Writer & Director
Christopher McQuarrie
(MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION, JACK REACHER, THE WAY OF THE GUN)

Stars
Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin, Vanessa Kirby, Angela Bassett and Michelle Monaghan

According to a hilarious and credibly researched article that is well-worth reading I located on Rotten Tomatoes, Tom Cruise has sprinted a little over 24,000 feet on screen throughout his 37 years in the movies. In summary, the more Tom Cruise runs, the better his movies are. 

At a marathon running time of 2 hours and 27 minutes, a current record holder for a film in the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE series, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT races towards the finish line a victorious movie in every possible way, with Cruise in first place.

This sixth addition to the flourishing franchise has Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team working together with CIA assassin, August Walker (Henry Cavill) on a new mission. They are to locate the whereabouts of three plutonium cores that went missing after an earlier assignment that Ethan, Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg) were working on went horribly wrong. A terrorist group, who label themselves as the Apostles, plan to acquire and use the plutonium for a series of nuclear attacks in separate parts of the world that will have catastrophic impacts. Ethan and his team race against time to locate the plutonium before it falls into the hands of the Apostles.

A new standard of filmmaking in the action movie genre has officially been set. A standard that required thirteen helicopters, three thousand set-ups, four weeks of aerial photography and 161 shooting days in three continents that won’t be met, let alone exceeded, for quite some time yet. Fair to say then, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT is a must-see movie on the loudest and largest screen you can possibly get to!

The bar is raised significantly during the many superbly staged and executed chase sequences, fight scenes and thrilling set-pieces. These passages of the film do not only arouse genuine excitement and memorable hair-raising moments, they are slickly and sublimely filmed to utilise and incorporate the surrounds of their stunning locations and landmarks. A motor chase throughout the centre of Paris, a foot pursuit on several roof-tops in London (which resulted in Tom Cruise fracturing an ankle!) and the entire sequence featuring those aforementioned choppers towards the end of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT are among the most epic and unforgettable. To further attest to the completeness of this spy film, it isn’t just the action spectacle alone that soars to great heights. The score is noticeably creative and is put to very effective use in a way that compliments the stand-out visual excellence. Each main character has an integral role to play in the film’s highly entertaining and intriguing development of the plot that always maintains a suitable sense of humour and never becomes too convoluted, despite numerous double-crosses and twists that occur. While genre aficionados will expect these spy-movie specialties to come and are likely to predict their outcomes and timing in FALLOUT, the execution is so faultless that all expectations of this film are happily fulfilled, if not surpassed. Also, ardent fans of the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE series will enjoy acknowledging the various connections that are drawn from all five previous films in the franchise.

A spectacular film, not just a spectacular action film, and the best yet in the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE series. 

4 ½ stars

Viewer Discretion
M (Action violence and coarse language)

Trailer
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT

Moviedoc thanks Paramount Pictures for the invite to the screening of this film

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc
Follow on Twitter – Moviedoc / LIKE on Facebook – @moviedoc13

©