RageLite review - Mission: Impossible Fallout

With Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, I finally became a fan of the Mission: Impossible series, it has a good story-telling engine, allowing for some interesting plot-lines, the main cast are generally well developed and the action is among the best film can offer, in part due to Tom Cruise putting his life on the line, doing his various stunts personally.

Mission Impossible Fallout, the 6^th entry in the series keeps things going strong with a $791m box office haul on a $178m budget and, even more impressively a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating. There was a mishap on set where Cruise broke his leg during a stunt, all the crew had to be paid during his recovery time, upping the budget. He actually came back to set a week early, he’s either deeply committed or crazy, probably both.

2 years after Rogue Nation where Ethan Hunt and the gang had captured Solomon Lane, head of an organisation called the syndicate, his allies still scheme, having renamed themselves the Apostles. Things come to a head when Ethan is dispatched to stop nuclear weapons falling into the hands of the Apostles, Ethan makes a choice to save Luther and abandons the weapons allowing the Apostles to steal them.

The CIA now task Henry Cavill’s August Walker to monitor Ethan’s unit as they seek to stop the nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists. But what will happen when the Apostles reveal their price to be the springing of Solomon Lane?

This film is excellent, don’t get me wrong but there are things I want to pick apart. Let’s first say that Tom Cruise’s stunt-work is top notch, the acting is excellent and where CG is used, it’s used to great effect without detracting from the experience

From a character perspective, it does offer some interesting ideas, most of which are just kinda throwaway lines. But hey, not only is Tom Cruise not on the run from the law but they pull a twist on it which actually impressed me, turning an inherent criticism I’m going to come back to later into a net positive for the film.

I also like the bit with the fake mask tricking the scientist early on, shows they’re finally using the resources of a massive agency like the IMF to their advantage, and not just to add increased beaurocracy to proceedings or become another antagonist like they have in previous outings, not that neither of those things happened.

Luther and Benji are back and whilst neither of them have a substantial role, that does mean that Benji isn’t as annoying as usual. Luther is able to be a voice of reason, even if he’s never listened to.

OK, can I be a negative Nancy for a bit now? You remember how I said that Solomon Lane was a strategist and it’s something I really liked about him? Solomon’s plan to frame Hunt as a terrorist is really f*cking dumb. Who would believe that Ethan Hunt, the one who caught Solomon Lane, would do business with him? Obviously not the IMF, who uncover it almost instantly.

Then female characters. Isla Faust is back and she’s basically doing the exact same thing she was doing in the last film. MI6 still won’t let her go because they think she’s in bed with Lane, but since lane was a former MI6 agent, and they don’t want secrets spilled, they’ve tasked Faust with proving her loyalty by killing him. Because no other agent who isn’t potentially compromised can do the job.

I don’t mind Isla Faust, she and Hunt have an interesting dynamic, as his good nature but inability to make the hard choices is up against someone very similar but in a much worse situation.

Then we have Vanessa Kirby, the courier in charge of getting payment for the weapons, she’s an interesting one, takes no sh*t but seems infatuated with Hunt because every woman in this franchise f*cking is. She turns out to be a CIA which is not especially surprising.

Nice to see Julia back, they’ve given her a new lease of life after her death was faked in Ghost Protocol, with a new husband, a new purpose, even if it ends up being part of Lane’s back-up plan. None of these female characters interact at any point, this movie, despite having 3 female supporting characters, would fail the Bechdel test.

Did Henry Cavill really need a beard for this role? I guess it beats digitally removing it, as we saw in Justice League *shudders*

Mission: Impossible Fallout continues the run of great Mission Impossible films that have come since the 3^rd one, with impressive action and stunts, as well as a few intimate character moments and an engaging plot, even if Lane’s plan feels a bit backwards.

Rating 80/100