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Film Reviews (International)

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

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Mission: Impossible – Fallout Review

written by Souranath Banerjee

Mission: Impossible – Fallout Review: If there is one movie that is meant to be watched and awed only for its Stunts – this is the one!

My ratings: 4/5

‘The end you’ve always feared is coming. And the blood will be on your hands. The fallout of all your good intentions.’

Finally got to see the latest adventures of Ethan Hunt, a fresh set of impossible missions that of course was made possible by Tom Cruise and his IMF team (no suspense there) and this time they call it Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie (his second MI directorial mission after Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation); the basic plot for this movie is simple enough, primarily hinging on Hunt’s emotional decision to save a life of his team member and while doing so complicating his original mission and risking lives of millions.

And speaking of his team members Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin – the original Impossible Missions Force (IMF) is back; and
yes, they all look pretty old and glum but still carry enough nostalgia
for the audience to look beyond those aged faces and enjoy their sentimental bonding instead.  

Henry Cavill fits in perfectly and proves to be a worthy opponent for Hunt. And beware – he is not a ‘scalpel‘ but a ‘hammer‘ and ‘He’s not Mission: Impossible - Falloutjust some observer. He’s an assassin.’

Both Vanessa Kirby as the sexy vicious White Widow and Angela Bassett as the calculative CIA head make their presences felt. Rebecca Ferguson is back with a twist of her own, Sean Harris resurfaces as the dangerous criminal mastermind, even Michelle Monaghan has a cameo, but unfortunately Jeremy Renner who was a part of both Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation was no where to be seen!

But remember this movie is not about the plot, not even about star-cast or the performances, not about the cinematography, the editing or the background music (which are all pretty much awesome though), and definitely not about the suspense of completing the final mission. Mission: Impossible – Fallout is all about the
unbelievable stunts that have been performed throughout the movie with incredible accuracy.

There have been enough media hype over this and I am sure by now you all must be aware that Tom Cruise does most of his death-defying stunts himself and that is indeed an extraordinary feat for any actor, but then at the age of 56 – now that is what I call an impossible mission to accomplish! And hat’s off to Mr. Cruise’s Mission: Impossible - Falloutdedication and fitness level that he performs these stunts in supreme style and perfection!

Let’s first consider the 25,000 ft High-Altitude Low Opening parachute jump performed in Abu Dhabi for which Tom Cruise trained for an entire year and it is the first time ever that any actor have risked trying such an antic for a movie!

Then there is the helicopter chase in New Zealand for which he actually learnt to fly a helicopter – got both private and commercial pilot’s license, and finally did a Downward Spiral which most experienced pilots won’t dare attempt!

Also a helmet-free high-speed motorcycle chase through the busy Paris streets against the traffic and that too without any safety rig!

Then of course the infamous London roof-top chase where Tom had to leap from one building to another, unfortunately broke his ankle as he landed, still pulled himself up and completed the shot – because he Mission: Impossible - Falloutknew that he’d broken his leg and they wouldn’t get a chance for
another take!

And also there are those deadly hand-to-hand combat sequences, risky rock climbing moments, hanging for your life from a helicopter situations and some intense car chases just to keep you attentive for the entire 2h 27min run time!

Trust me, these stunts are the real reasons to go for this sixth franchise Mission: Impossible – Fallout and it is totally worth watching them on the big screen!

‘How many times has Hunt’s government betrayed him, disavowed him, cast him aside? How long before a man like that has had enough?’

Honestly no idea how long before Tom Cruise has had enough or in other words how many more MI instalments will be coming up in future but then one thing is for certain – for Mr. Cruise ‘age’ and ‘MI instalments’ are just a number!

Keep them coming I say!

Similar Interest: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Poster courtesy: www.imdb.com.

Film Reviews (International)

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. review.

written by Souranath Banerjee.

My Ratings: 3.7/5.

Warner Bros. was trying to make this film for over a decade, but due to numerous casting changes and even directors being swapped the project was hold for a long time.

But finally it’s here, the famous 1964 television series called the The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is now made into a feature film by none other than Guy Ritchie (his first on digital medium). 

man-from-uncle-poster6After directing a string of entertaining films like Snatch. (2000), Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and recently a couple of Sherlock Holmes films, Guy Ritchie comes up with this period action comedy and tries his best to cover up the film’s lack of story content with his trademark fast-paced cinematic style.

The basic concept though is very interesting – a story based in the 60s when supposedly US (CIA) and Russia (KGB) joined hands to stop some mysterious organization from developing a nuke.

The cold war tension of that era is very well exploited as the two agents (Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer) from the rival countries repeatedly try to outmatch each other even though they are supposed to be working as a team (this being the main source of comedy in the film).

man-from-uncle-poster8Alicia Vikander becomes an accomplice to this deadly spy game and three of them together form a spy team called U.N.C.L.E (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement).

Elizabeth Debicki and Luca Calvani decently plays their parts as the evil masterminds desperate to control the world. And then there is Hugh Grant, a cameo worth mentioning. 

Shot mostly in Italy, thanks to Oliver Scholl‘s production design and Elli Griff‘s set decoration the film managed to recreate the glamourous 60s pretty well. Many actual vintage costumes were used by costume designer Joanna Johnston and the lavish cars (Jaguars and Ferraris) were a real treat to watch!

man-from-uncle-poster7But i feel in such stylized Guy Ritchie films a lot of credit actually goes to the teamwork of the cinematographer (John Mathieson) and the editor (James Herbert) and then of course the pumped up music that maintains the pace of the film (thanks to composer Daniel Pemberton).

Overall after a lot of split-screen editing, car racing and pretty close range bullets firing – action, comedy, love, drama, when you come out of the cinema hall you will feel entertained but won’t be able to tell anything particularly that you liked about the film.

May be you don’t have to. Just go and get entertained!