Mission Impossible Fallout - Action can’t get any better

Mission impossible Fallout is the 6th movie of this 22-year-old franchise still starring Tom Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt. After the third instalment, things were looking pretty bad for them after which Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation took it to a whole new level. Fallout now takes this franchise to a level where I believe no other action movie can ever go. Seriously 6th movie into the franchise and they make their best movie now. This might actually end up being the best action movie ever made and I'm so happy that its Tom Cruise leading from the front because he has been around for so long.

THE PLOT

The plot of the movie is a bit convoluted, to say the least, but it's not too complicated. Just like any other Mission impossible movie it involves nuclear devices in this case plutonium. Hunt and his team must work together to stop a terrorist from getting his hands on the plutonium which if unleashed could lead to a loss in billions. In the middle of all this, we also take a look as to how Ethan's past follows him and if it gets the best of him.

TOM CRUISE - ETHAN HUNT

One thing that has remained the best part of all the Mission impossible movies is Tom Cruise and his everlasting youth. He's known for doing most of his stunts and it was no different with the fallout. Cruise fractured his ankle while jumping between two buildings. His dedication towards action is just applaudable, to say the least. I guess all the youngsters myself included will look up to this 56-year-old man on how to stay fit.

Tom Cruise reprises his role as Ethan Hunt leading his team along with Benji and Luther. As we go along with the plot Cruise's past keeps hunting him making us wonder if all he did throughout the year lead to this situation. It almost makes us wonder if its all his fault or if things would have been better had he not been involved. Whatever it is his character hasn't changed a bit. Just like he keeps saying 'I always take care of my friends', Ethan stays true to his words, choosing his friends in favour of a mission and then finding a complicated way of figuring out how to save the day.

We've seen him on bike chases, car chases, running like hell, climb the world's tallest building, hang on to the door of an aeroplane while it took off and just when we thought we've seen it all this movie rewards us with a bunch of cool stuff like really cool car chases, bike chases and much more of Ethan running like hell but this time we see an awesome helicopter chase something most movies never focus and it was just mind-blowing.

Ethan stays true to his character kicks so much ass protects his friends as always and somehow keeps surprising us with each new instalment and it was no different with this one, Hunt will always be the godfather of superspies.

HENRY CAVILL - AUGUST WALKER 

This movie is the reason why he refused to shave for the Justice League which gave us some of the worst on-screen CGI ever trying to shave his moustache. Henry Cavill plays the role of CIA agent August Walker. He's tough, stoic, muscular, menacing and most importantly full of surprises.

Cavill along with Cruise brings so much energy into the movie. This is one of those movies where we can actually see how good he can act instead of being a guy who's just there for his good looks and superhuman built, he is after all Superman.

SIMON PEGG - BENJI

One of the reasons I started loving the Mission impossible series since the fourth part is because of the introduction of Benji. He's the guy all of us can relate with if we're in a universe such as this. Simon Pegg once again wins our hearts by saving the team in so many crucial moments, using his intellect to save the world.

More importantly, his friendship with Ethan has grown and its really nice to see them get along so well now that their friendship has evolved. He still cares for Ethan at the same time, he's afraid to step into the field but in this movie, Benji spends most of his time in the field. He has developed so much courage and he even fights hand to hand on a couple of occasions, its great to see so much character development and he's another huge reason behind the franchise's success, he's just so lovable.

REBECCA FERGUSON - ILSA FAUST

Rebecca Ferguson reprises her role of Ilsa after rogue nation. She really nails every action sequence she's in. Her chemistry with Tom Cruise works really well. I loved how they brought her into the movie, initially, however, I was afraid they were going to use her just as another plot device but I was pleasantly surprised.

I can definitely see her as one of the best female action movie stars of this generation and I won't be surprised to find her in Marvel or DC soon because she's just so versatile. Another thing I loved about Ilsa was the drama. Rebecca pulled it off so well and proved there's much more to her than badass action sequences.

ACTION SCENES

One of the most difficult things in making an action movie is the way they present these scenes. There is always a risk of making too many or too little action scenes. Well this movie solves that problem by making literally every scene an action sequence and I'm not complaining about it. I loved every scene and I'm not sure how many times I'm going to re-watch these scenes. Great fight scenes cars, bikes, helicopters, mountains, hand to hand combat, this movie has everything and there are no complaints. Excellent work by the CGI department as always when it comes to mission impossible movies and this movie is no different. This is the best action movie I've ever seen and it's going to take a lot of hard work by any franchise to top this. Bond and the Kingsmen will be watching closely and should try to learn from this.

