Mission Impossible — Fallout

“Tom Cruise’s inspiring dedication to daredevilry is the backbone of the Mission Impossible series. Many jaw-dropping, eye-popping, spectacles have come off it unswervingly, unbelievably. In the age of instant gratification and waning memory, the greatest challenge is to rouse repeat value. Ethan Hunt’s nail-biting escapades and kinetic feats deliver on it instalment after instalment despite an onslaught of tentpole entertainment… 56-year-old Cruise… could put Spider-Man to shame… His marvellous stamina… is a thrilling reminder of Hollywood’s golden age of action movies before green screen and CGI sucked the joy out of devil-may-care exploits.”

Rating: 3.5 stars | Full review

“Tom Cruise… the Dorian Grey of cinema, his face practically unlined at 56, his feet pumping like pistons whenever he launches into the busiest sprint in modern film. A portrait might grow hideous in an attic somewhere, but on screen, Cruise ages only infinitesimally… He’s an analog movie star in a digital age. Audiences are fed so much CGI in their films now that the sight of someone performing real feats, making an honest effort, goes a lot further than it used to.”

Rating: stars | Full review

“Good anarchists want untrammelled freedom for all… Good men are unwaveringly committed to preserving life, sacred life to conquer chaos. This is what Tom Cruise’s character IMF agent Ethan Hunt is all about and this is what elevates Cruise’s sixth adventure actioner from standard thriller to standout.”

Rating: 5 stars | Full review

“Despite the physical prowess, we see Cruise tiring as he fights. We see him get beat up. We see his white stubble. We recognize that he is human.”

Rating: 4 stars | Full review

“Fallout settles into a loopy rhythm that sucks the audience instantly into its orbit. The narrative scampers from one thing to another without running into complications and hindrances that could undermine the visceral hold the film establishes over the viewer. But it is also a rare action film that assumes a somewhat political skew – it talks about destroying the existing world order and starting afresh. From great suffering from come peace, says the arch-villain. Greater the suffering, greater the peace. The methods he proposes to use for achieving that end entails a huge deal of violence.”

Rating: 3.5 stars | Full review

“Determinedly old-fashioned action thriller that rarely stops to take a breath for fear that the loose ends of its twisted plot will be exposed. The always-on-the-go quality ensures momentum in a storyline stuffed with double blinds and dead ends. The action is superlative, the stunts justify the incredulity built into the very title, and the knowing banter builds upon the enduring question of whether lead character Ethan Hunt is even human.”

| Full review