Review: Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★★½

Oh sure, you don’t like Tom Cruise. At least not since he jumped up and down on Oprah’s couch proclaiming his love for his now ex-wife. I’ve heard that sentiment all too often from a vast number of people. People loved 1980s Tom Cruise. They loved him in “Jerry Maguire.” And “Minority Report” was pretty awesome too, right? But being a couch-jumping Scientologist is too much for some folks I guess. You know that happened, like, ten years ago, right? And over the last several years, Cruise’s movies have been pretty great. Didn’t see “Edge of Tomorrow?” Please, you need to see that movie. And “Oblivion” was great too.

Then there’s his “Mission: Impossible” franchise. The third and fourth installments came out post-Oprah incident, which I found to be very enjoyable, especially the fourth film “Ghost Protocol.” The franchise generates enough money to keep warranting sequels, but as long as they’re good who cares? “Mission: Impossible – Rouge Nation” is the latest installment and might be the most adrenaline pumping adventure Cruise’s Ethan Hunt has embarked upon yet.

A terrorist organization known only as The Syndicate has identified Ethan Hunt after he rips off their attempt to smuggle some radioactive weaponry. He’s kidnapped, but subsequently broken out by Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) who may or may not be an undercover British operative. Meanwhile back home, the CIA lead by Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) has disbanded the IMF and is on the lookout for Hunt. Therefore, Hunt, Faust, Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Benji (Simon Pegg), and Luther (Ving Rhames) must all work out of sight of the CIA in order to bring this Syndicate down.

As far as “Mission: Impossible” plots go, “Rouge Nation” is pretty straightforward and easy to follow. You’re not sitting there scratching your head trying to figure out what the heck just happened. You’re here to see high-octane action pieces tied together with a cohesive narrative, and that’s exactly what you get. There’s just enough plot to move everything along from one big action sequence to the next without ever becoming so bogged down by mind numbing plot details. This has become an ever-prevalent problem plaguing so many movies. The story is important, yes, but it doesn’t have to be smothered with so much plot that it becomes a boring mess.

“Rogue Nation” is far from this. Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie (Oscar-winning screenwriter of “The Usual Suspects”) understands that pace is incredibly important in movie such a this and does his duty as a storyteller by showing us all the pertinent information on screen. He does it like this rather than sitting two or more characters at a table and having them over-explain everything little detail. It’s a relief to see something like this in a summer action blockbuster.

McQuarrie’s his already a proven writer, and now continues to improve of his craft as a director. A lot of talk has already been made about Cruise’s airplane stunt (where he actually hung off the side of a military airplane while it took off) but that’s the first stunt we see in the film. From there, it only gets better. Each of these “Mission: Impossible” films has a signature stunt, but there are several different pieces in here that are spectacular.

I won’t go into any details about them, because that would just spoil the surprise, but one of them does involve a high-speed chase. It’s probably one of the best chase scenes we’ve seen (other than the entirety of “Mad Max: Fury Road”) in several years. Most of that can be attributed the stunt driving and the utilization of practical effects rather than CGI. The camera work and editing are pretty sensational too. It’s cut in rapid form, but it’s not overkill. The sequences still make sense. You can clearly differentiate everything that’s happening. These types of scenes don’t happen by accident; they’re carefully crafted from pre-production all the way through the end. When filmmakers, such as McQuarrie, use their heads about what they want everything to look like, that’s when these types of scenes end up being memorable.

Ultimately, “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” is very memorable. From the action scenes to the stellar performances by the entire cast, this film is absolutely one of the most enjoyable movies of the summer. Those who haven’t seen any of the previous films will still be able to enjoy this since these films all seem to stand very well on their own. In an era of film where we’re treated to far too many franchise, Cruise seems to know exactly what he needs to do to position “Mission: Impossible” in a class all of its own.

One more thing: the worst thing action movies can do is open up with a bore. “The Avengers” suffered this issue, opening with walking and talking down hallways about all sorts of exposition. “Age of Ultron” wasn’t much better. It did open with a big action scene, but it was almost entirely CGI and not in a very unique setting. “Rogue Nation” opens with its star hanging off the side of an airplane with no use of green screens and computers. Let’s see Downey, Jr. do that. Love him or hate him, Tom Cruise and this franchise are setting the bar high for everyone else.