#you would think that the halo jump or helicopter scene from fallout or the motorcycle mountain jump in dead reckoning would make the list.

[lakecoded]

as a respected scholar on the subject what’s your top five mission impossible action setpieces 🤩

omg thank youuuuu for this. i love thinking about the action setpieces in the mission impossible movies 🥰 spoilers for the mission impossible movies below lol

it's simple compared to the other setpieces but i LOVE the prison breakout scene in ghost protocol. it has a fun dean martin song scoring it, there's a very fun ethan and benji interaction, ethan is at his most insane, the choreography is well shot. it's just a great opener for a movie!!

ROME FIAT 500 HANDCUFFED CAR CHASE YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS ‼️this is actually like 3 different car chases in one and has pom klementieff try to run them over in her massive armored truck and is the reason i want to see dead reckoning a third time in theatres <3 incredible slapstick premise taken seriously but still SO fun

another simple one but i love the footchase through london in fallout. its very fun seeing tom cruise sprinting as fast as he can on the roofs of london and cutting to henry cavill walking very calmly. the music does a lot for this scene. and i love tom cruise yelling that he's jumping out of a window in front of very confused office workers. also shockingly the setpiece that actually injured tom cruise (he broke his ankle jumping between 2 buildings)

another one from fallout and i think this is technically 2 different action setpieces but they blend together so well that i'm counting them as one. and it's the plot to break lane out of police custody + the motorcycle escape through paris. the planning scene for this is ALSO so good (again the music adds SO much to it) like i just love seeing a plan come together and then immediately fall apart. tom cruise driving against traffic at the arc de triomphe is so thrilling and the part where he crashes surprises me every single time. chef's kiss

tom cruise esai morales knife fight on top of a moving train + bridge explosion + hayley atwell and tom cruise running through vertical train cars before they collapse into the river. i don't know how to explain it any better. it absolutely rules

honorable mentions to the bathroom fight in fallout and the entire airport sequence in dead reckoning (i LOSE it every time shea wigham is like "where the fuck is HE" as you see tom cruise absolutely booking it behind him) and tom cruise hanging off the side of an airplane as it takes off in rogue nation and the OPERA SCENE and like every scene with phillip seymour hoffman in mi3 (not really action setpieces but he is SO GOOD in all of his scenes that it should count and the hospital escape in ghost protocol and and and

[callmearcturus]

Okay here are the Mission Impossible grades now that I've seen them all

Mission Impossible 1: A-Tier

STILL LODGED IN MY FUCKING BRAIN. I did not go into this one expecting it to be that good. I only shouted at DePalma once I think and mostly I was staring in fascinated horror at the sexually-charged manipulative thriller unfolding. I am obsessed with the dynamic between Ethan, Phelps, and Claire, there is some SHIT going on there, the queer reading of this movie is off the charts. Would rewatch any day.

Mission Impossible 2 Silent Movie Recut: C-Tier

This is a bad fucking movie but Punct and I were screaming for 90% of the film, it was so fucking fun and stupid. Granted, I don't think we would have survived if we weren't watching the recut, BUT nothing will ever be funnier than Ethan doing a backflip and then mid-air changing to a down-kick. I was so shocked at the AUDACITY and the STUPIDITY I immediately rewound the scene to watch it again. Amazing. Totally batshit. Ethan why are you kicking everything you are a punchman.

Mission Impossible 3: Trash Tier

This movie was a nightmare. I feel actively bad for Cruise and Monaghan bringing their A game to a shit-tier script. This movie has MULTIPLE PROBLEMS. There were multiple sequences that were so poorly shot that I couldn't follow what the fuck was happening. The constant unnecessary cuts and the rapid tempo gave me a headache. JJA is incapable of letting a shot breathe at all, like if he doesn't cut every three to five seconds his head will explode. Also this script was ATROCIOUS. Fucking WHAT. There is no introducton to the team, making them feel completely tertiary. That line about sleeping with your sister catapulted me out of the movie like an ejection from a jet plane. The entire anti-god speech was peak 'take the keyboard away from JJA.' And WHAT was with the random bondage mask scene??? Was JJA like "sorry i have no idea how to keep the plot moving unless Ethan literally can't speak in this scene so here's the IMF-issued Unsexy Bondage Mask."

