Movie Review: Mission Impossible Fallout
Since the second movie the Mission Impossible franchise has basically just been “The Tom Cruise Show.” This one is no different. It offers some very cool set pieces. We get one of the best “Tom Cruise running really hard,” scenes ever and an amazing helicopter chase at the end. The plot is your typical supervillain spies trying to nuke the world pablum not worthy of much description here. As good as some of the set pieces are the movie never rises above simply being another iteration of the same old tropes. Even worse, the villains are lame.
Solomon Lane does not even come close to feeling like the threat he did in the last film. In Rogue Nation there is real tension caused by Ethan Hunt being outmaneuvered by Lane multiple times. There’s no comparable antagonist in Fallout. Cavill’s tough guy character never gets a moment to show up Ethan. He gets embarrassed on the HALO jump and in the bathroom fight. What they should have done is have Ethan lose the bathroom fight and then have Cavill win it, demonstrating that he is the better fighter. This would have created tension for the final confrontation in the mountains. But nope, instead, it’s another episode of “The Tom Cruise Show.” A pleasant diversion, but not really worth a second watch like some of the better flicks in this series.
Grade: C
