Mission Impossible Fallout is the latest film in the series and the sequel to 2015’s Rogue Nation. Now a lot of you may have heard all the reviews saying that this is the best instalment in the series; that I believe is an accurate surmise. The reasons as to why Fallout is so good is two-fold, firstly it carries on the superb quality of the last few Mission Impossible film, with the eye-catching and gut-wrenching action choreography being evidence of that. Secondly, it strikes a bold and bloody tone straight from the off, one that works masterfully. More to the film’s praise all the performances are top-notch, with Tom Cruise still being very believable as Ethan Hunt; even after all these years. Moreover, Cruise does not disappoint fans who come looking for death-defying stunts, with there being plenty throughout; even more so than in previous instalments. In addition, Rebecca Ferguson returns from Rogue Nation as Ilsa Faust, bringing with her a plot ruffle that helps to add an international air to the storyline overall. To add to that the romantic relationship between Faust and Hunt is built upon, and unlike many others, I think this is done very well and feels natural and organic. Also, the newer additions to the cast are all outstanding, especially Vanessa Kirby’s White Widow, who brings with her the classic feelings of the femme fatale. Henry Cavil’s Walker is also an interesting sub- antagonist and a clear psychical match for Cruise. The plot, overall, is compelling and has many twists and turns; as one would expect from a Mission Impossible film. However, it also suffers from being overstuffed, with there being many plot lines that feel like they have no purpose. Chief amongst these is the return of Hunt’s wife Julia, (Michelle Monaghan), this return for me doesn’t work as it undercuts all that the film sets up between Hunt and Ilsa. What’s more the conversation between Hunt, Julia and her new husband in the film’s third act, doesn’t provide closure or raise the stakes as it may have been intended to, but instead serves to dampen the tension. Furthermore, there are dream sequences which feature the film’s true antagonist Solomon Lane, (Sean Harris), which seem oddly out of place. That being said the non-dream scenes that Lane is in are all superbly acted with Harris being a fantastic villain. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the supporting cast who mostly feel wasted this time around. This is especially true of Angela Bassett’s Erica Sloane who outside of a few brief scenes is barely featured. Overall despite the film’s issues and a needlessly over-bloated run-time, Fallout is without a doubt the best film in the Mission impossible series, and I really recommend you see it.

 

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Do you like Die Hard? Do you like Assault on Precinct 13? Skyscraper is like those just without the humour, brain or soul. Skyscraper is a film about a group of criminals who start a fire in a Skyscraper, so they can steal back a list of names, that threatens to expose their crime syndicate; and of course, Will Sawyer, (Dwayne Johnson), and his family gets caught in the thick of it. Does that sound ridiculous to you? Well, it should because Skyscraper is without a doubt the dumbest film of 2018. Things start off badly and get worse, the first act is a mess of contrived overplayed backstory, and hollow characters. Chief among these is Ben, (Pablo Schreiber), who is not even a character, more a poorly disguised plot device; being laughably underused then killed off. Then, the criminals decide to frame Sawyer, for no real reason, this combined with the fact that they have set the entire Skyscraper on fire to try and steal a USB drive, leaves you groaning and asking why. Those are just a few examples of the stupidest and perhaps even the worst script of 2018. Then you have the blatant product placement throughout the film which is downright offensive, think last years Power Rangers was product placement too far, well let me tell you this is a worse example. The characters, for the most part, are shallow, underdeveloped and ultimately frustrating. Characters such as Sarah Sawyer, (Neve Campbell), make decisions no one else would make in that situation, she leaves the Skyscraper with her son with no mention, not even one, about her daughter. However, the films one positive comes from its leads, Johnson and Campbell both give great performances, though the latter is given very little to work with, they also both have a great deal of chemistry together. Johnson is playing Johnson, just like always, but that isn’t a bad thing at least not if you like The Rocks usual work, he sells the right amount of emotion to make the moments feel more than they should do, considering the poor writing. There are other positives too such as some impressive visual effects sequences, the mirror sequences in the pearl itself look beautiful. However, this is offset by some very lacking choreography at times, such as the fight sequence that happens in the back of a police car between Sarah and Xia, (Hannah Quinlivan), in which the action is barely even visible. Overall, this film feels incredibly dated, if it had come out in the 1990’s or early 2000’s it would be right at home, but in 2018 with many other better blockbusters coming out, it comes across as soulless and hollow. Skyscraper chooses spectacle over everything else, and it loses for it. The script issues, laughably weak characters, rip off nature and a whole host of other issues stop me from being able to recommend this one.
1.5/5
Reviewed by Luke