Also this Jack Bauerification of Ethan Hunt pisses me off. Ethan Hunt should not use assault rifles, that's not who he is, JJA meet me in the pit.

Ghost Protocol: A-Tier

Stupid and delightful and finally some good fucking food. The first of the McQuarrie Trilogy. After enduring MI3 I want to kiss McQuarrie on the fucking mouth for writing this. You actually get to know the team! There is time spent establishing each of their dynamics with Ethan! Finally Ethan is doing sneaky shit instead of just shooty shit! The Burj! The comedy! This is a 2 hour episode of Leverage and I fucking love it. Thank you, zero notes.

Rogue Nation: S-Tier

Oh babygirl here we fucking go. Not only McQuarrie on script (with help from good writers) but he's in the director chair, welcome to the party, hardy. I L O V E this movie. It has supplanted GP as my comfort watch of the series. Ilsa Faust is an excellent addition to the team with a lot of edge to her and the way she drives the plot thrills me chills me and fulfills me. And while she's kind of the love interest that is not even remotely the plot of the story, the story is crunchy with Solomon Lane serving such fuckin good vibes. He has actual motivation beyond "hello i am the baddie" he has thoughts and motivations and he also is STAGGERINGLY PETTY. Also I cannot tell what's my favorite bit of this one, the part where Ethan is fucking OUT OF IT after he gets resuscitated or when Ethan goes off the deep end.

This movie really said "Benji Dunn is 90% of Ethan's impulse control" and it was RIGHT! Thank you McQuarrie, I love you.

Fallout: S-Tier

I'm fucking unhinged about this movie. The batshit motorcycle chase in Paris, the HALO jump, the helicopter hijacking. Ethan's continued moral decay as his ethical compass begins to realign, and the way it fucks him over. Solomon fucking Lane back to haunt the shit out of everyone. That FUCKING bathroom brawl jesus fuck. Everyone is on their goddamn A game, they are giving everything. Watching the final act is like a prolonged heart attack. Also the cinematography and lighting is jawdroppingly gorgeous. Also Julia is AMAZING. HER SCENE WITH LUTHER MAKES ME EMOTIONAL.

Not only do I have no notes, I want McQuarrie to give me notes. Goddamn. Ethan Hunt is babygirl and his tired eyes give me feelings.

There it is, my lukewarm takes.

[lampoest]

by request from @yeessha

Mission Impossible Fallout Thoughts

Like before: cursing and spoilers !!

short logos nice !!

oop starts with lane talking, always a win 😼😼

why does lane have a beard in this dream?

ooh dramatic nice !!

probably one of my favorite openings

this is badass

hhh its my favorite anarchist:)))

ooh cool name

ofc it's about nuclear warfare why not ??

nervous benji = win

sjshsjsgs

that man reminds me of elon musk :\

cant tell if that was tryna be a pg way to say 'fuck off'

where dat money luther ✋🙄🙄

what was that scream !?!

*throws plutonium*

cool car

ooh the shadows on that guys face

man this scene is really good

BENJI STAY WITH THE FUCKING PLUTONIUM WHAT-

well shit-

oh hey that news guy

pulling a sneaky on him

i also love this scene sm

literally everything about the nils delbruuk scene

:0 so cool

benji got to wear a mask >:))))

sjshsjsgsjs they made a bet on it i love that

ethan is very cool

HELL YEAH THEME SONG !!

