148 Mins
Cast Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Angela Bassett
Director Christopher McQuarrie
"You use a scalpel, I prefer a hammer" says CIA Director Sloan (Bassett) as she introduces Henry Cavills mustachioed Agent Walker to IMF Secretary Hunley (Baldwin) and super-agent Ethan Hawke (Cruise). Walker has been assigned to monitor the recovery of nuclear material that fell into the hands of terrorists during Hunts last mission when he refused to sacrifice his team (Rhames and Pegg). As the two agents struggle to co-exist while hunting down the mysterious Keyser Soze-like John Lark things are complicated even further by the return of former MI6 agent Isla Faust (Ferguson) on her own mission which doesn't necessarily sync up with Hunts.
As you would expect from a Mission : Impossible film there are plenty of action scenes but the scenes in between also barrel along at a relentless pace while still managing to establish the characters as real people. Cavill is excellent, while Cruise conveys the burden of a man haunted by past decisions and the knowledge that he can never truly walk away from the life he has chosen excellently. As for the action scenes, the car chase through Paris is particularly nail-biting and a bathroom fight enough to leave you wincing in your seat.
The locations in Paris and London are used beautifully, while the final chase scene is set to a breathtaking backdrop, an earlier shot of a lightning storm filmed from above was my own personal favourite. While you are unlikely to ever be bored during this film the last 20 minutes do feel a little too cliche and almost past the point of suspension of disbelief, but for the sixth film of a franchise to still feel this invigorating is no mean feat.
★★★★☆
