1,225,879 @ 1:39 am
ROUGH DRAFT
I work my film reviews out on Medford Information Central these days, so you get an inside glimpse on how the critical essays are put together. Basically, this first draft is throwing the elements down on the table. I'll figure it all out later today having spent an hour and a half on it already and nearly 3 hours in the theater (on a 2 1/2 hour film.) 2:55 am 7-29-18
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT
Jeremy Renner Too Busy with Avengers 4 to participate...but I think there's another reason
The reason the director gave for Jeremy Renner missing out on Mission Impossible: Fallout is that he's too busy with Avengers 4. Really?
With the terrific Angela Bassett as Erica Sloan, Vanessa Kirby as the pseudo villainess White Widow, the alleged "two loves" of Ethan Hunt - Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust and Michelle Monaghan as Julia Meade-Hunt, you have a focus on four women while Alec Baldwin, Tom Cruise, Superman Henry Cavill and magnetic Wes Bentley and Ethan Hunt team-mates Simon Pegg and an extremely overweight Ving Rhames make it obvious that adding Renner would put too much focus on the guys. Indeed, Wes Bentley could play a relative of Henry Cavill, a stark resemblance in some press photos, though not so much in this film. For Julia Meade-Hunt he's more stable and far more sexier than Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt for her film hubby, "Patrick." And of course there's the return of villain Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) to spread out over the two hours and twenty-eight minutes this motion picture is splashed over.
You've seen so many of the elements employed in this lengthy action epic that it's mind-boggling. Scenes from Tom Cruise's own The Firm including hyped-up versions of the piano music during dramatic scenes are included here - watch for Cruz to reverse his Firm role as the stalker (going after Cavill's character) rather than the one being stalked - but it feels so similar to that episode of The Firm. The car chases are cut directly from the Matrix Reloaded and especially the sci-fi thriller Lucy, as well as previous Mission Impossible flicks which make for one big collage that sometimes gets as messy as the Avengers Infinity War and Mamma Mia 2. Key to note that the car chase scenes also draw liberally from Jeremy Renner's stint in the 2012 Bourne Legacy, as do the aforementioned on-foot chase scenes from the Firm AND Bourne Legacy.
Why are these new films getting so overly active with condensed fight scenes, Attention Deficit Disorder quick cuts and even Club Hell from the Matrix Revolutions??? Just put it all in a cement mixer, roll it, and see what comes out. They reference Vanessa Redgrave's character, Max, from Mission Impossible 1 as "White Widow" is her arms-dealer offspring. Like mother like daughter, an easy one for a fictional film, but it works.
As a work of digital "celluloid", what is this Mission Impossible 6? It is a well-crafted part of the franchise that is Cruise's home base. Just as Arnold Schwarzenegger has to protect the Terminator (and rethink it after Genisys,) and Sigourney Weaver can always go back to Alien, M.I. is a series that shows Tom Cruise is a true movie star, despite his off-screen insanity in his personal life, and the sometimes awkward scripts he chooses to participate in. But in spite of it all, Cruise and this franchise is still a huge box office draw and even Will Smith after all his success can't lay claim to that.
So is it a good movie? Yes, actually, it is. They've managed to put a dramatic script alongside the breathtaking scenery from many regions of the world, the feel is Bond, James Bond, and Superman Cavill is eyeing that role once Daniel Craig exits after he dipped his toes into Man From U.N.C.L.E. and now this. God knows that the D.C. universe is not helping this fine actor - and his pairing with heart-throb Armie Hammer was pure chemistry that just needed a better plot.
Will Cavill get type-cast as Superman? No, Brandon Routh from the 2006 Superman Returns escaped that fate and so too will Cavill, though Routh had that Christopher Reeve look and a bit of Cavill too (Cavill was considered for the 2006 role, so things do come full circle.) Indeed, the bad writing for the new Superman movies make this a smart career move for Cavill,
and what Tom Cruise has smartly done is to make this series as James Bond as possible. Lalo Schifrin's immortal theme - the inspiring and inspired Mission Impossible signature - plays well throughout this entire series, and it is simply an extraordinary piece of music that subliminally carries more weight than it is given credit for, just as the James Bond theme is essential to that series.
Is it memorable? As much as Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, for the money spent these episodes are just huge escapism that won't retain the impact of a Goldfinger or the original On Her Majesty's Secret Service or License to Kill. Those are extraordinary film work that stand on their own. This, Fallout, is clever on one level as a nuclear bomb movie, but it also borrows much too heavily from Goldfinger, especially in the countdown to disaster, taken right from that iconic Bond flick. On a 178 million dollar budget, and heading towards a 60 million opening weekend, Fallout will do the trick. It's a fun summer movie that will entertain, even though you will realize during all the drama that you've seen it all before. It's just put together with so much great craftsmanship that regarding the redundancy you won't even care
