Aquaman – Film Review

“This is going to be fun,” Jason Momoa’s titular swashbuckling superhero grins at one point in Aquaman. It’s a cheeky aside that could just as well serve as a mission statement for director James Wan’s recklessly inventive film. We’re talking about a movie where the big bad rides into battle astride an armoured war-shark. Where pterodactyls flap around a deserted island hidden beneath the Earth. And where blood sports begin with an octopus-led drum solo. And that’s only the tip of the weirdness iceberg.

Our hero is Arthur Curry/Aquaman, the illegitimate son of a lighthouse keeper (Temuera Morrison) and an Atlantean queen (Nicole Kidman). Because of his hybrid upbringing, Arthur is a (literal) fish out of water everywhere he goes – except for the seaside tavern where he’s a minor celebrity among the lumbering locals – and, like a nautical Thor, he has little interest in returning to his underwater home to rule. Meanwhile, his avaricious half-brother Orm plots to control the land as well as the seas, orchestrating a false-flag submarine attack to unite the underwater clans in a war agains the human world. 

Not that the plot really matters. Wan plays fast and loose with his story, flitting between strands with little in the way of a solid structure. The aforementioned submarine skirmish is barely mentioned again. Neither is a retaliatory tsunami that kills thousands of humans, not to mention wiping out the naval might of the world’s biggest military powers. Instead, Curry is despatched on a messy, overlong quest to find a place to decipher a thing that will help him find another thing he needs to save the world. It’s no wonder he has trouble remembering what he’s supposed to be doing.

Momoa at least makes the most of every second he is on screen, exuding a roguish surfer charm that feels at odds with the grim world view of his more perturbed Justice Leaguers. At times it feels like Momoa has rolled onto the set straight from an all-night beach party – and the movie is all the better for it. Sadly, his supporting cast don’t fare quite so well. Amber Heard’s Mera seems to exist solely to deliver helpful exposition. Patrick Wilson’s Orm has a distantly rational plan, but his characterisation is so stilted he lacks the menacing gravitas of Black Panther’s Killmonger or Infinity War’s Thanos. And Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta is an underserved, frankly needless addition to an already bulging plot.

Yet Aquaman is undoubtedly wildly entertaining and completely bonkers fun, largely because Wan takes every harebrained idea that pops into his head and throws it up on screen to see if it sticks. The result is a bizarre mash-up of Avatar, Tron and Clash of the Titans as Curry scraps with robotic sea ninjas, enters into a battle of wits with a sentient tentacle and, in one evocatively shot sequence, dives headfirst into the depths of the ocean pursued by a horde of zombie seahorses. 

Even then, by the time Curry arrives on the back of a giant, shelled goat thing to break-up a Star Wars-alike battle between Brian Blessed’s crab men and a legion of sharks, even the outrageously over-the-top action has lost its charm. Aquaman offers something unexpectedly peculiar and refreshingly different to the gloomy, fate-of-the-world nonsense that the DC Universe has served up thus far – it’s just a shame that its breezy, larger than life charm gets cast adrift in a maelstrom of bombastic CGI.

Runtime: 143 min (approx.)

Director: James Wan

Screenwriters: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Will Beall

Stars: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – Film Review

At the start of The Crimes of Grindewald, everything is buggered. Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne)and his friends are scattered across the globe. The Wizarding World is deeply divided and preparing for war. And the dark lord Grindelwald is on the loose and waging a campaign to turn his fellow wizards against their non-magical cousins. It’s a serious departure from the larking about with mooncrows and erumpents of its predecessor. But while Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was far from faultless, it’s childish sense of wonder made it an irresistible rush to watch. This grown-up sequel doubles down on the low-stakes, diffuse plotting, and loses the dazzling novelty that made the first film such a frothy delight.

One year on from his violent assault on New York City, Grindewald (Johnny Depp) mounts a spectacular escape from a flying stagecoach while on route to stand trial in Europe. Unable to move against his former lover, Dumbledore (Jude Law) sends his favourite former pupil, Newt – now a mildly famous author – to Paris to hunt him down. It’s a lean, enticing set-up, but rarely is there much tension or a sense of urgency to the adventure, as J.K. Rowling and director David Yates get bogged down in unengaging subplots and unnecessary backstories. Newt spends more time pining for love interest Tina (Katherine Waterston, again given very little to work with) than thwarting Grindelwald’s plot. A complicated history between the Magizoologist, his brother Theseus (Callum Turner) and his fiancé Leta (Zoë Kravitz) is hinted at without being fully resolved. Meanwhile, Grindelwald is seemingly content to sit back and wait for the pieces of his scheme to fall into place. These distractions result in Credence’s (Ezra Miller) search for belonging – the fulcrum around which the entire series pivots – being crowded out and feeling not as vital as it should.

