Mission: Impossible - Fallout (Blu-ray) (2018)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Audio Commentary-Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise Audio Commentary-Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton Audio Commentary-Composer Lorne Balfe Featurette-Making Of-Behind the Fallout (53:32) Deleted Scenes-Deleted Scenes Montage (3:41) Featurette-Foot Chase Musical Breakdown (4:50) Featurette-The Ultimate Mission (2:51) Storyboards Theatrical Trailer Isolated Musical Score
Rating
Year Of Production	2018
Running Time	147:24
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Christopher McQuarrie
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Tom Cruise Rebecca Ferguson Ving Rhames Simon Pegg Henry Cavill Sean Harris Michelle Monaghan Vanessa Kirby Alec Baldwin Angela Bassett
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Lorne Balfe

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Atmos 7.1 English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 5.1 French Dolby Digital 5.1 Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired French Spanish Portuguese	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     It is two years since the events of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015). Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team, Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji ( Simon Pegg), are tasked with recovering three Plutonium cores that were stolen in Russia. A meeting is arranged, but at the exchange in Berlin Ethan saves Luther’s life but loses the cores to unseen assailants. The trail to retrieve the cores leads to Paris and a broker / fixer named The White Widow (Vanessa Kirby). However, things are not simple. First the CIA, suspicious of the IMF and Ethan’s failure to secure the cores, insists that Agent Walker (Henry Cavill) is present in any negotiations with The White Widow. Second, the price of the people holding the cores is Ethan must first rescue Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the mastermind behind Rogue Nation whom Ethan had captured two years ago, from the French police. Third, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), ex-MI6 agent, is also in Paris with an agenda of her own. The story moves from Paris to London, through betrayal and double cross, bluff and counter bluff, and finally to a remote valley in Kashmir, where all those Ethan loves, including his ex-wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan), are placed into dire peril from an imminent nuclear disaster. Only the IMF team can save the day!

     Is there much left to say about the high energy, high adrenaline that is the Mission: Impossible franchise? Other than each entry keeps getting bigger and more explosive? Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the sixth film in the franchise, but is the first to have a returning director in Christopher McQuarrie who also directed (and wrote) Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Indeed, McQuarrie and Cruise go back some way and must enjoy working together: as well as Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, McQuarrie wrote Valkyrie (2008), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), wrote / directed Jack Reacher (2012) and was involved in co-writing The Mummy (2017) and the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick.

     Mission: Impossible – Fallout continues to up the ante with some incredible set pieces. There is a HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jump, an extended action sequence in and around Paris with some heart in mouth motorcycle and car stunts, a foot chase across the roofs of London and, to cap it all off, a helicopter chase and crash sequence in the mountains that is almost unbelievable (and for which Cruise learnt to fly a helicopter). Along the way, this being an M:I film, there are masks and assumed identities, individuals who have secrets, double-crosses, shoot-outs, incredible hand-to-hand combat, deaths and subterfuge. The location filming is stunning, the filmmakers obtaining permission to shoot in and around iconic landmarks in Paris and London, including the Arc de Triomphe, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern Gallery, plus there are the beautiful mountain landscapes of New Zealand and Norway (standing in for Kashmir). All of these things make for exhilarating entertainment and “wow” moments but, in addition, Mission: Impossible – Fallout has a heart, emotional moments and performances that elevate this film above most action films.

     Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the first film in the franchise that follows on from the previous film so you do need to have watched Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation to really understand the motivations of the characters, especially Solomon Lane and Ilsa Faust. In addition, the film adds the character of Ethan’s wife Julia, who had appeared in two earlier films, which ups the emotional stakes. Tom Cruise remains Tom Cruise but his acting ability, his physical presence and stunt work means that he remains a perfect Ethan Hunt. Simon Pegg continues to steal every scene he is in while Rebecca Ferguson, building on her work in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, is a wonderful female character, more than capable of holding her own with the men while retaining her femininity. However, a damsel in distress this Ilsa is definitely not!

     In Mission: Impossible – Fallout logic is thrown out the window, as it is in most of these kinds of action films, and the characters survive, with barely a scratch, impacts and crashes that would fell a rhino. But for cliff-hanging, jaw-dropping stunts and exhilarating action, much of it shot for real (with harnesses of course), Mission: Impossible – Fallout is hard to beat.

Video

     Mission: Impossible – Fallout is presented in the 2.40:1 aspect ratio, plus some IMAX scenes in 1.78:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Mission: Impossible – Fallout looks as one would expect of a big-budget mainstream action film except in one respect. Quite a number of sequences with a light source behind the actors are very glary; I don’t remember the film being this glary when I saw it at the theatre although there is plenty of camera flare. Otherwise, details are strong whether in close-up of faces or widescreen shots of cityscapes with their iconic buildings, or the mountains; more impressive is that the sequences involving motion with running figures, motor bikes, cars or helicopters, and there are plenty of these, are rock solid. Colours are natural, blacks and the shadow detail exceptional. Skin tones are also natural, contrast and brightness consistent. Marks and other artefacts were absent.

     English, English for the hearing impaired, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles are available for the film as well as English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles for the commentaries. In addition, white subtitles come on automatically to translate the sections of non-English dialogue in the film.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The film audio is English Dolby Atmos which defaults to Dolby TrueHD 7.1. Other audio tracks are French, Spanish and Portuguese, English descriptive audio and an isolated music score (all Dolby Digital 5.1) and three audio commentaries (all Dolby Digital 2.0)

     My audio system is not 7.1 capable but even in 5.1 this audio rocks! Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and the surrounds and rears were used constantly for effects such as car, motor bike, boat or helicopter engines, the music and voices at the dance party in Paris, explosions, gunfire, ricochets, the impacts of punches and body blows, the crash of destroyed walls, the wind swirling through all speakers during the HALO jump; the crash of the helicopters near the climax is simply stunning and will have you ducking for cover! The sub-woofer added boom to explosions, impacts, crashes, engines and the rest without unbalancing the sound stage.