THE SOUNDTRACK

This is one department that really surprised me. The soundtrack was exhilarating throughout the movies. The action scenes were so much better with this kind of music and the music of this movie reminded me of music from the dark knight rises. The first thing I googled was if the composer was Hans Zimmer because the music filled the atmosphere, it made things so much more terrifying for the audience. I would love to include these tracks on my everyday playlist and Lorne Balfe, good job. But in many places, if I'm being honest, I heard something that was really similar to Bane's soundtrack from dark knight rises.

In an era dominated by comic book movies where people always compare action movies to comic book movies, I feel like there are very few movies such as non-comic book action movies. It's great to see Tom Cruise, the man who dominated action movies back in the late 90s, early 2000 still continuing to be the best in the department. He's clearly a legend and we would love to see him continue to surprise and inspire us to stay fit and run like a beast. Mission impossible fallout will go down in history as one of the best action movies ever made and currently, I would rate it the best of them all. I really hope this can go past the 1 billion mark at the box office.

VERDICT
FAN IN ME: 10/10
CRITIC IN ME: 9.9/10

Sorry Infinity War, you will take up the second place among the best movies of 2018 with a few more months left. This year has been great so far.

Incredibles 2 - Jack Jack saves the day and the movie

After fourteen years, Brad Bird finally feels that the time has come for him to get on with a sequel for the 'perfect fantastic four movie', The Incredibles. Fans all over the world have waited long enough to get some news about the sequel and when it was announced that Brad Bird was working on a sequel, people started losing their minds.

Some of the things that made the first Incredibles stand out so much were the plot, the character development, the unique universe, relatable issues and most importantly, the motivation of the villain. It still doesn't feel like a movie made in 2004 and was way ahead of its time. Similar content was seen in movies like Captain America Civil War and Batman V Superman. So the expectations for the sequel was pretty high, to say the least. Some spoilers related to the first part may be discussed in the following sections, now that you've been warned, let's get on with the review.

The movie starts off where the first part left, after Dash's game with the introduction of the Underminer. Our heroes are put in a tricky situation with some tough choices to make during the first fight. The debate as to whether the world needs superheroes or not continues due to the property damage caused during their fights. This part reminded me of the part in Civil War where the Avengers were blamed for their actions in New York, Sokovia and Washington D.C.

The heroes are then approached by a billionaire named Winston Deavor who offers to help make the supers legal again. Winston says that the world needs to be shown the perspective of the heroes and not politicians. He chooses Elastigirl to try this new approach because of the fact that there's less collateral damage whenever she is involved. He wants to prove to the world that in being a hero is about making the right decisions at the right time and he wants to show Elastigirl's perspective of crime during all her encounters.

It was nice to see a lot of Frozone this time and Sam Jackson nails it again. Granted this movie had a lot of hype because of its predecessor but it was nice to feel that tinge of nostalgia again. Edna is back but I'd have liked to see a bit more of her. The original cast did a fantastic job and they stayed true to their characters. The movie tries really hard to keep up with the 2018 issues however it feels forced in some places.

 

Jack- Jack was probably the best part of the movie. He's so cute and adorable throughout and his heroics turn out to be the key during a crucial point in the movie. The fact that he has no control over his powers make him even more interesting. There's a scene where he fights a racoon, that scene had the entire theatre laughing and it was so well animated. Every scene with Jack Jack is nothing short of extraordinary and he turns out to be the best part, without him, this movie would have been much less enjoyable.

The weakest part of the movie turns out to be the villain, The Screen slaver. This is one of the places where the first part stands out and this is where I hoped they wouldn't let us down, but unfortunately, they did. The motivations were silly, the reveal wasn't grand and it felt very stale. Syndrome felt very relatable and he grew over time because of Mr Incredible's mistake. The best part of a good villain is to make the audience root for them, I felt no connection with the screen slaver and there was nothing new or unique. This was a huge let down for me and the underminer just disappears after the first scene, perhaps they're saving him for another sequel.

Overall, it was a good watch, Jack Jack was brilliant, Elastigirl was great, Frozone was great too but Violet and Dash didn't have much to do and neither did Mr Incredible. But the movie tries to compensate for any mistakes in the last fifteen minutes of screen time which was nothing short of pure awesomeness and grandeur. This movie has come out after fourteen years and has very little in it to justify the delay of fourteen years. Brad Bird revealed that he didn't want to make a sequel until he was sure that it was as good as the first one but for me, it would have been no different if this came out two years after the first one. It's not a bad sequel but there's very little that's new and unique about it. It doesn't manage to do anything new after its extraordinary predecessor.

Verdict:
Fan in me: 7/10
Critic in me: 8/10

Animation has really come a long way, the small strands of fabric seen in everyone's clothes, awesome action scenes really deserve great appreciation and definitely warrant a one time watch in theatres.