- MOVIE REVIEW: ‘ Mission: Impossible – Fall Out’, One of the Greatest Action Movies of All-Time
- ‘Mission: Impossible – Fall Out’ is now showing in cinemas nationwide’
Within its first few minutes alone, ‘Mission Impossible: Fall Out’ had Ethan Hunt declaring ‘I am the storm’. And it’s not that so difficult to believe him. The whole film itself, is practically a storm, brewing into a chaotic madness of relentless jaw-dropping action and deadly chases in the second half, from a less turbulent but adrenaline-driven buildup in the first part. The insane level of muscular intensity is enforced by the orchestral progression of death-defying (not to mention physics-defying) action sequences, its highlight, a helicopter pursuit between Tom Cruise‘s Hunt and Henry Cavill‘s August Walker, with the scenic mountains of Kashmir in the background. Anyone who’d say ‘Fallout’ may be one of the best action movies of all time can’t be over-exaggerating.
In ‘Fallout’, Hunt embarks on yet another mission: stopping an impending series of nuclear bombings in three of the worlds holiest cities. The threat this time comes from the diabolical terrorist organization, ‘The Apostles’, whose principles adhere to that of the equally nefarious crime network, The Syndicate. After failing to acquire the plutonium cores, Hunt and his IMF comrades are thrown into a deadly cat-and-mouse chase of retrieving the plutonium-bearing devices, and stopping the now-imprisoned-but-still-wickedly-capable, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), and his vicious acolytes, The Apostles, from using them in their planned nuclear attacks.
The momentum is allowed to carry a brewing storm pace, with much of the action taking place in the second half of the film. But one wouldn`t deny how already scorching the heat is, when all the dominoes are just beginning to fall and leading the events into that gloriously shot, battle-to-the-death, between Hunt and Walker, atop a cliff.
Walker, whose ambiguous demeanor has established himself as a mysterious-and-should-not-be-trusted guy, from the get go, easily fits to the charismatic and yet physically imposing Henry Cavill. Nevertheless, the two–Hunt and Walker–find a way to settle their differences, and carry out their mission as planned. But CIA Chief, Erica Sloan (Angela Bassett), knows something. And that isn’t just involving IMF being ‘halloween–a bunch of grown men under rubber masks, playing trick or treat’. She really knows something.
The sixth installment in a massively successful franchise, ‘Fallout’ could easily give the sense that we’ve seen it all–the impossible, that is–having thrown Hunt into the dreadliest scenarios, possible. But each time we witness him limp between buildings, engage in either deadly car races or bloody brawls, he gets us to believe that no amount of muscular energy isn’t impossible for him to deliver, just so he could topple a devouring mayhem.
`Fallout’ is essentially a bold statement that shuts most other entries to the action genre, to silence–if not, puts them to shame. It surpasses all the previous entries in the franchise; and finds itself a special place above most entries in the genre. At the core of the feat, is Cruise, whose unwavering commitment to the character lends it a lasting bravado that seems to mystify moviegoers, each time he carries on the role. His vigor and stamina never wavered for a fraction of a second, reflects what this franchise has been in the last two decades: relentless, unshaken, ever-exciting. He also proved that there is so much more in Ethan Hunt than his untainted guts to do the impossible. His humanity is placed right into the center of the narrative, and we are once again reminded that Hunt isn’t a god, but still human just doing everything, for the ‘common good’.
That may be too idealistic, but holding on to such principle allows the film stand on a moral ground, and create a reliable form that is never devoid of humanity. Against the chaos and storms, those explosive action set pieces that are no short of defying the laws of physics, ‘the film finds a way for us to actually care about the story, which is practically Hunt’s journey to self-redemption. And it is not that hard to believe that finally gets that here. 5/5
5 – Excellent
4 – Very Good
3 – Good
2 – Tolerable
1 – Terrible
‘Mission: Impossible – Fall Out’ is now showing in cinemas, nationwide’