Rent Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Christopher McQuarrie (screenplay), Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce (story), Bruce Geller (television series)
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot:
Not only is the IMF in danger of being disbanded, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and crew have to deal with a double agent and a terrorist organization.
Verdict:
Mission:Impossible is a collection of larger than life action set
pieces. Is this a thinly veiled Tom Cruise biography? I honestly don't
know. It's not easy to act opposite of Cruise, but Rebecca Furguson is a
standout. The plot is typical and reality is sidestepped whenever it
benefits the story. Ethan Hunt might as well be superman. With a mix of
humor and bravado, you won't lack for entertainment.
It depends.
Review:
M:I kicks off in media res with Ethan Hunt on a mission. He ends
up jumping onto a plane and hanging onto the side as it takes off.
Cruise did a lot of his own stunts and had to wear special contact
lenses for the plane stunt as dust or debris would shred his eyes at the
speed the plane was traveling.
This is highly stylized action that ventures into the ridiculous,
designed to maximize fun. I have to balk as Hunt is holding onto a pole,
while handcuffed and inverted, hopping up the pole to free himself.
This is the introduction of Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust. She's a
double agent with questionable alliances that seems to help Hunt.
Ferguson does a standout job in this movie. She is a mix of no-nonsense,
yet charming.
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| Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - The Tom Cruise thrill ride. |
To ramp up the tension the IMF, Hunt's CIA like organization, is shut
down and Hunt is wanted for his crimes. It's such a common trope to
create tension. It's a place holder idea at best. This provides the
opportunity for another common trope. The CIA has located Hunt's hideout
and are about to kick the door down They can hear him inside and the
scene is intercut with scenes of Hunt working out. I knew what was going
to happen. Hunt's not there. He's in a different castle.... err room.
It's another common trope, and it's not the last we see in this movie.
Hunt has been tracking the Syndicate, an organization no one else
believes exist. He's also an extremely talented sketch artist. Hunt
lures Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) to the opera to set up the next big action
set piece. Hunt tries to find the mysterious big bad and runs into
Faust again. We get fights, shots, and comedy.
This really is the American version of James Bond as it's completely
over the top. With the team together it's time to infiltrate a building
that has super high tech security. This is the trademark of M:I
movies, but this time Hunt isn't suspended from the ceiling above a
laser grid. This is the standout action set piece. Hunt jumps into a
water cooled reactor to switch out a security card so that Dunn can
steal the data. Why is the card here? Who knows. As the movie tells us,
it's the only way. Dunn jokes that it should be no problem for Hunt.
He'll only be under water for three minutes. It's difficult, but not
impossible. You know Hunt will make it, but the movie does it's best to
cast doubt. It's intense and to say more would spoil it.
In one of the rare moments of Hunt not at the super human level, he
stumbles trying to jump over the car as he's still out of it from the
last scene. It's a humorous touch that reinforces this movie isn't
beyond having a laugh at it's own expense.
The car chase wasn't bad culminating in an over the top car crash.
Cruise did his own stunt driving. The car chase leads to a motorcycle
chase that culminates in Hunt laying the bike down at speed with nary a
scratch.
To satisfy the syndicate and save his friend, Hunt has to kidnap the
Prime Minister. I have no idea how the next movie will top this. The
mission is successful with some classic M:I trickery.
With Dunn sitting on a bomb and Faust prepared to kill them both to save
herself, Hunt defuses the situation. He's memorized hundreds of bank
account numbers. I buy that Tom Cruise could memorize that, could Ethan
Hunt? I don't think so.
Of course the bad guy is detained in a carefully orchestrated plan. They
trap him in a glass cage. This part was actually clever.
My ranking for the franchise would be Fallout, Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, I, III, II.
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