Mission Impossible Fallout

In a recent interview about Sacred Games, Vikramaditya Motwane said the idea of a Netflix series kind of gives the creator the liberty to invest time in characters so as to shape them up. The new Mission Impossible film is the 6th installment in the franchise and in a way it has this series like advantage of the audience knowing what all things the character has gone through. With a new bunch of tasks in front of the team, this new Mission Impossible movie, Mission Impossible Fallout is such a pleasure to watch.

After the events related to the syndicate in the last film, there is a new threat in the world called The Apostles who plan for a big nuclear strike on the world to destruct its order. A personal choice Ethan made in the beginning, compromises the IMF’s mission to stop this from happening. So the film is ultimately about Ethan and team working together to stop the nuke from exploding.

When Luther talks about Ethan at various points in the movie, we as a viewer can totally get the statement’s emotional aspect because we have seen almost all those missions. And I feel that director and writer Christopher McQuarrie has managed to mix thrill, emotions and practical repercussions in a seamless way in fallout as well as rogue nation. You clearly need a flowchart here to have clarity on the script and having an idea about characters through all the other films helps you with that. Set pieces performed by Tom Cruise are spectacularly real and that only enhances the viewing experience.

Tom Cruise probably knows Ethan Hunt more than anyone else and the actor shows not just his impeccable action skills, but also the emotional vulnerabilities of the character. Henry Cavill plays the assassinate character August Walker convincingly. Rebecca Ferguson’s character becomes a bit low key here. Simon Pegg as Benji is hilarious and entertaining. Ving Rhames as Luther this time gets a space to be more emotional after working with Ethan for all these years. Sean Harris reprises his character Solomon Lane and plays it minimally and accurately. Michelle Monaghan, Angela Basset, Vanessa Kerby and Alec Baldwin play the other major characters here.

Christopher McQuarrie knows the importance of pushing the envelope along with developing something that is compelling. It is really easy to get confused in such a story that has so many visible and invisible subplots and I think he has done a commendable job in including all that in the narrative. The action sequences are choreographed spectacularly and I guess we all know that Tom Cruise himself has performed all that. The realness they have maintained in the back to back action set pieces complements the intelligence maintained by the script and even the predictable mask technology of IMF is placed smartly. Cinematographer Rob Hardy makes sure that the action is captured in its most original and breathtaking form and the cuts aren’t messing it up. The background score supported by the original theme score does deliver that adrenaline rush.

Mission Impossible Fallout is indeed that thoroughly enjoyable engaging and layered action flick that will keep you on the edge of your seat even when you know that Ethan Hunt will save the world at the end.

Rating: 4/5