‘Mission Impossible: Fallout’ VS. The Best Action Movies of All Time
My Dad took me to see Mission: Impossible when I was 11 years old. I adored it. Even though there was more fancy talking and less gun play than I was used to (The 90’s were great), Tom Cruise was my favorite & in Mission Impossible he was cooler than he’d ever been.
Afterwards my Dad went to the local book store (as he usually did after the movies). With the theme song still buzzing in my head I popped around from book shelf to book shelf pretending I was Ethan Hunt. I was a little old for that at the time, maybe. I was definitely too old for it when I walked out of Fallout a thirty two year old man experiencing the same rush.
Don’t worry. I didn’t go to a book store pretending to be an IMF agent. That would have gotten me arrested these days. I’m just attempting to get across how impressive this movie, this franchise and Tom Cruise are.
Sure, Scientology and all that. Whatever, man. This is one time I can separate art from artist. Cruise has been hanging on the edge of planes for twenty plus years in the name of providing that same type of child like fascination with a character built on sheer will power ….and that’s just it. Will power. We all have it.
When I was a kid, I just thought Ethan Hunt was cool. As an adult, I stare at him in awe of the fact that he’s not big like Schwarzenegger or badass like Seagal (*was) but absolutely refuses to die or give up on the people he loves. It’s a theme that runs through Fallout constantly. Whatever it takes. He’ll figure it out and they certainly don’t make it easy on him. This is far more a bruising Daniel Craig Bond affair than a Pierce Brosnan fancy fest. He bleeds in this movie. LOTS. (Respect to Goldeneye)
I’ve NEVER had an action movie put me in the place the ending to Fallout did. I expected to be entertained as I usually was with this awesome franchise.
This however, was another level entirely.
Those helicopter scenes with Cruise and Henry Cavill weren’t a movie. They were a fucking ride.
I went to the theater alone and could constantly hear the audience literally gasping behind me at certain moments. I’ve never experienced an action movie like this in the theater. Fallout is truly something special. But how special? Where does this rank on the all time action movie list? First off, the quintessential #1……
Mission Impossible: Fallout Vs. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
I’m not ready to go this far yet…. but there are so many similarities. Whilst watching Fallout I tried to remember the last time a movie really carried me away on action scenes alone. It was Terminator 2. Throw in the game changing FX the likes of which we’ve never seen anyone since make such a large leap an ofcourse Schwarzenegger. The cybernetic organism still reigns supreme.
Winner: Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Mission Impossible: Fallout Vs. Die Hard
Again, just asking this question feels like I’ve offended some ancient belief buried deep inside my soul. I feel sick. Die Hard is so different from it’s adversary in so many ways. One every day man, not particularly skilled or even determined. He’s ofcourse motivated to save his wife Holly but more than anything he’s a pure survivor. While Die Hard doesn’t necessarily provide the pure breathtaking thrills as Fallout and it’s 100 MPH action sequences……it’s more original. It’s one of a kind. (Though we try to replicate it yearly) It cannot be moved.
Winner: Die Hard
Mission Impossible: Fallout Vs. Speed, Lethal Weapon, Casino Royale, Point Break, The Matrix, Gladiator, Aliens, The Bourne Identity/Ultimatum, Skyfall, Predator, 300, Robocop, True Lies, Heat, Commando, The Rock, John Wick, Indiana Jones 1–3, Face/Off, First Blood, ETC.
I just realized I don’t have it in me to do this.
It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s that I literally can’t. It’s unfair. These movies have sat in my heart and soul for my entire life and I simply can’t fairly judge them against something I’ve carried with me for all of one day.
The point is, however…..we have something really special here. Something that belongs on this list. I wasn’t even going to include Superhero movies or fighting films and I still can’t do it.
Movies are special and this is a special movie. There. That feels right. I give Mission Impossible: Fallout a 10/10. It’s my favorite movie of 2018.
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