Best Movies of 2018 - Mission: Impossible

As another great year of movies comes to a close, JoBlo.com staff will be curating our selection of the best films of 2018. Whether it be animation or live action, comedy or drama, horror or action (or maybe even a romance!), these are the movies that struck our staff more than any other. So enjoy our picks and let us know what your favorites were in the comments below.

Released on July 27, 2018

WHAT’S IT ABOUT? After three plutonium cores are stolen by an organization known as The Apostles, Ethan Hunt and his team are tasked with retrieving them in order to foil a plot which aims to bring about a new world order, all while being monitored by a CIA agent who doesn't exactly stick to the same rules as the IMF.

WHO’S IN IT? Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan, Wes Bentley, and Alec Baldwin.

WHO MADE IT? Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie based upon Mission: Impossible by Bruce Geller.

WHY IT’S ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF 2018: There are plenty of exceptions, but most of the time a movie franchise doesn't find itself improving with each installment, but somehow, the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise has been able to do just that, and I give Tom Cruise a lot of the credit. The actor has been instrumental is making sure that each film in the franchise has topped the one which came before, and considering that previous films have found Cruise scaling the Burj Khalifa, hanging off the side of a Airbus A400M as it took off, and dozens of other death-defying stunts, Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie definitely had their work cut out for them. Against all odds, they succeeded in not only making MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT one of the most action-packed films of the entire series, but also one of the most emotional, as the film lets us get a deeper look into Ethan Hunt's (Tom Cruise) mind. FALLOUT also brings back Michelle Monaghan as Julia Meade, Ethan's estranged wife, and not only gives her something to do, but also closes out her arc which began in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III and allows Hunt to move forward with Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) without it seeming creepy.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT is definitely still the Tom Cruise show, but the franchise has wisely devoted more and more time to Hunt's team-members as well, including Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), and Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin), all of whom return for this latest film. We've also got ROGUE NATION baddie Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) back for more, joining a cast which includes MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE newbies Angela Bassett as CIA director Erika Sloane, Vanessa Kirby as the White Widow, and Henry Cavill as August Walker, a CIA assassin. The cast, much like the movie itself, is a hell of a lot of fun, with many of them seeming like old friends to the audience at this point, and even going into FALLOUT knowing about a certain character's sudden but inevitable betrayal (thanks to the spoilery trailers) does little to dampen the experience.

Despite my deep love for movies, I don't actually get out to the theater to see them all that often. Living in a small town means that my options for theaters are limited and that some of the films I would really like to see don't make it out here. When I do go, more often than not I find that my theater experiences are tarnished by poor projection, sound, or unruly patrons who care little for the comfort of anyone else. However, although my experiences aren't always the best, there are some films which absolutely demand to be seen on the biggest screen possible, and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT definitely qualifies. As you can't just watch Tom Cruise risk life and limb on any old screen, my fiancée and myself met up with some friends and took a bit of a road trip to a theater which would give us the best experience possible. It was well worth it and our theater was packed with an audience of all ages, but one particular pair caught my eye. Sitting in the row ahead of us was an elderly woman and a young boy, likely her grandson, and I couldn't help but to notice the woman's reactions. At first I thought that the film wasn't exactly her cup of tea, that the violence and intensity was perhaps a little too much, but as I glanced in her direction every so often, particularly during the stunt sequences, I realized that she was on the edge of her seat, literally, with excitement. It actually raised my appreciation of the film, watching this woman laugh, cheer, and gasp along with her grandson over the course of two-and-a-half hours. A cinematic experience like that, one which brings people together, is the highest praise I can think of, and it helped make it easy to choose MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT as one of the best movies of the year.

BEST SCENE: A film like MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT is full of so many fantastic scenes and jaw-dropping moments that it's damn near impossible to narrow it down to just one, but for me, the stand-out sequence of the film is when Ethan Hunt is teamed up with August Walker in order to track down John Lark during a fundraiser event at the Grand Palais. Arriving at the location via HALO jump (which is itself a hugely thrilling scene) the pair wind up in a bathroom searching for Lark, a man whom they don't know, with the intention of knocking him out and impersonating him in a meeting with an arms dealer known as the White Widow. Naturally, things don't go as planned, and the man they identify as John Lark proves to be more of a challenge than they expect, easily sending both Hunt and Walker flying in a fight sequence which comes with suspense, hard-hitting stunts, and Henry Cavill's now famous locked and loaded arms moment.

