Film review: Mission Impossible – Fallout
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Finally, in theatres! Come one! Come all! See the moustache that ruined Justice League!
Mission Impossible: Fallout is the sixth film in the franchise and the first to have a returning director in Christopher McQuarrie. It features Ethan Hunt and the MI gang dealing with a plot to nuke the world or something. Look, the plot isn’t hugely important. It’s more or less a coathanger to balance action sequences on.
This movie is a ruddy blast. I saw it in a very small theatre sat very close to the screen and it was the definitive viewing experience for this film. I’m not going to pretend that the character drama or performances are particularly outstanding but that’s not what this franchise is about. What it’s about, is action and espionage. And all that stuff is fantastic.
The sheer effort put into directing and performing the action setpieces alone deserves your money. Unlike in a lot of similar properties, when Ethan Hunt is racing around a location, he actually looks like he’s there. He looks like he’s really hanging off a helicopter or jumping across rooftops. And the reason for that is that he actually is. MI is the series with the reputation for practical and real stunts and this film doubles down on that. It makes everything so much tenser and exhilarating. The music also has a lot to do with this. Every time you hear that iconic MI theme hit the crescendo, what’s on screen is sure to be pure spectacle.
Henry Cavill turns in a decent enough performance. Every time he was on screen I was reminded of how Paramount wouldn’t allow him to shave his moustache for Justice League reshoots. This effectively ruined every Superman scene in that movie due to the CGI fuzz-removal looking about as convincing as eight children in a trenchcoat trying to get into a strip club. This made it a bit hard to be intimidated by him because I only saw him through a smirk.
Outside of action and facial hair, the film is still good enough. The plot is fairly predictable and I saw all (but one) of the twists coming but as I said, it’s good enough that the action doesn’t feel like an excuse.
That said: am I the only one who thinks that the mission wasn’t that impossible this time? Like, it seemed quite achievable at the start. 0/10. No stars.