Mission: Impossible - Fallout

When I started my blog back in 2015, I made two things clear: I love James Bond and I love a good action movie. Sadly though, in this day and age, those two aren't mixing as much as they should, and while I'm not giving up hope on my favorite franchise, I'm definitely a good bit disappointed. But, luckily for myself and many others, there's one franchise that has successfully and consistently been mixing elements of both together for the past ten years. That would be none other than the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation was one of the many films that I popped my review cherry on, so it's definitely a memorable film for this particular blog. I loved Rogue Nation to bits, it was a consistently classy and action-packed film that knitted things so nicely and tightly in a way I hadn't seen since 2006's Casino Royale. In retrospect, it aged far better than 2015's own Bond film, as it just did the same formula a whole lot better than Spectre did. It still holds firmly on my top ten of 2015 to this day.

I believe I may have said at the end of it that I was really looking forward to the next step in the Mission: Impossible franchise, and I was being honest. So, here we are, three years later with the continuation: Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Did it meet expectations, or was it a blowout? I'm confident to say it is most certainly the former. Fallout (I'm gonna start referring it as that because I'm tired of typing out Mission: Impossible) delivers fantastic action set-pieces and a well-choreographed plot that most action movies and franchises could only barely even dream of creating. This does it all better than even the best of the big buck series' out there, even my beloved Bond.

I'm actually astonished that Fallout manages to top Rogue Nation, because I believed it could get no better than that, but everything is firing on absolutely all cylinders. Christopher McQuarrie absolutely kills it, being the first returning director to the franchise, and I believe he's the only one who could helm these films more than once. There's a definite thrilling visual aspect to these films that I believe only he could deliver to the franchise, and I wouldn't mind seeing him finish up the movies as a whole.

But probably the most important key to what makes these movies so good is Tom Cruise himself. Regardless of what you think about him and all of his controversy, these movies would not be half of what they are without him as the leading actor. He emits such a charisma that is so crucial to making the character of Ethan Hunt feel so alive and the fact that he's so devoted to staying so fit and doing his own stunts only adds to the flair. Of course, he's not the only member of the cast that's bringing their A game, returning faces, including Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, and Ving Rhames bring their familial charm, as well as newcomers such as Henry Cavill provide a dark and open interpretation to the universe.

Basically, I loved Mission: Impossible - Fallout. It's another bold reminder as to why these movies have been such a hit for over 20 years, and why flubs like M:I2 didn't absolutely murder the franchise: it just keeps coming like never before. I'm giving it a 9.4/10 because it is an absolute thrill all around that deserves the highest marks. I said it before and I'll say it once more, I cannot wait for the next chapter of the series.