i can never take hunley seriously

ooh she pretty :))

this movie has great lines

i also love how it goes in depth about moral choices

WALKER YESS :)))))))))) HE SO PRETTY😳😳

also she pretty too :))))

i just realized why former presidents still are protected

i like how they curse more

bro why is walker so :)))))))

btw this is just gonna be me simping literally everyone

the height difference

HALO JUMP HALO JUMP HALO JUMP

ugh fuck off walker you may be pretty but replying with 'crystal' naw fam✋😬😬

yes because we can die

oop they be falling

i dont think that would work but ok if you say so

not even worth it

i couldnt tell what they were saying until i put on captions

although i dont need any captions to understand the french 😼😼

the faint beat in the background v cool

reflexes

breaking things

chekhovs gun

shdhgdhshdjdhdjs why-

dis why you use the needle

damn he beating the shit out of them

ooh its ilsa

ethan why-

ooh she pretty too 😳😳

alright uh badass female is great

that man reminds me of a toddler

strong accusation coming from a terrorist

shsjdgsjs he wearing arm pads like the toddler whos mom is overprotective

WALKER TOO PRETTY:)))))

oop change of plans

LANE LANE LANE LANE

YES MY MAN :))))))))))

motorcycle chase pog

BENJI IN SUSPENDERS BENJI IN SUSPENDERS !!!

well shit-

eyy he killed some dudes

again walker, no one cares

oh dang she has to be careful, her aim is not the best

R U N

vrrm vrrrm

LOVE THIS SCENE YES

you can tell ethan is trying so hard not to punch lane rn

dang lane really flipped the interrogation hats off man

also i lowkey agree with his message. not his method though-

oop pretty ladies

also ethan killed 4 of your men maam

telepathy

SKDHJSJSJSHS YES THIS SCENE LANE SO PRETTY :)))))))))

i love how lane is just standing there vibing while they talk to hunley

benji dont worry youre great

wait i just noticed that benji's outfit is so cool-

skdgdjshs

walker is cool tbh

ILSA !??

this seems awfully familiar

im working on it

its a trap !!!

benjis wtf face there

oop tea ????

im paying attention to outfits so i can recreate their styles

oop i love how it focuses on walker there

true true

sticking up for your friend

no hes just here because they needed more pretty men

waiting for a diversion

in because HE IS LARK MY GOD ETHAN

ALSO THE LITTLE HEAD NOD I CANT-

stole han solos line there

matching jackets😼😼

how did they swap them ??

and how did lane go along ??

chekhovs......knife ??

wow he really fell for it

also more cursing pog

my two favorite characters together :)))))

CHGJFGSJ I CHOKED ON MY WATER KESUS CRISP

....oop i done fucked up

hunley being all cool and shit

benji being all cool and shit

lanes look of dissapointment is 🤌🤌

like damn bro you fell for that !??

lark

he really tryna lie out of it

ooh her-

whyd he say that-

oop betrayal

i love how benji is the first to drop his weapon

so cool

yeah wait where the hell is lane ??

rip hunley

whyd they treat his death like the death of a lover or smth

first wedding crashers, then funeral crashers, what next ?? birth crashers ??

the most tom cruisey sequence ive ever seen. some comedy some crazy stunts and a broken ankle but still finishing the take

chair theft pog

also i love how not just in this scene but before you see helicopters flying around

hes just hanging onto the elevator and the look walker gives him is top notch

ooh blackmail

this feels like the glass box scene. his foes are getting away and there is nothing he can do

its mission impossible for a reason

tea time with luther

ilsa is a good friend

benji is the mvp here

dang im just realizing how pretty ethan is 😳😳

keep your eyes on the road

luther is great, this is all just a luther appreciation post

they-

they-

they all just copied walker's beard

oh no its julia

ah yes one of the bombs

i like how it actually does take about 15 minutes

uhh no❤️ tom cruise why must you feel the need to do this

LANE :)))))

again why does he feel the need-

walker :)))))))

julia is pretty cool

hes just like: what the fuck how- why-

airspeed ah yes the most important part of not dying

this is a julia appreciation post

what was your plan after that? the detonator would just be at the bottom of that lake

the expressions walker makes :))))

hehe bitch

well shit he has a gun

his hair !!!!!

