“Mission Impossible: Fallout” is why I go to the movie theaters.  It’s why I’m nearly addicted to buying popcorn every time I see something on the big screen.  It’s the perfect movie of the summer, the best in the series, and honestly one of the most breathtaking action movies I’ve seen in a while for pure spectacle alone.  Director Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise have managed to make a thrill ride from start to finish, and while the final product may have very slight issues, it’s a damn near perfect experience.

“Fallout” starts off in the aftermath of “Rogue Nation.”  Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is chasing down rogue agents who were part of the Syndicate that Solomon Lane (Sean Harris).  These remnants have formed their own group, the Apostles, and they intend to do bad guy evil things and blow up stuff with plutonium.  Hunt’s mission (should he choose to accept) is to stop these guys at all costs.  It’s a simple premise, but the simplicity quickly makes sharp turns in bold directions.  Simon Pegg’s Benji, Ving Rhames’ Luther, Alec Baldwin’s Huntley, and Rebecca Ferguson’s fan favorite mysterious Isla Faust all return with new characters August Walker (Henry Cavill), Erica Sloan (Angela Bassett), and White Widow (Vanessa Kirby).

Source: Paramount Pictures

McQuarrie clearly understands how to balance character and action.  Rather than simply executing insanely huge set pieces (which he does flawlessly), he progresses his characters and their team dynamics very well through action.  Given that this is “Mission Impossible” after all, Ethan Hunt and his team constantly go through hurdles that make the mission one more step harder.  Moreover, the CIA’s addition of Walker makes for an interesting obstacle as they have to balance between doing things the IMF way and the more brutal CIA way.  With a run time of two and a half hours, you’d expect the movie to be bloated with filler, but McQuarrie uses every minute to his advantage.  This is a script that goes a layer deeper than you’d expect it too, elevating it from traditional popcorn fare.  I don’t mean that it has a subliminal message or anything, but it utilizes every aspect of every character.  Even smaller characters get their due and have their own little subplots going on that ultimately pay off.

While the plot was good enough for this kind of movie, we don’t necessarily go to “Mission Impossible” movies for the plot.  We go for the stunts.  After the last movie had Tom Cruise literally hang off the side of a plane and later hold his breath for over six minutes, I don’t know how they could one-up that.  They do.  When Tom Cruise literally jumping out of a plane isn’t the best stunt in the movie, you know you have a good movie.  I don’t want to give away some of the set pieces because I’d rather you go see the movie for yourself.  The point is, in a landscape full of CGI stunts, it’s really refreshing to see something truly real.  It makes it all the more believable because it’s not fake.  The impressive score blares in the background, and you’re just stunned because that’s actually Tom Cruise flying a helicopter.

Source: Paramount Pictures

Then there’s Henry Cavill and his scene stealing mustache.  If you didn’t know, he wasn’t allowed to shave it off while filming this movie, which is why his mouth was messed up in the final cut of “Justice League.”  After extensive reshoots with Cavill’s mustache, Warner Bros had to CGI it out, resulting in a creepy baby mouth that ending up costing them millions of dollars.  So how is this legendary mustache?  Well, it’s absolutely incredible.  One thing I noticed walking out of the movie was that Henry Cavill actually has a better brutality with this than he did as Superman.  He fights like a brawler in this movie, and it’s amazing seeing him go toe to toe with Tom Cruise.

Source: Paramount Pictures

As for flaws, I only really had one, and it’s not even that big.  This is about as spoilery as I’m going to get so if you don’t want to know anything about anyone in this movie, don’t keep reading.  It’s pretty obvious by now that I’m rating this movie very high.  For a movie that has a bunch of twists and turns, it’s important to choose when to reveal those cards.  For the most part, they do a really good job, but they kind of messed up on the biggest twist of the movie.  Very early on, we figure out someone’s ulterior motives, and it’s pretty obvious what his/her role is for the rest of the movie.  When they finally reveal the twist, they make it out to be this big thing, but we already knew that.  Again, not a huge thing because I also kind of figured it out from the marketing, but it could have been avoided had they just changed one scene slightly to replace an item with another item (if you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about).

Source: Paramount Pictures

Aside from that, however, this movie is perfect.  Regardless of the one flaw, it’s wildly fun from start to end.  I’m not going to lie, I had as much fun with this movie as I did with “Avengers: Infinity War.”  Despite a very long run time, there isn’t a single dull moment, and the movie goes by very quickly.  It’s a thrill ride throughout, and the most fun I’ve had at the movies in months.  Even if you’re not a fan of Cruise, there’s no denying that he did an incredible job in this movie.  “Fallout” reminds us why he’s one of the biggest stars of all time.

SCORE: 9.5/10

Source: Paramount Pictures

So that’s my review of “Mission Impossible: Fallout!”  If you’ve seen it, what do you think?  Feel free to let me know in the comments section!

Also, if you like this article, be sure to check out our complete rundown of 2019 superhero movies!  Thanks 🙂

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