Mission Impossible Fallout, American Movie (2018)

So let’s talk about Hollywood movie stars. Because, really why not? Big movie stars can have it rough. Imagine if you will: you take a walk to your supermarket to do some grocery shopping and everyone, and I do mean everyone, knows who you are. Would that not be like the most awkward thing ever? And what if it becomes even more creepier, as in papparazi’s stalking you everywhere you go. Don’t for a second think that being a movie star is all that glamorous. You have no private life so to speak of. And when negative things happen, it becomes even worse. Take Tom Cruise for instance. His association with the Scientology church, as well as some other stuff, have left a lot of people disliking the guy. But at what point does an actor’s social life, have an impact on his acting abilities? I for one don’t really care about it. Unless an actor or actress turns into an axe murderer or does something really horrific, I would not stop seeing the movies he or she stars in. And so it is for me with Tom Cruise. I may not always agree with the things he does in his daily life, but I just love his films. And after seeing the latest Mission Impossible movie, my respect for him has only grown.

The seating arrangements in helicopters these days are just totally off.

Ethan Hunt is back! It is now two years after the events of the last film, and you would think that after the capture of the evil Solomon Lane things have settled down in the world. But…think again. As usually happens with vile and evil organisations like Lane’s “The Syndicate”, the remnants of it have turned into something even more sinister. The Apostles as the new group calls itself, have their sights set on something truly terrifying, three Plutonium cores. With these they plan to unleash three nuclear devices, and bring terror and destruction to the rest of the word. It’s up to Ethan Hunt and the rest of his team to put a stop to this before it’s too late. They are being assisted in their mission by a special CIA operative, a man named August Walker. But soon the stakes become even higher for Hunt when someone very close to him is threatened. And in order to put a stop to the plans of The Apostles and save the people he loves, Ethan might just have to depend on someone he would never think he would meet again….Solomon Lane.

Erm, pretty sure that normal people wear a helmet when riding on a motorcycle.

I don’t know of many franchises where the sixth movie turns out to be the best one. In fact, I have been wracking my mind for a while now and it comes up empty. (Yes…you can say it, maybe it was already empty in the first place). Seriously though, Mission Impossible Fallout pulls it off, and then some. The main reason for this though, is a man named Tom Cruise. Now as mentioned above, a lot of people seem to hate his guts these days, and that’s fine. I for one am not one of them. He is now 58 years old, but in this film he runs around like he’s 20 and even more impressive, does all of his own stunts. Let us just take a moment to leave that to settle in. I mean 58! I don’t know about you but I find that very, very impressive. And we are not talking about stunts that are simple things either. For example, in this movie he pilots a stunt helicopter through some very dangerous and incredibly insane twists and turns. And he does that without any aid: Tom is the pilot, and there is no trickery involved in any way.

Clark Kent decided he had enough of his glasses and totally went for a mustache look.

This film is an action roller coaster that doesn’t let up. It pulls out of the station with full speed, and it doesn’t stop for anything. Every action scene feels like it belongs there, and wasn’t just put in simply because it might look cool. But of course in case you had not yet figured that out, they do look cool! With so much action, you hardly get any breathers at all. And that does have an impact on the story itself which to be honest, isn’t all that great. It’s a fairly standard, nothing we haven’t seen before tale of a group of people trying to stop a bunch of terrorists from wreaking havoc. But despite that fact, it still works well, and I also felt that out of all the Mission Impossible films to date, this one had a bit of a dark edge to it. There were several moments, especially because of the music that accompanied certain scenes, that I felt myself in a kind of unsettling frame of mind. There are at least some attempts at humor in the film, but these scenes are quite sparse, especially when you compare them to the other five films.

She is such an amazingly strong woman. The gun is just for show…she doesn’t need it at all!

From an acting point of view we have a great cast assembled here. Henry “Superman” Cavill plays the role of August Walker, donning the infamous mustage. In case you missed it, he was not allowed to shave of this thing when he was filming Justice League. And that meant that they had to remove it digitally, with very mixed results and some often hilarious internet gifs were created because of this. But it has to be said, Henry plays a great part in this film, and it certainly shows of he can do more than just play a Man of Steel. Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg both return to reprise their roles, and they do so with great flourish. They really are very comfortable playing these parts, and it totally shows. Rebecca Furguson also reappears as Hunt’s love interest Ilsa, and she already impressed me in the previous installment. She does so again here. I just love her character, a true powerhouse of a woman who can more than hold her own against all the males gathered together in this movie.

I often wonder why Cruise never joined the Olympics, he sure does like to run!

Mission Impossible Fallout might just very well be the best action movie you will see all year. It’s one that I highly recommend if you like the franchise in the first place, but also when you are a fan of well executed actions movies. The film runs over two hours, but during that time you won’t feel bored for even a single second. Tom Cruise has just simply done it again. Yes he might at times be a bit weird in real life, as an actor he just pretty much always entertains. So just don’t be too impossible about this, and just go and watch this film. It’s one that will have you leaving the theatre with a big grin on your face, a sure tell sign that a movie does something right!

I give Mission Impossible Fallout a 9 out of 10 score