2015’s Mission
Impossible: Rogue Nation, written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie.
Starring Tom Cruise, Sean Harris, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg,
Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin, Simon McBurney, Tom Hollander, and
Jens Hultén.
What is it about?
Super spy for the IMF Ethan Hunt (as always played by Tom
Cruise) returns in the fifth Mission Impossible movie. Joined by
fellow spies Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Jeremy Renner, Cruise learns of a
“syndicate” organization (headed by Sean Harris) that is attempting to topple
his organization and unleash terror. With a CIA director (Alec Baldwin)
officially trying to shut down the IMF back home in America, Hunt and his team
(again) find themselves on their own with no resources or place to turn- except
for a disowned MI6 spy (Rebecca Ferguson) who’s intentions are unclear. Will
the outgunned espionage team be able to prevent the syndicate from unleashing
mutually assured destruction?
Why is it worth seeing?
By the fifth movie in the series, people know what they are
going to get from a MI viewing: agents
in masks, double crosses, and the seemingly ageless Tom Cruise explicitly showing
the value of life insurance. However, director Christopher McQuarrie brings hints
of something to the table that none of the other MI directors previously could: restraint.
Don’t get me wrong, the Mission
Impossible series is nothing if not an attempt to constantly try to top
itself with yet another breath taking stunt fuelled set piece (the underwater
sequence will challenge your lungs).
But McQuarrie’s steady hand (and connected writing) makes those pieces flow
together more organically, something not really seen in previous entries as it
at times felt like an excuse to get to the next impossible heart attack scene.
Freed of the cloak and danger femme fatale vibes of Brian De
Palma’s original, the testosterone
music video poses of John Woo’s sequel,
the domesticity attempts at a normal life for Hunt in J.J. Abrams third chapter, and the over the top
zany cartoon vibes from Brad Bird’s fourth chapter, McQuarrie is free to focus on the nuts and bolts of his crazily
charismatic star (and his underrated team mates) zigging and zagging through an
unadulterated world of Spy vs. Spy. It produces simple but iconic thrills, such
as watching a team infiltrate their mark at the opera, or an epic game of bluff
the bomber.
Every great film needs a great villain. As the baddie
syndicate leader, Sean Harris brings a quietly intellectual menace to the table
that while perhaps can’t qualify him as the series’ ultimate foil, does put him
in the conversation with Philip Seymour Hoffman (RIP)’s performance in Pt .III. With Harris’ almost stuttering
vocal delivery of a whisper, the series’ refusal to explain its character’s
motivations comes in handy here for keeping his character in the shadows.
While Tom Cruise’s team provides more screwball thrills to
support him (Simon Pegg is great again as the capable but humble field
operative), Cruise finally meets his match in Rebecca Ferguson’s MI6 character.
Ferguson is presented as not just somebody who’s intentions are unclear (love
interest? Friend? Mutual Spy? Enemy?), but more importantly a character (who
happens to be a woman) who’s competence and proficiencies seem to faze the
unflappable Ethan Hunt. Is she an ally to help take down the bad guys, or will
she be the one who ends his career? More please.
Like the previous entry Ghost
Protocol, Rogue Nation sometimes
can wear out its welcome (I’ve always felt an action thriller need not exceed 2
hours), and its scenes of the spy agency being taken to “court” for a “hearing”
are comical. But there is a consistent tone that runs throughout that McQuarrie
brings across that really translates the simple fun in watching spies do their
jobs, before they go onto the next impossible stunt. With new characters to
bring fresh blood to the franchise, the series can’t be accused of being on Cruise
control.
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