New Mission: Impossible—Fallout trailer confirms that yes, this movie looks very fun
For pure entertainment value, it’s hard to top the Mission: Impossible series— even the Fast And Furious films lack the consistent track record delivered by the Tom Cruise-led franchise adaptation of the old TV show. Each film is the vision of a different auteur, and yet all have delivered a reliably thrilling collection of chases, explosions, and MacGuffins providing an excuse for all the derring-do. Even the weakest entry, John Woo’s slo-mo-suffused Mission: Impossible 2, provides some delightfully excessive bombast. And now the latest trailer for the sixth installment, Mission: Impossible—Fallout has been released, and to the surprise of no one, this thing looks fun as hell.
This newest iteration of the M:I series again has what appears to be an overly convoluted plot, a hallmark of the series; though it’s tough to say exactly what it is from this trailer, which mostly contains shots of characters saying vaguely portentous things about how “the end you’ve always feared is coming.” While there’s some overlap with the previous Super Bowl trailer, this one features a lot of exposition about the nature of Henry Cavill’s new assassin character, who it seems has been employed to keep Cruise’s Ethan Hunt in line—and put him down if necessary. (There’s some very funny editing work here that makes it seem like even Cavill just flexing his arms quick before a fight is enough to create the sound of fist meeting bone.)
In addition to the requisite shot of Cruise running very fast, which is clearly a contractual mandate on his part, we get a full-on glimpse of the infamous stunt that shattered Cruise’s ankle. And from our admittedly amateur freeze-frame skills, it appears the take that resulted in the injury may actually be the one that made it into the final film. Another reason to see the film: It functions as actual Cruise masochism porn.
If there’s one minor quibble, it’s that part of the appeal of each new film was seeing how the next auteur to take the reins would tailor M:I to their specific vision, but for the first time, a returning director is making a second go at it, as Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation helmer Christopher McQuarrie comes back for more shots of Cruise doing ridiculously unsafe things. Still, a few shots here suggest he’s learned some new tricks in the interim; we’ll know for sure when Mission: Impossible—Fallout opens July 27.