Director Christopher McQuarrie ("Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation," "The Way of the Gun," "Jack Reacher") comes at us this week with a second impossible mission, this one code named "Fallout."

Much better than "Rogue Nation," this one has most of the same characters but holds nothing back with the fact that it is an all-out action flick.

Tom Cruise ("Interview with a Vampire," "Jerry Maguire," "Rain Man") as Ethan Hunt, and his crew, Ving Rhames "Pulp Fiction," "Kojak," "Dawn of the Dead") as Luther Stickell and Simon Pegg ("Shawn of the Dead," "Star Trek: Beyond," "Hot Fuzz") as Benji Dunn, once again deal with arch criminal, Solomon Lane, played by Sean Harris ("Harry Brown," "The Borgias," "Deliver Us from Evil").

Also returning are second-tier players like Rebecca Ferguson ("The White Queen," "The Girl on the Train," "The Greatest Showman") as Ilsa Faust and Alec Baldwin ("The Hunt for Red October," "Beetlejuice," "30 Rock") as IMF Boss, Alan Hunley.

New players include Angela Bassett ("American Horror Story," "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," "ER") as CIA Chief Erica Sloan, who brings along a really cool character in August Walker, a paid assassin played by Henry Cavill ("The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "Man of Steel," "The Tudors").

Also returning is the beautiful Michelle Monaghan ("Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," "Gone Baby Gone," "The Path") as Julia Meade-Hunt.

"Mission Impossible: Fallout" has a pretty basic (yet interesting) plot and goes through all of the motions correctly, but there is nothing spectacular to recommend it

except the action!

It is pretty much non-stop and although much of it makes you suspend your disbelief in what a human being can accomplish and survive, you still love watching all of the "Sok!!! Pow!!!"

Each and every character is very well "fleshed" out and there is hardly any uninteresting substrata lying around. The amount of romance is kept to a minimum. As secret agent Hunt always seems too busy keeping track of all of the Derry-do to bother with the "mushy" stuff (unlike his 007 counterpart).

Actually, this movie reminds me a bit of a "Roger Moore as James Bond" movie, with plenty of action, a bit of humor, but without the Roger Moore charm. There seems to be a lot less "Tom Cruise" in this rendition of Ethan Hunt, and that may be a plus, although in the back of my mind, I wish there were a couple of more "Top Gun" smirks and a bit more "Risky Business" cockiness.

No matter, this may be my favorite Cruise-infused Mission Impossible, yet.

Go find out for yourself.

Billy Summers is a freelance photographer who also reviews films for the Putnam Herald. He can be reached at summers855@yahoo.com.

Christopher McQuarrie

Billy Summers: ‘Mission Impossible: Fallout’ hits its target with action sequences