Cruise makes it all possible
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT Cert 12A Running time 147 minutes ★★★★★
Tom Cruise crashes back into cinemas with the sixth outrageous, death-defying and exhilarating episode of his all-action espionage franchise. IMF agent Ethan Hunt is America’s answer to James Bond, and Cruise chose to accept his first mission in the role back in 1996. This is the best one yet by a running jump.
The preposterous plotting involves some missing plutonium and a terror organisation trying to establish a new world order. Plus of course the familiar latex masks, a series of betrayals and the famous signature tune. Humour lands with almost the same impact as the punches as we’re whisked from Paris to London to Kashmir on bikes, boats, cars and helicopters, through a series of wildly improbable stunts.
It begins in a surprisingly low-key fashion with Hunt having doubts over his chosen career, but he’s soon accepting a new mission, aided by trusted colleagues Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg. Joining them is former Superman, Henry Cavill, who’s on career best form as a CIA agent tasked to shadow Hunt and help him to complete his assignment. Meanwhile, a cocktail lounge punch-up involving Rebecca Ferguson and The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby suggests an allfemale spin-off mission could be ordered, should Cruise decide he’s too old for all this.
He was famously injured during filming and his willingness to put his body on the line for our entertainment is what makes this franchise so compelling,
Plus each dazzling display of virtuoso stunt work exceeds the previous one in ambition and scope, and is conceived and executed with clockwork ingenuity. Stunts are performed on location with the barest of CGI assistance, adding to our gobsmacked disbelief. This movie is best watched on an IMAX screen for maximum effect.
Fallout establishes a new high bar in slick, glossy stunt-driven action adventure, and next year’s 007 film will have to keep it in its sights if Bond wants to remain Hollywood’s big gun.