Review of movie Mission: Impossible - Fallout

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rating:4/5


Mission Impossible – Fallout follows the events of the last film, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. The antagonist from that film, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), is at the centre of things once more. His followers want to bring in a nuclear apocalypse and have acquired rogue plutonium for that. They rig up two small nuclear devices to cause world class havoc. What's more, the bombs are connected to each other by radio so it's next to impossible to disarm them. But then, the word impossible holds a very different meaning for super covert operative Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). He's assisted in his mission by usual suspects Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg) and MI 6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who was shown to be both an ally and a romantic alliance of Hunt in Rogue Nation. He also gets a CIA minder, August Walker (Henry Cavill), who, in the words of CIA boss Erica Sloan (Angela Bassett), is the hammer to Hunt's scalpel. Bassett gets another wonderful line in the film describing IMF agents as being,”a bunch of grown men in rubber masks playing trick or treat.” 

But it's this very clownish appeal that sets this franchise apart from Bond films or the Jason Bourne franchise. Instead of using brawn to bash up the baddies or using computers to spy on all and sundry, walking into the villain's den wearing a mask holds an old world charm. And please note that this time around Hunt doesn't do that but relies instead on his quick wit to stay alive. He's also shown to be hurting -- carrying scars and wounds like a badge of honour. 
Tom Cruise must be the fittest 56 year old around. He's forever running in the film, and jumping, and dangling off cliffs. Whether it's Paris, London or even Kashmir, every kind of terrain is mastered by his athletic abilities. He's as close to a superhero as he could be, coming close, but not crossing, the lines of implausibility. Tom Cruise has filled Ethan Hunt with vulnerability of late. Hunt does carry emotional scars -- parting ways with his wife at the end of MI:3 hasn't come easy and may be that's why he's blindly taking on increasingly suicidal missions, putting himself at risk at every corner.

Most of the scenes are shot with Ethan's point of view, lending a further involvement of the viewer in the film. The iconic theme music of the film has been given a masterful modern twist by composer Lorne Balfe. The action set pieces carry a whiff of nostalgia. The famous chase sequence from The French Connection has been cheekily set in Paris here and the climax involving the helicopter will remind viewers of the climax from Cliffhanger.