“… Mission: Impossible – Fallout, while not my favourite of the franchise, is certainly the best.”

Mission: Impossible might be the only franchise that actually gets better with every installment. Sure the last one was about on-par with the fourth, but in some regards it was quantifiably better. The same can be said for Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the sixth installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, and honestly I think it’s the best. It might not be my favourite (shout-out to Mission: Impossible 3) but I cannot deny the fact that this movie features almost all of the series’ “bests”.

For instance, Mission: Impossible – Fallout has the best story. Why? Becasue it makes the universe feel whole. In this movie Ethan Hunt is tasked with not only dealing with the dangers at hand (namely threat of nuclear war), but also with demons from his past. Mission: Impossible – Fallout is really the first movie to make it seem like all of the other movies are connected. Sure there are threads with four and five, but for the most part the series attempted to remain stand-alone not unlike the original television series.

Piggybacking off of this, Mission: Impossible – Fallout also had the best ending in the franchise. I’m not going to spoil anything here, but it was the most complete. It wrapped up things not only introduced in the movie, but things that have been hanging in the air since 2011. It truly felt like a wonderful cherry on top of an already delicious sundae (Mission: Impossible 2 being the weird, obscure flavour near the bottom like pistachio or some shit). It was just so satisfying in every regard. I hope this isn’t the case, but the series could just end here and I would have no qualms with that. It could just remain a perfect, fun-filled period of Hollywood and Scientology.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout also struck the best balance between serious and fun. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol leaned a little too far into the ‘fun’ category, and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation kind of overcorrected; but Mission: Impossible – Fallout found the perfect balance. You get these fun moments between characters that you’ve grown to know and love over the years, but the movie never forgets that the situation is very serious. There is this constant sense of impending doom that you feel throughout the film, and it never lets you forget that these characters are terrified. And rightfully so. I was a little disappointed at the lack of Brandt (Jeremy Renner’s character), as seeing him and Luther interact in the last film was definitely a highlight for me. But regardless the film managed to do okay without him.

To continue with the incessant praising of this film, Mission: Impossible – Fallout quite possible had the best stunts in the franchise. Granted there was nothing as insane has hanging off of a skyscraper or clutching on to the wing of a plane, but that kind of worked to the film’s benefit. There was no stunt that detracted from the overall feel of the movie. Everything blended in brilliantly, which added to the balance of serious and fun I was talking about. And it’s an added bonus when you remember that Tom Cruise did all of that shit himself.

But one thing that did stand out to me was the best fight scene in the Mission: Impossible franchise; the bathroom fight. This was heavily used in the marketing, and it features my favourite part of any trailer ever (when Henry Cavill ‘reloads’ his fists to the beat), and it surpassed all expectations in the movie. Not for a while have I seen a fight scene that is so brutal, so taxing on the characters, and at the same time so badass. The setting, a completely white bathroom, allowed for the characters to pop and also allowed for some interesting environmental interactions. The entire sequence is easily the best thing I’ve seen in any Mission: Impossible movie, and quite possibly the best thing I’ve seen an any action movie ever.

Also, Mission: Impossible – Fallout features the best facial hair. It was beyond worth it to have Justice League ruined to keep Henry Cavill’s flavour saver intact. That thing is glorious.

Overall Mission: Impossible – Fallout, while not my favourite of the franchise, is certainly the best. It is fun, intense, and features so many things that were done perfectly.

I give Mission: Impossible – Fallout an A