Mission: Impossible - Fallout is a 2018 American action film directed by Christopher McQuarrie. The cast of the film consists of Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris, Henry Cavill, Vanessa Kirby, Sian Brooke, and Angela Bassett.
It is the sixth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series.
Plot[]
| Spoiler Warning: The following contains important plot details of the entire film. |
Two years after the capture of Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. the remains of his organization The Syndicate have reformed into a terrorist group known as The Apostles. At a safehouse in Belfast, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) receives details of a mission to intercept the sale of three [plutonium cores to members of the group, who are acquiring them for their latest client, fundamentalist John Lark. The mission takes him to Berlin where he meets up with Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), but the mission fails when Hunt makes the choice to save Luther's life and the plutonium is taken by the Apostles. The team captures and interrogates a nuclear weapons expert who has been working with the group to build three portable nuclear weapons, tricking him into believing attacks have occurred on religious sites in Rome, Jerusalem and Mecca to obtain information on the Apostles' next move.
Erica Sloane (Angela Bassett), Director of the CIA, instructs Special Activities operative August Walker (Henry Cavill) to shadow Hunt as he attempts to retrieve the plutonium. Hunt and Walker HALO jump into Paris, where they infiltrate a fundraiser party at the Grand Palais where John Lark is set to buy the cores from the Apostles, with the arms dealer known as the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) acting as a broker. Hunt and Walker track Lark to a bathroom where in the subsequent fight, Lark is killed by Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). To complete the mission, Hunt impersonates John Lark and meets the White Widow.
Agents of the Apostles have been sent to kill John Lark and the White Widow; with Hunt impersonating Lark, he escapes with the White Widow. In order to secure the plutonium, the White Widow tasks Hunt with securing an asset; the price of securing the plutonium is the extraction of Solomon Lane from an armoured convoy moving through Paris. Hunt receives one of the plutonium cores as a payment in kind for the mission. Hunt and his team attack the convoy and loyalties of the team are tested; Ilsa reveals that MI6 wants Lane dead. A motorcycle and car chase ensues across Paris, with Hunt avoiding the White Widow's forces, the police and Ilsa, who has to kill Lane to fulfil her mission for MI6. The mission to extract Lane is successful, whereupon White Widow instructs the team to deliver Lane, as well as Ilsa, to London.
At the safehouse in London, Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin), Secretary of IMF, confronts Hunt about being John Lark, which Hunt denies and incapacitates Hunley to continue the mission. After being asked to monitor Lane, Walker unwittingly reveals himself to be the real John Lark, in association with Lane. Erica Sloane also notices and instructs a shadow CIA team to take Lane, Walker and Hunt’s team in. The CIA team is in fact infiltrated by the Apostles and Walker orders them to attack the IMF team. Hunley is stabbed and killed in the ensuing fight by Walker, who then escapes. With the help of Benji, Luther and Ilsa, Hunt tracks Walker across the rooftops to Tate Modern, where Walker escapes to a medical camp in Kashmir with Lane, but not before threatening the life of Hunt's estranged wife, Julia (Michelle Monaghan). In Kashmir, Benji reveals the two remaining nuclear weapons are synchronised with each other; if one is defused, the other will detonate. However both devices can be defused as long as the countdown is running. To complete the defuse process, the fuse must also be pulled from the detonator before the countdown reaches zero, otherwise the weapon will detonate. Lane's plan for the weapons is to contaminate the water supply of Pakistan, India and China, affecting a third of the world's population.
At the medical camp, being used to disguise the radioactive signature of the devices, Walker has also engineered for Julia and her new husband to be onsite to raise the stakes for Hunt. Solomon Lane activates the weapons, giving the detonator to Walker. Hunt takes off in pursuit of Walker in a helicopter leaving Benji, Luther and Ilsa on the ground to find the weapons. Luther finds the first weapon and is helped by Julia to defuse it. Ilsa and Benji find the second weapon and fight with Lane, with Benji nearly being killed, before Ilsa rescues him and subdues Lane. The two defuse the second weapon. Hunt and Walker engage in an aerial helicopter chase, before Hunt uses his helicopter to ram Walker's aircraft out of the sky. The two then fight on a cliff edge, where Walker is eventually killed by a winch. With only one second to go, Hunt manages to remove the fuse, successfully aborting both detonations.
