Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Dir: Christopher Mcquarrie 2hrs 27mins (12A) Full-throttle action with Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise is 56. By rights, his sixth outing as superagent Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible action franchise should be embarrassing, said Dan Jolin in Time Out. Yet amazingly, Fallout is the “slickest” instalment yet. The plot sees Hunt, along with team regulars Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg, tasked with saving the world from a shadowy terrorist group named The Apostles, who are intent on acquiring some high-grade plutonium. Along the way, he must decide if he can trust lissom rival agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), or the CIA agent who has been assigned to keep an eye on him (Henry Cavill) – or anyone at all. The storyline is even flimsier than in the last MI film, said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail. Yet on the action front, Fallout really delivers, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. There are “colossal” chase sequences: in Paris, on a motorbike; in London, on foot; and over the mountains of Kashmir, hanging off a helicopter. Throughout, the single-shot filming makes it clear Cruise is doing these stunts for real, said Kevin Maher in The Times. In an era when most blockbusters rely on CGI, the actor has turned the MI franchise into a “showcase” for his perilous stunts – and in the process become his “own beguiling special effect”. This instalment is the most satisfying yet.