Ethan Hunt is no stranger to impossible missions, should he choose to accept them. He escaped an exploding Kremlin, he held on for dear life to an ascending Airbus A400M Atlas, and he jumped out of a plane at high altitude low opening (professionally known as a HALO jump) over Paris. At every turn, he is restrained or obstructed by bureaucrats, or traitors, or the main villains’ evil plots. Not only does he constantly defy death, but he stops at nothing to find a way to save the world. He is a very resourceful spy, and he operates at his best when severely disadvantaged. Mission Impossible – Fallout was the most dangerous mission of all, for several reasons.
Mission Impossible – Fallout is the sixth entry in the mega Tom Cruise franchise and the most successful to date, earning just shy of $800 million at the box office. Fallout also has the highest critic rating of any of the movies with an aggregate Rotten Tomato score of 97%. Considering the rumors for the next two movies, Fallout might mark the end of the middle trilogy of the franchise. The first three Mission Impossibles were traditional spy flicks, quaint and centered around regular secret operations like uncovering a mole or stopping a supervillain. The third, released in 2006, brought the danger close to home by directly threatening Ethan Hunt’s wife Julia, played by Michelle Monaghan. Her rescue and their honeymoon acted as a nice conclusion to the story, an optimistic send-off for Ethan Hunt.
But oh no, there is no way Tom Cruise could hold that cat in the bag. Five years later initiated the middle trio of Mission Impossible with Ghost Protocol (2011), then Rogue Nation (2015) and finally Fallout (2018). These three distinguished the franchise with high concept stunt sequences, linked together recurring villains, and held the continuing theme of a vulnerable but capable IMF. Each one has the IMF suspected of something, or disavowed by the government, or left completely unarmed. Yet, in each one, the IMF, led by Ethan Hunt, goes all out to stop the bad guy, and save the world.
Fallout beings with a dream sequence where Ethan and Julia are getting married near a lake in front of a mountain. The dream turns into a nightmare when the priest is revealed to be none other than Ethan’s most recent nemesis, Solomon Lane. In true Mission Impossible bad guy fashion, Lane drops a nuclear bomb on the wedding and erases both Ethan and his new bride. This intro perfectly establishes the threat of the movie by setting up Ethan’s greatest fear. Like the previous films, he is concerned for the safety of his wife, who is now deliberately estranged from him in witness protection. A sad consequence of his occupation.
Like the major fault in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Solomon Lane is an inversion of Ethan Hunt. He was once Mi6 but turned rogue to lead the bad guy spy team known as the Syndicate. Hunt smashed the Syndicate in Rogue Nation and foiled Lane’s plan to drop a missile on San Francisco. At the end of Fallout, Solomon Lane installs two nuclear bombs in a medical camp in Kashmir. Ethan’s greatest fear is fully realized as not only is Julia working at the target camp, but the origin of the disease to which she is treating was initially unleashed by Solomon Lane. The whole project is an elaborate ploy for Lane to take revenge on Ethan Hunt. With time swiftly running out, Ethan must stop the nuclear bombs from destroying his wife, his friends, and destabilizing three major nations.
Before Ethan can defuse the nuclear bombs, he is opposed by his most imposing enemy to date – Superman himself! Of course, Henry Cavill is playing a CIA agent named August Walker and not Superman. The visualization, however, is not wasted, as Cavill was stuck filming reshoots for Justice League and was in peak Man of Steel body. His contract with Fallout caused the great Mustache-gate for the DCEU. Hunt and Walker have a helicopter duel weaving through the mountains (filmed in glorious Norway), and then fist-fight it out on a cliff. If the bathroom fight scene from earlier in the movie is any indication of Walker’s strength, Ethan Hunt was far outclassed.
While previous installments of Mission Impossible feature great action, fast car chases, and intriguing characters, none of them threaten Ethan Hunt the way Fallout did. Solomon Lane really had it in for Ethan and used everything in his arsenal to ruin him. Not just end his life, that would be too easy, but no, he had to try and drop a nuclear bomb on his wife.
Mission Impossible fans are eagerly awaiting good news with regards to Mi 7 and 8. Tom Cruise’s other major release, Top Gun: Maverick, has been delayed to this summer, one year after it was originally scheduled to hit theaters. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing all sorts of havoc for Mi 7 filming, including production delays and rising tempers. In the meantime, Mission Impossible: Fallout is well worth another rewatch to bide the time.
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