Yet there’s still plenty of magic to be found. From Newt’s basement menagerie to the ornately detailed realisation of 1920s Paris, the mastery of craft and attention to detail in the production values is mightily impressive. It provides the perfect platform from which Yates launches a series of breathtaking set-pieces, including a thrilling raid on the French Ministry of Magic.

Redmayne ably anchors the action this time around, giving the big-hearted Newt more confidence and assurance as he throws himself into harms way for the greater good. While many are justifiably frustrated by the coy allusions to Dumbledore’s sexuality, there’s no denying Law perfectly captures the twinkling charm of a more youthful, mischievous professor. Depp is also perfect (if controversial) casting as Grindelwald, whose bleached blonde hair, wounded eye and zeal for rhetoric normalising horrific attitudes towards muggles makes for a chillingly pernicious presence on screen.

Watching a ridiculous-haired demagogue with a knack for manipulating vulnerable witches and wizards to his cause is too close to reality not be terrifying, culminating in a highly charged political rally and an emotional gut-punch of an ending that leaves everyone questioning their loyalties. It’s proof that there’s a powerful story to be told… if only Rowling and Yates could get on with telling it.

Runtime: 134 mins (approx.)
Director: David Yates
Screenwriter: J. K. Rowling
Stars: Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, Ezra Miller

Widows – Film Review

“No one thinks we have the balls to pull this off,” Viola Davis’ mourning thief spits at one point in this ferocious crime thriller. She could quite easily be referring to the faintly incredulous reaction to the news that arthouse powerhouse Steve McQueen would be directing Widows. While a remake of an 80s ITV series, itself based on Lynda La Plante’s novel, might seem an unusual choice to follow the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, in McQueen’s confident hands it becomes a powerfully proactive political thriller. One wrapped in plenty of explosive popcorn cinema.

A brutally immersive opening immediately proves McQueen can do high-stakes spectacle. Launching straight into the heist-gone-wrong action, we’re strapped into the interior of a getaway van as Liam Neeson’s career criminal and his macho crew are blown away in a hail of bullets and screeching tires. With the men gone, their widows are forced to embark on a job of their own to pay off their husband’s debts.

That basic set-up is the jumping off point for a sprawling examination of poverty, corruption and racism in America today. Rundown housing projects exist a stone’s throw from gentrified mansions; a lucrative local election is fought between two corrupt men who will do anything to hold power; a midway gut-punch evokes echoes of the Black Lives Matter movement. Clearly, McQueen has a lot to get off his chest and Widows is unflinching in its depiction of the challenges minorities face.

McQueen is careful not to let the politics overshadow the action, though. Instead he weaves his talking points between blistering set-pieces and staggeringly arresting visuals. One captivating scene takes place solely from the bonnet of a limo as it races past crumbling apartment blocks and into a leafy, gated community. And when it comes to pulling off the heist, McQueen delivers a taut, shockingly immediate display of kinetic car chases, tightly wound home invasions and captivating twists.

Such rich material makes effective use of Widow’s brilliant ensemble cast. Davis’ is undoubtedly the standout with an intensely emotive performance, rallying her hastily assembled crew and showing dogged determination to survive through her grief. Yet all four stars excel and surprise in their own way. Michelle Rodriguez imbues struggling mum Linda with grit and tenderness. Elizabeth Debicki draws unexpected courage and resilience from the abused Alice. And late arrival Cynthia Erivo exhibits quiet toughness as getaway driver Belle. Meanwhile, Daniel Kaluuya is also worthy of praise, offering an imposing threat as the swaggeringly terrifying Jatemme.

Some may say the film loses sight its deeper meanings as it scorches towards its brutal climax or that the genre’s tropes are not entirely supplanted (one twist in particular will challenge viewers’ credulity). Regardless, McQueen has crafted an emotionally intelligent thriller that evocatively explores grief, power and unimaginable pain with the same assurance as it delivers high octane thrills. Who says blockbusters are dumbing down?

