Review #1,423: 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' (2018)

Over the course of twenty-odd years, Tom Cruise has clung to the side of an aeroplane as it soared into the sky, had a knife held millimetres away from his eyeball, and ran down the side of the world's tallest building, all for the sake of the Mission: Impossible series, a franchise that no-one would have dreamt would still be packing cinema screens two decades later when it began back in 1996. Cruise's enthusiasm for putting himself at genuine risk of death has seen these movies continuously trying to outdo each other, and the sixth in the series, Christopher McQuarrie's Fallout, is not only the most ambitious in scale and clinical in its execution, but may also just be one of the finest action pictures ever made. I never believed the sight of Cruise running across the outside of the 119th floor of Dubai's Burj Khalifa would ever be topped, but Fallout delivers not one but two superior set-pieces, and that's not even mentioning the rooftop-hopping that saw Cruise break his leg and carry on with the scene. 

Ethan Hunt and his Impossible Mission Force team are tasked this time with intercepting three plutonium cores in Berlin before they fall into the hands on an organisation called The Apostles, a terrorist group made up of survivors from The Syndicate. Joined by Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg), the team fail in their mission when Hunt refuses to let one his own die. As the terrorists make off with the plutonium to sell to a mysterious buyer called John Lark, Hunt receives a dressing-down from CIA director Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett), who is furious at their failure to secure the weapons of mass destruction. She forces Hunt to take on CIA operative August Walker (Henry Cavill) as a shadow, and the odd couple head off to Paris to track down Alanna (Vanessa Kirby), an arms dealer they believe has connections to Lark. Double-crosses and high-speed chases ensue, as well as Tom Cruise's trademark run, as all paths start to lead back to Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the formidable villain from last time.

Christopher McQuarrie is the only director to have returned for a second stab at the Mission: Impossible gig, and the choice seems odd given how lacklustre Rogue Nation proved to be. But whatever he failed to grasp last time around he confidently nails here. McQuarrie and Cruise pull out all the stops, executing everything from a terrifying night-time sky-dive to a helicopter chase that sees Cruise plummet from the chopper's rails to the cargo swinging 40 feet below like veteran masters of the genre. The sheer risk and danger of some of the stunts pulled off here is gobsmacking, and Cruise can now comfortably sit alongside the likes of Jackie Chan as one of the greatest action stars ever. Cruise isn't the only star of course: Cavill particularly impresses as the deadpan slugger with a moustache so impressive it manage to cock up Justice League's re-shoots. Rhames and Pegg, who are both given larger roles than usual, can now banter like colleagues who have worked with each other for four movies, and reliable support is given by the likes of Rebecca Ferguson, Alec Baldwin and Michelle Monaghan. At two and a half hours, it can be argued that there's at least one climax too many, but I doubt anyone will be checking their watches. 

Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan

Country: USA/China/France/Norway

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie