Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Film Review)

2018 Paramount Pictures
Starring: Tom Cruise
Written and directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Nicsperiment Score: 7/10

I saw Mission: Impossible - Fallout several weeks ago, with the intention to review it immediately. That was one of several of my expectations going into the movie. After all, I've seen five of these things, already. The first came out in the mid-90's, when I was a Columbia House membership-toting high schooler, so I watched that one, like I did every VHS I bought at a low, low price, seven or eight times. The rest I saw in theaters and never watched again. These movies are generally nice, forgettable bursts of well-done action, with a little humor tossed in. The generally accepted opinion is that the series' films have gotten better with each new installment. Critics seemed to be drooling all over themselves about this new one, with it essentially being declared "The best one ever," seemingly before anyone even watched it. How curious.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, a tireless secret agent who, as this film and all of its inconsequential characters frequently remind us over and over and over again, is the only person who can save the world from evil. Ethan gives all of his body, soul, and spirit to this cause, and always makes the right, moral choice, no matter how difficult. The end of Fallout essentially consists of all the other characters gathered around Ethan's hospital bed, thanking him for how awesome he is. I couldn't help but think of star Tom Cruise, and his extremely high-ranking place in the at best, extremely goofy, and at worst, extremely dangerous belief system, Scientology. By all accounts, Cruise's vision of himself is as of one of the highest beings in the universe, and the only one who can save humanity from Xenu. Holy crap, is this movie wish fulfillment.
The other films in the Mission Impossible series have masked this well. Cruise has beaten his body up for each film, doing insane stunts, with the assistance of his IMF spy team. This team generally consists of the vastly under-appreciated Ving Rhames, Sean of the Dead himself, Simon Pegg, and in these last two installments, the lithe, but deadly Rebecca Ferguson. Cruise's sidekicks have never felt more needless than in Fallout, where they are essentially burdened with the monumental task of asking at regular intervals: "Ethan, what do we do?" This is particular egregious with Ferguson.
In the previous Mission Impossible film, Rogue Nation, Ferguson was an absolute force of nature, essentially taking over that film halfway in, and never letting go. Here she is vastly punished for that indiscretion, seeing not only her role and agency reduced, but her character shackled to a love triangle cornered by Hunt and his ex-wife, played Michelle Monaghan. Now, there is room for little heroics outside of Cruise's, and boy does he put himself out there, flinging himself from building-to-building, nose-diving helicopters into cliff-sides, and driving motorcycles headlong into traffic. As cool as all these stunts should be (breathlessly reported by the media as they were being filmed), and as thankfully real and non-CGI as they were performed, they are captured in an over-serious, mono-chromatically-tinted, workmanlike style, which robs them of joy.
Action is indeed what I come to these films for, and maybe on that front, Fallout at least equals the last several films. But--and maybe I just didn't notice this before--none of the previous films deify their controversial star like this one. Then again, little has been lately said of Cruise's high rank and position in Scientology, and certainly no negative connotations between Cruise and Scientology have been made. I wonder why? Mission accomplished.