This action franchise returns with an audacious installment
4/5 Stars

“How long before a man like that has had enough?” CIA Agent August Walker asks about Ethan Hunt. Well, we’re going on 22 years and counting, so… a while? The sixth film in the absurdly successful Mission: Impossible franchise – itself based on the television series that originally aired in 1966 – proves that these increasingly extravagant and audacious films, like Ethan Hunt and star Tom Cruise, are virtually indestructible.

Not that Hunt (Cruise) himself isn’t showing signs of age: his missions and sacrifices are wearing on him; an old foe, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), perseveres; and his almost suicidal stunts are getting harder to endure. It’s refreshing, making Hunt less superhero and more human, and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie builds on the previous films to give us a real insight into Hunt’s character.

This new personal touch adds to the stakes of the action, which is breakneck, relentless and astounding. Tasked with retrieving nuclear material before a terrorist organisation known as the Apostles can use them, Hunt embarks on a globetrotting mission, questioning the loyalty of those around him the whole way.

The cinematography is spectacular, the camera majestically soaring over Cruise as he scales dizzyingly high cliff-faces, gliding alongside his speedboat as it winds through an underground river, spinning with him as helicopters are knocked off-course, and beautifully framing landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, the Tate Modern and the Grand Palais. Every time the action seems almost comically exotic and death-defying, McQuarrie ups the ante, often filming over Cruise’s shoulder so we experience every thrill up close.

But there are also philosophical questions here, about our comfort with collateral damage, both on and offscreen. Once you leave the cinema and finally catch your breath, they’re worth some thought.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie.
Starring Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Angela Bassett, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin.
147 mins.
In cinemas now.

Check out the trailer below: