The key word for this franchise is not “impossible”. Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his team always find a way. It’s “mission” because these films are all about the job. Ethan Hunt barely ever pauses to let his love life interfere with his work, nor does he take time to swot up on his wine knowledge or choose a new bespoke suit. But each time he chooses a mission, what follows steadily are adrenalin-triggering exploits, loosely strung together by double-crosses and chicanery. And at the heart of it is the biggest movie star on the planet, still, a man who risks life and limb each time he steps up, to accomplish stunts we’ve never seen. Tom Cruise probably climbs the Cliffs Of Insanity before breakfast and rappels back down using his own discarded M: I-2 hair. He’s sort of breathtaking.
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The plot sees Hunt face a terrifying nuclear threat from the acolytes of imprisoned anarchist baddie Solomon Lane ( Sean Harris, still on supremely creepy form) . Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust crosses his path again, on a conflicting mission of her own, while CIA agent August Walker ( Henry Cavill, with moustache) is foisted on Hunt as a minder. He’s a hammer to Hunt’s scalpel, as CIA chief Erica Sloan ( Angela Bassett) puts it, and despite the effectiveness of their partnership the two immediately clash.