Notable Cast: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Ving
Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Simon McBurney
It’s not very often that the fifth entry into a major
franchise is one of the best ones (in the case of Fast Five it was and still is the best one), so walking out of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation I
couldn’t help but feel pretty satisfied. While I still wouldn’t consider it the
best of the franchise, that accolade still remains with JJ Abrams third entry, Rogue Nation delivers another round of
energetic and outrageous spy action…albeit with a bit more humor and a bit more
of a classic espionage approach to the entire thing. The results are another
fun – and surprisingly sound – adventure flick that will appeal to longtime
fans as well as new ones.
Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is onto something big. The Syndicate. A
group of rogue agents from all over the world trained to create disaster and
chaos as efficiently as the IMF can stop it. Unfortunately, the CIA and its
director (Baldwin) see the IMF as a loose cannon themselves and they pull the
plug. So it’s up to Hunt, with a little help from his friends, to finally
uncover the biggest anti-spy organization this side of Spectre.
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| Over the shoulder! No wait, don't fire...that shit is LOUD! |
Love him or hate him, Tom Cruise has been on a roll lately
with his films. Whether it’s an old school thriller like Jack Reacher or the bonkers time jumping science fiction of Edge of Tomorrow, his last handful of
films have been impressively consistent in quality. You can certainly add Rogue Nation to that list. Oddly enough,
there is another element that threads through all of the mentioned films
outside of the screen charm and stunt performin’ draw of Tom Cruise – and
that’s writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. If you take the entertaining
action and humor of Edge of Tomorrow
and inject it with some of the classic action elements of Jack Reacher, that’s the balance you get in Rogue Nation. It’s a very fun way to go about it and it makes this
film feel a bit refreshing after the sheer ridiculousness of the last one.
When it comes to hitting all of the Mission: Impossible elements, Rogue
Nation does so in spades. Elaborate theft schemes? Try on an underwater
computer card transfer that will have you holding your breath along with Hunt.
Rag tag team of IMF agents that have to go rogue to stop a world ending
disaster? Hasn’t every film had that? Try death defying stunts like Tom Cruise
hanging off of a plane or skipping his way up a pole in handcuffs. At this
point, if you stick to the bread and butter of what made this franchise so
enjoyable to begin with, it’s hard to go too wrong. The film is brimming with
fun and exciting action sequences and plenty of twists and turns along the way.
At this point it’s even fun at guessing just when the mask reveal is going to
happen. Long time M:I fans are
definitely going to find things to love about this film.
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| The wheels on the cycle go boom, boom, boom. |
To add to the fun, director Christopher McQuarrie adds a bit
of old school spy thrills. The previous three films have sacrificed a bit of
the actual “espionage” for the sake of entertaining action (which isn’t a dig
at those films because it works), but Rogue
Nation adds in just enough fun twists and turns to make it feel a bit
refreshing. While the entire “is she with the good guys or with the bad guys”
element for Ferguson does seem a bit cliché, she sells it in Rogue Nation and adds a bit of much
needed feminine screen power to a franchise known for just leap frogging around
it. McQuarrie also has a knack for using darkness and light in his visuals to
add old school flair to the film. The finale is in the darkened allies of
London and he uses it to some craft some great atmosphere. The previously
mentioned Ferguson gets a stellar knife fight at this moment that might be one
of the highlights of the entire franchise – despite not being an over the top
stunt.
Once again, the biggest issue that this film has to contend
with is the lacking presence of a strong villain. It’s somewhat avoided here,
in a similar manner to the first one, by having the plot be the biggest
antagonist for our heroes, but it’s still an issue. Sean Harris desperately
attempts to make his screen time foreboding and creepy with his performance,
but never once was I wholly convinced that he was a true competitor to Cruise’s
Hunt – whom at this point is damn near god-like in his ability to survive
anything. Along these lines, the added screen time for Simon Pegg was a huge
crowd pleaser for the audience around me, but his role seemed significantly
catered for that exact reason. It’s not a huge detriment for the film (he’s
funny, so there’s that) but there were times when it felt like it could have
been fleshed out a bit more instead of the “he’s my friend!” motive.
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| So dark. So brooding. |
Despite some hiccups here and there in the ridiculous plot
and some of the lacking character depth, Rogue
Nation remains a massively entertaining summer blockbuster worthy of the
time of its audience. Long time Mission:
Impossible fans are going to love the old school elements that McQuarrie
slides in and the newer fans are going to eat up the outrageous stunts and
silly humorous banter of the IMF team. It still falls a bit short of Mission: Impossible III, but I’ll be
damned if this film doesn’t give it a run for its money.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
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