Movies Mission: Impossible - Fallout Reviews and Tomatometer Watch

[Dre801]

This fucking movie man. . . .  Best MI so far as far as I'm concerned.  These past three MI films have been excellent.

[TwinIon]

18 hours ago, Emblazon said:

Last major blockbuster??? Pfffft. 

They do specify last summer 2018 blockbuster, but even that seems wrong considering at least The Meg and The Predator.

[skillzdadirecta]

24 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

They do specify last summer 2018 blockbuster, but even that seems wrong considering at least The Meg and The Predator.

Neither of those are considered "Blockbusters" Those are basically big budget B-movies. Neither will get the kind of marketing push a true Blockbuster will.

[TwinIon]

14 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Neither of those are considered "Blockbusters" Those are basically big budget B-movies. Neither will get the kind of marketing push a true Blockbuster will.

They're both action films that probably cost ~$100M and will open on 3000-4000 screens. Mission Impossible isn't getting anywhere near the kind of marketing or box office that a Fast and Furious, much less a Star Wars film does. We're drawing lines arbitrarily somewhere.

[Emblazon]

Meg has a $150 million budget. Marketing has ramped up significantly lately, including a large push on Shark Week. 

 

I am curious to know what opening weekend is tracking at.

[EternallDarkness]

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 1:05 PM, bladimir2k said:

Wife and I are ready for that arm gun reload move... just bought tickets!

 

 

did you happen to notice that reloading his guns makes his beard thicker and his shirt grow a little darker and a pocket!!! They really should have fixed that in post. 

[Pikachu]

29 minutes ago, EternallDarkness said:

 

did you happen to notice that reloading his guns makes his beard thicker and his shirt grow a little darker and a pocket!!! They really should have fixed that in post. 

OMG, I can't unsee it now.

[GeneticBlueprint]

Seems like the pocket was always there. Just pressed up against his shirt.

[EternallDarkness]

1 hour ago, Pikachu said:

OMG, I can't unsee it now.

I know!

 

 

1 hour ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

Seems like the pocket was always there. Just pressed up against his shirt.

Nope, that went from a pocket-less shirt to a shirt with a pocket

[Kal-El814]

I think I can see the pocket early in the clip, but the reload for sure grew his beard

[Brian]

Just makes the clip better

 

 

[Emblazon]

They didn't stitch together two different shots. It's lighting, plain and simple. His beard didn't change and a pocket didn't materialize. If it did, that meant they went in and digitally added both. They did not. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Emblazon said:

They didn't stitch together two different shots. It's lighting, plain and simple. His beard didn't change and a pocket didn't materialize. If it did, that meant they went in and digitally added both. They did not. 

 

Agreed. He’s advancing across an unevenly lit scene.

[Greatoneshere]

This movie was fucking BALLER. It's not quite Mad Max: Fury Road levels of non-stop adrenaline but this movie means fucking business. I'm a big M:I fan and this is probably the best film in the franchise. 

 

This movie was beast-level. 

[TwinIon]

Got to see it last night in digital IMAX. First of all, I'd only recommend the $19 digital IMAX experience to someone with AMC A-List, because the screen at my theater was hardly bigger than the big theater at the local ArcLight, which doesn't upcharge at all. Also, I didn't realize that the digital IMAX screens are not in IMAX ratio, which seems especially strange for a film where the only IMAX sequences were shot digitally. Still, the IMAX sound was pumping at full volume, with a few people in the crowd even yelling to turn it down during the trailers (thankfully they did not). Having the upgraded sound experience made a very big impact on this film.

 

My first thought after seeing the film was how odd it was that it wasn't until the sixth installment in this franchise that they actually made a sequel. I imagine it's no coincidence that this is the first time director has returned to the series, and in this case McQuarrie was also the writer. Far more so than any of the other MI movies, this is one that actually acknowledges the past in ways both subtle and direct. Characters from previous films return, there are tons of callback shots, and there are references scattered throughout, many of which I'm sure I missed.

