Review: Mission: Impossible – Fallout

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With the latest Mission: Impossible movie being a culmination of the plot of the previous movie, my expectations had never been higher. It felt like Mission: Impossible was well and truly back on track – a formula that now worked and was producing some quality movies in a consistent enough manner.  That trend has luckily continued with Mission: Impossible – Fallout, considered to be the greatest action movie of the decade. 

Tom Cruise strikes up a storm once more as Ethan Hunt, who doesn’t seem to have aged whatsoever since the mid 1990s. It’s almost freaky how little Tom Cruise has changed over such a long time. Aside from the anti-ageing process the Church of Scientology must’ve been testing on him, Cruise brings more or less the same interest and talent he always brings to the series. More high-octane stunts, more superb action and a little less involvement in the story. 

The rest of the cast do just as well, with Simon Pegg filling in the space that a departing Jeremy Renner has left. Renner’s lack of inclusion here brings about several questions for the series, as it’s not normal for a regular to depart with no reason given. Fallout pretends he was never there to begin with, which does lead to a select number of problems. One bonus it does bring, however, is providing much larger, more serious roles for Ving Rhames and the departing Alec Baldwin.  

Christopher McQuarrie’s direction is as brilliant as you’d expect it to be: his focus on cinematography really makes the action feel more vibrant and important. With some excellent use of wide-angle shots, McQuarrie provides more of an artistic focus to the film as the whole. Mission Impossible: Fallout becomes more about the style and substance than just the action, stunts and set-pieces.  

With this being the sixth in the series, it’s no surprise that the quality has dropped slightly. While this is certainly a fresh new entry into the series (and it’s far superior to the second, third and fourth instalments) after the near perfection of the fifth movie, it seems there’s a slight slump that could potentially snowball into much worse content.  An overall solid entry into the series, the film builds up an avalanche of hype for the next two instalments (also to be directed by McQuarrie).

McQuarrie has his work cut out for him if he plans on pulling these sequels off, but with an outstanding focus on cinematography and a superb cast led by an evergreen, brilliant Cruise, Mission: Impossible looks set to live on.