What you have heard is true. Mission Impossible: Fallout is one of the greatest modern action films. How? By Embracing all the previous films and their storylines, Fallout brings all of them together to create a layered story that deconstructs characters, provides emotional stakes, and establishes new heights for action set-pieces whilst excelling in each piece of technicality.
Mission Impossible: Fallout follows the IMF team joining the CIA as they are faced with an impossible mission of securing plutonium cores and keeping them out of the wrong hands to prevent a nuclear attack.
This film is arguably the most emotional and complex of the Mission Impossible franchise. What it does extremely well is that it isn’t just a follow-up or the next chapter in the franchise but rather it borrows elements from the previous films to establish a sort climactic final event. It orchestrates a great collaboration from these that provides closure for some of the storylines and opens doors into new areas that the franchise can now explore. This becomes more impressive when taking into consideration the main storyline and the handling of its characters.
The narrative has many characters, groups, and events all relating and impacting one another that keeps the audience thinking and on their toes. As there is so much going on, the film has twists at every corner always catching you by surprise which further immerses you into this story. One of the key focuses of this film is getting the audience inside the mind of Ethan Hunt and it successfully achieves that as you understand his fear, his inner conflict and morality more extensively in this one. The supporting cast all have a purpose and place in the film that further develops their characters and add to the story.
The practical stunts in this film is pure god-tier film-making. They are crafted with such intensity it’s bound to get your heart racing, as you watch a one-take HALO jump from 25,000 feet, a consistently escalating 30 minute action set-piece in Paris involving a brilliant precise motorcycle chase, or an extremely chaotic helicopter sequence with a 360-degree downward spiral maneuver. This movie contains everything you need from an action blockbuster on a technical level. These stunts and action sequences are complemented by great camera-work and shot composition. The score drives the film to new levels of suspense and intensity, but also integrates the iconic theme in such a great way. The emotional moments are also enhanced by the use of high strings and low strings to represent the burden of the protagonist in certain tracks.
Overall, Christopher McQuarrie has delivered a masterclass addition in the action genre. Thanks to his astounding direction, each element of this film is delivered in a world-class fashion. Mission Impossible: Fallout is the best Mission Impossible film and is one of the best action movies I’ve seen this decade. See it in IMAX.
9.1/10
3 thoughts on “Mission Impossible: Fallout – Review”