Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation [2015] is the fifth installment in Tom Cruise’s signature franchise.  With the IMF now disavowed, the Syndicate emerges.  The Syndicate is a network of highly skilled operatives who are dedicated to establishing a new world order via an escalating series of terrorist attacks (“an anti-IMF”).  Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) gathers his team (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) to take down the Syndicate in what might be almost impossible, Mission: Impossible yet.

Three cheers for continuity! One of the many surprising things about this is how the events from previous films play into this one.  Events from Mission: Impossible and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol are brought up in a clever way that works in the context of the franchise.  It’s nice to see these movies finally acknowledge their predecessors, whereas before, it was only Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg.  There’s even a subtle nod towards Mission: Impossible 3.  No mention of the second film, but they probably just forgot about it (like the rest of us).

Three more for practical stunts! Practical effects have been making a comeback.  With Furious 7 and Mad Max: Fury Road both utilizing practical stunts, Mission: Impossible just might top them all.  Ok, maybe not Mad Max but did that have Tom Cruise hanging from a cargo plane?  Nope, and that’s not even the most impressive sequence.  That honor would go to the fight in the opera house.  I also have to credit the marketing team for hiding some of the film’s big surprises.  Most of the attention has gone to that plane stunt, but that’s just the beginning of the movie. It sets the bar high and maintains it throughout its 131 minutes running time.

And three more for the hell of it! One can imagine the shock director Christopher McQuarrie faced when they moved the release date from December 25 to July 31.  Five months of post-production were lost and filming hadn’t even finished yet.  The fact that this movie came out so great makes it even more impressive.  This might be the best film in the franchise.  It has great action, great humor, a strong female lead, and even a compelling villain.  Rogue Nation has everything one would want from a big action spectacle.  Not bad from the director of Jack Reacher.