 

This series has always been rather unique that it operates more like an episodic TV show than a serialized TV show or movie franchise. Small things persist from entry to entry, but for the most part it's like the Simpsons; whatever happened before is mostly fodder for jokes or winks and nods to the audience. Otherwise explaining how the IMF exists when most current and former agents eventually turn evil or why Ethan still works there when he's been repeatedly hunted and disavowed becomes difficult. It's a series that has always had plots that were unnecessarily complex, but also where the story has never really mattered. Suddenly caring about continuity this far in is almost jarring, but shockingly well handled. McQuarrie toes the line just enough to inject a bit more pathos into otherwise blank slate Ethan Hunt, but doesn't really want you to dig that deep.

 

After all, this series, with Fallout being no exception, isn't looking to tell a story, pages in the script aren't there to convey ideas or themes or build characters or relationships, the words are merely functional: a delivery system for action set pieces. In that Fallout delivers exceptionally well. Despite a rather bloated 147 minute runtime, this is a film that is propulsive. It stops for longer than usual to catch it's breath, but that's partly because we as the audience need that time to do the same. The set pieces here are incredible. Even when Tom Cruise isn't piloting a helicopter or jumping out of a plane or crashing cars through the streets of Paris he's just such a formidable screen presence. McQuarrie is able to make Cruise running through the streets a more exciting chase sequence than most action movies.

 

Thankfully, Cruise isn't alone in this either. Series veterans Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are well utilized in their sidekick roles, providing the humanity that Cruise is less capable of delivering. The women of this outing often steal the show. Rebecca Ferguson is back and feels as dangerous as ever. I particularly liked newcomer to the series Vanessa Kirby's unfortunately short appearance. I expect we might see her again in an inevitable seventh installment. Jeremy Renner was absent given how busy he was not being in Infinity War, so our CIA agent de jour this time is Henry Cavill, whose formidable presence enhances every scene (praise to the mustache). He's described early on as a sledgehammer, and it's the best possible moniker for his turn here, as he pounds his way through the film.

 

Also pounding is the soundtrack. The score is another highpoint, and possibly the most propulsive since Fury Road. At times it even reminded me of Gravity, where the line between score and sound effects faded away. Blaring as it was in my IMAX screening, it goes a long way into making you feel every blow and crash along with Ethan Hunt.

 

I'm not sure if Fallout is my favorite in the series, but it's certainly in contention. For anyone who isn't a fan of Mission Impossible, Fallout has nothing new to offer. For anyone who does appreciate what this oddball franchise has been delivering for 20 years, Fallout is a another wonderfully filmed helping of watching a billionaire continually risk his life for our entertainment.

 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

I saw it the other night, definitely one if the best modern American action films to date. Not quite on the same level as Mad Max, but definitely in the same conversation.  they've also set this series up for at least two more films. Crazy that this series is over 20 years old... and that Tom Cru cruise is FIfty Six.

[EternallDarkness]

Saw it today and definitely enjoyed it, except for the fact that I saw every twist coming a mile away

[Brian]

Saw it. Loved it. Love Tome Cruise. 

 

Also Fallout replaces True Lies as my favorite bathroom fight scene. 

[Wild]

The film is at its best when it channels Michal Mann. Great stuff overall. Liked it more than I expected to. My only issue would be the Ebert's Clock for the ending, but it's Mission Impossible so it's kind of their thing to do apologetically. The fact that the action scenes are done as well as they are makes it forgivable.

 

I'd like to see a spin-off with Ferguson's character. She could carry a movie.

[TwinIon]

If you enjoyed this film, I'd recommend listening to The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith . It's a long interview with Christopher McQuarrie and it's completely insane how he makes these movies. I guess the same process applied to Rogue Nation as well, so if you listen to the commentary or interviews on that film you might be aware, but McQuarrie's process boggles the mind. He shoots these film with only a flimsy outline that he feels no need to adhere to. Often shooting defining sequences without having a script days or hours before. With Fallout, he wouldn't even write the script until he had photographs of where he was going to shoot it.

