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Movie review: ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ is exhilarating assignment

“Mission: Impossible – Fallout” (PG-13)

Tom Cruise raises the stakes to even more dizzying heights in “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” the sixth film in the actor’s thrilling “Mission: Impossible” franchise. Featuring Cruise’s usual brand of marquee stunts, intense action sequences and a sprawling story line loaded with twists and turns, the film ranks among the series’ best, and is only hampered by its nearly 2 1/2 hour run time.

Unlike previous installments in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, “Fallout” has direct ties to its previous installment (“Rogue Nation”), where the chief villain, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) and undercover MI: 6 Agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) remain a core part of the narrative. The film begins with a thwarted attempt by IMF (Impossible Mission Force) Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) to recover three plutonium cores which could annihilate three major cities, leading him on a dangerous mission to unearth the mysterious identity of the person behind the planned attacks.


AUDIO: Click to hear Tim’s review of “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show.”

However, due to the botched recovery of the plutonium in the first place, CIA Director Erica Sloan (Angela Bassett) requires Hunt to add CIA operative August Walker (Henry Cavill) to the team, which still includes computer hacker Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and tech expert Benji Dunn (the always amusing Simon Pegg).  Complicating matters, though, is Walker’s differences in philosophy, as well as the reemergence of Faust, whose identity and purpose in the matter remains ambiguous. Pivotal to the recovery of the plutonium, though, is the now-imprisoned Lane — who still very much remains a vital part of the crime organization The Syndicate — and he’s hell-bent on making Ethan witness the destruction he’s planning on causing with the nuclear material.

While Cruise continues to push the envelope with mind-blowing stunt work throughout the film (he trained for a year to do a 25,000-foot HALO jump out of a plane — and did a reported 109 takes to get it just right — and put a year and a half in learning to fly a helicopter), equally as impressive is the thrills that emerge from tried-and-true devices like foot pursuits and motorcycle chases throughout Paris and London. It’s great to see that Cruise and his frequent collaborator, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, still find ways to not only make these sequences exciting, but have them rival the all-time great chase sequences like Gene Hackman’s frantic romp through New York City in “The French Connection.”

Better yet, despite the gloriously-staged action, “Fallout” never loses track of the story, even if its stretched to the point of ridiculousness (a 15-minute timer that’s running on a bomb that needs to be diffused seems to go on forever, hence the film’s overlong run-time). Thanks to some well-plotted twists, perhaps the greatest feat of “Fallout” is that it staves off any hint of predictability, apart, maybe from its ultimate outcome.


VIDEO: Click to see Tim’s review of “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” with Adrienne Broaddus on KARE-TV.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise is how it continues to improve as the it grows. True, “Fallout” probably falls short of the greatness of the fourth film, “Ghost Protocol” and last one, “Rogue Nation,” but it’s still a top-notch thriller. Even though Cruise broke his ankle leaping from one building to the next during filming (the footage of which remains in the film), there’s clearly no sign of the actor slowing down. And with the perfect team of McQuarrie and the film’s supporting players in place, it will be interesting what impossible mission the adrenaline-fueled actor takes on next.

Lammometer: 8 (out of 10)


AUDIO: Click to hear Tim’s review of “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on WCCO’s Radio’s “Paul and Joranda.”

Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.

Copyright 2018 DirectConversations.com

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Movie reviews: ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,’ ‘Vacation’

Tom Cruise in 'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation' (photo - Paramount Pictures)

 By Tim Lammers

“Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” (PG-13) 3 1/2 stars (out of four)

Tom Cruise truly makes the impossible possible with “Rogue Nation,” a serious contender for the best installment in the five film “Mission: Impossible” series. Expertly directed and co-written by Christopher McQuarrie, “Rogue Nation” maintains the same energy, thrills and explosive action as it’s awesome predecessor “Ghost Protocol,” yet continues to advance the “Mission: Impossible” narrative instead of running into the trappings of most film sequels.

Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt, a rogue agent of the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) and No. 1 pain in the ass of CIA honcho Hunley (Alec Baldwin), who finally manages to convince the  government to absorb, and effectively, abolish, the IMF program. Apart from his past misgivings, Hunley is also fed up with Hunt’s obsession with the terrorist organization known as “The Syndicate” — a group that the CIA claims is a product of Hunt’s (Cruise) imagination.

But after a deadly encounter with The Syndicate’s head (Sean Harris), Ethan confirms the group is indeed for real; but he needs the now small group of his fellow IMF colleagues to bring the group down. Ethan is forced to take a leap of faith and trust Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), a Syndicate agent who for reasons unexplained, helps him escape torture and certain death at the hands of her employer.

