Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Written by: Christopher McQuarrie & Bruce Geller
Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames

Henry Cavill can't be this bad an actor on purpose. In the opening scenes where we're introduced to Walker, his repartee with Ethan Hunt is so stilted and badly delivered, it seemed inevitable that he would be the movie's villain. There was no warmth or good nature in their exchange, no undercurrent of "we're going to end the movie the best of friends". I wonder if that's where the film went off the rails, because except for the bathroom fight sequence and the rooftop chase, I was disconnected throughout the movie. The movie didn't give me any reason to care about characters I have cared for previously, and maybe it's because there was no tension in the majority of these action sequences. Even though the stakes of the final sequence was the detonation of two nuclear weapons, the only tension I felt was that there was a brief moment where I thought Benji was going to die, and the visceral reaction to how Walker finally met his end.

People in the cinema were openly laughing at the helicopters on the side of the cliff. There's this shot of them trapped in this tight crevasse before they fall further to the final plateau. As I saw this shot, part of my brain was telling me "That's a really cool shot. I should be loving this", but I wasn't. Maybe the disengagement came even earlier than Walker's introduction. I was expecting the movie to open with action. Instead it opened with a wedding that was actually a nightmare, before a business exchange goes wrong. The wedding scene lays out what the film is after and it runs counter to why I enjoyed Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation. My expectations for these movies is to watch high tension action setpieces where I marvel at the skill involved (especially with the actor's performing their own stunts). This film was interested in continuing a story from a series where each film has largely stood on its own. I should have seen it coming from the title of the movie. Yes, the plot is largely about nuclear weapons, but the word 'fallout' is screaming that consequences from earlier actions are going to play out.

I'm wondering why the tension of Rogue Nation's final sequence in the restaurant worked so well while the final sequence of Fallout in Kashmir had little to no effect. Is it the stakes? Rogue Nation's finale was personal. Benji's life, as well as the lives of the surrounding block are at risk. There is an action scene afterwards, but the important part is Ethan outplaying Lane and winning their duel. The final knife fight, chase, and capture is a cathartic reward after enjoying the villain being out-maneuvered. In Fallout, the stakes are high (a third of the world's population will likely suffer and die if these bombs go off), but aside from our heroes being caught in the blast radius, there is no outplaying the villain. In fact, it almost feels like luck saves the day as the bombs are deactivated with only a second left. Ethan and his team have no plan going into this finale except how to stop the bombs. Everything is improvised. In the back of my head, I know they're going to win, so watching them go to such ludicrous lengths to save the day feels flat compared to when Ethan and his team were in control.

Personal enjoyment: ★★