A Review: Cruise In "Mission Impossible Fallout"

By Darlene Donloe

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it..”

Whenever Tom Cruise is anchoring an action movie, you can bet it’s going to be good – really good.

Next up for Cruise is the sixth installment in the Mission Impossible franchise called Mission Impossible: Fallout, out in theaters nationwide Friday, July 27.

Once again Ethan Hunt, played by Cruise, takes on a mission to save the world. This time, due to a mistake Hunt and his team made, three plutonium balls (globes) have gone missing. Now it’s a race against time to right a wrong.  Hunt must thwart a nuclear threat.

This is classic Cruise. This is Cruise at his best. At 56, he hasn’t missed a beat. He can still run, jump and kick ass with the best of them.

Tom Cruise

The stunts are unbelievable in Fallout. This is the movie that Cruise was filming when a stunt went wrong and he broke his ankle jumping from the rooftop of one building to the next.  He landed a bit awkwardly – shutting down production until he was healed enough to continue.

The skydiving sequence in this film that Cruise and Henry Cavill, (CIA agent August Walker) have is a true adrenaline rush. It’s nuts! Then the two have a helicopter sequence that is unbelievable. It’s crazy! It’s interesting how Cruise’s Hunt is a bit like Superman – when Cavill (who still has the physique, gait, and demeanor of Superman, is in the film).  Essentially you have Superman (Cruise) fighting Superman (Cavill).

Hunt’s team (franchise regulars) is back and in rare form. They bring the noise and the funny.

The gang’s all here. Ving Rhames is back as  Luther, Simon Pegg is back as Benjy and  Alec Baldwin, who was the former CIA director Alan Hunley, is back. This time he is the secretary of IMF.  Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) is also back. She appeared in the fifth installment.

Rebecca Ferguson and Tom Cruise

A welcomed surprise and cool highlight is the appearance of Julia (Michelle Monaghan), Hunt’s former wife. We haven’t seen her since Mission Impossible 3.

This film is one jaw-dropping moment after another.

The setting for much of the film is Paris. It’s been reported that Director Christopher McQuarrie said he chose to make the film in Paris after the November 2015 terrorist attacks there reflected a city he didn’t recognize. Cruise agreed - to show the world it was safe. McQuarrie, the first director to make a return visit to the franchise, and Cruise, his partner in crime, push the envelope with this edition. The result is being called the best of the Mission Impossible series.

Ever since 1996 when the first Mission Impossible hit theaters, Cruise has been holding it down with impressive performances, stupendous, eye-popping stunts and heart-stopping races on foot, in cars, trains, planes, helicopters, boats, motorcycles and any other mode of transportation.

Remember Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the villain in Rogue Nation? Well, he’s back again.  This time he’s in custody. He still doesn’t like Hunt. In fact, he’d like to take him down by any means necessary.

Henry Cavill and Angela Bassett

Walker, Cavill’s character is a bit of a mystery. He jumps back and forth throughout the film as a bad guy and a good guy. The same with CIA director Ericka Sloan played intensely by Angela Bassett. Is she on Hunt’s side or is she against him. You have to buy a ticket

Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) is a delicious, new character named Alana, who goes by the name White Widow. Her role is so delightful, I’m sure we’ll see her in subsequent MI films.

Mission Impossible Fallout (Paramount), written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, stars Cruise, Angela Bassett, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Henry Cavill, Sean Harris, Vanessa Kirby, Rebecca Ferguson and Michelle Monaghan.

On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likable), O (oh, yeah) and E (excellent), Mission Impossible: Fallout gets an E (excellent).