ALSO SHOWING
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
(12A)
Nobody runs like Tom Cruise in a
Mission: Impossible movie. The man is like a steam train at full speed, his rigid arms and legs pumping like pistons as he tears down back alleys, tears after moving vehicles or tears across rooftops, seldom pausing before leaping between hideously high buildings. Along with self-destructing analogue messages, goofy rubber masks and real-world stunts performed by the Cruiser himself, his running style has become emblematic of this now-22-year-old franchise, oddly symbolic of its durability as an ongoing blockbuster concern in an age of superhero movies. Judging from this sixth outing for Ethan Hunt (Cruise), there’s no chance of either the films or him running out of puff anytime soon. Once again written and directed by Christopher Mcquarrie, the new film loops back to JJ Abrams’ excellent third outing to tie off a storyline that began with Hunt’s marriage to Michelle Monaghan’s Julia while also picking up where the previous film, Rogue
Nation, left off. Though it’s become one of the unintentional jokes of the series that following the plots of these films is an impossible missions in its own right, Mcquarrie steps things up by transforming Fallout into an exercise in pure blockbuster cinema. As Hunt finds himself traversing the globe on a mission to retrieve some stolen plutonium, Mcquarrie uses the expansive (and expensive) setpieces not to distract us from the absence of great dialogue or nuanced narrative, but to engage us with the characters and their dilemmas. Letting the beautifully executed action dictate the story, he delights in the rug-pulling reveals the series affords him and offsets any trickery with action choreography that respects both the spatial geography of the scenes and the actual geography of the cities in which those scenes are set. There’s a purpose to every foot or car or motorbike chase and it’s a joy to see scenes set across busy parts of London or Paris unfurl in ways that seem plausible. The action is pretty meaty too. A dust-up in a pristine Parisian nightclub toilet involving Cruise and Henry Cavill — cast as a CIA assassin assigned to keep tabs on Hunt — is brutal in its proficiency, and it’s a smart move to bring back Rebecca Ferguson as the British version of Hunt, Ilsa Faust. What’s really surprising, though, is the relentless spectacle never gets tiring. Mcquarrie and Cruise even manage to save the best for last with a visually jaw-dropping finale set in Kashmir that brings the whole ludicrous race-against-time plot to head in suitably breathless fashion. It’s the blockbuster of the summer.
Apostasy (15)
This debut feature from British director Daniel Kokotajlo draws on his own experiences as a former Jehovah’s Witness to lend a harrowing sense of authenticity to this story about a devout mother and her teenage daughters’ conflicted relationship with their faith. Initially the focus is on youngest daughter Alex (Molly Wright) and her more headstrong sister Louisa (Sacha Parkinson). Little by little, though, the film zeroes in on their mother, Ivanna (Siobhan Finneran), whose unwavering commitment to her own beliefs are severely tested. The film is simultaneously respectful and sharply critical, but it’s the silent pain of Finneran’s performance that lingers longest.
Hotel Transylvania 3 (PG)
Once again featuring the vocal stylings of Adam Sandler as Dracula, this third instalment of the Ubersuccessful animated series finds the fanged one on a summer cruise with his family where he falls for the great-granddaughter of age-old vampire hunter Van Helsing. There are better ways for your kids to pass the time over the school holidays. ■