Runtime: 129 mins (approx.)
Director: Steve McQueen
Screenwriters: Steve McQueen, Gillian Flynn
Stars: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Colin Farrell

A Star is Born – Film Review

A Star is Born is not a film to be taken on lightly. This is, after all, the fourth version of the tale to make it to screens, with 1954’s Judy Garland-starring musical looming largest in viewer’s minds. Add to that the baggage that comes with wrangling a film that’s languished in development hell for almost a decade, and it becomes an almighty challenge for Bradley Cooper to tackle for his directorial debut. But while most remakes are greeted with a chorus of ‘why?’, 2018’s A Star is Born more than lives up to its name, capturing the soul and spirit of its predecessors, while packing an authentic, heartfelt punch all of its own.

Alongside his assured direction, Cooper stars as country star Jackson Maine. Though he still packs out stadiums across the country, you can instantly feel that he is no longer at his best as we witness him popping pills backstage and necking bottles of gin in the back of his limo. Cooper is almost unrecognisable, yet utterly convincing as Jackson, his swollen, bloodshot eyes and gravelly voice betraying a man barely holding himself together as his personal demons take hold.

Hope arrives in the form of Lady Gaga’s Ally, whom he meets performing ‘La Vie En Rose’ in a drag queen bar. Like Jackson, we’re immediately captivated by Gaga’s beautifully vulnerable performance. Beneath her bolshiness and cynicism, Ally is an insecure woman bruised by previous rejections and comments by industry men more interested in her looks than her obvious talent. As she goes from overwhelmed and hopeful to confident and assured, Gaga never looses sight of Ally’s tender heart, playing her rise with a lightness of touch that belies her own on stage persona.

Cooper and Gaga are electrifying as a couple – particular during the film’s blistering, palpably authentic musical numbers – and they’re chemistry is undercut with sadness as their changing fortunes drive them a part. While Ally lands a record deal and finds herself plastered across billboards, Jackson falls further down the throat of a bottle. It’s in Jackson’s decline that Cooper steals the show from his co-star, putting in an astonishing performance as a man fractured by the death of his mother, the addiction of his father and crippling tinnitus, leaving him totally ill-equipped to save himself.

A Star is Born is certainly not perfect. The pacing is a little off and it’s in need of a sharper edit, particularly during a baggy second act. Yet, it’s undoubtedly an outstanding achievement for Cooper, who delivers a fresh, dynamic, and bittersweet, take on the material. And when the final emotional punch is thrown, there won’t be a dry eye in the house.

Runtime: 135 mins (approx.)
Director: Bradley Cooper
Screenwriters: Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters, Eric Roth
Stars: Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott, Rafi Gavron

A Simple Favour

After his Ghostbusters reboot was buried under a torrent of toxic Twitter troll ectoplasm, sharp-suited director Paul Feig attempts to leave the comedy set-pieces behind for a first foray into the mystery-thriller genre. But while A Simple Favour entertains in patches, Feig struggles to make the darkness stick, resulting in a tonally inconsistent and unsatisfying thriller.

Based on Darcey Bell’s novel, A Simple Favour offers a familiar Gone Girl-style set-up.
Widowed super-mom Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) befriends Blake Lively’s caustic Emily after their sons force them into an impromptu play date. Although the pair are polar opposites – Stephanie likes to post friendship bracelet-making videos on YouTube, while Emily relaxes by knocking back martinis – they soon become close friends. Then Emily disappears and Stephanie begins to realise she doesn’t know her friend quite as well as she thought.

Despite his movie’s billing as a dark, twisty thriller, Feig can’t help but let his comedy instincts shine through. From uproariously bitchy neighbours and glossy visuals to playfully awkward interactions between Kendrick’s wholesome Stephanie and Lively’s sexually audacious Emily, Feig peppers his film with a cheerful disposition. The frothy world his conjures sits uncomfortably with the plot’s darker elements, though – especially as the details of Emily’s disappearance unravel into murkier, more violent territory. And while Kendrick and Lively make for entertaining sparring partners – Lively is particularly enjoyable as a sharp-witted alpha mom, their characters are flimsy, with the emergence of Stephanie’s ‘darker’ side feeling distinctly unconvincing and irrelevant.

The tonal imbalance never settles with a rushed and confused final reel, underpinned by shaky revelations and muddled developments that just don’t ring true. Rather than trying to reinvent himself, Feig would be better served sticking to what he does best.

