Grosse Point Geek casts his critical eye over the latest (some sometimes greatest) releases… this time out Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission : Impossible – Fallout 

Cast: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Plot in a nutshell: Its a tad complicated but the basics are as follows -when three nuclear devices go missing, its up to Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team to get them back before a mysterious group called The Apostles detonates the lot of them and kills millions of innocent people in the process.

What worked: In short , pretty much everything  – especially the action scenes – which are genuinely gob smacking, manage to elevate the film into a whole new stratosphere of brilliance and are made even more impressive due to the fact that Tom Cruise did all his own stunts. Yes folks that really IS him performing the halo jump out of that plane and yes it’s also him piloting that helicopter at breakneck speed in the films stunningly mental finale. Indeed one can only imagine the amount of squeaky bum time the insurance company and the producers suffered throughout filming, wondering in desperation if their utterly mad bastard of a star actor was going to make it through to the next day in one piece.

In addition, whilst the action is outstanding, one must also credit writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, who not only directs with flair and confidence but also crafts an extremely good plot that manages to twist and turn and offer up some real surprises. Its also very well acted  – Cruise, as ever exudes mega watt charisma and owns every scene he is in,  Cavill (plus the legendary King’tache) does well and shows a refreshingly different side to what we are used to when he dons the cape as Superman, Rhames is his usual cool as a cucumber self, Pegg is great fun and gets lots more to do than just act as the comedy foil, Rebecca Ferguson makes a very welcome comeback as Isla Faust and once again more than holds her own in the action stakes, plus Sean Harris returns as the completely evil Solomon Kane and proves to be the best baddie of franchise so far.

What could have been better: Not much really  –  A few one liners from Cruise wouldn’t have gone amiss perhaps – the character of Ethan Hunt can be a little too serious at times and could do with occasionally being lightened up a bit. Finally, whilst the story is really good there are a couple of plot twists that i could see coming a mile off.

Best Scene: The films climax  – a frankly amazing helicopter chase that has to be seen to be believed

Summary Review:  A proper honest to goodness blockbuster and an incredible action film to boot, extremely well made and expertly directed by Christopher McQuarrie, however to be fair its Cruise who deserves most of the praise – the guy puts in a serious shift here doing most if not all his own stunts and  giving another great performance in what is rapidly becoming his signature role.

Fantastic entertainment  -don’t miss it

Pay to see it at the cinema? – You would be mad not to

Buy on DVD/Blu Ray? – God yes

★★★★★★★★★★

Author: Will Strong aka Grosse Point Geek

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