He was actually running with a broken ankle wasn’t he? Nutcase! 
The take in the movie is the one where he broke his ankle. He also did about 100 HALO jumps, of which only 3 takes were usable. Also, he learned to fly a helicopter and do the corkscrew dive within six weeks.
It just occured to me that, sadly, since MI started it has been better than the Bond series in that time…arguably. Goldeneye and Casino Royale are amazing, but i’d rank the last few MI films as being more enjoyable to watch. I also prefer tom cruise as ethan hunt than Daniel “Gloomy Gus” Craig as Bond. There’s an energy to the MI films that have been lost in Bond in the last three decades aside from GE and CR. Ethan Hunt is also likeable and charismatic, but he’s not stiff like Brosnan; He can be serious about stuff but doesn’t get glum or grimdark like Craig. Each MI film also reinvents itself and offers many FRESH scenes and action sequences. I can’t remember the last truely fresh sequence in Bond that made other films copy it. Perhaps not since the Goldeneye dam jump. At a strech maybe CR’s parkour scene, but that was neither totally fresh nor within the last decade.
The best line in the movie is definitely when Ethan spits
Summary
“Prick!!” at the baddie. Made me laugh and yet I totally shared his frustration. Brilliant film.
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Well on the face of it the action scenes in this aren’t totally new ideas: a skydive, a motorbike chase, car chase, a fight etc. They’re just done incredibly well: but I wouldn’t say there are brand new ideas in there. Climbing up the Burj is a bit more original. The plane chase from Spectre is probably more inventive; it’s just not as good.
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What makes Fallout that much more exciting is its undertones of fallibility. The opening scene shows us the regret and doubt in Ethan’s own mind about his career calling. The way Cavil is shot in their scenes together, towering over Cruise, underscores this vulnerability. One scene that perfectly illustrates this is Simon Pegg’s Benji, remotely navigating Hunt’s running via iPad, telling him to go right only to realize his iPad is upside down. We laugh at that moment, but then when Benji prods Hunt about his hesitation, Ethan exasperates, “I’m jumping out a window!” We’re at once experiencing the disjointed attachment of an audience but also sympathize with the character in film, (especially knowing that the scene to come breaks the actor’s ankle.) Even the bit of free climbing in the finale recalls M:I-II’s opening scene. It’s this attention to detail that makes the set-pieces emotionally involving.
The movie’s integration of his ex-wife’s somewhat retconned story from Ghost Protocol, along with already having met Rogue One’s villain and thereby understanding his deeper changing motive, vests us all in the narrative that much more. We care about these characters and are familiar with their arcs, giving us a stronger connection to the story than the already excellent last two M:I films gave us. We’re also rewarded with a budding partnership between Ilsa Faust as a potential love interest and Ethan Hunt. They understand each other, despite cross purposes, in a way that makes M:I-III’s marriage more of a script construct than an earned attraction between two characters. Whereas in a Bond movie, the female romantic interest is reset every film.
Yes, this film still works as a standalone, but it succeeds in universe world building paying off from canon in a way that SPECTRE does not, despite explicitly trying. Throwing in Ving Rhames for more character reference and post-marriage counseling along with Alec Baldwin and Angela Basset earning our respect after initial mistrust rounds out the team. The end result makes Ving Rhame’s Luther the friend Bill Tanner should have been in Bond films, Simon Pegg the Q in the field we always wanted, and Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust as the long hyped-for Jane Bond. She’s literally an MI6 agent! Fallout also perfectly concludes a second Mission Impossible trilogy, while leaving enough in tact for more missions.
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"I guess he was talking about the chase at the beginning of the film between Bond and Girl which, as can plainly be seen, is a Direct copy for Hunt and Girl.
I daresay there has never before been a car chase between male hero and female protagonist before…"
Sorry for the very, very late reply, but I just had to react to this statements!
First of all: there’s one in Goldfinger, not a long one, but that doesn’t matter.
Second: the M.I.2 car scene is a copy of a scene from the movie “The Marseille Contract” from the seventies (1974),directed by Robert Parrish and starring Anthony Quinn, Michael Caine and James Mason, among others.
It’s about a D.E.A. officer (Quinn) who is stationed in France and he tries to get bailed a dangerous French gangster (Mason) and teams up with a jetset hitman (Caine), who is an old friend of him.
But somewhere in the middle of the movie there is a carchase, on a road in the French mountains, between the hitman and the daughter of the villian. This scene looks very much the same as the scene from M.I.2 including cars which are circle around eachother etc.
Ofcourse Woo’s version looks more spectacular and modern, but the ideas are already there.
This can’t be a coincidence, maybe Woo thought that nobody remembered this seventies movie and he could borrow ideas from this carchase scene, whithout anybody noticing?
Unfortunately for him this movie was released on a region A blu ray under the alternative title “The Destructors” a couple of years ago and that was when I noticed this.
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Mission Impossible Fallout
Wow. I’ve always loved this series, having watched the first one at the age of 14, can’t believe they are still making them.
But MI:6 has finally replaced the first one as my favourite. This is a blistering film, with an unbelievable amount of action sequences- foot chases, bike chases, car chases, helicopter dog-fights, HALO jumps, masks, heart-in-mouth moments galore with many a twist and turn.
Just when you think you know what’s happening the rug is pulled from beneath you.
