My Review of 'Mission Impossible: Fallout'

I'm actually not sure how the Mission Impossible franchise keeps getting me to watch their movies. Each sequel is technically not radically different from one another and I'm not totally into the espionage genre. People do love formulas and if the formula works then keep hitting me with it!

Despite the fact that they aren't radically different from one another there is enough difference to make each movie unique from one another. What I mean by that is each movie has its own flavor that makes it feel different from the last, with the exception of Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation. Those two felt somewhat similar to one another. This is probably because most of the movies in the franchise were directed by different directors.

Fallout feels like a different spy series with all the familiarity of Mission Impossible. They have all of the formulaic Mission Impossible tropes. What's changed is the simplification of the movie. There doesn't seem to be a ton of dialogue. For an espionage movie that has to explain complex stories of backstabbing and double crosses that may seems kind of far fetched. You'll be as surprised as I was with the lack of conversations throughout the movie. Flashbacks are minimalized as well. Even without these tools this movie still felt like it was a well structured movie and it worked. I was able to follow and understand what was going on.

They opted to replace large conversations with beautiful action and wide angled long shots of beautiful locations. I'm not a film buff, but I can tell that the director of this movie definitely studies films and pays homage to a lot of his predecessors.

Some of the shots in this film sometime feel like they should be in an art gallery. The beauty of the landscapes that they film was amazing. The camera was able to capture the beauty in the colors and the textures of the place. I didn't even see this movie in 4k to know how beautiful these scenes were. I will have to say if I get a 4k television the 4k blu ray of this movie will be a definite purchase.

The action and suspenseful scenes were done really well. The action was really tight and well choreographed. So well choreographed that I definitely felt some of pain that the characters had to endure. I know it's a Mission Impossible movie so all of the main characters are safe. Even knowing this, I still felt a sense of suspense throughout the movie for these characters. That's pretty darn good filmmaking.

Even though a movie's story has been simplified, it doesn't mean that the story was dumb. There is a lot that happens in this movie and it does make sense. As you'd expect from a Mission Impossible movie, there was a ton of double crosses and deceptions. I won't go into details but old Mission Impossible fans rest assured that the story is acceptable.

The old cast is still in this movie and they still work well together. In a way it almost felt like a Fast and Furious franchise movie with all the family motives. I like how they twisted one of the themes for the movie.

They discussed the issue of duty and personal relationships. How much would you do to fulfill your duty to a job (especially when your job is to save millions of lives)? Would it go so far as to risk the life of your loved ones? It's nice to have a little deeper thought in an otherwise popcorn movie.

Overall, I would say that I thoroughly enjoyed Mission Impossible: Fallout from start to finish. They did the impossible by maintaining high quality sequels for an aging franchise. I will never gravitate to this genre, but if I was to choose a franchise to watch in this genre it'll definitely be Mission Impossible. I'll have to give this movie an eight out of 10. I have to see this movie in 4k blu-ray. This movie was that beautiful.