Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a very interesting movie. However, it juggles way too much. The IMF team has been compromised, so a CIA agent is sent to observe their actions. However, it’s really the CIA that has been compromised. The film stretches even harder to keep the promoted Alec Baldwin in play, as he tries to help the team from afar. All the while, Angela Bassett gets to do her best Amanda Waller outside of the DC Universe. So, what does it all mean?
Ethan Hunt has been a hero in desperate search of a franchise. So many of the past Mission: Impossible movies often feel like a highlight reel for stunt work. Think about it. Do you really remember the plots from these movies or the big stunts? The helicopter in the subway tunnel in the first one. What about the sandstorm chase or the cargo plane stunt in the last movie? Now, explain the plot of Mission: Impossible 2 in a way that your 10 year old niece could understand.
It’s not so simple, is it? Fallout might be the most straightforward Mission: Impossible movie when you get past the competing plots. If you arrive at the theater hoping to see Tom Cruise and Superman smack each other around, you won’t be disappointed. Do you want loose continuity with the other movies? Ethan Hunt’s wife returns and the film work as an almost immediate sequel to the last movie. Does any of this matter? Barely.
The spy movie needs a constant shot in the arm. Jason Bourne caused Bond to dump Piece Brosnan and JJ Abrams to revitalize Mission: Impossible. It’s been 12 years and the IMF team has yet to fight a villain as good as Philip Seymour Hoffman. Now, we have a Bond leaning heavy into the Nolan influence and a Mission: Impossible series that wants to ape George Miller so hard. It’s time for a change. Hopefully, we’ll get it in the next movie.
For “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”, you’ll get a perfectly good enough movie. The action will help distract you from the collapse of Moviepass. Tom Cruise will continue to shine in one of the few films his aging hasn’t hurt. Yet, there’s a part of your brain that will just nag at you. Am I watching a quality movie or the modern equivalent of Roger Moore refusing to give up the ghost?