Runtime: 117 mins (approx.)
Director: Paul Feig
Screenwriter: Jessica Sharzer
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells

The Predator – Film Review

When you see the name Shane Black in the opening credits, you expect to see something different. This is the idiosyncratic mind that reinvented the buddy cop movie, gave hardboiled crime thrillers a sharp tongued twist, and turned Iron Man’s greatest foe into a clueless cockney crook. One assumes, then, that it must be another Shane Black behind The Predator. How else to explain why the one-time Hawkins’ return to the series could be such a rote, redundant bore that barely contains any hint of its creator’s singular personality?

The set-up looks promising with Black and Fred Dekker’s script conjuring up a few fresh twists on the series’ tropes. After a serviceable opening sequence in a jungle, the setting quickly shifts to a quiet suburban neighbourhood. Our hero is no Arnie-light super soldier, but an 11-year-old boy on the autism spectrum, who inadvertently receives a piece of alien tech that attracts the attention of the titular space aliens. And rather than a team of highly-skilled commandos, the action centres on a gang of mentally ill veterans who are presumably the only people on Earth crazy enough to do battle with an indestructible alien warrior.

Early scenes ripple with sweary banter between the crew and cheeky call-backs to the first film. There’s a cracking gag about the inaccuracy of calling a race of alien huntsmen ‘Predators’ and a gloriously tongue-in-cheek reference to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s iconic ‘Get to the chopper’ line. And like all the other films in the franchise, The Predator’s propulsive action sequences are laced with plenty of blood, guts and dismembered body parts as the dreadlocked fighters slice, dice and splice their way through most of the supporting cast.

For all the gory, bloody fun, the joke quickly runs thin. There’s none of Black’s trademark rebellious spirit in the dialogue and the plot struggles to find any new routes to take on the survival horror roadmap. We simply see Boyd Holbrook’s super sniper and his crew attempting to avoid being ripped to pieces as they desperately search for a way to defeat a seemingly unstoppable monster. Even the invention of an upgraded, Mega-Predator fails to raise the stakes in any meaningful way. It might be taller, uglier and more CGI-dependent than its predecessor, but its moves and threat level are very much the same.

And while the cast are all game, little effort is made to put any meat on the bones of their characters. Despite their mental health issues, the insensitively monikered ‘Loonies’ are given hardly any depth and the father-son dynamic at the heart of the story never quite rings true. All of which renders much of the violence – especially a messy, overblown climax – virtually senseless. Black openly admitted to taking this gig to recapture a sense of lost youth. Perhaps some things are better left in the past.

Runtime: 107 mins (approx.)
Director: Shane Black
Screenwriters: Shane Black, Fred Dekker
Cast: Boyd Holbrook, Jacob Tremblay, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes

BlacKkKlansman – Film Review

A Spike Lee joint hasn’t felt this energised in a long while… but then, it’s been a long time since race relations in America were this desperate. As African-Americans are attacked in the streets for standing up against inequality, a man beloved by out-and-out racists occupies the Oval Office. With BlacKkKlansman, Lee channels his righteous anger in the only way he knows how: unleashing a fast, funny, furiously provocative movie that results in his hardest hitting work in decades.

Based on some ‘Fo’ real shit,’ as the opening credits put it, the movie takes place in the 1970s as Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) becomes the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Emboldened by a successful undercover operation, Stallworth impulsively calls the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and asks to join their ‘organisation’. When he’s invited to to meet the local leaders, he recruits fellow officer Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) to play his white counterpart. Together, they fashion a frightening bigot who rises through the ranks to became a trusted confidante of Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace).

The resultant mix of knockabout satire, blaxploitation flick and tense cop thriller is wildly uneven, but consistently entertaining. The unlikelihood of the situation and the Klan’s ridiculous claims of racial superiority earn some big laughs, but there’s also an underlying sense of dread as Stallworth and Zimmerman get closer to their enemies and become involved in life and death situations. Lee does excellent work with these more cinematic sequences – especially during a breathless, cross-cutting climax – crafting a number of heart-in-throat sequences.

Washington more than holds his own as Stallworth, his wild magnetism being an ideal fit for a man torn between worlds. Stallworth has always believed in the values of the police force and even likes many of his colleagues, yet his exposure to activism through Laura Harrier’s fiery, quick-witted Patience forces him to doubt whether he really can affect change within a racist institution. Washington’s fierce charisma plays nicely against Driver’s quieter Zimmerman, a Jewish officer whose role in the investigation raises difficult questions about his own identity and place within a corrupt system.