some star wars level action here

bro benji listen to ilsa

sjsgsjgsjsvsjs this shouldn't be so funny

bro ilsa listen to benji

benji stop wasting time

probably last time but, lane !!!!!

found the other bomb

very true statements from walker

other ? bomb ??

no personal space

ooh uhm lane maybe please dont-

the way he just pops his head into frame like: what the fuck was that ?

no sir you didn't survive that. that is false

i love how she clearly has the same fighting style as before

no benji no smooth brain move

mr lane do your shoes need shining ?!?

dey see me rollin-

ofc he gets burnt why the fuck not

uuuhm what✋😀😀 when the hot oil started spraying i felt a drop of what felt like hot oil on my finger. i am in my room and there isnt even water in here. im scared

also how tf is that holding his weight

chekhovs hook

team work makes the dream work

dang keep believing lane keep thinking that ✋🙄🙄

hes still pretty

so close oh no

why do things just magically stop at the edge of cliffs

kesus crisp ethan not again

i love his shoes though -

what if the hook missed though ??

esploded

thats a no from me dawg

his meniachal little smile shdgsjsgsj

its an action film he'll have it

aww lane so sad :((( oh yeah and 1/3 of the world is saved too. good job ig.

THEY PUT MY MAN IN A TRUNK NOOO >:000000

i like how they end as friends not as romantic interests. v nice

i love how this movie highlights the importance of friends but not in a childish way. even as adults friends are important. they are there for you when no one else did. i like that message.

alright thats pretty much it. sorry that its just me simping pretty much. in conclusion this is my favorite movie 14/10 but i can't wait for the 7th movie.

[baked-potatoes]

Review - Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018)

January 4, 2019

*spoilers included*

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson

Distributing Studio(s): Paramount Pictures (USA)

Runtime: 148 minutes

Rating: PG-13

US Release Date: July 27, 2018

Synopsis: Ethan Hunt and the IMF team join forces with CIA assassin August Walker to prevent a disaster of epic proportions. Arms dealer John Lark and a group of terrorists known as the Apostles plan to use three plutonium cores for a simultaneous nuclear attack on the Vatican, Jerusalem and Mecca, Saudi Arabia. When the weapons go missing, Ethan and his crew find themselves in a desperate race against time to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

I feel like last summer had an amazing and well-received queue of film releases (that was a weird sentence), and this seventh Mission Impossible installment does pretty well. Action movies usually are what they claim-- action porn-- but McQuarrie gives us a more unconventional take on the genre. Characters are believably flawed (Hunt makes a great deal of mistakes throughout the movie), and motivations are cloudy, as one might expect in the world of espionage and terrorism.

As a side note, the Golden Globes are this Sunday at 8PM EST/5PM PST, so I’ll be reviewing the Best Picture (Drama AND Comedy/Musical) winners after then! Which movie do you think will win? I’m excited to see who wins the Best Actor and Actress categories, since the race this year is intense.

Acting

What a great ride and medley of (mostly) rounded and realistic characters. Tom Cruise plays Hunt to a T in this film, spilling his heart on his sleeve and giving Ethan Hunt a fresh vulnerability. And Hunt is all too realistic, making mistakes and swearing profusely, just as any person would in his messy situation in this film. I think I saw him cry when he mourned Alec Baldwin’s Alan Hunley’s death, and it was the sort of ugly crying that shows off a well-developed acting ability and depth. Hunt’s character is massively rounded in this film, and coupled with cast chemistry and impressive stunt work, it works out really well.

Speaking of Hunley’s death, we get to see Henry Cavill as the main antagonist-- the man revealed to be the mysterious John Lark. It’s a complete far cry from Clark Kent as he plays the duplicitous CIA assassin August Walker (such a cool name), complete with a porno mustache and angry bicep reloading. Cavill captures this character’s essence extraordinarily well as a bitter, somewhat-insane man who complements Ethan Hunt-- for better or for worse. From the co-op bathroom (smartly-edited) fight against Liang Yang’s character to the final standoff on a collapsing cliff, Cavill’s turn as Walker shines in every mannerism and action.

