Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, directed by Christopher McQuarrie, is the fifth installment of the Mission Impossible series starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. Much like its star, this series is aging well, as this latest film may also be its greatest.
Hunt is joined this time around by returning members William Brandt played by Jeremy Renner, Luther Stickell played by Ving Rhames, and Benji Dunn played by Simon Pegg to take on a mysterious organization known as the Syndicate.
Like the previous film, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, Hunt and his team are on their own, with no help from a government that is determined to dissolve the entire group, with the chief director of the CIA played by Alec Baldwin leading the witch hunt.
A lot of credit for the series’ new found success is in its ability to adapt to what today’s audience wants without pandering to them, a smart move considering the first film was released in 1996. Much like the Fast and Furious franchise, MI has found a new, winning formula – putting good-looking friends with lots of chemistry together against insurmountable odds and watch them somehow succeed. Toss in some crazy stunts for good measure.
While the previous film put Cruise on the side of the tallest building in the world for its big-time stunt, this one books him a special plane ticket early on in the film to let the audience know that like the ageless star, they’re going on a ride.
But again, what makes the movie work in between its action beats is the natural bantering between the group as they work on the next part of their ever-evolving plan. While Pegg consistently gets the most laughs, the biggest ones are delivered thanks to Renner, who spends his majority of screen time stuck playing politics.
However, Rogue Nation’s secret weapon is the relatively unknown Rebecca Ferguson playing Ilsa Faust. Whether it’s delivering a knockout blow to a bigger opponent or going toe to toe with Cruise in their scenes together, Ferguson shows that she may be poised to start taking more big roles in the next few years.
The series is aging like a fine wine, if that wine happened to be full of explosions and witty banter, but it is still worth seeing.
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