple meanings though that’s all I’ll say on that. The plutonium plays a major role in the film and those were some great scenes. The story is a bit convoluted with names like John Lark. You are confused by who this man is throughout the film but like everything else in Mission Impossible Fallout it’s resolved to your satisfaction. This film captures are minds because of the things going in the world. All of the terror activity makes what you see on the theater screen that much more realistic in nature. Christopher Mcquarrie has worked on the last two MI films. Rogue Nation being his last. He has an eye for action and suspense. When you hear that iconic MI theme music you know something crazy is about to happen. MI:Fallout is a relevant film for the times but, it also has a story and plenty of action and suspense to make it one of the best in the franchise. I could see these films as long as Tom Cruise wants to make them. This was an incredible action packed thrill ride from beginning to end.
4 ½ stars
Dan Skip Allen
From the Fourth Row! 