Mission: Impossible - Fallout

I honestly thought that Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation was the biggest the franchise could get, but clearly I should never underestimate Tom Cruise. Like an adrenaline-fueled Benjamin Button, the older Cruise gets, the more insane his stunts become, no doubt sustaining him until the next installment in the franchise. Rogue Nation’s Christopher McQuarrie returns to direct Cruise in Mission: Impossible - Fallout, delivering the best the franchise has to offer in a non-stop thrill ride that is action in its purest form.

Following a mission gone bad in which Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) failed to recover three plutonium cores, Hunt and the rest of his IMF team are put under the careful watch of CIA Special Activities operative August Walker (Henry Cavill) as they attempt to fix their mistake and recover the cores before they can be made into nuclear bombs. In order to gain the trust of arms dealer White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) however, they must break out former Syndicate leader Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) from police custody. As his motives come under questioning, Hunt must convince both the heads of the IMF and the CIA that they’re still on the same team, and save the world from potential nuclear fallout.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout has about 15 or so minutes of exposition in the beginning and then it takes off into non-stop action. It can be somewhat confusing at first because there are so many players in the field. There’s the IMF team consisting of Hunt and the now solidified members Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg) led by Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin), but now the CIA is also involved. To further complicate things, Rogue Nation’s Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) returns and has a mission of her own so that she can clear her name with MI6. Of course there’s also plenty of deception and double-crossing involved, but honestly all of it doesn’t matter because Fallout is so damn entertaining.

Tom Cruise once again outdoes himself and delivers one incredible action scene after another. Whether he’s jumping out of a plane from 35,000 feet, running across the rooftops of London, or hanging from the payload of a helicopter, Cruise will no doubt do whatever it takes to get the perfect shot. And yes, that includes breaking his own ankle. Fallout is the longest film of the franchise and yet it also goes by the quickest mostly because McQuarrie knows exactly how to film Cruise doing what he does best. It’s absolutely exhilarating to watch. Tom Cruise is hands down the best action star working in Hollywood today, period.

The Mission: Impossible franchise has only gotten better with age, and Fallout is the best one yet. No other action movie comes close to capturing the thrill and excitement, not to mention the sweaty palms you’ll have throughout. It’s because when you see Cruise dangling from a helicopter you know he’s actually dangling from a helicopter, and it’s not some CGI or green screen trickery. That is what makes him and the franchise so captivating. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to see this Mission: Impossible - Fallout!