2018’s Mission
Impossible: Fallout, written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie.
Starring Tom Cruise, Sean Harris, Henry Cavill Simon Pegg, Rebecca
Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle
Monaghan, and Wes Bentley.
What is it about?
Super spy for the IMF Ethan Hunt (as always played by Tom
Cruise) returns in the sixth Mission Impossible movie. We saw in
the previous film Hunt incarcerating
the leader of the terrorist group “The Syndicate”, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris).
Here, the remaining terrorists form a new group called, “The Apostles”. Hunt
and his team of operatives Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Alec Baldwin, need to
recover platonium to avoid it from being used by the Apostles as nuclear weapons.
This won’t be easy, as the arms dealer (Vanessa Kirby) wants Lane’s release back
to The Apostles to be the price of the platonium, while at the same time the
distrusting CIA director (Angela Bassett) has her right hand man (Henry Cavill)
tailing Hunt, AND mysterious MI6 operative Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) also shows
up to further complicate things. Will the Impossible Mission Force be able to
save the day?
Why is it worth seeing?
The sixth movie in the series, (for the first time) Fallout does not introduce a new
director or writer. Bringing back Christopher McQuarrie gives the series a
continuity not seen before, and it’s a familiar vibe to go along with the
series-long commitment of human special effect Tom Cruise continually jumping
out of the frying pan and into the fire. McQuarrie introduces some new
characters, and brings back a ton more from previous installments, for
resolutions of different characters’ motivations. It’s just a shame that with
all the players involved, that we don’t get the resolutions that we want.
After 6 movies, at this point it’s difficult to say much
about who Ethan Hunt is. He’s a spy, a super duper one (with the charisma of say,
Tom Cruise), and he hates innocent people getting killed. The rest is up for
debate- say while skydiving or dangling from a mountain? But that doesn’t mean McQuarrie
doesn’t try to explore a thread that was left hanging in pt. III (and briefly but pointlessly returned to in Ghost Protocol). That’s always been the biggest misstep of the series- to
take a character who’s motivations are unclear and all of a sudden try to explain
them- as a man of mystery, it works better not knowing that stuff at all. The
fact that the series previously essentially punted on Hunt’s plans for a life
devoid of masks and spy software, leaves us grasping even more at the one
relationship that Hunt does share
chemistry with- that of him and Ferguson’s Ilsa. She powerfully returns here,
and remains as mysterious as ever- except in terms of demonstrating the most
chemistry with Cruise since him and Vanessa Redgrave batted eyes at each other
in the original film. Ilsa may not complete him, but she definitely could be
someone worth growing old with- without having to check for tails, or nuclear
detonators.
But that would mean no more impossible hijinks. While
suffering from a plot that can feel quite convoluted (featuring more double
crosses than a graveyard), Fallout
leaves nothing in the tank in terms of delivering more heart stopping stunt
pieces, with plenty more footage to add to the generous archives of Mr.
Cruise’s marathon inclinations. From sky diving to piloting motorcycles to
sprinting to manning helicopters to climbing tall things, Cruise breathlessly glides
from one impossible thing to the next. Does he not feel fear? Was the decision
to not have Jeremy Renner (practically the only past character who doesn’t
appear here) replace him based off of Cruise’s need to continue to amaze people
at his craziness? It’s a kind of hyper meta reflection on the mindset of an
actor’s need for an audience.
Another welcome return is McQuarrie’s sense of composition
in the rare slower scenes. There’s a couple of scenes in Paris that are the loveliest
to look at since John Woo’s takes of different scenery in MI:2. However, the third act of the film drags, and for the first
time in the series it feels like Hunt, really doesn’t have much of a plan- other
than bumper cars. It’s disappointing for a series known for so much cloak and
dagger deception, that the film ends with a bit of a clumsy whimper. One wonders
if it could bring up questions of longevity. During the film, Cruise has a
collision, and then narrowly escapes. We see something on his 50+ years face we’re
not used to seeing, something that looks a bit like weariness. Ethan Hunt has
always sworn that he’ll never let us down- but he might be thinking it.
With a pretzel of double crosses, a collection of cunning
new characters to blend with the old ones, some nice shots to compliment the
players, and the usual heart stopping stunt pieces, Fallout’s strengths are compromised by clumsy exposition to explain
a relationship that was never that captivating and a refusal to capitalize on
one that is. Maybe that’s just something to intercept in the next installment.
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