Mission Impossible: Fallout – Nothing new, but is that so bad?

I remember watching the first 'Mission Impossible' film back in the mid-nineties. No, I won't claim to understand every single plot point in the film, but when the stunts were so high-octane, I simply put it down to some evil supervillain trying to take over the world somehow and a pumped-up Tom Cruise and co out to stop them.

Now I'm older (and so is Tom Cruise, although he seems to be aging a damn sight better than me!) and therefore I should be able to get my head round the (only slightly less complicated!) plots. Sadly, I can't. Besides the fact that there's another supervillain (or society - the 'MI' films tend to alternate between the two threats) threatening the world with another menace (this time the 'tried and tested' trope of 'stolen nukes') and so Tom and co must spring into action.

Yes, there's more to it than that. It is - after all - a 'spy movie' therefore you have to expect all the clichés that come with the genre. You have the Government officials who want to shut down Tom's team, some doublecrosses thrown in here and there and all the obvious action. And, yes, there's plenty of action.

Tom Cruise makes it well-known that he does all his own (or is it at least 'most?') of his stunts and there are some pretty impressive ones here. If you believe the online trivia for this film, he had to train for a year to do one such action set-piece. There's also a pretty high-octane motorbike chase through the streets of Paris. However, despite saying that Cruise does most of his stunts, I couldn't help but feel that some of the shots looked a little 'CGI' (feel free to correct me if you can find proof otherwise).

Although 'Fallout' is - as usual - Tom Cruise's 'baby' and, seeing as the entire franchise has lay heavily on his megastar shoulders, this one is no different. But, as is now common in the series, familiar faces such as Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames are also on board in order to lend a hand where necessary. The real newcomer to the show is none other than 'Superman' himself, Henry Cavill, who can certainly rival Cruise when it comes to kicking people's heads in and I think he's a welcome addition to the film and adds something that the previous instalments haven't had.

Basically, if you like the recent 'MI' films (at least from 'Part III' onwards) then you'll like this. If you're a fan of either Cruise or Cavill then it's definitely worth a watch. In a world where action films are 'uber-serious' and everything is highly realistic, it's nice to see one that's totally over-the-top in terms of its stunts, action and - of course - those 'perfect fit' full face masks guaranteed to fool any baddie they need to. It's a great popcorn movie where you don't really need to understand every last betrayal to have fun.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that