I Watch Films: Mission: Impossible - Fallout

 

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Despite capturing Soloman Lane and preventing his international syndicate of rogue agents known as The Syndicate from getting their hands on the money supposed to fund them (See Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) The Syndicate still exists, now reorganised under twelve agents known as The Apostles. Extremist John Lark, who wants to dismantle the current world order much in the style of Kurt Hendricks from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, hires them to steal three plutonium cores to make nuclear bombs.

Ethan Hunt and his team attempt to intercept the cores but are ambushed. Leaving the cores for a moment to rescue fellow agent Luther Stickell, Hunt loses the cores. They succeed in capturing Lark’s nuclear weapons specialist and convince him a bomb has gone off to get information out of him. The CIA chief, no longer trusting the IMF, sends her agent August Walker to join Hunt, instructing him that anyone is expendable to get the cores.

They parachute jump into a fancy party in Paris, fight John Lark in a toilet, with Ilsa Faust from Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation intervening to help, and Hunt impersonates Lark to meet with the arms dealer. She gives him one core, the other two to be delivered after they break Soloman Lane out; he’s being brought into Paris to be interrogated so there’s a chance to stop the prison convoy.

Hunt does a different plan that stops a massacre of police, prevents Lane’s assassination by Faust. (Faust is back/still undercover with the Syndicate who ordered her to protect Lark and rescue Lane, while MI6 want her to kill Lane to prevent foreign governments learning about their part in it. This is complex and ultimately futile). They take Lane to the rendezvous in London. Walker has provided evidence Hunt is really Lark, but they do a switcheroo fake out to get Walker to admit he's really Lark. Walker and Lane get away with the cores, revealing they know where Hunt’s ex-wife Julia is and Lane insisting on leaving him alive until he has revenge.

The team of Ethan, Ilsa, Benji and Luther, on the run from the CIA and cut loose as the IMF Secretary got killed in the confrontation with Walker, track Lane and Walker to Kashmir. A smallpox outbreak, caused by the Apostles, has brought in international medical teams, which provides cover for them bringing in the nuclear weapons. Detonating them here will contaminate glaciers that feed rivers and drinking water for India, Pakistan and China (the bombs are presumably very dirty). Also with the medical teams are Julia and her husband, both medical professionals, leaving us ready for a personal as well as apocalyptic final sequence.

A much more direct sequel that most of the others, bringing back concepts and characters. Good for Ilsa Faust on returning, and continuing to have her own complex relationship with her own bosses. Henry Cavell as Walker, a double agent (not an IMF one this time) is pretty good.

Watch This: Exciting action spy thriller with, perhaps, just a tiny bit of character work
Don’t Watch This: Incoherent lot of visually confusing stunts strung together with characters talking nonsense