Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation (2015) Paramount/Action-Adventure RT: 131 minutes Rated PG-13 (sequences of action and violence, brief partial nudity) Director: Christopher McQuarrie Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie Music: Joe Kraemer Cinematography: Robert Elswit Release date: July 31, 2015 (US) Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris, Simon McBurney, Zhang Jingchu, Jens Hulten, Tom Hollander. Box Office: $195M (US)/$682.7M (World)
Rating: ****
As much as I hate to resort to clichés, I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway. Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation is the best mission yet!
Christopher McQuarrie (writer of The Usual Suspects) directs this fifth installment, once again starring Tom Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt. It contains all the usual Mission: Impossible movies tropes- e.g. breaking into a heavily secured facility to steal a computer file- but McQuarrie takes the pieces and molds them into a slick, exciting, fast-moving action vehicle. I can’t believe I enjoyed it this much, especially since sequels tend to be lackluster retreads.
Rogue Nation pits Hunt against an international criminal organization called “The Syndicate” whose leader, sociopath Solomon Lane (Harris, ’71), is bent on nothing less than world domination. The only problem is that nobody but Hunt believes that such an outfit exists. To be honest, it does sound like the stuff of paranoid conspiracy theory. But they are all too real. Hunt gets captured by them, but escapes with the help of Ilsa Faust (Ferguson, Hercules), an associate of Lane who might actually be more ally than foe.
When Hunt tries to report in, he’s informed by team member Brandt (Renner, The Avengers) that IMF has been disbanded at the request of CIA director Alan Hunley (Baldwin, The Hunt for Red October). Therefore, Hunt has no choice but to go rogue in putting an end to The Syndicate. As usual, fellow agents Benji (Pegg, Star Trek) and Luther (Rhames, Pulp Fiction) show up to lend a hand.
I don’t want to give away too many plot details, but the road to the final destination is paved with thrills and excitement. From an opening scene where Hunt hangs from a plane mid-air to an attempted political assassination at the Vienna Opera House to the kick ass car/motorcycle chase that follows the aforementioned break-in, Rogue Nation doesn’t skimp on the action. Even better, the action scenes are very well done. Unlike the average Michael Bay-influenced actioner, they don’t assault the senses with CGI and overediting.
I’m not a big fan of Cruise, but he’s good in the MI movies. I like that he does all his own stunts. Harris makes a sufficiently evil villain. All this guy needs is a hideout located in a hollowed-out volcano. Ferguson makes a nice addition to the cast as a beautiful bad ass with one hell of a poker face. Baldwin is good as the CIA head determined to end IMF.
The plot isn’t overly complex, but there are a few nifty twists and turns, especially with Ferguson’s character. Rogue Nation is easily one of the best MI entries. I couldn’t have been more pleased consider ing some of the disappointing action movies- e.g. Mad Max: Fury Road, Terminator Genisys- that hit cinemas that summer. How do they keep getting better and better? Franchises tend to run out of gas by the time they get to the third movie, but Rogue Nation shows that the MI series still has plenty of life left in it. It’s an anomaly! It’s what summer moviegoing is all about. It has fights, shoot-outs, chases and amazing stunts aplenty. What more can you ask?