Rebecca Ferguson comes back as MI6 agent Ilsa Faust from MI: Rogue Nation and plays her conflicted character to a similar T; a scene between her and Hunt in a wooded canopy park is one of the quietest yet vulnerable moments in the film. Perhaps the character arc is a bit exhausted after two films, but her character nicely fits into the IMF as it does in Rogue Nation. Like I mentioned, I didn’t really see how her character would develop over the course of this film, but I can see a real humanity within her as she tearfully reunites with Hunt and learns of the existence of his ex-wife, Julia: a compassionate and capable (if slightly boring) returning character who parallels Ilsa’s life and choices, played by Michelle Monaghan.

Other stand out performances include that of Sean Harris, who reprises as Solomon Lane. I have mixed feelings about his character because it just looks like his role in Rogue Nation but pushed to a side antagonist role. Harris plays it beautifully though, and it really looks like the deranged terrorist I remember from Rogue Nation.

Some other standout roles: Angela Bassett as CIA director Erika Sloane is powerful, capable, and as nice as you’d expect from a CIA director (meaning, not very). Her character is shrewd and cynical throughout the entire film and radiates careful danger. The ending speech to Hunt about saving one person over millions seems a bit clichéd, but it’s a well-played concession to Hunt’s humanity. Alec Baldwin does quite well as a final arc for CIA-turned-IMF secretary Alan Hunley, and his death genuinely moves Hunt enough to chase Walker around the city. Overall, his character and Simon Pegg’s Benji Dunn are played for laughs (I laughed at some of the running gags throughout the franchise, such as Benji messing up gloriously as a sidekick), but they and the rest of the IMF deliver brilliantly in the near-hopeless finale, when the nuclear bombs seem slated to go off and render their efforts meaningless. Ving Rhames is, of course, stalwart, and it’s just a well-rounded, chemistry-filled cast of characters that I’m excited to see in the next MI.

Directing, Screenplay, Cinematography, Soundtrack

Christopher McQuarrie comes back from Rogue Nation to direct but aimed to create a different tone than the fifth film (as all of them do), and it pays off really well. Fallout mixes thrilling action, sympathetic arcs, and well-crafted plot twists to deliver a unique film for the IMF. His choice to do a long take for the HALO jump keeps the pace of that scene suspenseful and exciting, and that bathroom fight is smartly filmed without shaky cam or fast jump cuts, showing us how Hunt is a scalpel while Walker is a hammer (as noted by Sloane) in their fighting styles. And the two characters were beaten by Liang Yang’s John Lark decoy, showing us a great motif McQuarrie wants to show us in his script and direction: that these seemingly perfect people make mistakes. Hunt’s mistakes are continually mocked by other characters and often lead to genuinely terrifying consequences (although I laughed when Hunt tries to drop a helicopter payload onto Walker’s helicopter and fails, swearing). And even as Tom Cruise does these mind-bendingly amazing stunts, McQuarrie brings him a real vulnerability and does so for the entire cast. Well, Walker didn’t really have too many redeeming qualities (and his villain reveal seemed kind of clumsy in his dialogue), but I found him incredibly complex either way. He’s painted as a villain and assassin, but he’s loyal and ruthless for the CIA, which is really exciting to see. It’s not often that you see a unflinching and brave villain because those are qualities you’d expect in the hero, not the villain. The rest of the characters make mistakes too, as Benji fumbles with his navigation tablet and Ilsa misses shots from her motorcycle.

