Mission: Impossible Fallout Review: 5 Reasons You Must See It

4. The Set-Pieces Are Breathtaking

Of course, this is all well and good, but it would be nothing if not for the one thing the Mission: Impossible franchise has made its name on: breathtaking, in-camera action set pieces. Even judged on this alone, Fallout is easily the best in the franchise.

From the word go the film kicks into one inventive sequence after another, propelled forward by a great sense of kinetic energy. In other instalments there’d always be the one sequence everyone would tell you you had to see, whether it was the wire hang in the original or the motorbike chase in Rogue Nation. Fallout doesn’t only have one of those moments, it has about five.

The score surprisingly plays into these scenes as well, making everything feel grandiose and strangely apocalyptic. It’s something that would usually be ancillary in a flick like this, but combined with the lush cinematography and the overall pace, it makes each sequence - and the narrative as a whole - feel like a ticking time bomb.

McQuarrie knows exactly what he’s doing, and while the choreography is of course excellent, it’s the way he utilises the camera that makes every set-piece so breathtaking. Often shooting in long takes that rarely cut to close-ups, the director makes sure you can see everything, somehow making the action both larger than life yet intimate at the same time.

There’s a sense of physicality and intimacy retained in even the most ludicrous beats, keeping the movie grounded even when characters are getting hit by lighting while base jumping into Paris.