Interview: Rebecca Ferguson talks ‘Rogue Nation’

The great thing about “Rogue Nation” is that it’s full of surprises, starting with the highly-publicized scene where Cruise hangs onto the exterior of a cargo plane. Usually the sort of show-stopping scene you’d see in the third act of a film, the plane scene actually kicks off “Rogue Nation,” raising the stakes higher than they’ve ever been for a “Mission: Impossible” film (with maybe the exception of the Dubai tower scene in “Ghost Protocol”).

From there, “Rogue Nation” is naturally jam-packed with riveting action scenes (including a dizzying cycle chase), yet never once loses sight of the film’s detailed narrative. Loaded with twists and turns, “Rogue Nation” will keep you guessing until the very end.

Cruise is spectacular once again as Ethan, and you have to really admire his commitment to the physical demands of the role and the ever-expanding narrative of the “Mission: Impossible” series. He’s clearly the star of the series, yet generously shares his screen time with co-stars Simon Pegg (funnier than ever), Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames — the only IMF agents he can trust.

Cruise also has an amazing eye when it comes to bringing new actors into the fold, particularly Ferguson, an experienced star of Swedish and British film and TV, who marks her second appearance in a U.S. film with “Rogue Nation.” Smart, physically lethal and sexy as hell, Ferguson possesses a classic Hollywood screen beauty rarely seen in today’s films. Even as a relative newcomer to American film, she more than holds her own against Cruise.

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“Vacation” (R) 1 star (out of four)

The “Holiday Road” has hit a dead end with “Vacation,” a dreadfully unfunny remake of the Harold Ramis-directed gem “National Lampoon’s Vacation” from 1983. Packed to the gills with moronic jokes and forced humor at every turn, “Vacation” is easily a contender for worst movie of the summer, if not worst movie of the year.

After an amusing opening featuring a couple-dozen pictures you’d see in an Awkward Family Photo album (full disclosure – the first photo they show is of my wife’s second cousins),  “Vacation” picks up with Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms), who shifts gears away from the usual summer vacation destination and insists that his wife, Debbie (Christina Applegate), and two sons (Skyler Gisondo and Steele Stebbins) retrace his family’s cross-country trip to Walley World from 30 years before.

Renting a knock-off hybrid vehicle that instantly becomes trouble, Rusty loads up his wife and kids for the long trip from Chicago to California. Naturally, they run into one disaster after the next, yet hold out the hope of making it to Walley World in one piece.

Opening with a classic “Holiday Road” tune from the 1983 original film, the music switches gear to an F-bomb laden rap song, setting the tone for the sort of trashy movie the new “Vacation” quickly becomes. Whether it comes with the revelation of Debbie’s torrid sexual encounters during college to her puke-soaked attempt to regain her former glory during a stop at her alma mater; or the family’s dip into the festering sewer waters which was revealed in the film’s red band trailer, “Vacation” seems intent to make you cringe and gag in the hope that you’ll laugh at it, too. Cringe and gag you will. Laugh you won’t.

But that’s not the worst of it. There’s the youngest Griswold (Stebbins) who plays one of the most annoying characters in recent movie memory: a smart-ass preteen who drops the F-bomb with wanton abandon; and also kicks off the movie’s string of oh-so-funny (NOT) jokes about pedophilia and rape that pollutes the film.

By far the most embarrassing thing about “Vacation,” though, is Helms, who assumes the role played by Anthony Michael Hall as a child (if the filmmakers thought Hall wasn’t able to play himself as an adult, the joke’s on them).  It’s too bad, because Helms (as evidenced by “The Office” and “Hangover” films) can be funny; but here he’s relegated to effectively playing the same, horribly misinformed dad that Chevy Chase embodied in the first film. Chase, naturally, shows up in a cameo, as does Beverly D’Angelo, but they’re really not given anything to work with because frankly, there’s nothing there.

As awful as “Vacation” is, there are a few bright spots: Chris Hemsworth, who plays the very well-endowed husband to the adult Audrey Griswold (Leslie Mann), is quite funny; and Charlie Day nails his bit role as a chipper whitewater rafting guide. While not as funny as the still photos in the opening credits, the stills to close the movie (along with yes, another trashy, F-bomb filled song) signals the film’s squandered potential. And, um, Thor does swing his mighty hammer in the end credits, so beware.

