MISSION IMPECCABLE
Tom Cruise may be 56, but he refuses to act his age in his most thrilling spy quest yet
TrYING to stop genocidal baddies getting their evil hands on globes of plutonium so they can wreak nuclear havoc on humanity might not be the most original plot of a blockbuster action movie. In fact, it might be the least original: James Bond has been at it for years.
But who cares when such a plot is packaged as slickly as this, with some of the most
Mission: Impossible — Fallout (12A) Verdict: Verdict: Total Total cruise cruise control control
exhilarating fight and chase scenes ever choreographed for the silver screen? Danny Boyle, the director of the next Bond film, might have to raise his and 007’s game. Even the bladder-bursting 147-minute running time of Mission: Impossible – Fallout can be forgiven, given the number of thrilling action sequences it facilitates.
This, the sixth film in the 22- year- old franchise, reunites Tom Cruise with writerdirector Christopher McQuarrie.
Their last Mission: Impossible collaboration brought us 2015’s highly enjoyable rogue Nation, but this is a notch or two better, with Cruise, now 56, still maddeningly plausible running, jumping, punching and hanging onto helicopters while dodging bullets. We are exactly the same age and yesterday I strained my back dodging an overweight pigeon.
Cruise is, of course, Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt, whose challenge this time — much like every other time — is to thwart ‘ a syndicate of rogue covert operatives’ bent on all sorts of murder and mayhem.
The syndicate is known as The Apostles and its leader appears to be a shadowy cove called John Lark. Setting aside the distraction of John Lark And The Apostles sounding like the support act for Echo And The Bunnymen, Hunt makes his singular way to Paris by sky-diving from 25,000 ft on to the glass roof of the Grand Palais during an electrical storm.
The Eurostar and a taxi from the Gare du Nord would have done the same job, but presumably, Impossible Missions operatives aren’t allowed to take the easy option. The Channel Tunnel must be for their weedy counterparts over at Feasible Missions.
Whatever,
once he’s safely in Paris, Hunt encounters a femme fatale known as the White Widow, who brokers arms deals. She is played marvellously by vanessa Kirby, who was sensational as the young Princess Margaret in the Netflix series The Crown. Here, her character is a posh, glamorous, over-sexed minx. Young Ms Kirby clearly doesn’t care about typecasting.
By now, Hunt not only has his usual accomplices in tow, in the form of wise-cracking Benji (Simon Pegg) and stolidly loyal Luther (ving rhames), but also a shady CIA man called Walker (played by Henry ‘Superman’ Cavill).
Walker has been assigned by his own boss (Angela Bassett) to
follow Hunt’s every move, which doesn’t go down too well with Hunt’s boss (alec baldwin).
In any case, it’s easier said than done once our hero is whizzing through the streets of Paris in pursuit of rogue british agent Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), who emerged in Rogue Nation as an anarchist determined to destroy the old world order. Lane hasn’t scaled down his lofty ambitions, but he is now under lock and key, being passed from government to government for interrogation purposes.
However, the White Widow needs him as collateral in a deal for the plutonium, so Hunt, the man who caught him, now has to spring him.
I think that’s right — the plot, frankly, is even trickier to follow than Hunt’s souped-up motorbike.
It is further complicated by the presence of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), introduced in the last film as an agent whose motivation, good or bad, seemed to have even the screenwriters stumped.
It’s still not entirely clear which side she’s on, but she and Hunt don’t half fancy each other, which can only be good news for humankind.
Eventually, by way of some more thrilling chase scenes in London, taking in St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern just as the excitement in Paris incorporated the Grand Palais, the eiffel Tower, the Opera and the arc de Triomphe (I sometimes think film-makers must get their location ideas from tea towels), the action moves to Kashmir on the border of China, India and Pakistan.
you really don’t need to know why, but suffice to say that the climactic chase scene there, initially in a pair of helicopters, is one of the most spectacular I have ever seen.
Cruise is reputed to do most of his own stunts. Indeed, this was the film on which he smashed his ankle while leaping between London rooftops. but if he performed these final stunts himself, then his insurers must have been watching through their fingers.
If, as has been rumoured, this turns out to be Cruise’s last fling as ethan Hunt, they, at least, will be entitled to celebrate.
actually, I won’t mind, either. On behalf of all men in their mid-50s, let me say that it’s about time he started acting his age.