Series is still going strong
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (12A) Bar the misstep of its second outing, rarely has a movie franchise maintained standards as high as the Mission: Impossible series.
Normally it is on life support by the time a third or fourth film rolls around, but the Mission universe is still going strong six entries in.
That has been, in no small part, down to the dedication of its leading man and producer Tom Cruise and a revolving door of very different directors taking on each instalment.
However, for the first time in the series, Fallout sees a helmer — Christopher McQuarrie — take a second stab at the franchise.
He returns to direct and write after leading previous entry Rogue Nation leading to Fallout feeling like the series’ first direct follow-up.
Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his IMF team face a race against time following a mission gone wrong and a few familiar faces pop up along the way.
As if clinging to planes, jumping off buildings and dangling from hefty heights wasn’t enough for daredevil Cruise, this time around he also butts heads with Superman himself, Henry Cavill (August Walker).
It’s interesting to see Ethan challenged in a more physical style after the more mental, tactical games he faced from the series’ previous antagonists.
The action reaches a new high for the franchise as, even by the game-for-anything Cruise’s standards, the level of death-defying stunts and jaw-dropping set-pieces are incredible.
The highlight is a Paris-set sequence that will be very hard for anything else to top this year in terms of breathless entertainment that feels like it’s really happening in front of your eyes.
Another strength of the Mission movies is the excellent ensembles put together on screen and Fallout is no different.
Cruise is as awe-inspiring as ever in what is quickly becoming his finest role, Cavill erases memories of his butchered appearance in Justice League and Ethan’s increasinglyimportant sidekicks Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) offer perfect support.
The lines between Ethan’s personal and professional lives intertwine with the presence of returning bad-a** agent Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) and his ex-fiancee Julia (Michelle Monaghan), while Rogue Nation villain Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) makes a creepy comeback.
While rarely pausing for breath does lend Fallout a relentless pace, it also doesn’t take much time to get under the skin of its characters.
But that’s a minor nitpick in what is another superior entry in the Mission franchise that once again defies the question of how the previous instalment can possibly be topped.
And I’m sure Cruise — and hopefully McQuarrie — will be up for proving he can go one bigger and better by taking the series into lucky number seven territory.