Review of Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018) by Brohug — 03 Aug 2018

As I have said before, Tom Cruise films are generally well-oiled machines. But this machine is a high-end sports car: thrilling and the handling is precise. Easily the best action film of the summer and possibly the best since "The Matrix" upped the action genre back in 1999.

The action is relentless to the point where you say: "this all seems a little unneccessary". The trailers leading up to the July release have betrayed a fair amount of plot IMHO. But like a great omelette, it's not the individual ingredients but how they are ultimately cooked together that make it delicious.

Not sure how much of this iteration of Ethan Hunt is Cruise or McQuarrie. The audience who have loyally followed this character over SIX editions of this franchise have likely seen the actor in his various other roles and films over that span. As youthful as he looks, Cruise seems to be letting the audience in on the fact that he is 56, heading for 60. The terrific bathroom fight scene with Cavill and Yang actually shows a man who has done probably thousands of takes of fight scenes, and frankly looks winded and flagging. There is a preceptible pattern of vulnerability emerging over the last few films, and it's actually pretty satisfying. It enriches his characters and doesn't lessen them.

McQuarrie has emerged as a profoundly good action director. "Rogue Nation" was solid but it was really "Jack Reacher" where we got to see a director take somewhat thin material and elevate it to a much higher level.

Finally, there is a curious retrospective quality to "Fallout" that seems to play on many of Cruise's earlier films. The end of the bathroom scene reminded me of "Jerry Maguire", busting into the funeral service with spinning disorientation echoed "Eyes Wide Shut", and the bare hand rock climb in the climactic confrontation reminded me of the opening sequence of "MI:2". Enigmatic in real life, there is no mistaking that this dude is an anomaly in the corporate Disneyland that is modern Hollywood: a classic movie star.