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Movie Review | Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Movie Summary: Ethan Hunt and his IMF team, along with some familiar allies, race against time after a mission gone wrong. (IMDb)
Mission: Impossible - Fallout is not only the best movie in the franchise, it's also the best film I've seen so far this year and, in my opinion, one of the single greatest action films ever made. It hits the ground running as fast as Tom Cruise usually does in these films, and never lets up.
It's astonishing how well-constructed this film is that even when the action briefly slows down, the tension still doesn't diminish. You just can't take your eyes off the screen even for a moment because you'll probably miss something exceptional.
Part of how well-made it is can be seen in how this is essentially a direct sequel to Rogue Nation, yet there appear to be nods and homages to all the other films in the series too, and not one of them is required viewing to enjoy this film.
You'll get a kick out of some of the winks and nods, sure, but Fallout is entirely a self-contained story that no-one should have any issue following. There are double-crosses and betrayals, shifting loyalties and motivations, but it never even comes close to being too complicated to follow.
Even more impressive is that, bar one character, all these characters and the choices they make remain consistent and logical for each of them throughout. I'm not going to say which character is the only one that falls short as revealing who it is would be a spoiler, but they never give a reason for why they're doing what they do other than the plot requiring it.
And this film is easy to spoil, while simultaneously being hard to spoil because a lot of the 'twists' are easy to see coming. This isn't a criticism though, because the manner in which they are revealed is what makes them surprising, and the execution is utterly flawless.
Fallout is a lot like a magic trick in that sense - it sets up a situation where the audience thinks they know where it's headed, changes things a little to subvert those expectations and make you believe the movie is going in a different direction, then dazzles with the reveal in spectacular fashion despite the end result being exactly what was expected.
And the cast is just perfect too. Straight after the film, my first thought was about how incredible Cruise's performance as Ethan Hunt was, and that I can't see how he would top it. Then I thought about how equally impressive Henry Cavill was.
Then there's Rebecca Ferguson, who is also at least equally good as the pair of them - and wholly deserving of her own Ilsa Faust franchise by the way. Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg might not get the same action set-pieces to grab the attention like the central trio, but even they steal the scene on multiple occasions.
I could go on with how fantastic Angela Bassett, Alec Baldwin, and Vanessa Kirby are. Or the returning Michelle Monaghan as Ethan's ex-wife, Julia. For an action film as good as this, with the insane stunts and set-pieces contained, the acting is just as good as the action.
And the action... holy crap. I can't see how they can possibly top this film now. Seriously, if they try to push things any further, we'll be reading about Tom Cruise free-falling from space next. I could reel off a list of the best sequences, but they're all good.
That's not hyperbole either. Every single action set-piece is absolutely top-tier stuff and to single one of them out above any of the others wouldn't just be unfair, I'd actually find it impossible (no pun intended). It is legitimately astonishing how good every single bit of action is here - all of it easy to follow and all of it making sense from a cinematic, plot and character viewpoint.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout is simply one of the best action films I have ever seen and pretty much the career peak of absolutely everyone involved. I genuinely think that this is one the most flawlessly put together movies I have ever seen in my life and should be watched by everyone who enjoys action films. A masterpiece of movie magic.
[10/10]
Why a 10/10? If the review wasn't enough to explain it already, I don't know what else I can say here to make it any more obvious. From top to bottom, from start to finish, this is one of the most highly-polished action films in movie history.
It looks amazing, the score is fantastic, the performances are uniformly fantastic, the action is incredible and the plot is perfectly-constructed to bring every aspect of this film together without a single part over-shadowing or undermining any other part.
I had really enjoyed Rogue Nation, even if I thought Ghost Protocol was still marginally superior, but Fallout genuinely blows both of them out of the water. In fact, it's so good that you almost have to judge the rest of the series on a new scale because of this new benchmark.
The highs of the previous films no longer seem that high, and the lows feel that much lower. Mission: Impossible - Fallout has completely redefined how to view not just this franchise, but action movies as a whole.
