Tom Cruise returns as IMF superspy Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible - Fallout, the new installment of the Mission: Impossible film series. His frequent collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, who helmed the previous movie (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, 2015), is back too for this direct sequel.
The bottom line: Simply the Best.
Impossible Mission Force agent
Ethan Hunt is haunted by the memory of anarchist
Solomon Lane (
Sean Harris), a former adversary. The surviving members of
The Syndicate, Lane's terrorist organization, have formed a group called
The Apostles. Three plutonium cores are part of their plans, which involve a shadowy figure named
John Lark. Ethan goes to Berlin with
Luther Stickell (
Ving Rhames) and
Benjamin "Benji" Dunn (
Simon Pegg) to intercept the cores. The mission goes wrong, obliging them to obtain information from an expert who worked with The Apostles to assemble three portable nuclear bombs.
Against the will of IMF secretary
Alan Hunley (
Alec Baldwin),
CIA director
Erica Sloane (
Angela Bassett) assigns
August Walker (
Henry Cavill) of the agency's
Special Activities Division to keep an eye on the team. Ethan and agent Walker HALO jump to reach the
Grand Palais in Paris, where John Lark must buy the plutonium at a fundraiser party given by arms dealer
Alanna Mitsopolis, aka
"The White Widow" (
Vanessa Kirby).
MI6 and ex-Syndicate operative
Ilsa Faust (
Rebecca Ferguson) resurfaces but Hunt cannot trust her, nor the CIA, as he's confronted to Solomon Lane once again. And the life of his estranged wife
Julia (
Michelle Monaghan) is threatened. From the streets of the French capital to the mountains of Kashmir, via
London, the IMF races against time to prevent a global catastrophe.
Launched in 1996, the
Mission: Impossible spy action movie franchise is based on the 1966-1973 namesake
television series created by
Bruce Geller. Its success lies mainly in the will of actor/producer
Tom Cruise to perform the most spectacular stunts by himself (he's still in top shape at 56). Despite some past controversies, Cruise sure knows how to meet the expectations of his public and even exceed them. The well established formula of the big screen
Mission: Impossible consists in Ethan Hunt running (often literally) to find a thing in order to save the world. His mission, already presumed impossible, turns out not as planned and his status is jeopardized. Thankfully, Hunt can count on his various teammates. Especially the anxious Benji, who largely provides the humour, and the grumpy Luther.
Written by its director
Christopher McQuarrie,
Mission: Impossible - Fallout has enough twists and turns to keep Ethan Hunt busy between the mandatory mind-blowing sequences in the sky, on a motorcycle, on roofs, etc. Though the script doesn't pretend to be a John le Carré novel, the personal stakes are higher for our proto-Jack Bauer. Punctuated with a discrete dose of derision,
Fallout reminds of the golden era of the
James Bond films before Daniel Craig and doesn't forget nods to both the TV series and its predecessors. After
Dubai and
Vienna, it's the turn of Paris to be the focus of a
Mission: Impossible, a choice with a particular resonance because of the terrorist attacks which struck the city in 2015. Of course, Paris was the playground of the legendary French film star
Jean-Paul Belmondo, who did his own stunts too.
English actor Sean Harris is beyond impressive in the role of Hunt's worst nightmare. Rebecca Ferguson is great as Ilsa, the kickass leading lady. Female characterization wasn't the forte of
Mission: Impossible before her arrival. Alec Baldwin's sympathetic secretary Hunley does a (little) bit of field work. Henry Cavill, who plays the untrustworthy CIA watch dog August Walker, is a perfect addition to the franchise. Like Vanessa Kirby and Angela Bassett. Scottish composer
Lorne Balfe, who succeeds
Joe Kraemer and
Michael Giacchino, did an excellent job with the soundtrack.
Aaron Becker designed the superb main title and curtain call sequences.
Distributed by Paramount Pictures. Cinematography by Rob Hardy. Film editing by Eddie Hamilton.
Released on August 1 in France.
https://www.slashfilm.com/christopher-mcquarrie-interview-2/
See also:
http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2015/08/mission-impossible-rogue-nation-2015.html
