Mission: Impossible - Fallout

The day before, I saw an overstuffed digital coloring book, the new Avengers, and those endless fights didn't breathe any life, the only thing that sweated during them were the computer processors as they rendered the CGI. In Cruise's film, on the other hand, the contact fights oozed animalism, they were raw and you could feel every punch, it was such a relief to see that old-school action flicks are still being made. The charismatic Cavill is a stud, I can imagine him as the new James Bond, even with that fabulous mustache. And Cruise? I don't know how he does it, if eating umbilical cords to prolong his youth, or if he made a deal with the devil, Hubbard, or Ashtar Sheran, whatever, but to look like that at 56 and still perform those stunts, hats off. I'm 11 years younger and when I take my groceries to the 6th floor, by the third floor I'm already putting on an oxygen mask because I feel like I'm going to die :o) (06/08/2018)

After watching this Mission: Impossible movie, I had to go back and read my reviews of the previous instalments. I found out that it basically was what it always has been; an incredibly high-quality action thrill ride with Tom Cruise. I think he’s currently the only actor who works this hard for action movies. There’s barely any CGI in the movie. Not only do most of the scenes feel real, they also are. It’s apparent that Tom gave it all he’s got and when you watch him jump off a plane nearly 4 miles above the ground, you can see all of the hundred plus jumps he had to do for this scene to work. He’s a champ. Nobody in Hollywood even compares to him nowadays. Everybody’s hiding behind a green screen and the only extra thing they might do is go to a gym after shooting so that they can show off their muscles. As far as the actual movie goes, I got what I wanted – the best action scenes of this year, Tom in a million different ways and his gang that radiates charisma. And unfortunately maybe a little bit of confusion because of the script, but that’s always the case with Mission Impossible movies. Anyhow, it gets very decent four stars from me and I’m convinced that the name Mission Impossible means more in 2018 than people could have hoped for some 20 years ago. (02/08/2018)

A repeat of the essence of ostentatious espionage, which is once again strongest when it goes against the usual rules and boldly builds the whole story on humanity, the strength of characters, on the healing scars of seemingly indestructible experiences. Although there is naturally no shock of a never-before-seen approach, Christopher McQuarrie too cautiously walks his own beaten path and turns Fallout into more of an M:I 5.5, but the combination of additional internal tension among multiple organizations and a grand Bond-like finale fit so perfectly together that when all is said and done nothing bothers me about this approach. (13/08/2018)

I felt an orgiastic enthusiasm, spoiled by moments of bitterness that a second or third viewing might or might not mitigate. Nolan himself would have been ashamed to conceive it in such a Dark Knight fashion, because he would be accused of copying himself. In particular, Balfe merely changed a few notes of the Dark Knight scores to give the dialogue tension and lend the storyline a continuously pulsating momentum. However, most of the action mega-scenes, which are almost groundbreaking in the given genre, and the brutal physical fights are not backed with music but – as the current trend dictates – only with raw sound, which gives them realism. These modern elements of deafening musical urgency and epic yet realistic action create a combination that make us pee our collective pants in joy, but it is spoiled by an overly complicated plot with repeated unmasking and changes of identities, where we manage to understand the basic storyline but keep getting lost in the individual plot twists. At least that’s what happened to me. And probably not because I’m stupid, but because of the script and its attempts to make everything dramatic at all costs, even at places where no dramatization is necessary. For this, I give it four stars, and elevate the more moderate and elegantly beautiful Rogue Nation to five. By the way, of all of Fallout’s scenes, I liked the sentimental one with the French woman cop the best. Cruise has some really beautiful women here, prettier than in many Bond movies. (02/08/2018)

The last real movie star built a monument of adoration to himself, before which nothing can be done except to tip one’s hat. In the years when Hollywood forgot how to make blockbusters and how to shoot action movies, it was Tom Cruise who brought real amazement back to the big screen. Now that others are beginning to understand that no CGI colouring book or frantic shaky cam can replace the breathtaking dimension of physical attraction, Cruise keeps raising the bar that he set himself in the area of what someone is capable of actually doing in front of the camera for the audience’s amusement. (15/01/2019)