Tom Cruise returns once more as IMF agent Ethan Hunt. This time round we join him being broken out of Prison – the reason for him being there we find out much later. But Cruise wastes no time kicking ass in a variety of ways until he is on the outside and with his IMF buddies.
Among them we have Paula Patton and a returning Simon Pegg in a beefed up role. They themselves are in a bit of a predicament as they have just come from a failed mission (Anyone wondering why Josh Holloway didn’t get his own character poster in the ad campaign can wonder no more!)
But set-backs aside they get sent immediately on a new mission in Moscow where the plot really starts to thicken. To say that each mission leads from one catastrophe to another is putting it lightly. Our team find themselves disavowed and on the run with Jeremy Renner’s tag along desk jockey to Dubai to chase down some nuclear codes that some bad people are trading off.
Brad Bird expertly handles his first live action feature making real use of the tools as his disposal. He bounces the tone of the film from the comedic to action elements with ease (although Pegg is again surfing the awkward, bumbling English prat comic role). Cruise acquits himself in the role one again and isn’t trying to hide any of the wrinkles along the way.
The set pieces are nothing short of larger than life. And the centre piece in Dubai is where you really get your money’s worth. The script here is probably at its height as it keeps pounding along until it is no longer possible to keep up with the chase. And if you are planning on seeing this on an IMAX then you will not be let down!
The faults in the film are minor. The villains (and the sub-antagonists) barely get time to make any impact. A shame as they gathered together a few names of note but don’t really know how to utilise them except in the physical sense when it comes to fighting.
This film though isn’t as schmaltzy as JJ Abrams third instalment of the franchise. It may all be a muddle, but it’s an impressive muddle that is sure to keep the franchise pumping along for another feature in the years to come.
Steven Hurst