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Update: July 24, 2018
Dragonlord’s Review of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Doesn’t live up to the hype but Mission: Impossible - Fallout is watchable enough to see for the impressive action, cool stunts and the mustache that killed Justice League.
Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout has been getting rave reviews from critics for the past few weeks. Although I have avoided reading the reviews, I can’t help notice the buzz and excitement surrounding the sixth installment. After seeing the movie, it doesn’t live up to the hype for me but it’s still a pretty good action flick.
This time around Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team have to stop a shadow terrorist group known as the Apostles from getting their hands on components that would complete their building of three nuclear bombs. The IMF mission goes awry and the CIA has to send one of their best assassins (Henry Cavill) to babysit Ethan and complete their objectives.
Reteaming for the third time on Fallout, Cruise and McQuarrie make for a great team with the iconic star performing those breathtaking death-defying stunts and the director’s penchant for gritty, practical action. The action is good (but falls short of greatness), the scenery and landscapes are gorgeous and the stunts are incredible. The problem is the story and the plot are not interesting or engaging enough to give the action a more satisfying oomph. At times it feels like the movie was reverse-engineered with the big action set pieces created first and then the story was written later to justify those action scenes.
Among the memorable action scenes are the HALO jump (very impressive but could have been more thrilling), the bathroom brawl (my personal favorite), the Paris motorcycle chase (superbly done), the extended foot chase (one of the best Tom Cruise running movie moments), and the helicopter battle (so-so). Though the extended Tom Cruise running scene was great, it unfortunately had no payoff.
Part of the problem with Fallout is a lack of clear main villain during most of the movie with the IMF going up against a shadowy group with faceless goons and no clear figurehead for two-thirds of the film. The weakest M:I villain among the franchise – Solomon Kane (Sean Harris) – is back but is disappointingly now lethargic and lackadaisical. Vanessa Kirby as the black arms dealer White Widow was effectively enthralling and I hope to see more of her in future sequels.
One of the best things about Rogue Nation was the introduction of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). In Fallout, Ilsa is still a cool, magnetic character and the subtle romance between Ethan and her continues to be explored (I badly want them to be shipped together). The addition of August Walker (Henry Cavill) had great potential and the rivalry and friction between Ethan and him was initially fun but they disappointingly dropped it too early in the movie. But at least we finally get to see the much-talked-about mustache that destroyed the Justice League movie.
A few musings on the film: Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) are also back and while Benji has merit as a comic relief, Luther adds nothing of great value to the film, except for being a hostage… twice. The score had some mix of Hans Zimmer, Sicario and The Firm. The shot of Ilsa riding a bike and passing through the row of columns was simply amazing. It was cool seeing Tom Cruise in the night club going through sardines of ravers which reminded me of his other film Collateral. I wished they would bring back Maggie Q.
But as hype goes, Mission: Impossible – Fallout didn’t live up to expectations for me. It’s not even in my top 3 M:I films. The story/plot is kinda meh but the action and stuntwork are incredible. It would be nice to see some new blood in the next M:I sequel, bring in a new IMF team surrounding Ethan and some interesting actors to play them just to shake off the potential staleness. While they’re at it, try to come up with a standalone-ish sequel with a fun mission that doesn’t try to be too serious and not a direct continuation of the previous films.
Rating: 7/10
Dragonlord’s Review of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Doesn’t live up to the hype but Mission: Impossible - Fallout is watchable enough to see for the impressive action, cool stunts and the mustache that killed Justice League.
Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout has been getting rave reviews from critics for the past few weeks. Although I have avoided reading the reviews, I can’t help notice the buzz and excitement surrounding the sixth installment. After seeing the movie, it doesn’t live up to the hype for me but it’s still a pretty good action flick.
This time around Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team have to stop a shadow terrorist group known as the Apostles from getting their hands on components that would complete their building of three nuclear bombs. The IMF mission goes awry and the CIA has to send one of their best assassins (Henry Cavill) to babysit Ethan and complete their objectives.
Reteaming for the third time on Fallout, Cruise and McQuarrie make for a great team with the iconic star performing those breathtaking death-defying stunts and the director’s penchant for gritty, practical action. The action is good (but falls short of greatness), the scenery and landscapes are gorgeous and the stunts are incredible. The problem is the story and the plot are not interesting or engaging enough to give the action a more satisfying oomph. At times it feels like the movie was reverse-engineered with the big action set pieces created first and then the story was written later to justify those action scenes.
Among the memorable action scenes are the HALO jump (very impressive but could have been more thrilling), the bathroom brawl (my personal favorite), the Paris motorcycle chase (superbly done), the extended foot chase (one of the best Tom Cruise running movie moments), and the helicopter battle (so-so). Though the extended Tom Cruise running scene was great, it unfortunately had no payoff.
Part of the problem with Fallout is a lack of clear main villain during most of the movie with the IMF going up against a shadowy group with faceless goons and no clear figurehead for two-thirds of the film. The weakest M:I villain among the franchise – Solomon Kane (Sean Harris) – is back but is disappointingly now lethargic and lackadaisical. Vanessa Kirby as the black arms dealer White Widow was effectively enthralling and I hope to see more of her in future sequels.
One of the best things about Rogue Nation was the introduction of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). In Fallout, Ilsa is still a cool, magnetic character and the subtle romance between Ethan and her continues to be explored (I badly want them to be shipped together). The addition of August Walker (Henry Cavill) had great potential and the rivalry and friction between Ethan and him was initially fun but they disappointingly dropped it too early in the movie. But at least we finally get to see the much-talked-about mustache that destroyed the Justice League movie.
They ruined the fun by revealing too early in the film that Walker was a traitor. But I have a suspicion they did that so that “gotcha” moment when he was found out would have more impact.
A few musings on the film: Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) are also back and while Benji has merit as a comic relief, Luther adds nothing of great value to the film, except for being a hostage… twice. The score had some mix of Hans Zimmer, Sicario and The Firm. The shot of Ilsa riding a bike and passing through the row of columns was simply amazing. It was cool seeing Tom Cruise in the night club going through sardines of ravers which reminded me of his other film Collateral. I wished they would bring back Maggie Q.
But as hype goes, Mission: Impossible – Fallout didn’t live up to expectations for me. It’s not even in my top 3 M:I films. The story/plot is kinda meh but the action and stuntwork are incredible. It would be nice to see some new blood in the next M:I sequel, bring in a new IMF team surrounding Ethan and some interesting actors to play them just to shake off the potential staleness. While they’re at it, try to come up with a standalone-ish sequel with a fun mission that doesn’t try to be too serious and not a direct continuation of the previous films.
Rating: 7/10
