Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
A very mixed bag with some great things, but way too many things that annoy me or didn’t work, that I consider this among the weakest in the franchise (not “worst” as it still has enough qualities making it worth watching).
While the first movie will likely forever be my favorite, I know the franchise has moved in a different direction and I accept that. Seeing Ghost Protocol recently made me appreciate the new direction for what it is. However, that seems mostly gone here and I am not sure I like what it is being replaced with. While every MI movie needs to be different, I feel like too much of the MI DNA is gone here. It tries to be a bit too serious but not enough like the third movie, there isn’t really any cool gadgets used this time around and there is no proper heist style mission.
What baffles me most is how non impressed I was with most of the action scenes. I know the amazing work done behind them and how most of it was done for real, it just still often looks kind fake somehow. Maybe it is the odd bland color grading on the film that ruins it form me. The opening parachute scene has an impressive long take, but it is not really exciting. The car chases were pretty good most of the time, but also lacking in being able to convince me it was real. The final helicopter sequence was bonkers in its own right, and I like how they acknowledged the ridiculousness of the “cutting it close” trope and delivered on that. It was still however a bit too long.
I do however like other things. While I could see the twist in the opening coming a mile away, as it is basically a remake of the opening in the first movie, it played out nicely. The use of the masks did properly fool me once again. The little jokes here and there landed at exactly the right moments without being dumb. The fight scene in the bathroom was well done. And it was nice seeing Julia again.
Like with Ghost Protocol it is still lacking a proper villain and it is pretty obvious the movie was made with various action set pieces in mind first, then the actual script was written around that to make it fit. The plot is too convoluted for its own good, as I stopped caring with all the backstabbing and treacherous twists.
Rating: 3.5