'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' - Movie Review

I remember once upon a time when plot drove the action in an action movie. Now someone assembles a steady flow of fights and stunts, and the "plot" is simply the glue to hold them together - to get from one to the next. To its credit, this movie has more plot - and substantially more talk - than the utterly ludicrous "Mad Max: Fury Road." Of course if you loved that movie, you can assume my dislike of both means you'll probably love this one too. I totally lost track of who was triple-crossing who and what lies had been told in what context. But that's okay: it doesn't matter, and there's absolutely no doubt that Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) will save the entire world at the last second, again.

I'm in awe of Tom Cruise's willingness to do all his own stunts - including learning how to fly a helicopter through a corkscrew turn, and breaking his foot on a building-to-building leap that stayed in the movie. The action sequences are pretty good. But I find without any doubt about the outcome - or a plot that makes sense - no amount of action is going to make a movie convincing or involving.