Review of Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018) by Zach F — 31 Jul 2018

The Last Movie Star.

If one were to write a biography of Tom Cruise, that would have to be the title. Over the past several decades, Hollywood has come to rely less and less on the draw of large personalities. Most blockbusters are now marketed with spectacle and imagery, not names above the title. Yet Cruise remains. Like a dogged survivor in one of his films, he's living history stalking the tall grass of change, continually proving his own industry wrong.

And, if Mission: Impossible - Fallout is any indication, he has no intention of slowing down. Not only is the movie the most action-packed of the series, it may also be the best. Mind, this doesn't mean it's a masterpiece; the bar hasn't been set especially high when it comes to depth and intelligence. But if you enjoy the franchise, particularly the last two entries, it would be a true chore to dislike this one.

The plot-always secondary in these films, always a bit too complicated for its own good-begins in Belfast. There, IMF* agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) learns of a splinter group of assassins who call themselves the 'Apostles' and have essentially become terrorists-for-hire. They're trying to get their hands on a trio of recently-stolen plutonium cores (you can guess the reason). Also involved are an anarchist named John Lark and the previous film's villain, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris).

After a botched exchange in Berlin, in which the plutonium is lost, Hunt and his team (Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) are tasked by IMF Secretary Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) with recovering the cores through a meeting in Paris between Lark and a black-market broker known as the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby). Still with me? Suffice to say aborted directives, double-crosses and general chaos follow the key players from Europe all the way to the edge of the Himalayas, where Hunt's past finally catches up with him.

One thing I greatly admire in movies is ambition. As evidenced by the story, Fallout holds nothing back. Whether or not it covers the most geographic ground in the franchise, it plays like the biggest entry. Whereas past missions were stop-gaps, this is a culmination. Stakes rise, secrets are revealed; lives change.

At least, on screen. Oh that such emotions extended to the audience. But, for the most part, that effect has been absent from M:I's M.O. for quite some time. Not since the third movie did the narrative forsake its glossy, stunt-riddled surface to mine genuine feeling. And M:I-3 made the least amount of money in the franchise, so it's understandable that such a personal direction would be rerouted.

But without it, Mission: Impossible-and Fallout specifically-is destined to be the prettiest belle at a second-rate ball. For all its globe-trotting, it's only a partial experience. We see all-and are amazed-but feel little, and remember less. Each character is more caricature than human being, trading the details of life for the whims of a streamlined script. Like Marvel or The Fast and the Furious, Fallout doesn't present reality; it paraphrases it.

Some may call this nitpicking, and they wouldn't be far off. But the bar must be raised when it comes to depth, because it's already been surpassed in nearly every other aspect. Visually, Fallout is a ball of frenetic joy, a feast for the eyes. The scenery is always changing; we can imagine the cameras struggling to keep up with such a rapidly unfolding plot.

That plot, though, can be its own worst enemy. There are only so many twists a story can stand before each one starts to mean a little less.

Thankfully, other factors maintain our attention. Lorne Balfe's score adds some taught variation to Lalo Schifrin's classic theme. And while each member of the cast does fine, Henry Caville stands out as a mysterious CIA officer. The role fits him better than Superman's tights.

But in the end, it all comes back to Cruise. He's the reason we watch, and his relentless energy fuels the entire franchise. Fallout runs Hunt through the requisite gauntlet of stunts: hanging from a helicopter above mountainous terrain; speeding through the packed streets of Paris on a motorcycle; skydiving from thirty-thousand feet.

But more than death-defying acrobatics is the quality they signify: devotion. When an actor who has nothing left to prove consistently gives everything he's got, admiration is easy.

* In case you were curious, 'IMF' stands for Impossible Missions Force.