In the aftermath, the remaining two cores are safely recovered. Erica Sloane hands Lane over to MI6 (through the White Widow), which earns Ilsa's exoneration. Hunt recovers from his injuries with the help of Julia while the rest of the team joins him in victory.
| Spoiler Warning: All spoilers have been stated and have ended here. |
Cast[]
- Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt
- Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust
- Simon Pegg as Benjamin "Benji" Dunn
- Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell
- Michelle Monaghan as Julia Meade-Hunt
- Alec Baldwin as Alan Hunley
- Sean Harris as Solomon Lane
- Henry Cavill as Reville Smites
- Vanessa Kirby
- Sian Brooke
- Angela Bassett
Production[]
Pre-production[]
On May 23, 2015, The Tracking Board reported that Paramount Pictures was developing a sixth Mission: Impossible film with Tom Cruise, J. J. Abrams for Bad Robot, and David Ellison and Dana Goldberg returning to produce the film for Skydance Media, along with Don Granger and Matt Grimm executive producing and Elizabeth Raposo overseeing development. On July 28, 2015, Cruise confirmed on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart that a sixth film was already being developed, and he told Jon Stewart that the shooting of the film would start in summer 2016. Later on August 2, 2015, Paramount's executive Rob Moore told Variety that the sequel was already in works, stating that they were "very happy to be developing this movie with Tom," and "there has to be another movie." On November 19, 2015, it was announced that Paramount had again hired Christopher McQuarrie to write the film while it was possible that he would also direct the film, and the studio was moving fast with plans for shooting to start in August 2016. On November 30, 2015, McQuarrie confirmed through his Twitter account that he would be back for directing duty as well, and would also produce the film along with Cruise. On December 8, 2015, Showbiz411 confirmed that the fifth film's female lead, Rebecca Ferguson, would be returning for the sequel.
On August 19, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Paramount had halted pre-production on the film due to dispute over salary between Cruise and the studio, which Cruise wanted to get equal or more what he was being paid by Universal Studios for the film The Mummy. On September 16, THR confirmed that Cruise's dispute over salary with the studio had been resolved and the production would now begin in Spring 2017. In November, Jeremy Renner who portrayed William Brandt in Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation—stated that he was unsure if he would be part of the sixth film, due to scheduling conflicts with Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War (2018). He later confirmed in March 2017 at CinemaCon that he will not return for the sixth film.
In February, McQuarrie revealed that the film would include more backstory to Hunt's personal life. On June 13, 2017, Michelle Monaghan was announced to return as Ethan Hunt's wife Julia Meade.
Filming[]
Filming was slated to start in Paris on April 10. Other locations include Britain, New Zealand and Norway. Filming officially began on April 8, 2017. Some of the filming was also taking place in New Zealand in July 2017. The municipality of Forsand in Norway allowed the closing of Preikestolen for a time in autumn for the film's shoot; only crew members and cast were allowed to approach the mountain for nine consecutive days. They also were allowed up to 50 helicopter landings per day. In August 2017, Cruise injured his right leg on the London set during filming. Following his accident, the studio halted the production for at least nine weeks which would be taken to heal Cruise's broken ankle and other injuries, and released a statement saying that they would be keeping the July 2018 release date for the film. Filming resumed in early October 2017, with Tom Cruise spotted on set seven weeks after his initial injury, and two weeks earlier than initially planned. Reshoots for Cavill's Justice League coincided with the schedule for Fallout, for which he had grown a mustache which he was contracted to keep while filming, so Justice League's VFX team was forced to use special effects to digitally remove it in post-production. On January 25, 2018, the title was revealed to be Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Filming concluded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on March 25, 2018. The production in the UAE included filming of a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump scene with Cruise. The scene required Cruise and the crew training on a ground-based vertical wind tunnel, and then using a C-17 military aircraft to make over one hundred jumps from around 25,000 feet (7,600 m) to end up with three takes that McQuarrie wanted for the film. As the scene was to be set near sunset, they could only make one jump a day to try to get each shot.
Soundtrack[]
The musical score for Mission: Impossible – Fallout was composed by Lorne Balfe. Balfe was confirmed by McQuarrie to be the composer for the film in April 2018, replacing the previous composer Joe Kraemer.
The score has been applauded by some critics for being "action-packed" and its balance between heaviness and moody reveries; some also considered it being too "Nolan-esque", comparing it to scores by Hans Zimmer. The score implements the use of percussion, snares and bongos to create a jaunty staccato momentum.
The digital album was released through Paramount Music on July 14, 2018. The physical soundtrack will be released later in the month by La-La Land Records.
All music composed by Lorne Balfe.
| Mission: Impossible - Fallout: Music from the Motion Picture | |
|---|---|
| |
| Lorne Balfe | |
| Length | 1:35:45 |
| Label |
|
All music is composed by Lorne Balfe.