Breaking In focuses on Shaun, (Gabrielle Union) and her kids as they are preyed upon by a group of burglars. Breaking In is as generic as action thrillers go with its premise, cast and overall direction being very forgettable. Each character is two dimensional and has no complexity to speak off. There character’s backstories are eluded to, but these are just throwaway references. Eddie, (Billy Burke) is the only memorable character, being the main antagonist and, masterfully portrayed by Burke with a cold calculating demeanour. The rest of the cast is very by the numbers, with Gabrielle Union in particular not being very convincing. The major flaw of the film is the pacing issues; which are extremely prevalent in both the 1st and 3rd act. The whole of the first act could have been cut out in its entirety as it is simply very average. The pacing issues are shown again as the film long overstays it’s welcome, with you thinking multiple times that: “surely this must be the end”. The crux of the issue is that this film doesn’t feel like a tense thrilling time, it just feels like a slog. Whatsmore, there are also scripting issues, such as a lack of any kind of character motivations beyond the generic “we want the money” and, plot holes galore. This is best shown by the fact, that Shaun seems to have all these survival skills yet it is never explained how she got them. Also, the writing for the kids Jasmine and Glover, (Ajiona Alexus and Seth Carr), makes them come across as annoying, with them also saying things that just feel unnatural to the situation. This is shown when Glover says, “Whatever freak”, as his sister is about to go and risk her life. To conclude, this film is the most generic, boring, badly paced film out now that you can go and see. Really the only highlight is a menacing performance by Billy Burke.
1/5
Reviewed by Luke.

On the surface, one could easily confuse Red Sparrow as a cold war thriller, not unlike last years Atomic Blond. The plot centres around Jennifer Lawrence’s character of Dominika, as she is brought into the world of geopolitical espionage. Lawrence perfectly captured the essences of being brought into a new world and have to adapt to survive. However, her performance wasn’t up there with her co-star Jeremy Irons’ performance. Irons who plays with relish the character of Vladimir Andreievich Korchnoi. Irons’ performance oozes menace, from the second he is introduced, whilst also bringing an air of class to proceedings. From a plot standpoint, the first 45 minutes is pretty standard genre fare, with the start especially being slow. The pacing is all over the place, really being quite detrimental to the film. However, towards the end, the film picks up and really captured my attention. The ending itself does feel well set up and satisfying, with the twists being good but not reinventing the wheel. Joel Edgerton’s Nate Nash is quite bland and doesn’t really leave much of an impression, definitely being the weak point of the cast overall. The world building here is excellent, thanks in part to the strong direction of Francis Lawrence. The world itself feels real and gritty down to the last detail. However, in many ways, that grittiness is taken too far with the film trying too hard to be shocking in many of its scenes. An example of this is shown in the films torture scenes, that come across as gratuitous. Also being shown in the themes of sexual violence throughout. The action scenes are quite standard, with only one truly exceptional knife fight sequence that was outstandingly well choreographed. The romantic subplot between Nate and Dominika does feel forced, being quite clichéd. Lawrence’s character is well written and it is hard to tell a lot of the time who’s side she is on. Leading to a satisfying end twist that I believe is the best thing about this film. The highlight of the film is the training process to become a sparrow, with the Matron played by Charlotte Rampling stealing every scene she is in. This sequence is the saving grace of the film. Overall I would only recommend this to the most hardcore of action fans but even then, temper your expectations, it is a mostly dull ride throughout.

2/5
Reviewed by Luke