Based upon the television series created by Bruce Geller
Story by Christopher McQuarrie & Drew Pearce
Screenplay Written and Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
**** (four stars)
RATED PG 13
Dear readers, this absolutely should not be happening.
In the cinematic world of tired remakes, sequels, prequels, re-boots, re-imaginings and so on, any new installment within an existing franchise series should be creatively spinning its wheels by now, arriving with one more unimaginative episode to cash in on any stitch of allegiance we may hold with the familiar characters and situations that first captivated us. With Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible" film series, on which Cruise serves as Producer as well as starring as the eternally intrepid secret agent Ethan Hunt, he has ensured the normalcy of movie franchises' waning quality over time refuses to be applied to his output. In addition, he has also ensured that his franchise will exceed all expectations and any semblances of skepticism.
"Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation," as directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who last collaborated with Cruise on the understated crime thriller "Jack Reacher" (2012), is a triumph. For the fifth film in this on-going series, it should have been the one where the adventures of Ethan Hunt and his team of secret IMF agents would grow weary and creaky. Instead, and masterfully so, we have a film that illustrates in high flying excitement and high class, that blockbuster films need not be brain dead in order to be entertaining and that sequels need not be uninspiring cash grabs. In a film series that does not have even one bad entry, "Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation" continues the excellence set by Director J.J. Abrams with his "Mission: Impossible III" (2006) and Director Brad Bird's outstanding "Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol" (2011). This is as rock solid as it gets.
The plot of "Mission: Impossible -Rogue Nation" is lean, mean, sharply effective and completely involving. Ethan Hunt (again played by Tom Cruise) and his band of secret IMF agents, who include Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and longtime partner Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), are being threatened by The Syndicate, a supposedly mythical organization of rogue agents and assassins who kill to order and are led by the nefarious Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), essentially Hunt's equal and dark sided twin in espionage.
While also being pursued around the globe by CIA Director Alan Hunley (played by Alec Baldwin), Hunt feverishly attempts to prove the existence of The Syndicate as he evades all manner of...ahem...impossible situations and with the aid of the mysterious Ilsa Faust (a tremendous Rebecca Ferguson).
As that plot description is brief, the complexities firmly exist within the details. As with the previous four films, "Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation" travels the globe, this time from Austria to Morocco to London, and throws Hunt and his colleagues into one death defying adventure and action set piece after another and another and the effect is exhilarating. McQuarrie has staged each and every sequence with a tremendous precision and even elegance. There is no sense of ADD editing on display, whatever CGI special effects technology that exists never calls attention to itself and is seemingly kept to a minimum and all sequences are beautifully choreographed, staged, executed and most importantly, they all serve and advance the story as a whole. No sequence is superfluous or excessive. The violence is forceful but never gratuitous. And McQuarrie has truly seemed to achieve the impossible, especially for a film goer like myself who has seen more than his share of action sequences and explosions in his lifetime: McQuarrie consistently kept me upon the edge of my seat with the tension and I nearly leapt out of my seat to cheer as I was surprised over and again. In many ways, McQuarrie, like Abrams and Bird before him, has helmed an installment that feels like a throwback to the era when blockbuster films and sequels did not have quite the same soiled reputation that they do hold in the 21st century. That the artistry and creativity remained paramount to the entire enterprise was clearly at the forefront of "Mission:Impossible-Rogue Nation." This is not a lazy escapade in the least.
By now, you have all seen the sequence where Ethan Hunt is hanging onto the side of a plane as it takes off, a stunt that Tom Cruise has famously performed himself. Well, the even more outstanding fact about that sequence is that this set piece opens the film! Yes, you read that correctly. McQuarrie has taken what most movies would use as the climax and has used it as the catalyst to begin the story of this new installment. Even more impressive, McQuarrie does not utilize the remainder of the film to keep topping himself with outrageousness, therefore running the risk of bludgeoning the audience into submission. Again, and I cannot express this sentiment enough, McQuarrie ensures that every action sequence is story driven, and they will exist on larger or smaller scales depending upon the plot and he uses all of the action as building blocks to ratchet up the overall intensity.
