Hold on for the $178 million ride in the latest geriatric version of Mission Impossible.
Mission Impossible: Fallout (Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Angela Bassett) – I loved the TV show, Mission Impossible. Peter Graves (though he wasn’t the first head of the IM Force; Steven Hill was), Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Greg Morris, and Peter Lupus. Their weekly adventures were fun, dangerous and mesmerizing. I was excited to see what the movie incantations would bring. The first one, with Tom Cruise as the flawed Ethan Hunt, was very true to the TV show with lots of special effects added. With each passing film (there are six now), the resemblance has almost disappeared. This is distinctly different than the Star Trek movies, which remained very true to Gene Rodenberry’s vision.
The Mission movies are much more like Bond/Bourne films these days. That’s OK. But if I want to see a Bond/Bourne film, I’ll wait for their next installments. And while special effects have kind of ruined those too, at least the Bond flavor has remained the same.
In MI: Fallout, Tom Cruise and his gang, played by an aging Ving Rhames and a scene stealing Simon Pegg, take on a nuclear threat … like that has never been done before. There’s a bad guy, a pretty super-incredible new good gal (played by Rebecca Ferguson), a rogue scientist, a good Secretary (who won’t disavow knowledge of Hunt’s action), and a bad Secretary (who doesn’t seem loyal to anyone).
The plot doesn’t matter. Cruise runs … a lot … and fast, too. Not bad for a 56-year-old guy with a death wish who still does his own stunts and got injured in the process. Hunt still plays Superman, repelling every threat, flying helicopters, climbing ropes in the sky. Masks are still in play, one of the few holdovers from the TV show. And there is still a reel-to-reel tape machine that plays Ethan’s assignment. We travel all around the world (the photography is spectacular) with lightning precision. And, of course, the IM Force prevails in the end. (Sorry for the spoilerJ).
The new twist is the planting of a new agent, August Walker (Henry Cavill), with the team by Director Erika Sloane (played by my least favorite actor in the world, Angela Bassett). She and the Secretary (played by Alec Baldwin) are at odds but who cares? What do you think: is the new agent a good guy or a bad guy?
The film is definitely entertaining. Stick around for the credits and try to count the number of CG artists, special effects gurus, animators, stunt people, and assistants to everyone who ever touched this film. You’ll see that there is plenty to catch your eye. With a budget of $178 million, it better be good.
Here’s the problem: Cruise and Rhames, to quote Butch Cassidy, are “too old for this s***.” Really! Heck, Matt Damon is quitting the Bourne series for the second time and yet another Bond (Daniel Craig) is too. And they are younger than Cruise.
If you just want to be entertained and love action flicks and great special effects, Mission Impossible: Fallout is for you. I enjoyed my 2 ½ hours of mindless, blow-your-socks-off special effects. But if you don’t want to see one more of the same-old-same-old, you can skip it.