Anarchist Solomon Lane is behind bars, and his followers are scattered and on the run. So you’d think that Impossible Missions Force operative Ethan Hunt might be due a small vacation for his role in those successes.
But that’s not the kind of guy Ethan Hunt is.
Ethan is always ready, always wary, always worried about what threat might next rear its ugly head. His mind is always filled with possibilities, his dreams plagued by ominous warnings and apocalyptic images.
Turns out his restless tossing and turning is for good reason.
The remnants of Lane’s syndicate have started calling themselves The Apostles. They’ve joined forces with someone issuing deadly manifestos, a mysterious killer named John Lark. A nuclear weapons expert and three Russian plutonium cores have gone missing. The authorities believe that the cores could be weaponized within 72 hours.
And no one knows the whereabouts of any of the above pieces or players.
It’s time for Ethan and his team to leap into action once again, right? But it’s not quite that easy this go round. You see, the CIA is none too happy with some mistakes Ethan and his team made in the recent past. So the Agency has gotten official approval to place an agent of its own on Ethan’s team.
“You use a scalpel,” CIA director Erica Sloan says of the IMF’s methods. “I prefer a hammer.” And that’s exactly what agent August Walker is: a human sledgehammer with the go-ahead to come crashing down on anything or anyone that gets between him and those nuclear cores.
Oh, and then there’s madman Solomon Lane again. Did I mention that facilitating his escape needs to be part of the plan? There’s also a dangerous MI6 agent with her own agenda floating around out there, too. And if all that isn’t enough drama, Ethan’s beloved ex-wife, Julia, is in someone’s crosshairs as well.
Sounds like this mission might not only be impossible, but maybe a train wreck, too. And Ethan thought he was having a hard time sleeping before all this.
For all of the death and destruction on hand here—and there’s plenty of both—the film makes it clear that human life is something to value. Ethan repeatedly goes the extra mile to save the lives of individuals—including people he doesn’t really care for—even though the easier path would be to walk away without worrying about such collateral causalities. In fact, Ethan’s fellow IMF agent, Luther, gets pretty emotional about the sacrificial choices Ethan made that saved his life. And he’s not the only character to recognize Ethan’s selflessness.
Ethan apologizes to his ex, Julia, for all the pain he says he’s caused her. But she balks at that idea. She says that those difficult, painful parts of her life have shaped her into the woman she is today. She also says those experiences have given her opportunities to serve others and do what she enjoys most.
A TV news report mentions that three religious sites—Jerusalem, Mecca and Rome—have been bombed by terrorists.
Ethan and Walker drag an unconscious villain into a public bathroom stall to scan his face. Several men outside the stall think they’re actually having sex. They knock on the stall door, asking to join in.
A seductive operative dubbed the White Widow kisses Ethan.
Good guys and bad blaze away at each other with pistols and automatic weapons in several scenes. Some people are hit by bullets and sent bloodlessly tumbling to the ground.
The bloodiest moments in the film, however, take place during well-choreographed and up-close fight scenes. One of those melees, which takes place in a stylish public restroom, features several combatants being pummeled and smashed through walls and mirrors. They’re scraped up in brutal ways before someone gets shot in the face. We don’t see that bullet’s impact, but the white tiled floor is splashed with a large pool of blood and gore. Elsewhere, a female MI6 agent leaps into a fight with a villain who punches her repeatedly in the face. She eventually stabs him in the leg with a broken bottle and chokes him with a rope. Ethan battles another baddie in something of a helicopter demolition derby that leaves both men badly battered and bleeding.
Someone is caught in the face by a large metal hook that drags him to his death. Men are shot and thrown out of a helicopter. A policewoman is shot in the leg by four threatening thugs, and Ethan has to kill them all to save her life. One character kicks another full in the face. Lightning strikes two men, knocking both of them out. Men are stabbed repeatedly in the chest with a small knife. A huge car chase crumples up vehicles and sends people flying pell-mell off motorcycles. Policemen are shot. A woman gets hit by a car and left in a crumpled pile on the street. A man hangs by his neck, struggling and gasping for breath.
The threatened nuclear explosion is said to exceed the power of both atomic bombs dropped during WWII. It is cruelly designed to not only kill thousands through its initial detonation, but to contaminate the water supply of one third of the world’s population afterward. We see an atomic detonation in Ethan’s dream, as well as the obliterating impact it has on several people standing in the explosion’s wake. We also see images of burning rubble on a television screen.
Several people get injected with a tranquilizer drug. We’re told that a virulent dosage of a smallpox virus has been purposely released into the populace of a small village.
One f-word and half a dozen or so s-words join one or two uses each of “d–n,” “a–,” “b–ch” and “h—.” We also hear two or three misuses each of Jesus’ and God’s names.
We see people with mixed drinks at a club.
In the spy game, it’s hard to keep track of good guys and bad ‘uns, especially as people are double-crossed repeatedly.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout is, quite frankly, the epitome of today’s spy-guy actioner. It clips along at a pace that’s just shy of a heart attack and neatly tucks in all the exciting bits that most people expect from a top-shelf, bullet-whizzing franchise like this one.
An emotionally tortured hero? You bet. This pic showcases Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt as he heroically tries to save every life he can, while worrying that—when it comes to those he loves most—he might just fall short.
Chin-rubbing intrigue? That’s there, too. Screenwriter/director Christopher McQuarrie packs this sixth Mission: Impossible entry with so many subplots, covert government agencies, chain-linked atomic bombs and double-crossing characters that you’ll feel like a mental juggler who needs a few extra hands to track it all as you watch.
Clock-ticking, go-for-broke action? This film delivers, featuring massive gun battles, fevered car chases in the streets of Paris and somersaults off tall buildings—to name but a few of the frenetic scenes here. Why, there’s even a helicopter smash-’em-up in the snowcapped mountains of Kashmir. So strap in and hold on, Bucky: This breakneck cinematic blender is set to “liquefy,” the top is off, and you’re the main ingredient.
Now, should you choose to accept all that for a night at the flickers, well, you’re in for a thrilling ride. But be prepared for the requisite secret-agent stuff that’s part of the ticket.
Spy guys and gals and their roguish adversaries are not gentle types. That means a whole lot of painful-looking mashing, bashing and bone breaking; some nasty expletives; and some incredibly intense and sometimes goopy death dealing come spinning at you like a knife thrown from a darkened alley.
The fact is, Ethan Hunt is able to breathe a sigh and forget the nastiness of yesterday when his work is done. But your youngsters may not be so relaxed about this flick and all of its spy-world, uh, fallout.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