 

Almost everything about this film is reverse engineered from either a location that McQuarrie found visually interesting or from a suggestion from Tom Cruise. Tom wanted to do a helicopter stunt, so they figure out that New Zealand is the only country in the world that will let him do it. So they go to NZ. Then they want to push Cruise off a cliff, so they find a spot in Norway where the fall is precipitous enough, so they have to figure out where in the world kinda looks like both Norway and New Zealand where they can have some political intrigue. They built the town at the end of the film from scratch without knowing why the script would take them there or where it was even supposed to be, and they built it the way they did only to have good lighting for one shot of one character.

 

It's completely insane that these movies were finished, a miracle that they weren't dramatically over budget, and impossible that they make any sense at all, much less are any good.

 

McQuarrie also did a gigantic interview with Empire where he discusses all this, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

[Kal-El814]

5 hours ago, TwinIon said:

It's completely insane that these movies were finished, a miracle that they weren't dramatically over budget, and impossible that they make any sense at all, much less are any good.

It's also possible that this is why the last two movies barely make any fucking sense, but... I am too entertained to care.

[TwinIon]

1 minute ago, Kal-El814 said:

It's also possible that this is why the last two movies barely make any fucking sense, but... I am too entertained to care.

I've never spent too much time thinking through the plot of any MI movie, but I didn't feel like the last two were any more convoluted or nonsensical than the previous entries.

[Wild]

5 hours ago, TwinIon said:

If you enjoyed this film, I'd recommend listening to The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith . It's a long interview with Christopher McQuarrie and it's completely insane how he makes these movies. I guess the same process applied to Rogue Nation as well, so if you listen to the commentary or interviews on that film you might be aware, but McQuarrie's process boggles the mind. He shoots these film with only a flimsy outline that he feels no need to adhere to. Often shooting defining sequences without having a script days or hours before. With Fallout, he wouldn't even write the script until he had photographs of where he was going to shoot it.

 

Almost everything about this film is reverse engineered from either a location that McQuarrie found visually interesting or from a suggestion from Tom Cruise. Tom wanted to do a helicopter stunt, so they figure out that New Zealand is the only country in the world that will let him do it. So they go to NZ. Then they want to push Cruise off a cliff, so they find a spot in Norway where the fall is precipitous enough, so they have to figure out where in the world kinda looks like both Norway and New Zealand where they can have some political intrigue. They built the town at the end of the film from scratch without knowing why the script would take them there or where it was even supposed to be, and they built it the way they did only to have good lighting for one shot of one character.

 

It's completely insane that these movies were finished, a miracle that they weren't dramatically over budget, and impossible that they make any sense at all, much less are any good.

 

McQuarrie also did a gigantic interview with Empire where he discusses all this, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

 

Thing is, you can tell. The film is extremely formulaic. It just has great production values and is cribbing from great directors. It's a generic spy movie through and through, carried by the spectacle of it all. I don't mean this to sound negative, I enjoyed the hell out of it, but it's a lot like Michael Mann's Thief for me. Paper thin but oozing with style.

[TwinIon]

2 minutes ago, Wild said:

Thing is, you can tell. The film is extremely formulaic. It just has great production values and is cribbing from great directors. It's a generic spy movie through and through, carried by the spectacle of it all. I don't mean this to sound negative, I enjoyed the hell out of it, but it's a lot like Michael Mann's Thief for me. Paper thin but oozing with style.

I entirely agree with you. This is not a movie that breaks any kind of ground or challenges any kind of preconceptions. It's not out to transcend the genre or make deep insights into the human condition. It's a big dumb thrill ride, and I'd argue a pretty good one.

 

Still, I think it's unusual for any kind of film to be made in a way so seemingly backwards and haphazard, much less one that costs $180M. I don't know much about the making of the Fast and Furious franchise, the recent Bond movies, or the Bourne films, but I'd be surprised if the production process of any of those is similar to what McQuarrie describes.

[RedSoxFan9]

the first 30 minutes were a dream come true for new atheists