'Mission Impossible: Fallout' A Review

Mission Impossible: Fallout is an action movie, the sixth installment in the MI franchise. The film opens on Ethan Hunt(Tom Cruise) and his team on an operation to recover three plutonium cores which fails because Hunt saves Luther(Ving Rhames) instead of insuring the mission's success. As a result the team has to scramble to recover the cores under pressure from the CIA as well as the impending attack the cores will be used in.

Cruise is successful as he always has been in this role, continually uping if not his emotional performance certainly his physical ones. The practical stunts and action set pieces in the film are incredible. There's an odd and interesting synergy here with actor and character, there's a narrative throughline about Hunt refusing to accept defeat continually pushing himself to greater and greater lengths to accomplish his mission and keep his country(and the world) safe, much like the actor who broke his ankle jumping from a building in the film and who HALO jumped 94 times in preparation for one scene. Similar to the Fast & Furious series as the installments have progressed so has the idea of family within the team at it's center. Sometimes this sincerity can veer into melodrama but in a blockbuster season saturated by CGI and superheroes the straight-forward thrilling action and essential nobility and duty of the team and their care for each other stand out. Rhames as Luther is the emotional center and navigates scenes with some clunky dialogue gracefully. Simon Pegg as Benji doesn't have as much comic relief as in installments past but does participate more in the action which is fun.

Certainly not perfect, some of the plot points and emotional beats are a bit preposterous, still there is something undeniably compelling about how thrilling the old school action is and how unique this patient franchise consistently ups it's game, pushes forward, and always entertains.

Rent It.