McQuarrie also made the decision to bring Lorne Balfe as the composer for this film’s soundtrack, and I have to say, bravo. Balfe’s soundtrack complements McQuarrie’s sympathetic and vulnerable script with a suspenseful yet moving score. There are elements of Lalo Schifrin's Mission Impossible theme mixed in with a softer, quieter tone overall. Some critics complained about the “Nolan-esque” style, saying it sounded too much like Hans Zimmer, but I disagree. It has its own style that fits in with McQuarrie’s direction and complements well with many beautifully shot scenes (side-scrolling London sprinting, anyone?), and honestly, I’d be thrilled if I were compared to Hans Zimmer.

Speaking of the cinematography, I enjoyed it a lot. Most of the film is shot in 35mm film (the ubiquitous film format). Cinematographer Rob Hardy collaborated with McQuarrie to create a closeup, gritty visual style, and it creates a strangely intimate yet pulse-pounding effect. Going back to that bathroom fight, Hardy used fluorescent lighting to contrast against the Palais party’s rave lighting and the brutality of the close-up and well-edited brawl. That infamous HALO jump is shot in digital IMAX over Abu Dhabi (recreated in post-production into Paris) and apparently could only be shot as one take per day (shortly after sunset).

Summary and Rating

Mission Impossible: Fallout brings an excellent take on the franchise as it delves into a combination of thrilling action and complex emotions.

9/10 : Hot Potato!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission:_Impossible_%E2%80%93_Fallout

https://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/blog/blog_post/?contentid=4295008965

[themosleyreview]

The Mosley Review: Mission: Impossible - Fallout

How?! How is it that every entry into this franchise just keeps getting more and more exciting? I honestly think that there is no other action espionage film franchise out there that has done the almost impossible task of staying relevant and daring in every way. We are 6 films into the Mission Impossible franchise and there is just no reason why it should be this fantastic after so many entries. Most action films stop at 3 or even 4 if they're so lucky to get there. The quality of storytelling and the action in of itself has expertly evolved over the course of these films and to have the past Missions have a bearing on this story was truly spectacular. The cold opens are always fun and this one was particularly tension filled and set the stakes for the entire film. I was truly on the edge of my seat from the HALO jump to the bathroom fight scene and all the way to the climactic helicopter chase. There was just so much brilliance in this film and to see that almost all of the action was practical and not a CGI mess was truly refreshing.

Tom Cruise is one of the last action movie stars out there that will give you everything you paid for on screen. The amount of the most dangerous stunts this man put his body through are just terrifying and amazing and I appreciate his work ethic the most. As Ethan Hunt he is always perfect and we get to see a vulnerable side of him in this film and we also see how his improvisations on getting the job done work, but they have a cost. Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg return as his long time trusted team members Luther and Benji and they were great. Rebecca Ferguson was once again stunning and badass as IIsa. I wanted more from her character and I got alot more than I asked for which was perfect. Alec Baldwin was great again as IMF Secretary Hunley and he gets in on the action in a particular scene. I liked Vanessa Kirby as the White Widow and I would like to see her character return in some capacity. Angela Bassett as Erica was great and powerful everytime she's on screen. I love Henry Cavill and I thought he was absolutely fantastic as August Walker and one of the best characters this franchise has ever had. The man can do action just as well as Tom and he handles his own in many a fight scene and dialogue scene. Sean Harris returns as the main villain Solomon Lane and he's just as chilling, intense and perfect. I loved seeing Michelle Monaghan return as Julia and the emotional impact she has on Ethan Hunt was great and somewhat heartbreaking.

The score by composer Lorne Balfe was truly excellent and I really liked his heavier take on the classic Mission theme as it sets the very dramatic tone of the film. Like I said before the action is beyond amazing and the best the franchise has ever done. Writer and Director Christopher McQaurrie has done yet another stellar job of making the best Mission Impossible so far and his shooting style was even more perfect with his close ups on Tom whether he's in a car, riding a motorcycle or even hanging on a rope off a helicopter. This film was truly one of the best action films you'll see all year and the best Mission Impossible entry yet. Definitely see this film if you haven't yet!