[Review] Mission: Impossible - Fallout (9/10)

Title - Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Studio - Paramount Pictures
Starring - Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill, Michelle Monaghan, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Sean Harris
Writer - Christopher McQuarrie
Director - Christopher McQuarrie
Release - 27 July 2018

When you think the Mission: Impossible just can't get any better; when you think this batch of Mission: Impossible movies focus more on the stunts than the actual story, Fallout comes and shows you just how wrong you are.

First, the stunts. Three big ones in this movie: the HALO jump, the rooftop jump, and the helicopter drop. The HALO jump looked so fantastic with just one take, including some aerial maneuvers; and this whole time you could see Cruise's face inside the helmet. It was such a breathtaking sequence that I can now understand why Cavill this week came out with a report saying he regretted not being able to perform the stunt himself.

We've all seen the footage of Cruise breaking his ankle by now from the rooftop jump, and watching the whole thing in the movie still made me cringe. And then there was the helicopter drop. You could see Cruise's face as he fell and then grabbed on to the netting below. And having been able to see Cruise's face throughout all this added on to the experience and the excitement.

Next, the action sequences. Three big ones again: the toilet brawl, the bike chase across the streets of Paris, and the big finale.

That toilet brawl, though, the whole sequence was jawdropping as the throwdown looked so real between Cruise and Cavill against this unknown Liang Yang. And when someone can stand against the brute force of Cruise and Cavill it just up the stakes by so much.

And then there was the finale sequence where it was a long, drawn out, elaborate action piece between all members of the IMF. And the 15-minute countdown that actually felt like a real 15-minute period added to the tension.

My one and only negative about this otherwise great movie and is split into two parts. One was the Vanessa Kirby kiss. There were four women in this movie and three of them were fawning over Ethan Hunt, seemed way too self-indulgent. And that final look between Michelle Monaghan and Rebecca Ferguson felt unnecessary and so on-the-nose. Even worse was that whisper at the end of that look, as if it's the passing of the torch. This whole thing made me felt icky.

I also missed Jeremy Renner's presence in this one as it was such a nice bookend to these last three movies.

This franchise, beginning from M:I III has been such a ride and to see how this particular volume closes out is so rewarding. I'm really happy for Cruise and McQuarrie's achievement and success with this one.