"[Stunt Coordinator] Wade [Eastwood] was able to create a fighting style for each of those guys. And in the script, there is a line that refers to Ethan as a scalpel and Walker as a hammer and Wade took that to heart. In the fight, Ethan is much more precise and Walker is much more brutal and physically violent. And what Tom was really interested was that the fight sequence showed each character’s vulnerability. He said this scene was essential to set up their final showdown because the viewer has seen the strength of these two but also knows that neither one of these guys are invincible." – Christopher McQuarrie speaking with Fatherly.

BEST LINES:

Erika Sloane – "You use a scalpel. I prefer a hammer."

Solomon Lane – "'Your mission, should you choose to accept it.' I wonder, Ethan, did you ever choose not to? Did you ever stop and ask yourself who it was giving you the orders or why? When every day the master you serve is one step closer to ending the world."

August Walker – "How many times has Hunt’s government betrayed him, disavowed him, cast him aside? And how long before a man like that has had enough?"

Ethan Hunt – "Your heads-up display has a built in guidance system, follow it to the target, open your chute when the system says, not before and definitely not after, or the last thing that goes through your mind will be your kneecaps."

Solomon Lane – "The Syndicate was civilization's last hope! A chance to smash the old world order. That hope is gone now because of you and your pathetic morality. You should have killed me, Ethan. The end you always feared, it's coming. It's coming. And the blood will be on your hands. The fallout, of all your good intentions."

Luther Stickell – [holding Ethan back from attacking someone] "Ethan, that's not who we are!"
Ethan Hunt – "Maybe we need to reconsider that."

NOTEWORTHY PERFORMANCE(S): More often than not, Tom Cruise is playing Tom Cruise. He's not one of those actors who can slip into any role, but what he does, he does very well, and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT serves as his best performance in this franchise. Not only does Cruise deliver his customary outstanding action, putting himself in very real danger again and again, but the film also dives deeper into the character of Ethan Hunt than ever before, giving him a real sense of humanity, at least, as much as you can give to a damn-near superhuman secret agent. Quite possibly my favourite non-action scene in the film is when Ethan Hunt and company have traveled to a medical camp in Kashmir in order to avert a nuclear catastrophe. Once there, Ethan is surprised by the appearance of his ex-wife Julia, as well as her new husband, who knows nothing of their past relationship or Ethan's career. Through unspoken words and meaningful glances, Ethan uncovers new information and lets Julia know the severity of the situation. Even while spinning a web of lies to maintain his cover, you can sense Ethan's heart breaking as he's realized that he's put Julia in danger once again.

"I’ve seen five of these movies and I don’t know who Ethan Hunt is. One movie sort of dealt with his personal life; the other movies are about people speculating what’s really going on in Ethan’s head. I want to know who Ethan is in this movie, I want an emotional journey for this character, and Tom really embraced it. I don’t want to string together a bunch of action scenes, I want to actually deal with character’. So I put Ethan in a bunch of complicated moral quandaries, and I’m trying to find ways to connect them – and then, ironically, the way to connect them was through giant action scenes." Christopher McQuarrie speaking with Empire.

AWARDS WORTHY? When it comes to the Academy Awards, the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise has never been nominated in any category. That blew my mind a little bit. I understand that these films aren't exactly the type to receive Best Picture or Best Screenplay nominations, but Best Editing, Best Sound-Mixing, Best Sound-Editing, Best Visual Effects; these are the types of awards which I would expect the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE films to sweep up. As far as FALLOUT breaking with tradition and securing some sort of nomination in those technical categories, I honestly don't know, but the film certainly deserves it.

REWATCH-O-METER: Pushing two-and-a-half hours, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT is the longest film in the franchise (so far), which means that you'll need to set aside a decent chunk of time when you want to rewatch it, but the film is absolutely worth it. Despite the length, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT rarely drags as we're presented with incredible action sequences and suspenseful thrills exactly when we need them. I will gladly watch FALLOUT multiple times a year.