Mission: Impossible-FALLOUT (2018)

July 27, 2018

Writer/Producer/Director: Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation)

Producers: Tom Cruise (Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Mission: Impossible franchise)

J. J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation, Star Trek Beyond)

Based on the TV Series created by: Bruce Geller

“Mission: Impossible” theme by: Lalo Schifrin (Rush Hour, Bringing Down the House)

Time: 147 min.

Studio: Paramount Pictures

PG-13: Violence and Intense sequences of Action, and for Brief Strong Language

 

Players: Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt), Henry Cavill (August Walker),

Ving Rhames (Luther Stickell), Simon Pegg (Benji Dunn),

Alec Baldwin (Alan Hunley), Rebecca Ferguson (Ilsa Faust),

Vanessa Kirby (White Widow), Sean Harris (Solomon Lane),

Wes Bentley (Patrick) with Michelle Monaghan (Julia Meade-Hunt) and

Angela Bassett (Erica Sloan)

Special Guest Star: Wolf Blitzer

This has so far been a good summer at the movies for me this year when the right movies become hits among audiences and critics (Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2, Ocean’s 8, Incredibles 2, SICARIO: Day of the Soldado, Equalizer 2, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Ant-Man and the Wasp) and there are the movies that made us stay at home (Superfly [2018], Unfriended: Dark Web, The First Purge, Show Dogs, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, Skyscraper, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation).

So as the month of July wraps up and we head into the home stretch that is the end of summer with August as summer camps and vacations wind down and kids dread going back to school let the latest installment from the “Mission: Impossible” movie franchise end your month and summer with a bang and in style.

In the latest mission, shall you the audience member choose to accept we ride shotgun with IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, American Made) and his IMF team Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames, Father Figures) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg, Ready Player One) after a mission in Berlin to grab some plutonium in order to prevent a nuclear tragedy on a worldwide scale goes spectacularly bad Hunt and the IMF must team up with CIA agent August Walker (a porn-‘stached Henry Cavill, Justice League) under the orders of his boss CIA head Erica Sloan (Primetime Emmy-winner Angela Bassett, Black Panther) and IMF head Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin, The Boss Baby).

But when the mission ends up in the capture of anarchist and enemy of the IMF Solomon Lane (Sean Harris, Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation) in Paris he comes with a lot of worldwide baggage.

As former Syndicate agent turned ally without country Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson, The Greatest Showman) is tasked with bringing Solomon back alive to MI-6 Hunt, Walker and the IMF team must do what is necessary in order to prevent nuclear catastrophe.

When someone working with Lane betrays the IMF and Ilsa and makes things personal for Ethan involving his ex-wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan, Hulu’s “The Path”) Ethan is the one man that refuses to let the mission fail and go down without a fight.

Under the still bright star power of box office titan Tom Cruise who despite last summer’s flop of Universal and director Alex Kurtzman’s reboot of the 1932 horror classic “The Mummy” (Brendan Fraser still did it better than Tom Cruise did) which wasn’t a good summer for any big star with a big movie at the time, he returns to the franchise he first brought to the big screen when he produced and starred in his first mission as Ethan Hunt in the 1996 Brian De Palma-directed original which despite the 2000 John Woo-directed sequel which was style over substance was course corrected by the likes of directors J. J. Abrams (Star Wars: Episode-IX), Brad Bird (Incredibles 2) and most recently Oscar-winning writer/director Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher & Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation)  who sits in the director’s chair once again and writes the script.

One of the best movies of the summer since “Incredibles 2” and easily one of the year’s best movies.

While the performances are great especially from returning players Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Monaghan and Sean Harris plus newcomers to the franchise Wes Bentley, Angela Bassett and Vanessa Kirby (whose White Widow drops a reference to the first movie about her mother named Max as played by the late Vanessa Redgrave in the Brian De Palma-directed original) the performance you need to keep your eyes on is Superman himself Henry Cavill as CIA badass August Walker who might be friend or foe when you watch movie and the actions he commits will make you question his motives and his fight scenes with Cruise’s Hunt especially in the bathroom is definitely one of the best fight scenes of the year. (And yes Cavill’s porn-‘stache was intact at the time he went back and did reshoots of Zack Snyder’s wannabe-“Avengers” ‘Justice League” when his leading man and boss got injured on an easy stunt).

The stunts mostly done by Cruise himself and the stunt team he surrounds himself with despite the fact that Cruise just turned 56 this month are the main reason why these movies are successful and damn-near life-threatening especially the one scene where he breaks his ankle which ended up in the movie. (And kids don’t try this at home)

This is why you go to the movies just to have fun!

My final cut: 5 out of 5 stars!!!!

 

“This movie review will self-destruct in five seconds”

Johnny White III

 

 

 

Johnny White III recommends the entire “Mission: Impossible” movie franchise from the original to “Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation” on Blu-Ray, 4K, DVD & Digital Download.