MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT (2018) ***

I know I’m a little late to the party with Mission:  Impossible:  Fallout, but sometimes life gets in the way.  Luckily, I was able to finally check it out on a lazy Sunday.  I had high hopes since I dug writer/director Christopher McQuarrie’s last effort in the series, Rogue Nation.  Maybe my expectations were a tad lofty, especially with so many people touting this one as one of the best in the series.  While it lacks the crackerjack precision of Jack Reacher or the flat-out fun of Rogue Nation, it remains a solid Tom Cruise adventure.  There were plenty of stunts and thrills to make for a suitably entertaining late-summer afternoon.  I can’t say it’s a high-octane action flick, but there’s certainly a sufficient amount of octane to go around. 

The plot is another one of those “recover stolen plutonium to prevent terrorists from threatening the world” deals.  The overly familiar plot coupled with McQuarrie’s decision to downplay some of the danger kind of adds to the overall feeling of déjà vu.  (There’s a moment where Cruise rides his motorcycle against traffic during a chase scene that arrives with very little fanfare; almost as if it’s just another day at the office for him.)  Even the much-talked about Halo jump scene falls (no pun intended) a little flat.

Having said that, McQuarrie does deliver a handful of crisply filmed and edited action scenes.  There’s a driving scene that’s similar to Jack Reacher, a great show-stopping bathroom brawl, and the helicopter chase that caps off the movie is a lot of fun.  Fallout also features what is arguably the best Running Tom Cruise scenes of all time, so it has that going for it.

It was in this scene in which Cruise famously broke his ankle while jumping from building to building.  I for one have enjoyed seeing his transformation from pretty boy movie star to the heir apparent to Jackie Chan, risking bodily harm by doing his own stunts in an effort to entertain audiences worldwide.  On the acting side of things, he’s as dependable as ever.  Cruise once again delivers an engaging performance and has a good rapport with new team member Henry Cavill (who after this film and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. has the market cornered on big screen revivals of ‘60s small screen spy shows).

One spoilery type thing to note:  It seems that the more Michelle Monaghan is in a Mission:  Impossible movie, the less I like it.  That’s not a knock on her performance at all, as she’s as fine here as she’s always been.  It’s just that the series has never really figured out what to do with her, aside from being a target for Cruise’s enemies.

While the film lacks the kinetic energy of the first film and the bonkers mentality of the second, it is nevertheless a worthy entry in the series.  Even if McQuarrie fails to top himself from the previous entry, I admire the way he relishes tossing in more perils for Cruise to juggle as the film goes along.  This marked the first time in the franchise in which a filmmaker directed more than one entry.  Maybe that accounts for some of the been-there-done-that feeling.  If the box office is any indication, Cruise will be back doing his impossible missionary work sooner than later.  Maybe next time though, they can bring in a new director to put a fresh spin on the series.