Unlike James Bond, the Mission Impossible films seem to have that uncanny habit of consistently getting their recipe just about right. You'll doubtless have your own favourite from this long-running re-booted franchise, but it's hard to deny the quality of each and every chapter that unfolds.
And according to many, Mission Impossible: Fallout is in fact the pick of the bunch.
Not that it's in any way ground-breaking or indeed some sort of game changer. It's evidently not. But through a few well-placed tweaks to a familiar, tried and trusted story line, Mission Impossible: Fallout succeeds in being both entertaining and suspenseful enough to keep the old grey matter sufficiently engaged over the film's two-and-a-half hour duration.
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Mission Impossible:Fallout continues Hollywood's current trend of acknowledging the ageing process in our big screen heroes, depicting them as getting a little long-in-the-tooth for the extra-ordinary feats that continue to be asked of them. They are of course, by and large, human after all.
This has been very evident in the closing chapters of Daniel Craig's residency as James Bond, as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger's increasingly arthritic attempts to keep up with the machines that threaten both him and those that he attempts to protect within the Terminator franchise. Granted, Schwarzenegger's character is not exactly human, but the point still stands. Old age will eventually make us all obsolete.
Accordingly, there are one or two "Christ, not again... really?" withered looks of despair that flash across the face of our resident Mission Impossible hero, Ethan Hunt, during certain more physically demanding scenes. A small yet tell-tale sign of an action hero who is fast becoming aware that old man time is finally beginning to catch up with him.
Never is this more evident than when Ethan Hunt is paired up with a Government-appointed somewhat younger sidekick, August Walker (Henry Cavill), who, resplendent with 1980's moustache could ably be passed off as being Freddie Mercury's man-mountain Cyborg love child, were he to have had one.
I'd imagine.
The threat of terrorism-induced nuclear armageddon provides sufficient motivation for Cruise and his merry band of foe-foilers to dig deep, pull out all of the stops and once again achieve the truly extraordinary under nigh on impossible circumstances.
Some things never change.
Simon Pegg, whilst adopting his usual role of light-relief-bringer in otherwise super-intense circumstances, is however noticeably less jester-like during this particular outing. Ving Rhames once again portrays the dependably tech-savvy Luther. Rebecca Ferguson is all seductive glamour, beauty and know-how as agent Isla Faust, whilst Sean Harris is probably more weaselly than sinister portraying ideologue and all-round enemy of the state, Solomon Lane.
But in a larger-than-life tale of espionage and counter espionage, it's once again our vertically-challenged shiny-toothed hero that steals the show.
As he always does.
Say what you will about Tom Cruise the high-ranking Scientologist and fully paid-up member of the Hollywood aristocracy. This is a man seemingly impervious to any and all attempts by media hacks to publicly assassinate his character by repeatedly calling into question his most private of private lives. But one thing remains undeniable:
He's simply superb at playing these kinds of roles, in fact I'd go so far as to say that Tom Cruise is very possibly the finest exponent of our time of playing the Action Hero.
The cracks may well be just starting to appear, but whilst there's still life in Tom Cruise, there's still life in Ethan Hunt, and that can only be good news for the innumerable fans of this most unfailing of film franchises.
This and hundreds of other films are reviewed on my WaywardWolfBlog
And according to many, Mission Impossible: Fallout is in fact the pick of the bunch.
Not that it's in any way ground-breaking or indeed some sort of game changer. It's evidently not. But through a few well-placed tweaks to a familiar, tried and trusted story line, Mission Impossible: Fallout succeeds in being both entertaining and suspenseful enough to keep the old grey matter sufficiently engaged over the film's two-and-a-half hour duration.
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Mission Impossible:Fallout continues Hollywood's current trend of acknowledging the ageing process in our big screen heroes, depicting them as getting a little long-in-the-tooth for the extra-ordinary feats that continue to be asked of them. They are of course, by and large, human after all.
This has been very evident in the closing chapters of Daniel Craig's residency as James Bond, as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger's increasingly arthritic attempts to keep up with the machines that threaten both him and those that he attempts to protect within the Terminator franchise. Granted, Schwarzenegger's character is not exactly human, but the point still stands. Old age will eventually make us all obsolete.
Accordingly, there are one or two "Christ, not again... really?" withered looks of despair that flash across the face of our resident Mission Impossible hero, Ethan Hunt, during certain more physically demanding scenes. A small yet tell-tale sign of an action hero who is fast becoming aware that old man time is finally beginning to catch up with him.
Never is this more evident than when Ethan Hunt is paired up with a Government-appointed somewhat younger sidekick, August Walker (Henry Cavill), who, resplendent with 1980's moustache could ably be passed off as being Freddie Mercury's man-mountain Cyborg love child, were he to have had one.
I'd imagine.
The threat of terrorism-induced nuclear armageddon provides sufficient motivation for Cruise and his merry band of foe-foilers to dig deep, pull out all of the stops and once again achieve the truly extraordinary under nigh on impossible circumstances.
Some things never change.
Simon Pegg, whilst adopting his usual role of light-relief-bringer in otherwise super-intense circumstances, is however noticeably less jester-like during this particular outing. Ving Rhames once again portrays the dependably tech-savvy Luther. Rebecca Ferguson is all seductive glamour, beauty and know-how as agent Isla Faust, whilst Sean Harris is probably more weaselly than sinister portraying ideologue and all-round enemy of the state, Solomon Lane.
But in a larger-than-life tale of espionage and counter espionage, it's once again our vertically-challenged shiny-toothed hero that steals the show.
As he always does.
Say what you will about Tom Cruise the high-ranking Scientologist and fully paid-up member of the Hollywood aristocracy. This is a man seemingly impervious to any and all attempts by media hacks to publicly assassinate his character by repeatedly calling into question his most private of private lives. But one thing remains undeniable:
He's simply superb at playing these kinds of roles, in fact I'd go so far as to say that Tom Cruise is very possibly the finest exponent of our time of playing the Action Hero.
The cracks may well be just starting to appear, but whilst there's still life in Tom Cruise, there's still life in Ethan Hunt, and that can only be good news for the innumerable fans of this most unfailing of film franchises.
This and hundreds of other films are reviewed on my WaywardWolfBlog