Film review: Mission Impossible - Fallout (2018)

Exhausting.
Oh, you want more (he says to his imaginary audience)?  Okay.  Well, I know we've seen others in this series but I remember very little about them other than that Simon Pegg seems to be in them these days.  They get glowing reviews when they come out in the cinemas, almost entirely, I imagine, because of their non-stop ludicrously over-the-top set pieces, most of which involve Tom Cruise conspicuously doing his own stunts (and usually getting injured, now he's in his mid-50s).  So if that's your bag, you should love these.  But, as the OVER TWO HOURS dragged on, Jami and I tried to work out why these were so much less satisfying than the Bourne movies.  (Basically they're American James Bond films - only with constant hagiography of Cruise's Evan Hunt character, rather than the snappish disdain that most of Bond's superiors seem to regard him with.)  Jami's theory is that in the Bourne movies we are in the same boat as Matt Damon's character - not knowing what the hell's going on (or even who he is).  That, and the fact that the characters in the Bourne films are much more three dimensional and complex characters.  Evan Hunt is basically Superman, both in terms of his ability (and the way the world is supposed to depend on him) and his moral righteousness. And his sidekicks all look on him with doe eyes and bask in the glow of his perfection (as well as boring all around them with details of his saintliness).  One cannot help but wonder how much of this is contributed by Cruise himself, who has been executive producer of these films for a while.  Anyway, this goes on and ON, and has at least three scenes where Evan Hunt drives a vehicle straight at an intersection where the cross-traffic miraculously parts just for him and then resumes again for his pursuers, until the climax in Kashmir (that already dates it!) which involves two nuclear devices, battling helicopters and a 15 minute countdown that lasts at least half an hour.  That part is pretty gripping, but it more ludicrous than that scene in Indiana Jones when they're in mining cars that leap from one track and land miraculously on another, only unlike that scene, I think we're supposed to take this seriously.  In conclusion, I'm not a huge fan of Matt Damon, but he looks a lot better after watching one of these.  And Simon Pegg needs to rest up and eat more - he's looking haggard.  (Ving Rhames, on the other hand, the other sidekick, could do with the reverse.  Definitely getting a bit hefty.)  Oh, and I guess that guy who played Superman is pretty good - and sports a silly mustache that he supposedly refused to shave for Justice League, so they had to CG it out at vast expense.  Shades of Cesar Romero as the Joker...