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Cottonwood Heights Journal

Dan's Review: "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" full of thrills, fun

Jul 27, 2018 01:41AM ● By Dan Metcalf

Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, and Rebecca Ferguson in Mission: Impossible - Fallout- © 2018 Paramount.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (Paramount)

Rated PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action, and for brief strong language.

Starring Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin, Vanessa Kirby, Wes Bentley, Frederick Schmidt.

Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie.

GRADE: A-

REVIEW:

When you hear the music of Lalo Schifrin’s iconic original theme music for the Mission: Impossible TV series, your heart races a little, and you know there’s intrigue, action and mystery ahead. The film series based on the TV show has been a verified success, with most films drawing in millions of fans spanning three decades. All of the films star the equally iconic Tom Cruise in the main role of Ethan Hunt, the tough, resourceful IMF agent who always saves the day with the help of a plucky team. Cruise is back in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, the sixth film in the series.

The story is a continuation of the events of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, following the capture of Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), a former MI-6 British agent, who had turned into the leader of “ The Syndicate,” a group of villainous operatives out to create chaos and destruction around the globe. The story picks up with Ethan and his team trying to secure plutonium on the black market before the Syndicate gets ahold of it. Ethan’s team consists of Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg), under the leadership go IMF Director Hunley (Alec Baldwin). Their attempt to procure the nuclear material goes south, and CIA Director Sloane (Angela Bassett) embeds her own agent with Hunt to track the nukes. That agent is Walker (Henry Cavill), a trained killer with a dark past. The trail to the nukes leads to Paris, where the “White Widow” (Vanessa Kirby) brokers a deal between Solomon Lane’s “Apostles” and Hunt, working undercover. The white Widow’s price for brokering the deal is to hand Solomon Lane over to her. Meanwhile, MI-6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) shows up trying to kill Solomon Lane and generally getting in Ethan’s way. Just when it looks like the deal will go through, a double agent is unmasked in London, who gets away with Solomon Lane and the nukes, with the intent of setting off two bombs. Hunt and his team must do all they can to disarm the nukes and save the world.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a lot of fun, with action-packed sequences involving riveting chases, crazy stunts and sharp dialogue, well matched with an all-star talented cast. There are many plot twists and the usual bag of IMF tricks that you’ve come to expect in an M: I movie. The actor playing the unmasked double agent is well matched with Cruise; a worthy adversary that avoids the clichés of so many other super villains.

Yes, most of the plot is implausible, but you hardly notice with all the exciting action going on paired with a well-written script from Christopher McQuarrie, who also directs. McQuarrie the only director in the M: I series to helm more than one film (he also directed Rogue Nation) and it seems he’s hitting his stride with Fallout.

Here’s hoping there are a few more quality M: I films in the future.  

 

Mission: Impossible - Fallout Trailer