As with his work in "Jack Reacher," McQuarrie has also eschewed the propensity of action films to pepper the audio with mountains of perfunctory and ultimately, useless dialogue that distracts rather than enhances. McQuarrie has his characters speak only when necessary, if at all, during action sequences thus providing a sense of emotional realism and visceral connection even when situations grow wilder and more dire for our heroes. A lengthy sequence where Ethan Hunt, Ilsa Faust and an assassin pursue each other while backstage during an opera was exquisitely designed and near "Hitchcock-ian" in its delivery and suspense. An underwater sequence may have you gasping for air right alongside Ethan. The film's actual climax in fact is not a widescreen extravaganza. It is in fact more intimate and yet more intense than the airplane sequence because of all that we have learned about the story and characters along the way. And a car chase, which then flows into a motorcycle pursuit, moves at the speed of a hurricane and nearly rivals sights seen in Writer/Director George Miller's ferocious and brilliant "Mad Max: Fury Road."
In fact, "Mad Max: Fury Road" crossed my mind quite a bit as I watched "Mission: Impossible -Rogue Nation" as both films offered more complex character development than what may seem to exist on the surface. With Ethan Hunt, yes, we do not know very much about him...and we never have, which is fine because he is indeed a secret agent. But there are aspects to this evolving character that Tom Cruise continues to mine and hone to its finest points.
Throughout the series, we have essentially seen this character emerge from overgrown Boy Scout to youthful thrill seeker and now into a more hardened, cynical adult whose moral compass has grown even more rigid over time. With the previous installment, "Mission:Impossible-Ghost Protocol," Cruise delivered an action hero who is an angrier, hungrier lone wolf grudgingly forced to work with and accept his team. By this new film, Ethan Hunt, while no less driven, has come to fully accept his team and has even embraced the bonds he has formed with them, as their loyalty and friendship provides "Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation" with one of its largest themes and emotional core. Additionally, this new film delves into Ethan Hunt's enormous competitive streak, in this case as it relates to the villainous Solomon Lane, as Hunt will seemingly go to any length to not allow Lane to one-up him, lengths that nearly cost him and his teammates their lives. This aspect allows Cruise to explore Ethan Hunt's faults, so as not to make him too virtuous and decidedly fallible. I appreciated the effort greatly as it just continued to provide the proper shadings to continue making this character one that we wish to follow and learn more about. For all of the superhuman feats Ethan Hunt displays, Tom Cruise always makes him recognizably human.
This is the skill and commitment of Tom Cruise, an actor who seems to always work at peak form. There is a reason that he has remained a movie star (as well as an extremely perceptive yet highly underrated actor) for over 30 years. Regardless of whether you like the film or not, it can never be denied that Cruise has given his ALL for the role in question and with his signature series, he has delivered the goods all over again. In addition to his talents and skills, Cruise is also a most generous actor as he does not need to have all of the star wattage focused solely onto himself. As terrific as he is, as far as I am concerned, the real star of "Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation" is Rebecca Ferguson. Believe me, she owns the screen.
As with "Mad Max: Fury Road," where the engine that drove that film's story and action was not the titular Max but more truthfully, the character of Imperator Furiosa as portrayed with howling rage by Charlize Theron, "Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation" is equally propelled by Rebecca Ferguson's role as Ilsa Faust While I will not get into her character within this review so as not to spoil the fullest discovery of her, her backstory and ultimate motivations, I will say that the film as a whole would not work without her. I deeply appreciated how her character possessed several layers to uncover and she never once existed in the film as a romantic interest or foil for any character, including Tom Cruise's. Ilsa Faust made for a figure of mystery, intrigue, action, palpable anger, rich pathos and sorrow plus an unquestionable sexual allure that is perfect for a film of this nature and Rebecca Ferguson is sensational. She delivers a thoroughly engaging and terrific performance, the very kind that I think would be star making and even one where some viewers may entertain the idea of giving her character her own film. To think, this film series has given us one of its finest characters in its fifth go-around. Just amazing!
At this time, plans are already underway for a sixth installment in the franchise and while I would usually yawn and groan at the prospect, this is a case where I am already anxious to see just where Ethan Hunt will end up next time for this episode was so enormously satisfying. Christopher McQuarrie's "Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation" is a top flight spy thriller that leaves the likes of Jason Bourne far in the dust and is dangerously nipping at 007's heels.
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