Mission: Impossible – Fallout 4K/Blu Ray Review (Paramount)

Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a 2018 action film written, produced, & directed by Christopher McQuarrie (The Way of the Gun, Jack Reacher, & Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation). It’s the sixth entry in the Mission Impossible franchise. It was produced by J. J. Abrams (Star Wars franchise, Mission Impossible franchise, Cloverfield franchise, & 11.22.63). The production had 3,000 set ups, 13 helicopters, 6 pregnancies, 5 hiatuses, 4 weeks of aerial photography, 3 continents, 2 winters & 1 broken ankle. It had a budget of $178 million & it grossed $791 million worldwide at the box office.

2 years after Solomon Lane’s (played by: Sean Harris from Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Prometheus, Creep, & The Borgias) capture, the survivors from his organization The Syndicate have reorganized as a rogue terrorist group called the Apostles. IMF agent Ethan Hunt (played by: Tom Cruise from the Mission Impossible franchise, Interview with the Vampire, Magnolia, & Collateral) with team members Benji Dunn (played by: Simon Pegg from the Mission Impossible franchise, Star Trek franchise, Shaun of the Dead, & Hot Fuzz) & Luther Stickell (played by: Ving Rhames from the Mission Impossible franchise, Pulp Fiction, Dawn of the Dead, & Baby Boy) has been assigned to buy 3 stolen plutonium cores in Berlin. Ethan Hunt makes a sacrifice & the mission goes bad! The team captures nuclear weapons expert Nils Delbruuk (played by: Kristoffer Joner from Dead Snow 2, The Wave, & The Revenant) who designed nuclear devices for an extremist named John Lark. After the failed mission, CIA Director Erica Sloane (played by: Angela Bassett from 9-1-1, American Horror Story, Boyz n the Hood, & Strange Days) orders Special Activities Division operative August Walker (played by: Henry Cavill from Justice League, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel, & The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) to shadow Ethan Hunt & his team. Ethan Hunt takes over the identity of John Lark for a mission & meets arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis (played by: Vanessa Kirby from The Crown, The Frankenstein Chronicles, Everest, & Jupiter Ascending). He agrees to help Solomon Lane escape for the plutonium. Ilsa Faust (played by: Rebecca Ferguson from Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Life, The Snowman, & The Girl on the Train) stays in the shadows & interferes with their plans. IMF Secretary Alan Hunley (played by: Alec Baldwin from Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, 30 Rock, Beetlejuice , & The Hunt for Red October) confronts Ethan Hunt about being the real John Lark after he successfully helps Alanna Mitsopolis & her brother Zola (played by: Frederick Schmidt from Patient Zero, Brimstone, & Supergirl). This sets off a chain of events that forces Ethan Hunt to save his wife Julia (played by: Michelle Monaghan from the Mission Impossible franchise, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Bourne Supremacy, & True Detective) & the rest of the world after this deep mission gets more dangerous than ever. Not knowing who to trust again, can he pull it off again & save everything from disaster????

Fallout is my favorite Mission: Impossible sequel so far & that’s saying a lot because I am huge fan of the franchise. It’s full of action, so many crazy stunts, & it’s the darkest entry in the series! It’s pure adrenaline rush in cinematic form, it’s one of most entertaining & fun experiences of 2018. Ethan Hunt is one of Tom Cruise’s greatest roles in his entire career & he continues to turn in quality performances every time. He proves age doesn’t matter when it comes to action genre & pulls off some of the craziest stunts in film history with these movies. I loved the fact that so many returning cast members were featured in Fallout. It feels like the last film never stopped & it’s great that Mission Impossible is so consistent with it’s comes to foundation. The group of supporting actors here really elevate the overall production. Henry Cavill shows the world that he’s more than Superman / Clark Kent in this, it’s good to see him get more opportunities to shine. Fallout keeps you on your toes for the whole running time, it’s full of suspense & twists. This was one of my favorite features from 2018 & it’s nice to be able to revisit it after seeing it in theaters earlier this year. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Paramount Pictures! This 2160p (2.39:1) transfer with Dolby Vision + HDR10 won’t win visual release of the year but it does look really good especially for an action flick. It has two sequences in (1.90:1) IMAX ratio. This 4K release is a major quality boost compared to the standard blu ray & DVD releases of the film. It has various audio options which include English: Dolby Atmos, English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1, & Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1 on this release. This where it shines! The sound is amazing here especially all the action scenes & the music, it roars in your home system. It feels like being back in the movie theater for this one, it’s one of the best sounding 4Ks from 2018. It also has English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Flemish, Norwegian, & Swedish subtitles.

Let’s discuss the special features from Paramount Pictures on both the 4K & blu ray discs. “Audio Commentary” with writer/producer/director Christopher McQuarrie & lead actor/producer Tom Cruise. They talk about this being their 9th collaboration. They chat about the previous sequel & returning cast members. They bring up the new actors that joined the franchise for this feature. They go over the action & stunts from the film. They get technical on some of the more difficult shots from the production. They tell some stories from Fallout including Baldwin was supposed to be in the opening scene & resolving the Julia arc. They basically do a scene by scene track besides those subjects. “Audio Commentary # 2” with writer/producer/director Christopher McQuarrie & editor Eddie Hamilton. They talk about the fast opening sequence. They chat about scenes that were either cut or trimmed down for timing. They bring up stuff that didn’t work in the test screenings. They mention the score & the changes made to some of it. They go into great detail about putting together some of the shots. This is a very technical & knowledgeable track, you learn lots of new information about the production. “Audio Commentary # 3” with composer Lorne Balfe. He brings up the bongos from the music right now & says they had 12 different players for it. He brings up that he wrote so many different variants for the film. He talks about the original theme being so known & famous everywhere in the world. He brings up that everyone wanted the music different from the other films & television show. He goes over the process of composing the score for this feature. He talks about all the work put into the title sequence. He chats about the original composer of the classic theme. He mentions various people that helped him create this score. He breaks down each theme & different bit of music from the feature here “Isolated Score Track” features all the amazing music from the film without any dialogue. “Behind the Fallout” is 53 minutes. It’s broken down in several different segments which include Light the Fuse, Top of the World, The Big Swing, Rendezvous in Paris, The Fall, The Hunt is On, & Cliffside Clash. It has interviews with writer/producer/director Christopher McQuarrie, lead actor/producer Tom Cruise, actors Henry Cavill, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames & others from the film crew. They chat about this sequel & their experience on it. It goes over all the major action scenes & stunts from the film. It takes you to the various locations, gives an inside look, & behind the scenes for all the dangerous moments from Fallout. The almost 4 minute “Deleted Scenes Montage” which also has an audio commentary option with with writer/producer/director Christopher McQuarrie & editor Eddie Hamilton. “The Foot Chase Musical Breakdown” is almost 5 minutes, it has comments from the composer over the material. “The Ultimate Mission” is almost 3 minutes. It has a variety of scenes & it’s narrated by Tom Cruise. It has 4 different “Storyboards” that include Paris, What If?, London, & Helicopter. It has a “Theatrical Trailer”. It also includes a slipcover, digital code, blu ray copy of the release, & a collectible book. It’s everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!