Besides the amazing set pieces and keen plotting, Mission: Impossible – Fallout elevates the spy-thriller genre by giving each and every protagonist a heart of gold.
Heart. If the spy-thriller genre lacks anything, it’s heart. Yes, thrillers are meant to … er … thrill. However, true edge-of-your-seat moments can only be earned if there are stakes. Mission: Impossible – Fallout raises the stakes by creating lovable heroes who have a lot to lose. From the saving of an individual team member to saving the world from nuclear destruction, the story gives audiences characters we care about.
Let’s be candid here. Spy films can be a bit existentialist, bordering on nihilism. We get it. The “coldness” adds to the ambiance of espionage and the debate of “who can we trust?”. The current generation’s James Bond is a perfect example. It’s dark and brooding. In Casino Royale, James Bond (Daniel Craig) bluntly made the statement, “Why should I need more time? The job’s done. The bitch is dead,” after M (Judy Dench) offers him a grieving period in response to Vesper Lynd’s (Evan Green) death. Yes, Vesper double-crossed Bond, but his statement was a proclamation that this new 007 was a serious spy, unlike the incarnations before him.
Our heroes in Mission: Impossible – Fallout don’t shy away from being human. In fact, this film’s definition of “impossible” comes from the extremely hard decisions Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team must make. Their humanity is always at the forefront, and it’s this care that makes us love these characters so much. We’re willing to follow them through every death-defying task. But, above all, we’re worried for them. It pays to be nice guys—and gals—in this film.
One of the most poignant scenes in the film comes from a heart-to-heart between Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames) and Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). Not that the action and dialogue don’t show it, but Strickell’s words pull at the heart strings and really hit home the message that this isn’t a spy team—it’s a family.
Ethan’s own conflicts come from how far he’ll go to complete the mission. The debates are constant. Is it worth the collateral damage? And that’s what makes Ethan a compelling hero. He’s clean-cut in a world rife with anti-heroes and guys who want to be cool by not caring. The tough-guy routine worked a decade ago when everything went just a bit dark, but we’re looking for something fresh. And seeing the world in black-and-white is now the trend. It’s akin to tattoos once being a sign of rebellion. Now it’s the ones who don’t have tattoos who are the real rebels and standouts. Why be like everyone else?
As great as the characters are, they’re only a piece of what makes this latest installment so great. Director Christopher McQuarrie chose to go low-tech. And we’re not just talking about the visual effects—which have been famously documented with Cruise doing his own stunts. We’re talking about the in-story technology. With the exception of the franchise’s staple of just-in-time disguises, there’s a lack of any shiny new fancy gadgets. In their place, we have the best and most impressive device of all—the smarts and wits of our agents.
Because we’re not distracted, we can experience the unadulterated raw tenacity and drive of Ethan and his team. Their ingenuity is displayed multiple times and show how powerful they are without any weapons. They draw their firepower from their synapses. A few of the greatest scenes come from the team’s trickery which is done with the utmost flare and humor. Talk about curbing expectations. We only see it when the villains figure it out—and that’s how a spy movie should be done.
The most appreciated aspect of this film is the lack of a romantic subplot. For some reason, summer tentpoles love (no pun intended) to shoehorn this unnecessary idea into their stories. And this is what makes Mission: Impossible – Fallout so genuine. If there is any iota of romance, the story efficiently uses the previously established background of Ethan’s significant other—Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan). However, the film takes that element to embellish Ethan’s character—not as an exploration of his love-life, but showing his various sacrifices to protect the world.
More Movies: Ready Player One Blu-ray Review
Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a lean and mean film that will probably go down in history as one of the greatest spy-action-thrillers of all time. It’s got characters we love, amazing set pieces that are—most importantly—convincing due to a lack of digital effects, and a whip-smart screenplay that never loses the audience. The Mission: Impossible franchise, like its star, seems to be getting better with age—which means we’re sticking with this until Cruise is well past 80.
Leave a Reply