    Lip synchronisation was fine.

     The original score by Lorne Balfe is as exuberant as one might expect; however, in some chase sequences, including when Hunt was escaping on the motor bike in Paris, I did think the music overwhelmed the effects. This might be one which has better separation in 7.1.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     The three audio commentaries (and the isolated music score) are on disc 1. All the other extra features are on the second disc.

Audio Commentaries

Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise

     Writer / director Christopher McQuarrie and producer / star Tom Cruise have worked together numerous times and have a good, friendly rapport. They are scene specific but also wide ranging talking non-stop about their intentions, the look and tone of the film, locations, cast members, the music, stunts, Cruise’s broken foot, editing choices, changes to scenes during filming, deleted scenes and script changes, the length of the film, pick-ups and reshoots. Everything and everyone was fantastic, but this is still an entertaining commentary.

Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton

     This commentary by writer / director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton was recorded before the McQuarrie / Cruise commentary, and in fact was recorded a few weeks before the film was finished. Another scene specific, non-stop commentary, McQuarrie does talk about things he covered in the later commentary but in the main this is not the case as the two concentrate on the editing and especially how the pace of the film was either slowed down or sped up in sequences, the impact of the music, or its absence, the camera flares. They also talk about the sound design, reshoots, inserts and locations. Another decent commentary.

Composer Lorne Balfe

     Lorne Balfe enjoys watching the film as he talks about his intentions, the process of working with Christopher McQuarrie, how he scored the various musical elements, including his use of 12 bongo players (sometimes using bamboo sticks, their hands or drum sticks to give different feels) or 14 drummers, changes in the score and the tone of the film, the role of the music editor, the use of music and silences in the film, writing the themes and motifs, influences on the score including the original TV show, the music in the earlier films and Bernard Hermann, the sound effects, his philosophy in writing film music and how a one note difference can change the entire mood. There are silences as he, understandably, listens to the music or watches the action, but the problem in a commentary on the music is that when Balfe talks you cannot hear the music he is discussing! Perhaps a text commentary over the isolated music score might be the way to go here; nevertheless Balfe is an informative commentator giving a good insight into scoring a film.

Behind the Fallout (53:32)

     The extra consists of seven sections although there is a “Play all” option. Each section includes behind the scenes footage (some of the on-set footage of the stunts being filmed is equally as hairy as the actual footage in the film), film clips and interviews with writer / director Christopher McQuarrie, star Tom Cruise, second unit director / stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood, most of the principal cast members and a huge array of the crew including many involved in the HALO sequence and the helicopter and cliff-top climax, resulting in a reasonably comprehensive look at the filming of Mission: Impossible – Fallout. The sections are

• Light the Fuse: an explanation of the plot, the cast and the characters, the scope of the film, the director and the look of the film.
• Top of the World: planning, training for, rehearsing and filming the HALO jump sequence in Abu Dhabi.
• The Big Swing: Deleted Scene Breakdown: filming the sequence inside the Grand Palais as Ethan and Walker get down from the roof on their way to meeting the White Widow.
• Rendezvous in Paris: Filming the motor bike and car stunts around iconic Paris landmarks.
• The Fall: Filming the sequence in NZ of Ethan hanging below the helicopter and falling.
• The Hunt is On: Tom Cruise learning to fly a helicopter and filming the helicopter chase sequence in NZ.
• Cliffside Clash: Filming the fight at the film’s climax on top of the rock formation in Norway.

Deleted Scenes Montage (3:41)

     A montage of about eleven deleted scenes that play together without break or transition. They may be played accompanied by the music or with a commentary by Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton explaining their choices.

Foot Chase Musical Breakdown (4:50)

     Composer Lorne Balfe in voiceover explains how the various music choices were layered in during the London foot chase.

The Ultimate Mission (2:51)

     A montage of film and behind the scenes footage as Tom Cruise talks about making the ultimate M:I.

Storyboards

     In four sections. The storyboards are silent and the remote must be used to advance to the next storyboard. The sections are:

• Paris: about 30 storyboards.
• What if?: about 30 storyboards of the “alternative” heist of the van as proposed by the White Widow’s henchmen.
• London: about 60 storyboards of the foot chase.
• Helicopter: about 140 storyboards of the chase in the climax.

Theatrical Trailer (2:33)

     This includes a number of scenes that were not in the released film; some are in the deleted scenes montage on this Blu-ray, others are not.

     This release of Mission: Impossible - Fallout starts with the US FBI piracy warning and the US ratings logo so our version and the US Region A/B release are the same, except that the US adds a DVD of the film, if that is of any value.

     What is left to say about the high energy, high adrenaline that is the Mission: Impossible franchise except than each entry keeps getting bigger and more explosive. Mission: Impossible – Fallout has a claim to being the best one yet with some incredible extended set pieces, fabulous locations and characters with an emotional arc we care about. Tom Cruise has Ethan Hunt nailed, and his willingness to perform jaw-dropping stunts elevates this film above the level of most action films; indeed Mission: Impossible – Fallout is one of the very best action films of the year.

     The video and the audio are excellent; the extras are extensive and worthwhile resulting in an impressive Blu-ray package.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall