Mission Impossible: Fallout – Movie of the Summer

What a movie. What a freaking movie. What a hard hitting, adrenaline pumping, insanely wild ride of a movie. Mission Impossible: Fallout had all of the hype in the world and it delivered on every level. Five sentences into this thing, all I can say is this: Go see this movie. It’s going to be the best of the summer. ¹

After Mission Impossible III came out in 2006, I thought that was going to be the end of the franchise. The movie, in my opinion, was okay at best and the series seemed to have come to a close. But boy, I’m glad I was wrong. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol came out in 2011 and Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt was back in full force. Then, we got Rogue Nation a few years later which solidified itself as the best Mission Impossible yet. Now, with Fallout, we not only have an outstanding completed trilogy, but the best Mission Impossible by far as well as an action masterpiece. Why don’t we get dueling helicopters in every summer blockbuster?

When Fallout picks up two years after Rogue Nation, Hunt is still trying to clean up the remnants of Solomon Lane’s (Sean Harris) crime syndicate. It is quickly established that the threat is still very much at large, and the team is brought together. Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Alec Baldwin all return as IMF agents and bring their usual great traits to the team. Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, who was such a great addition in Rogue Nation as the resident wild card, keeps it up here. ² While Jeremy Renner didn’t return in this one³, we got to treat ourselves to the CIA’s Superman in Henry Cavill. Described as the “Hammer,” it is easy to see why in this movie. He delivers on every level… who knew it would take 30 minutes of a Mission Impossible movie to make Cavill into more of a beast than DC could do in three Superman movies?⁴

All three acts of this movie are absolutely loaded with non-stop action. Plane jumps into thunderstorms, bike chases into oncoming traffic in the heart of Paris, Ethan running at 30 miles an hour across the rooftops of London, and a finale for the ages kept this thing flowing from start to finish. Nothing felt forced or repetitive, it was fresh and simply incredible. I saw the trailer for this movie no less than 700 times, and I can honestly say that I had no idea what was going to happen. I don’t know if I have ever been able to say that before. The twists were perfectly placed⁵ and the entire theatre were on the edges of their seats the whole time. It was truly spectacular.

Verdict: INCREDIBLE 

Find something wrong with this movie, I dare you. Every sequence is perfectly written, shot, and directed.⁶ The action is so much fun, Simon Pegg comes in with the comedy at all the right moments, and we get so many different action scenes never seen in movies before. After this many movies, you would expect the titular character to start to age and slow down⁷ but Cruise’s Hunt refuses to do so. It really comes as no surprise that Cruise broke his ankle during the filming of this movie, as he really put it all out there. I can’t wait to see this movie again, and am praying that a seventh installment is created. The world needs more Ethan Hunt.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go see this movie. ⁸

1. No, Infinity War came out at the end of April. That’s not summer.
2. Sooooo much sexual tension with Ethan.
3. I’m fine with this, the team doesn’t need two Ethans.
4. The infamous Cavill mustache makes its debut here, and you can tell why it was so hard to CGI it off in Justice League. Pretty funny actually.
5. I love the face masks. Anyone can literally be anyone at any given moment.
6. Chris McQuarrie, standing ovation my friend.
7. i.e. James Bond in Skyfall, Batman in Dark Knight Rises, etc.
8. Ethan always does, so you should too.