Mission Impossible: Fallout

I believe there are two eras of Mission Impossible films. The same way Fast and the Furious started a new era where the franchise wasn't about car racing anymore, it was a heist film, Mission Impossible went from an adaptation of an old TV series nobody has ever watched trying to find its identity, to the Fast and the Furious of high level espionage films. I believe the first era is the first three movies. They vary in their quality from low key but smart with the first one, over the top John Woo stupid fun with the second one, and the forerunner that struggled to be memorable with the third. The second era are 4-6 where the movies are fun, suspenseful, and a great time when you're in it, but for me personally, those latter films didn't leave the impact the first three did even though they're probably better films. It's difficult to explain, but I remember far more about the first three films more than I have about the latter three.

Mission Impossible: Fallout continues the high intensity espionage chronicles of Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise), an agent with the shadowy Impossible Mission Force (IMF). His mission (should he choose to accept it) is to find three nuclear bombs that a terrorist organization called The Apostles has planned to set off around the world. There's a long backstory about the Apostles that has something to do with the Syndicate and the villain from the first movie (played by Sean Harris) from the first movie, and how they're related to a broker that goes by White Widow (played by Vanessa Kirby) and I'm gonna be honest, I only sort of paid attention during that part. Bad guys are trying to make bombs, good guys need to stop them, that's really all you need to know.

It's funny because one of the only things I remember from the previous two movies (and even the third one too) is that the government doesn't trust Ethan Hunt. But this time, they send a guy from the CIA to help and oversee Ethan by the name of Agent Walker (played by Henry Cavill).

And I do have to pause for a second to point out something kind of comedic. Mission Impossible has never been a love story. He's had love interests, he's bedded women before, but it's not vital to the story the way it is for James Bond. There are like two (arguably three if you count Michelle Monaghan, and I'll get to her) women that Ethan has this sexual tension with, but I don't know if any of those relationships even came close to the sexual tension I saw between Tom Cruise and Henry Cavill. In another movie, the bickering back and forth and competition these two have would have turned this movie into a romantic comedy. Again, different movie, different time.

The movie follows a very similar formula if you've seen the previous ones. Ethan and his team made up of Benji (played by Simon Pegg) Luther (played by Ving Rhames) and whatever female they have for the movie come together to investigate, spy on, and ultimately take down the terrorist or bad guy trying to inflict terror onto the world with an evil plot.

The slight differences in this movie is that Henry Cavill is in it and he plays a significant role as he is a check on Ethan Hunt. And Rebecca Ferguson reprises her role as Isla Faust, and once again, she's probably one of the better parts of the film. Rivalries form, its a lot of spy vs spy. And it's a lot of fun. 

And while I'm describing the characters and plots as pretty generic, I don't necessarily mean that as a bad thing. I've just come to the revelation that Mission Impossible is the Marvel of espionage spy thrillers. Every couple of years, we get a by the numbers spy thriller with a likable hero who is the best of the best, but untrusted by his organization. He's surrounded by loyal side characters who provide some comedic levity to the dire mission they're embarking on, and a woman with a backstory you'll care about more than the others. There's also another guy, maybe he's Jeremy Renner, maybe he's Henry Cavill, but he doesn't trust the hero. At one point, the hero will face off with this rival. In the case of Fallout, he'll have some probably unintentional sexual tension (am I the only one who saw this?). Suspense will happen, really cool stunts that Tom Cruise did himself will occur, some humor is thrown in there for good measure, and you have yourself an entertaining film. Oh and Alec Baldwin is in it for some reason and its still weird.

If you read my review of Rogue Nation, I'm realizing a lot of the same notes I had on that movie carry over to Fallout. I still thought Rebecca Ferguson was probably the most interesting part of the movie and would probably watch a movie about her over any of these Mission Impossible movies. I still think it's weird that Alec Baldwin was in this film. I guess a difference is that I thought that Simon Pegg was a little less funny than I remember him being but he's still a lot of fun.

I should mention a disclaimer with my viewing experience of this film. I had just finished watching The Punisher which is a much more realistic gritty look at the espionage military genre. Mission Impossible is a little more commercial and clean. That shouldn't take away from my opinion of this movie as they really are different, one being a war drama and the other being a James Bond-esc spy thriller, but if it feels like I didn't enjoy this movie as much, that probably has something to do with it.

Mission Impossible films are spectacles. They're opportunities for Tom Cruise to go around the world and run, A LOT. They have their double crosses, their twists, but this one just frankly didn't get me. I think they could have been done a little bit better.

I will say that I loved the action, the stunts, and the ending was actually pretty suspenseful. And the music was extraordinary. I had moments where I stopped and just listened to the music it was that good.

This movie is by no means bad, I'm just pretty sure it's going to fall into the same category that Rogue Nation and Ghost Protocol did. They were really entertaining but I'm not going to remember a whole lot about it in a couple weeks. I watched it yesterday and I'm still already forgetting some stuff.

Ethan Hunt isn't really a deep character. They kind of delve in a little bit into his relationship with his ex-wife (played by Michelle Monaghan) but I felt like at the end of it all, she was really in this movie just to give closure so he can be with Rebecca Ferguson if they're able to score her for the next film. The villains are not entirely memorable, and these movies have more just become the Tom Cruise stunt show. Again, I'm not saying its bad. The Tom Cruise Stunt Show is an entertaining show. But let's not pretend these are ground breaking films.

I really shouldn't be this salty. This is a movie you're going to have fun with and more thought is put into it than other movie franchises. If you're a fan of by the number spy thrillers that are totally serviceable and entertaining, you're going to have a good time with Mission Impossible: Fallout. I'm happy with the fact that I checked this movie out and I can discuss the phenomena that is Mission Impossible, because in reality, there's no reason why this movie is on its 6th film and probably will have a sequel. But hey, you could probably say the same about The Fast and the Furious and I think these two franchises are very similar to one another.

But those are my thoughts on Mission Impossible: Fallout. What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter, @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!