Mission Impossible: Fallout
By James Davidson
Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in the newest Mission Impossible movie, “Fallout.” Ethan and the rest of the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) must race against the clock to recover three plutonium cores that Ethan lost to international terrorists in a mission gone wrong.
The IMF is completely back together with Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames reprising their roles as Ethan’s support partners, Benji Dunn and Luther Stickell, as well as Sean Harris returning as Ethan’s arch nemesis, Solomon Lane. Solomon is the leader of a terrorist group called The Syndicate. Ethan and his team must find the bombs before The Syndicate sets them off in an attempt to bring the world into chaos.
I was a little worried going into this movie because I am a fan of the Mission Impossible franchise and was unsure how this movie would live up to the previous films; but overall, I was very happy with the way this movie turned out. The writers included all the intricate twists and turns that you expect from a Mission Impossible film; and the story kept me on the edge of my seat until the final nail-biting scene.
The action sequences are almost nonstop and extremely well done. There are several chase scenes through the streets of Paris that are very exciting, as well as visually pleasing. The filmmakers almost don’t give you a chance to catch your breath, as there is one high-octane action sequence after another.
While the action is almost non-stop, the director, Christopher McQuarrie, doesn’t let that take away from the plot, which was still complex and kept me engaged. McQuarrie was able to give me a lot of information without a lot of drawn-out dialogue scenes to slow the film down. I felt that this kept the movie exciting throughout and it flies by despite being two-and-a-half hours long.
The filmmakers also do a very good job at making this movie feel different than other Mission Impossible movies. While it has all the same characters, it feels like a fresh new movie with a plot of its own. It doesn’t borrow a lot of the same scenes or plotlines from the previous movies.
The one problem I had with this movie was that, due to the fact that I haven’t seen the previous Mission Impossible movie (“Rogue Nation”) in a few years, I was a little lost on what had happened to certain characters. There were a couple times when they would bring up a character from the past and I would have a hard time remembering what happened to them. I think that a flashback scene or two would have helped me follow along a little bit better.
“Mission Impossible: Fallout” is rated PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action, as well as brief strong language. It is not for younger viewers.
“Mission Impossible: Fallout” is an exciting, nail-biting action movie that doesn’t sacrifice story for action. I will definitely be buying this and watching it again several times. If you are a Mission Impossible fan, I strongly suggest you go see this movie, though you may want to catch up on the others first. It earns 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Film Fodder 