Mission: Impossible - Fallout

An acceptable level of audacity. After taking a bit of a dip in the previous outing, this installment -- almost a direct continuation of the previous film’s storyline -- rises up once again to a most satisfying height of mayhem, twists and turns, and hanging by a fingernail intensity. And, as an added bonus, the script injects an element of emotional depth into the proceedings, in the person of our hero’s former flame, a piece of his puzzle that had been building in the previous outings, but only becomes fully realized as a key component here. Adding that to the already expert execution of all the great spy movie must-haves -- outrageous action, world-class locations, eye-popping settings, and a hint of aplomb and cool humor -- solidifies this flick as both another fine and fun entry in the series, and a representative example of the franchise as a whole. This one has a certain valedictory air to it, as if this may be Cruise's last go-around as Ethan Hunt; if so, it’s a worthy way to say sayonara to what is, in many ways, a career-defining body of work. Impossible or not, I’m willing to declare this mission more than just accomplished. Bravo.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Solid but not spectacular. This is the first film in the franchise that feels like it lives a rung down on the ladder. Not to say that it’s bad; this is a fine, workmanlike rendering of the series’ oeuvre, with all the elements that made the previous four outings so successful. There’s just a hint that maybe we’ve seen a bit too much of this at this point. The action is top notch, if not as hair-raising as some of the sequences of earlier entries. This one is a bit thin on the humor that leavened the prior episodes, hinting that perhaps the production has started to take itself a bit too seriously. One thing that does stand out: these movies have a (I don’t know if I’d call it refreshingly) jaundiced view of government -- not just foreign governments or the USA’s institutions, but seemingly every government on earth. In that way, this is a spy franchise that is more plugged into the zeitgeist than, say, the Bond movies have been for a long time. That’s perhaps not something you want to appreciate -- the world was probably a better place when you could actually believe in something -- but it is at least worth nothing, and to some extent respecting. So, in sum, we take a small step down here, but this part of the canon remains high-level action entertainment -- still a mission worth accepting.