I can’t get over the awesome production value on the “self-destruct” message. I mean, this wasn’t just some brown-nosing intern’s PowerPoint, this is a full blown multi-media production: global map, high-res graphics, instant pics and dossiers, leading information, you guys realize your audience is theoretically one guy, right? And then the message self-destructs. You could have taken one 3×5 index card and written “many bad guys, nukes in play, go here and try to get them back.” Three seconds of name dropping and one photograph later, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) would know all he needs to know. But this business of production engineering and is that interactive screening … ? And his task has a 72-hour window with live nukes in play?! Seventy-two hours … ? Really? It had to take you at least a full business day -with all the resources and personnel involved in whatever department you run, mind you- just to put together the proposal … and what if he doesn’t “choose to accept” this particular Mission: Impossible, huh? In the time you took to put this little intro together, couldn’t the CIA and US Army capture and arrest everybody on the list? I’m just thinkin’ your efforts were a tad imbalanced.
I didn’t even mention the “self-destruct” part. That can’t possibly be an easy addition, can it? Just once, I would love to give a company-wide presentation and then announce, “This PowerPoint will self-destruct in five seconds.”
Yeah, superagent Tom Cruise is back is to erase the memory of 2017’s The Mummy. Yes, Tom can still do better action films and this is the proof. I think that could be his rallying mantra forevermore: “Be better than The Mummy. Be better than The Mummy.” Mission: Impossible – Fallout has him on the defensive early when he saves his buddies Benji (Simon Pegg), and Luther (Ving Rhames), but, darn it, forgets to collect those elusive nukes in the process.
One has to appreciate the modern efficiency of fictional WMDs. In the 70s, Superman had to stop a missile the size of a jet. Now, these MI 3 need only capture three balls each the size of a shot put. Any of these shot puts have “more firepower” than everything in WWII combined and they all conveniently fit into a handy briefcase. And speaking of Superman, Henry Cavill shows up for some bland after Tom and the boys fail to get the nukes in the exchange. The exchange itself is one of a few scenes in the film in which Ethan Hunt is given an Impossible choice (i.e. saving one good person in front of him v. potentially saving millions of anonymous people); I appreciate the film for serving up some tough choices, but downgrade it for always painting Cruise in the most sympathetic light possible.
Next thing, naturally, Cruise and Cavill are skydiving into trouble when the big fella gets hit by lightning. Aw, what’s the matter, Superman? Can’t fly? Is it asking too much that the fellas dive from a height that requires oxygen, one gets hit by lightning prompting a rescue effort mid-plummet from the other, and also forces a late chute pull … and yet both land perfectly intact and exactly on target?
This edition of MI 
is as much a women’s film as any in the set. No, it’s not exactly Charlie’s Angels, but Christopher McQuarrie saw fit to pen strong –and unique- roles for Angela Bassett, Rebecca Ferguson, and Vanessa Kirby. It is tough to guess at any time whether any of these women is a force of good or force of evil; yet, all three assert themselves rather firmly into the action.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (make sure to get the punctuation right) makes for an amusing, if a tad long, summer action romp. I think I’d rank it 3rd among the six Mission: Impossibles (behind 4 and 5, but ahead of 1, 2, & 3). The action sequences are suitably tense, yet unsuitably lengthy. One extended car/foot/cycle/boat sequence in Paris lasted so long, a Luc Besson film broke out. You know, I’ve been to Paris twice and never chased anybody, but in the movies, it’s constantly the “City of Flights.” Owing to the Peter Jackson model that no action sequence can be too long, MI Fallout is playing a dangerous game, yet you can almost certainly count on being entertained somewhere in there no matter what flag you fly.
Rogue nukes can be quite a drag
When peace he’s attempting to snag
But quick on his feet
That Cruise can’t be beat
Good heavens, it’s a running gag
Rated PG-13, 147 Minutes
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Writer: Christopher McQuarrie
Genre: Tom Cruise runs after stuff
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Action junkies
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Believers in brevity