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Interview: Rebecca Ferguson talks ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’

Guess you could say after making a “Mission: Impossible” movie with Tom Cruise, it’s becomes second nature to spring into action in a moment’s notice, no matter how harrowing the scene is.

That’s at least the feeling I immediately sensed while chatting with Cruise’s fellow lead Rebecca Ferguson. During a recent call from Ferguson in Chicago to talk about “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” the stunning Swedish actress was glancing out of her hotel window and gasped when she nearly witnessed a bad accident.

“Oh, my God. A man ran across the road and a car nearly hit him. I could have jumped down and saved his ass,” Ferguson quipped.

A veteran of European television and film, Ferguson’s U.S. film debut came in 2014’s “Hercules” opposite Dwayne Johnson, a fantasy adventure where the action star did most of the heavily lifting.

With “Rogue Nation,” she said, that all changes.

“When I did ‘Hercules’ I wasn’t a woman in action. For me, it was mostly about horses, sandals and a camel named ‘Bobby,’ which was lovely. But after the movie, I thought, ‘God, I’d love to kick some ass now,'” Ferguson said with a laugh. “When they started casting ‘Mission: Impossible,’ I thought, ‘That’ll never happen. It’s not an independent movie.’ But I guess my audition went well.”

In “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” Ferguson plays Ilsa Faust, a mysterious woman with ties to a terrorist organization known as “The Syndicate” – a group that the CIA claims is a product of IMF agent Ethan Hunt’s (Cruise) imagination.

Photo: Paramount Pictures

After a deadly encounter with The Syndicate’s head (Sean Harris), Ethan confirms the group is indeed for real; but with the IMF division abolished thanks to a vindictive CIA honcho (Alec Baldwin), the rogue agent only has a small group of fellow IMF colleagues to count on to help expose the group. More importantly, though, Ethan is forced leap of faith and trust Ilsa, who for reasons unexplained helped him escape torture and certain death at the hands of her employer.

Opening in theaters and on IMAX screens Friday, “Rogue Nation” is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, and features the return Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames as Ethan’s only IMF allies.

By now, it’s quite likely that movie fans have seen behind-the-scenes featurettes for “Rogue Nation” that illustrate how Cruise’s death-defying stunts in the film are definitely real. Ferguson, a 31-year-old native of Stockholm, Sweden, said knowing Cruise was doing his own stunt work helped motivate her to keep her stunt double seated on the sidelines.

“I think it’s really intoxicating seeing him do it and know that it’s possible,” Ferguson said. “But I’ll admit I was really scared knowing that on the first day of filming I would be shooting off the rooftop of the Vienna Opera House. Doing something like that was a big fear of mine, and I knew I could always say, ‘No,’ because I had this wonderful stunt double named Lucy who could jump in.”

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Having a month-and-a-half to prepare for the scene with Cruise, Ferguson eventually opted to do the scene for real because she realized if you’re doing an action-filled adventure film, you have to actually experience the adventure — especially when that adventure is with Cruise.

“I wanted to be going through it with him. I wanted to be on this adventure. That’s why you do a ‘Mission: Impossible’ film. Also I knew that I’d have my legs wrapped around Tom Cruise and going, ‘Woo-hoo!” Ferguson said, laughing.

While Ferguson has her legs wrapped around Cruise and is holding on for dear life in one scene, she proves in many other scenes in the film that she can more than handle herself against the bad guys as she puts on a spectacular array of crippling martial arts moves.

Amazingly, Ferguson said, she didn’t know a thing about physical combat before she started work on the film.

“When I got the part, we flew over to London and a car picked me up, and we went straight to the gym,” Ferguson said. “They showed me the schedule, which was basically six hours of training a day, six days a week. We did Pilates, stunt training, choreography and sprinting, because Tom Cruise likes to run. I had no idea of the amount of training that goes into what people eventually see on screen. But now, I miss it. After shooting the scenes, I’d say, ‘Let’s do it again!’ It’s such a high that kicks in when you’re doing it. It’s like an incredible dance routine, and you get better and better the more you do it.”

While “Rogue Nation” was stocked with more than enough action and adventure scenes to give Ferguson her an adrenaline high, she said the experience of working on the film wouldn’t have been complete without the smart story that action and adventure is rooted in.

“That’s the reason I’ve loved all of the ‘Mission: Impossible’ films from the start,” Ferguson enthused. “I love the highly intelligent stories. I love the twists, turns, stories and the characters. I love it when the filmmakers get together and make this incredible puzzle. They make the impossible possible.”

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