Words & Illustrations by Mark Holland
1996’s Mission Impossible was never one of those films that was calling out for a multi-billion dollar franchise and 22 years ago, it would have been hard to predict that they’d still be popping out sequels in 2018. But here we are 6 movies in, the series is bigger than ever and it’s showing no signs of stopping. The key to its success has been fairly simple: Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise running about, Tom Cruise jumping off stuff and Tom Cruise hanging from big things that people don’t usually hang from.
The big objects that Tom hangs from are what sell these movies and because of this, they’re heavily publicised. They’re the focus of the trailers, the posters, they’re plastered on buses and billboards and it’s what he talks about on chat shows. In recent instalments the big set pieces have had him hanging off a plane and the Burj Khalifa, but in the case of Fallout, it’s a helicopter and a cliff-face that Tom’s using as precarious climbing frames. You’d think after being constantly bombarded with these images during the film’s promotion that they’d lose their effect on the big screen. This is absolutely not the case.
There’s a reason the Mission Impossible franchise has remained so big for so long and that’s because it’s so bloody reliable. When it comes to big stunts and impressive set pieces, it really delivers the goods and they’ve never been more stunning or more incessant than in Fallout. There’s a short segment at the start where our hero, Ethan Hunt, receives his mission statement that tells us all the general things we’re going to need to know about the plot. From thereon in it is just non-stop balls to the wall action. No sooner has he jumped out of a plane at 25,000 feet, he’s bombing it through the streets Paris on a motorbike without a helmet, then he’s free running over the rooftops of London (breaking his ankle in the process) before climbing up and subsequently piloting a helicopter whilst it’s flying in mid-air.
The action is relentless and the filmmakers are obviously very keen to show off the fact that all of the stunts are performed by Cruise himself. The guy’s an absolute nutter and any aversion you might have had towards him beforehand quickly evaporates as you can’t help but fall for his unyielding enthusiasm and his willingness to jump into all manner of dangerous stunts if he thinks the audience wants to see them. The technical brilliance of the action scenes is also amazing, if Tom is jumping out of a plane then the camera crew are jumping out first, there isn’t a green screen in sight and you can really tell, the action also manages to flow really well and this makes it all the more captivating.
Hunt is joined by his usual team of Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson et al, but this time there’s a new addition: the brilliantly named and expensively moustachioed, August Walker. Walker is played by Henry Cavill, whose recent outings as Superman have been more wooden than an oak-furnished dining room. But here he’s perfectly cast, his bulky frame is put to great use as the brutish counterpart to Hunt’s nimble and quick thinking secret agent (the pair are even contrasted in the film as the ‘hammer’ and the ‘scalpel’). An early scene cleverly tells us all we need to know about the pair’s differences through their contrasting fighting styles during a tense scrap in a nightclub bathroom.
There’s enough of a story to keep you engaged in the action and even though there aren’t too many surprises in the way of plot, it’s done in such a brilliant way that your jaw consistently remains glued to the floor. There’s also a really nice recurring theme about the moral dilemma of killing one person in order to save the lives of more, this is seen by some to be Hunt’s weakness and it’s explored in a really interesting way.
In terms of delivering the goods, Mission Impossible is that rarest of franchises that has actually managed to perfect their formula and improve with each one. The action sequences in Fallout are not only some of the best of the series, but some of the best ever put on film. It may just be Tom Cruise hanging off things that people don’t usually hang from, but nobody hangs off things better than Tom Cruise.
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