Beneath the entertainment, though, runs a biting, viscerally relevant political satire. The hateful rhetoric used by Klan members and the sight of prejudiced cops abusing their power feel chillingly familiar to current events. And while Lee’s didactic style is sometimes a bit too much – at one point a white officer remarks that one day America will elect a person who embodies white supremacist ideals – as BlacKkKlansman reaches the gut-wrenching sting in its tale, it becomes clear why his timely message is so vital: this evil is still amongst us and Lee is leading the fight back.

Runtime: 135 mins (approx.)
Director: Spike Lee
Screenwriters: Spike Lee, Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott
Stars: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace

The Spy Who Dumped Me – Film Review

After a string of films that criminally underused her talents, The Spy Who Dumped Me is the movie that finally offers Kate McKinnon the very-nearly-lead role she deserves. While ostensibly the support to Mila Kunis’ jilted spy romancer, it’s Mckinnon’s haywire charm and irrepressible off-beat persona that keeps the fizz in this flabby and flawed action comedy, swiftly forming a fiercely enjoyable double act with her co-star as accidental spies who stumble into an international race to obtain a hoary Macguffin.

Initially McKinnnon’s Morgan fills the expected ‘quirky best-friend’ role to Kunis’ more conventional Audrey, who feels crushed after being heartlessly dumped via text by her awol boyfriend. But once Justin Theroux’s charmless Drew is revealed to be a CIA agent on the run and the two friends are pushed into completing his high-stakes, Euro-trotting mission, McKinnon breaks free of this shell. Unleashing all of her firecracker energy, she bamboozles french students into letting her steal their phone, poses as a male cockney limo driver to kidnap a pair of German dignitaries and grapples with a grinning assassin on a trapeze. Her off-kilter high-jinks play superbly alongside Kunis’ burgeoning badass, who coolly handles the shootouts, knife fights and car chases solidly staged by director and co-writer Susanna Fogel.

Kunis and McKinnon are a joy together, fully convincing as long-term friends who know each other deeply, with Fogel’s knack for drawing warm and witty female friendships on full display. So strong is their chemistry that they’re able to lift the flat jokes and uneven pacing that dog Fogel and David Iserson’s over-cooked script. There’s a repetitive quality to much of the action and gags, the use of overly graphic violence jars against the movie’s comedic tone, and the plot is so twisty and confusingly overwrought that it runs out of steam long before the credits roll.

But even as the final act erupts into a chaotic, loopy mess of shifting alliances and double crosses, it’s Kunis’ slick charm and, more so, McKinnon’s alarming zeal for adventure that keeps us along for the ride. And with a mid-credits sting leaving things open for a potential sequel, as long as McKinnon is on board, we will be too.

Runtime: 117 mins (approx.)
Director: Susanna Fogel
Screenwriters: Susanna Fogel, David Iserson
Stars: Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon, Justin Theroux, Sam Heughan

Ant-Man and the Wasp – Film Review

You can see why Marvel scheduled Ant-Man and the Wasp as their first release post-Infinity War. After the gut-wrenching earthquake caused by Thanos’ mighty finger snap, a return to the breezy, low-stakes world of Marvel’s tiniest superhero feels like a delightful distraction. But while the rest of the MCU has significantly raised its game of late, delivering more ambitious, thematically muscular stories that stretch the boundaries of the genre, Ant-Man continues to offer the same-old small scale thrills that – though giddying and playfully entertaining – feel like lesser work in this new era of ground-breaking achievements.

At least Peyton Reed’s team of writers are kind enough to suggest a reason for why Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) might’ve been left of the Avengers’ guest list. Having breached the Sokovia Accords with his role in Civil War’s airport rumble, Scott has spent the past two years under house arrest. While that provides plenty of time to build elaborate cardboard playhouses and perfect his close-up magic tricks, it proves more of a challenge when trying to raise a child and kick-start a security business (brilliantly named X-Con).

Meanwhile, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) have gone off the grid, forming a renegade father-daughter team dedicated to rescuing Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the trippy Quantum Realm using a complicated thingumyjig called a Quantum Tunnel. But when their attempts to steal a crucial piece of tech from Walton Goggins’ low-level arms dealer throws them into the path of dangerously elusive new villain the Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), the duo reluctantly turn to their old friend for help.

While the plot effectively sets the stage for a light, bright comedy caper, it barely moves events on from the first film… and in some cases takes a backwards step. Scott continues to struggle to be a responsible parent and earn an honest living after a stint in prison. Hope and Hank are still consumed by the loss of their mother/wife decades earlier, while their relationship with Scott is effectively back to square one after the latter’s brush with the law forced them to go on the run. Even the villain is barely distinguishable from Corey Stoll’s one-note Yellowjacket – another baddie-with-a-grudge who wants to steal a piece of Hank’s tech for her own nefarious schemes.