It’s a long film at 2.5 hours but never feels like it. It manages to reference all the other M:I films, as well as Bond quite frequently, especially via the musical score. Especially the scene in London, where the chase leads into the Tate Modern- the end of that scene- you can hear the Bond theme in the music.
Go see it, it’s the best action you’ll see this year.
I’m actually scared that Bond 25 won’t top this for me.
I’m also now completely convinced I want Cavill as Bond. Totally sold.
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Literally just walked out of the cinema. I asked my viewing mate what they thought - they instantly replied with 10/10. To which I agree. This is a celebration of what I’m sure got most of us into the Bond franchise to begin with. Great action, intrigue and a dose of humour to balance everything out.
Cruise is great as usual. Henry Cavill, though, really impressed me. He had an imposing, threatening physique and presence. Ving Rhames is a loveable actor and he had a bit more to do here. I feel like giving him a special mention. They have a good chemistry with this crew. Simon Pegg is effortless.
I enjoy the ‘we have to make this work, we don’t have a choice’ aspect most of all with these films. And with a countdown clock hanging over everyone’s head. Forcing team members into uncomfortable situations which bring tension and humour. Cruise and the filmmakers have this down to an art now.
In an age of endless superhero films, it’s refreshing to see someone running their guts out instead of flying. Someone putting their body on the line for real - all for our entertainment. The action genre done right cannot be beaten. Fallout lived up to the hype. If you haven’t seen it, make plans to do so.
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A superb Empire Magazine interview with Chris McQuarrie here. The first of two (2!) two and a half hour interviews to go through the entire film.
If you can ignore the interviewer’s constant hee hee hee laughing, McQuarrie is a very intelligent chap.
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I liked how the film remained true to Ethan.
Summary
After seeing him shoot the policeman, I thought Ethan wouldn’t do that. And he didn’t. It was a dream sequence, and I thought bravo. The real sequence was all about him minimising police casualties, and instead shooting down men from the other side.
The opening segment in the ‘hospital room’ was clever. I was waiting for the title sequence with the classic theme, and almost thought they wouldn’t have one.
There is a video interview with McQuarrie at this link below that is really good and is only 18 minutes versus the two hours+ of the Empire audio interview.
I saw MI6 a second time, this one in a Dolby Atmos theater. Its three dimensional sound had me feeling Henry Cavil’s bullets in the leather reclining chair (yes!), and the columns whiz by while Ilsa rode the motorcycle. The first part of the Paris chase is scored with music, but the motorcycle chase is not, the sound of engines and tires screeching taking the forefront. Marvelous film making by McQuarrie.
On the second go around, you can spot the foreshadowing early on. Right away I recognized Lane as the wedding officiant in the opening scene. If you’re paying attention, they telegraph who John Lark is right away. Anyone notice how Cruise looks a lot like Pierce Brosnan in the scene where they first try buying the plutonium? The hair style, mannerisms and voice inflections are all there.
McQuarrie clearly made a Bond homage with this outting with both obvious and subtle nods to GE, TND, TWINE, SF, SP, FYEO, OP, TLD, LTK and of course OHMSS.
I doubt it’s any sort of conscious homage: it’s just that in spy films you’re going to overlap quite a lot.
Some are intentional, some are just common features of the genre. See Rogue Nation’s DB5 versus the villain escape during a prisoner transit (also present in the Bond loving Dark Knight Trilogy)
Yes, I expect the DB5 was a cheeky nod (albeit one I’ve never seen them exploit in any behind the scenes stuff or anything…?) but I’m not aware of them doing anything else. Of course Hunt spends a bit more time in a dinner jacket than he may have done if it weren’t for Bond, but it’s a bit of fun!
The trick is: Hunt can leave the dinner jacket behind for a film or two and nobody is going to complain a lot. If Bond does it’s going to cause a major stir.
On the other hand, if MI doesn’t have a nifty briefing-by-tape scene or feature some masks in the adventure that would be a breach of folklore with the fans.
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Yes that’s true: I’m not sure it has much to do with homaging Bond, but sure!
And M:I definitely requires heist scenes- without that it’s not M:I. Although it’d be nice to have one where Ethan doesn’t have to steal/break out something which shouldn’t be in the open to give to the baddie as part of catching him/saving his friends! Just for once
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Homage? They have just stolen almost everything from Bond:
a remote controled car and HALO jump from TND, a kind of Mr. White figure (Lane) from QoS and Spectre, same kind of escape of villain in water (LTK), toiletroom fight (CR) etc, etc…
That’s why I can’t call this movie “one of the best actionmovies ever”, or “how a Bond movie/SPECTRE should be /should have been”, like some people do,
I have seen it all before, also in Cruise’s own movies, like the first scene in M.I.2 or again a motorchase through a busy city (Knight and Day).
The motor chase from M.I.5 was much better and more exciting! I liked that move also a lot better!
Just an ok actionmovie with a couple of great thrills, nothing more.
Oh! And way too long!
I agree it’s not big on originality, and like every M:I before it, I’ve already forgotten most of the “plot” a week after seeing it. But it was hugely entertaining at the time, and the ridiculously long run time went by very quickly (my mind wasn’t tired at all, but my bladder sure felt it!).
All the elements you list were indeed done in Bonds before, but in every case I thought “Fallout” did it better. As with all things, though, your mileage may vary.