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "A Storm is Coming" | 1:12 | |
| 2. | "Your Mission" | 2:14 | |
| 3. | "Should You Choose to Accept..." | 2:34 | |
| 4. | "The Manifesto" | 1:44 | |
| 5. | "Good Evening, Mr. Hunt" | 4:19 | |
| 6. | "Change of Plan" | 5:47 | |
| 7. | "A Terrible Choice" | 2:54 | |
| 8. | "Fallout" | 1:30 | |
| 9. | "Stairs and Rooftops" | 6:00 | |
| 10. | "No Hard Feelings" | 4:20 | |
| 11. | "Free Fall" | 4:14 | |
| 12. | "The White Widow" | 4:42 | |
| 13. | "I Am the Storm" | 2:07 | |
| 14. | "The Exchange" | 5:54 | |
| 15. | "Steps Ahead" | 1:02 | |
| 16. | "Escape Through Paris" | 5:05 | |
| 17. | "We Are Never Free" | 6:57 | |
| 18. | "Kashmir" | 4:29 | |
| 19. | "Fate Whispers to the Warrior" | 3:54 | |
| 20. | "And the Warrior Whispers Back" | 3:56 | |
| 21. | "Unfinished Business" | 1:49 | |
| 22. | "Scalpel and Hammer" | 5:10 | |
| 23. | "The Syndicate" | 6:00 | |
| 24. | "Cutting on One" | 3:42 | |
| 25. | "The Last Resort" | 2:55 | |
| 26. | "Mission: Accomplished (Theme from Mission: Impossible by Lalo Schifrin)" | 1:15 | |
Total length: |
1:35:45 | ||
Release[]
Mission: Impossible – Fallout is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 27, 2018, by Paramount Pictures in RealD 3D, IMAX and IMAX 3D. The first trailer was released on February 4, 2018, during Super Bowl LII, and a second one on May 16, 2018. The film premiered in Paris on July 12, 2018.
Reception[]
Box office[]
As of August 10, 2018, Mission: Impossible – Fallout has grossed $147.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $224.8 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $372 million, against a production budget of $178 million.
In the United States and Canada, Fallout was released alongside Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, and was projected to gross $48–65 million in its opening weekend, with some estimates going as high as $75 million. It opened in 4,386 theaters, the most ever for the franchise and the seventh-widest release all-time. The film made $6 million from Thursday night previews (including $1 million from IMAX screenings), the highest of the series, a record for Cruise, and a 66% increase from Rogue Nation's $4 million. It went on to debut to $61.2 million, the best of the series and the second-highest of Cruise's career. It made $35 million in its second weekend to remain in first, and marked the best sophomore frame of the franchise.
In other territories, the film was projected to debut to $75–80 million from 36 countries, for an estimated total global opening of around $135 million. It made $15 million on its first day, including $2.8 million in South Korea. The film ended up overperforming, debuting to $92 million overseas for a worldwide total of $153.5 million. Its largest markets were South Korea ($24.9 million), the United Kingdom ($9.5 million) and India ($8.2 million).
Critical response[]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on 202 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Fast, sleek, and fun, Mission: Impossible – Fallout lives up to the 'impossible' part of its name by setting yet another high mark for insane set pieces in a franchise full of them." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100, based on 57 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Peter Debruge of Variety called the film the series' most exciting installment to date, saying, "McQuarrie clearly believes in creating coherent set pieces: His combat scenes are tense, muscular, and clean, shot and edited in such a way that the spatial geography makes sense." David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a grade of "A" and called it one of the best action films ever made, writing "He's only Tom Cruise because nobody else is willing to be — or maybe he's only Tom Cruise so that nobody else has to be. Either way, Fallout is the film he's always promised us, and it is worth the wait." Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly also gave the film an "A" grade, commenting on Cruise that "He’s still Hollywood’s hungriest movie star", with the film getting "better, twistier and more deliriously fun with each installment".
George Simpson of The Express complimented "the action is brutal and gut-punching, the pacing heart-pumping and the stakes so high it's gasp-inducing at times" adding, "Fallout is an improvement on all the previous films' failings, drawing together all the best aspects of them; simultaneously giving off that classic vibe of the original while never being afraid to continually evolve", and gave the film five out of five stars.[51] The Telegraph's Tim Robey summed up the film as "spectacular and eye-popping" deeming it "the blockbuster of the summer" with "a pleasingly sinuous plot" and calling the film and its series a "Bond-like franchise", also rating the film five out of five stars.
Robert Abele of TheWrap described Cruise as an "evergreen movie star with the daredevil heart of a stuntman" and that he "puts every ounce of effort he can into the long, hard work of maintaining a blockbuster franchise". Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter praised the director Christopher McQuarrie, saying that with Mission: Impossible - Fallout he "tops what he did with Cruise three years ago", and also singled out Vanessa Kirby for playing her character with "a mix of elegance and frisky abandon". J.R. Kinnard of PopMatters wrote "Though it lacks the gritty humanity of something like George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Mission: Impossible – Fallout is no less impressive in its dedication to character-driven action and practical special effects. It's a dazzling, non-stop thriller that's sure to become an instant action classic." Tim Grierson of Screen Daily wrote "Tom Cruise is on fighting form in this thrilling franchise topper" and that he’s "ageless, riveting and seemingly unstoppable," further adding that "the sixth film in the series is among the most outstanding, delivering a near-exhausting amount of stupendous action sequences paired with deft character drama and the requisite life-or-death stakes."
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film three out of five stars, saying "there isn't as much [humor] in the dialogue as before" but, it added: "Crashes and petrolhead spills are what this franchise is reasonably expected to deliver. And this is what it cheerfully does."
Videos[]
Mission Impossible - Fallout (2018) - Official Trailer - Paramount Pictures
Official Trailer