M:I 6 (2018) – Possibly the greatest action movie in the franchise.

Note: this article is on Mission: Impossible 6 (2018) – part of a 6-part series on all the movies in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Read the whole series on Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), Mission: Impossible 3 (2006), Mission: Impossible 4 (2011) and Mission: Impossible 5 (2015)

So here we are the very end, the explosive thrilling climax of the Mission Impossible movie franchise retrospective by the Ultimate Action Movie Club! Bringing us right up to date here is our review of Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible – Fallout (2018) which is another absolutely incredible installment that will leave audiences glued to the screen and with their adrenaline pumping.

A TRUE SEQUEL

From the opening of the movie the action starts, takes hold and doesn’t let go. Plutonium for a dirty bomb goes missing, there is a botched recovery lead by our hero Ethan Hunt which makes the CIA suspect that he is a villainous mastermind and to top it all off old and new enemies are set on sending the world into chaos by obtaining those lost materials to achieve their deadly goals.

The first thing that’s clear about this movie is that it has a much stronger sense of continuity than previous entries in the Mission Impossible franchise. Christopher McQuarrie returns to direct this installment, the first time that a director has returned to the franchise. This really does aid the film giving the audience a sense of place and continuity. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015) does a clever job of re aligning the Mission Impossible franchise and the pay off really comes over in this instalment.

The script carries on this sense of continuity. Many actors from the last film return and the script, which is brilliantly entertaining and sharp, mentions many instances from the franchise’s near and distant past which bring the storytelling from previous entries into this movie.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW

In the tradition of the Mission Impossible franchise the cast is absolutely impeccable. Tom Cruise obviously returns to the role of Ethan Hunt and Ving Rhames is present as Luther Stickell, the friendship between Cruise and Rhames has been a real thread from the very first movie to the this one. Simon Pegg also is back and his performance is so effortless it feels like he has always been a part of the franchise. Rebecca Ferguson was introduced as Ilsa Faust in the last Mission Impossible movie. Her character arc is far more complete in this movie. Faust is at the very heart of the action and is completely convincing in the action scenes. Sean Harris returns as the antagonist Solomon Lane and is an effective malign presence. There is also the welcome return of Hunt’s wife Julia Meade-Hunt played by Michelle Monaghan and the always brilliant Alec Baldwin is back as the IMFs leader.

As well as the brilliant combination of cast from the past of the franchise there are also the brilliant additions of the incredibly talented Angela Bassett as Erica Sloane, the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Henry Cavill as CIA agent August Walker. Basset plays her role with ruthless efficacy and Henry Cavill is incredibly shady and a persistent threat to the IMF team. Cavill is absolutely electrifying in the movie’s action scenes. Another brilliant bit of casting in this movie is Vanessa Kirby as White Widow, a black market arms dealer who is the daughter of Max from the first film. It’s great touch to have that link to the first film and Kirby really steals every scene she appears in.

The cast is perfectly balanced and each actor captivates the screen.

A FRENCH CONNECTION

Mission Impossible – Fallout, like the other movies in the franchise, is a fantastic mix of epic worldwide locations and practical stunt work. This movie completely raises the stakes on the action. It has perhaps some of the strongest action scenes in the entirety of the Mission Impossible franchise.

All of the action in the movie is incredible but the whole of the sequence in Paris is near perfect. From a car chase that clearly references the action movie classic The French Connection (1971) to Cruise going the wrong way round the Arc de Triomphe on a motorbike. The Paris sequence is absolutely relentless and well worth the price of a cinema ticket on it’s own.

CONCLUSION

Mission Impossible – Fallout is in many ways the definitive Mission Impossible film, its mix of old and new elements and adherence to the formula that defined the franchise offers audiences a movie which is really a remix of the first movie but repackaged with a breakneck style and tone that will keep action fans both new and old happy… If history is kind to the film, it could well be considered one of the greatest action movies of all time.