The Ghost particularly feels like a wasted opportunity. A former SHEILD assassin whose ability to phase through objects is slowly killing her, she’s a rich, intriguing presence, beautifully played by John-Kamen. Yet Reed and co only skim the surface of her story, diluting the emotional force of her actions. It’s indicative of a film that all too often swerves the more complex, surprising avenues in favour of continuing down a road it’s already travelled.

That being said, there’s still plenty of fun to be had when the story gets going. The banter between the central trio fizzes with tension, with Scott’s impish charm grating against Hank’s surly attitude and Hope’s single-mindedness, while the action offers inventive use of growing and shrinking, from getaway cars the size of Hotwheels to skyscraper suitcases and colossal pez dispensers. And this time it’s Hope who gets to do most of the butt-kicking, snappily taking down a bunch of goons in a restaurant kitchen and zipping in and out of cars during a tautly executed chase over the hills of San Francisco.

Make no mistake, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a light-hearted, easy-going diversion. But with the MCU growing ever larger and expanding its horizons further, the miniature thrills on offer here feel comparatively trivial and inconsequential… like ants on your ceiling or a wasp buzzing around your head.

Runtime: 118 mins (approx.)
Director: Peyton Reed
Screenwriters: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari
Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

The one where Ethan Hunt hangs from a cliff-face. The one where he crawls up the side of the world’s tallest building. The one where he clings to the outside of a plane mid-take-off. If Mission: Impossible movies are defined by the outrageous, insurance-busting stunts Tom Cruise is prepared to to throw himself into, Fallout will not be so easily constrained. Is it the one where Hunt dangles from a helicopter? Or the one where he leaps out of a plan at 25,000ft, or the one where he races a motorcycle the wrong way around the Arc de Triomphe? In fact, so determined are Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie to make this film bigger, bolder and twistier than previous instalments, they’ve essentially crafted a heart-pumpingly relentless two-hour action sequence. And it might just be one of the best action movies ever made.

It also has the rarest of elements for an action movie: an engaging plot that more or less makes sense. After a botched IMF sting operation hands a batch of nuclear weapons to The Apostles, an elusive gang of terrorists loyal to anarchist baddie Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), Hunt and his team take it upon themselves to right the wrong. But first they must get past their new handler Agent August Walker (Henry Cavill, sporting that now infamous piece of lip fuzz), the CIA’s number one ‘plumber’ who has orders to hunt and kill the team should they step out of line. When the mission inevitably goes south, Hunt finds himself in a race against time to evade a number of assassins and neutralise the threat.

Although such a twisting, consistently surprising plot requires a fair amount of heavy exposition lifting early on – for which McQuarrie semi-successfully compensates with some stylish noir visuals – once the pieces are in place and the mission has been accepted, the movie (literally) dives head first into the globe-trotting action… and things only crank up from there. There’s a taut, adrenalin-triggering car chase through a bustling city, a bone-shattering, vertiginous rooftop jump, and a brutally visceral bathroom brawl in Europe (something that is fast becoming a niche calling card for Cruise). And those are meant to be the low-key sequences where we’re able to catch our breath in between the more death-defyingly bonkers set-pieces Cruise and McQuarrie have cooked up.

The cast is superb too, with McQuarrie (who also writes) smoothly layering powerful character moments between the revving and punching. Whether it’s sharing a joke in the middle of a skydive or a tearful goodbye during a bomb defusion, the writer-director raises the personal stakes just enough to make us fret about who will survive the next insane set-piece. Even Cruise, upon whose apparent super-human infallibility this franchise relies, allows Hunt to appear more tormented and vulnerable than ever before and a heart-pounding finale set atop the Kashmiri mountains is all the more gripping for it.

The question posed throughout Fallout is why someone would keep throwing themselves into impossible scenarios at the risk of their own life. The same could be asked of Cruise himself as he continues to push himself into unimaginably dangerous stunts for our entertainment. One thing is for sure, though: whether it’s the one where Hunt paraglides down Everest, clambers up a launching rocket or grapples with a pony-tail wearing Ben Affleck – as long as Cruise eps upping the ante, we’ll keep coming back for more.

Runtime: 148 minutes (approx.)
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Screenwriter: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill