The Best Mission Impossible Yet!
Most film franchises crash into a brick wall by their fifth film such as Star Wars (Attack of the Clones), Rocky (Rocky V), Planet of the Apes (Battle of the Planet of the Apes), and etc. Mission Impossible has taken a different route. Every Mission Impossible film is better than the previous. Rogue Nation is the best Mission Impossible film yet. It’s success goes the director (Christopher McQuarrie), writer (Drew Pearce), and the cast that includes: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, and Sean Harris.
Ethan Hunt (Cruise), Benji Dunn (Pegg), Luther Strickell (Rhames), and William Brandt (Renner) are trying to prevent terrorists from stealing biochemical weapons that could wipe out an entire city. Hunt boards the terrorist’s getaway plane while its taking off and successfully steals the weapons. Brandt is attending a close door Senate hearing about previous incidents IMF’s (Impossible Missions Force) has caused over the last decade . CIA Director, Alan Hunley (Baldwin), wants to shut down the IMF and allow the CIA to control its operations. Meanwhile, Ethan is in London getting his next assignment when he is ambushed by the leader of the Syndicate, Solomon Lane (Harris). Lane wants to torture Hunt to the point where he will work for the Syndicate. Ethan escapes with the help of Ilsa Faust (Ferguson) and calls Brandt to inform that the Syndicate is real. Brandt informs Ethan that the entire IMF has been discontinued, and Ethan should turn himself in. Ethan goes on the run and searches for the Syndicate and their leader while avoiding the IMF.
The only negative about Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is nothing. Honestly nothing comes to mind about Rogue Nation that detracted from the film. The pacing was great. McQuarrie knew that he needed help while writing the film. He has a good eye to direct action scenes and is a good story teller. He asked Paramount to bring in Drew Pearce to help mold the story, the character arcs, and sure up his original screenplay to make the best movie possible. Their collaboration was a success because every character had their spotlight of delivering a punchline or doing something humorous. There wasn’t a lot exposition that had to be explain through dialogue. Rogue Nation was a fast paced film and film starts out with a bang.
The action sequences are fantastic. There are about five major action sequences in the film. Ethan boarding the plane is the opening action sequence. The best action sequence might be the car chase through Casablanca in Morocco. Personality, I don’t think that I have seen a better car chase on screen since I have started watching movies as a young kid. Tom Cruise does all of his own stunts as does the rest of the cast. He is holding onto the side of the plane while it takes off, underwater and has to hold his breath for two plus minutes, or performing that car chase with Simon Pegg in the passenger seat. He does all of the hand to hand combat too. The man loves his fans and will do anything to entertain them. The overall cast really shine in this movie but Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, and Sean Harris stand out.
Rebecca Ferguson and Simon Pegg might have stole the show. Ferguson plays a powerhouse as an assassin. She has sex appeal, charm, but like a black widow spider is deadly when she attacks. She did her own stunt and had several impressive hand to hand combat scenes. Simon Pegg kills it and the person who goes to see the movies with me said “Simon Pegg stole the show.” He adds so much humor his role of Benji. Benji is really the heart of the movie. Pegg is very pivotal to the plot. The rest of the cast kills their parts. Sean Harris really plays a good villain. He is a multidimensional character. The audience learns his motivations and is very deadly. The rest of the cast really nail their parts and even Alec Baldwin, who can be a melodramatic, killed that ignorant boss who eventually sees your point of view. Cruise does a have Point of View shot in the film and it was completely different from the other four movies.
Overall, Rogue Nation is one of the year’s best films. It is the best blockbuster of the summer. Rogue Nation gets a 4.8 out of 5.