Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018): ‘The Stunt Franchise’ – A Film Review

Introduction

Mission Impossible, the Tom Cruise film based upon a TV series about a group of spies that take on a mission that their governments will deny if they’re found out – to add a sense of danger nearing them to suicide missions, was successful enough to spawn a series. The film franchise has given Tom Cruise a lot of attention for doing his own stunts and insisting that they’re often done on location. This has perhaps been the surviving endurance of the franchise as the action reaches new heights by the tense sense of realism achieved by really seeing an actor put themselves through all those stunts. Building on this, and perhaps taken from the TV show, they have built iconic moments or trademarks in: Tom Cruise on a wire, head masks, the theme tune and the “mission should you choose to accept it” followed by the message self-destructing. The Mission Impossible franchise has therefore become a staple in modern action cinema. Mission Impossible: Fallout is their sixth instalment and sees a lot of the cast returning for this feature – SPOILERS. even to the extent of past love interests and villains. END OF SPOILERS.

Stunting the Story

As previously mentioned the Mission Impossible franchise has been built upon its stunts and action scenes. Certainly, this continues with Mission Impossible: Fallout, there are some stunning moments of characters running, driving, fighting or falling through wonderful backdrops and effectively running each scene with building tension. What the franchise isn’t known for, would be its scripts and dialogue. For almost the entire first half of the film, Mission Impossible: Fallout runs cliché lines and basic plot points with little to no emotion and with complete predictable plausibility (almost implausibility their so predictable). This makes the film on rather tough ground from the word go and it’s only thanks to any stunts within these moments that the film manages to persevere. There is a half way point that the film starts to build an emotional connection to what’s going on and plot points are much less predictable and involving but it’s a long wait.

All in Together

The central cast includes some big names that have built up the strong core of these films since earlier instalments. As previously mentioned many characters return to further bolster the core cast and add to Mission Impossible: Fallout, a sense of conclusion to a film series by looking in hindsight. This works on a tight line of being cliché or effective. Though certainly, for the most part, the casting can’t be faulted. It’s mostly through plot blemishes that the film struggles and that actors appear to show the strain with it.

Conclusion

Watch Mission Impossible: Fallout for the stunts and action sequences and especially if you’re a fan of earlier entries. Though it isn’t the worst of the franchise it isn’t the best either. The last half more than makes up for the first half but it comes close and makes the film largely problematic, but we’ll likely see more from the franchise, despite Tom Cruise starting to be a Harrison Ford of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – can he keep up with these daring stunts?

Synopsis

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) accepts a mission to retrieve petroleum before a group hell-bent on world chaos, called the apostles are able to obtain it. Despite initial failures, causing his team problems, Ethan Hunt is determined to ensure their success and the worlds safety.

Ratings

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A Note on My Reviews

Please read ‘On Reviews‘ for a guide to how I write film reviews. Any spoilers are appropriately marked and, though I personally prefer to know little about a film before seeing it, there is a synopsis below the review for any who wish to see one.

Films Mentioned

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (d. Steven Spielberg USA 2008)

Mission Impossible (d. Brian De Palma USA 1996)

Mission Impossible: Fallout (d. Christopher McQuarrie USA 2018)

Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018): ‘The Stunt Franchise’ – A Film Review

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