Is ‘Mission:Impossible – Fallout’ the Best Mission: Impossible Yet?

The latest instalment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ was discussed at length on Episode 13 of ‘What Do You Wanna Watch?‘ by Ashley and Dylan. The pair picked apart their flaws of the film, highlighted their favourite parts and compared it to the other movies in the series.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or sound off on Twitter.

Dylan: Really really liked. I don’t–Everyone’s praising it as the best one of the franchise. I would put it as the third best of the franchise. It probably has some of the best action scenes of the franchise, and character wise having it be a direct sequel to the last one which is like carrying over the bad guy and all that sort of stuff.

Ashley: Yeah, that’s the first time they’ve done that.

Dylan: The first time and I appreciate that. As someone who just prefers their storytelling to have one big continuation type thing because it just makes it feel worthwhile watching the other ones if it’s a bigger story being told, not the James Bond effect, which is every movie is like a new thing. “Did anything happen in that last movie matter to this one?” No, it doesn’t really make a difference, OK. I’d still say that Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation are better movies but some of the stunts and stuff in this one are just worth watching. Although at some stage I’m sitting there watching — no spoilers — but at some stage I’m sitting there watching the part where he’s [Tom Cruise] on a motorcycle, helmet-less, and he is chasing someone and he’s going through that big roundabout that’s famous from National Lampoon’s European Vacation or whatever–

Nick: In London?

Ashley: No, it’s in Italy.

Dylan: Whatever. It’s one of those big fuck-off ones though.

Ashley: Yeah, it’s massive.

Dylan: He’s going through the traffic the wrong way.

Ashley: It might be France. (Editor’s note – It was France)

Nick: No, I’m pretty sure it’s London because every time they go around in National Lampoon’s they go: “Oh there’s the Big Ben. There’s the Big Ben.”

Ashley: It might have been another big roundabout.

Dylan: It might have a different one but it was, basically, it looked the same. And as I’m sitting there in the cinema watching that, my head’s just thinking “Is this necessary Tom?” Because I’m scared for you now.

Ashley: (Laughs) He’s not a young buck anymore. I mean he did break his ankle.

Nick: He’s probably got his jacket or something on that as soon as they come off like a big airbag goes *poof* around him.

Dylan: I don’t know.

Nick: That’s a fact.

Dylan: And the skydiving stuff and then the scene where he breaks his foot is so clear, you can see that’s where he breaks his foot.

Ashley: Well, I mean, if you’re going to break your foot, you might as well use the footage.

Nick: He has his faith in Xanadu. Nothing’s going to hurt him.

Dylan: Yeah, I like it. I want to know– because for some reason this one picked up so well you know? Everyone’s just been talking about it out of left field. I don’t know what happened was there a marketing thing. Was it the fact Henry Cavill was in it?

Ashley: I think it was Henry Cavill.

Nick: Yeah. Do they keep the scene in where he grows the pocket and the sleeves?

Dylan: No.

Nick: Oh, that’s a shame.

Dylan: I believe he has whatever variation of that shirt on for some reason, yes.

Ashley: Yeah, he loads up his arms. I really liked it. I think it’s, yeah, those last 3 movies are pretty even I think. I think the thing this one does better is it builds to the best action sequence at the end whereas the other ones probably didn’t. They like more of the middle they were the big eye-catching sequences. I thought Henry Cavill was great as the foil for Tom Cruise. I really liked the Sean Harris character this time. I went back and watched Rogue Nation after because — this is like a direct sequel, you need to see Rogue Nation to pretty much understand this movie.

Dylan: You won’t understand this movie if you haven’t seen Rogue Nation.

Ashley: And he is much more menacing looking in this film than he was in the last one. That beard makes a huge difference.

Dylan: I’ll say this for him: looks more menacing. Although, I think they made his character dumber, or seem dumber. Some of the choices he makes aren’t in line with the kind of character he seems from the Rogue Nation movie

Ashley: I don’ t know if this is spoilery or not but the plot is a lot more convoluted and doesn’t really make sense when you think about it.

Dylan: Oh the plot is all over the fucking place, but his plot in this movie is more just straight up revenge. Whereas the plot in Rogue Nation is very much, I mean, he’s a terrorist but nothing he says makes sense because we’re not fucking terrorists trying to take over the world. But he’s still kind of calm, collected, very much understands his whole mantra about destroying the world to make it a better place. I don’t understand that, but at least you understand him kinda. And then in this one, it’s more just ‘I want revenge’, which doesn’t seem in line with the character we met in Rogue Nation. And then he makes a couple really dumb decisions in the last act of the movie I feel.

Ashley: Yes. But, yeah, some of the stunts in this are great. I really enjoyed the fight scene in the bathroom. That was really impressive, although it seems like that bathroom was made of like, plasterboard.

Dylan: They are just very strong people that can punch through everything (laughs). Although when you’re seeing Tom Cruise fighting next to Henry Cavill, no matter what they do, they can’t hide how small that motherfucker is next to him. They try but they use these wide-angle shots and you’re just like “he is tiny”.

Ashley: They kind of played into it in the last film where they were like fighting at the opera. And there was a guy like towering over Tom Cruise. So yeah.

Dylan: One of the other problems I have with this movie — it’s not really a problem — this movie is just all action right? So it’s got all these action scenes. It doesn’t really have one “Mission: Impossible” moment though — unless you want to count the finale of the movie as the impossible thing for them to pull off. Every other movie has one big mission that’s deemed impossible, that they have to plan for it like a heist. And the last movie it was like that really cool water scene, diving through that hole, all that sort of stuff. That was their big plan and do that moment. This movie doesn’t have one of those moments. It is just a straight up action movie without any of those and I kinda missed the planning and all that, going into it and then pulling off the impossible mission.