Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation

Review By: John Delia

A tad too long, a bit slow, but there is enough impossible action to keep you awake to the very end. The fifth of the sequels, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation hits theaters this weekend as the alpha lone wolf for its male targeted audience.  The cast from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol returns in support of Tom Cruise with the addition of Alec Baldwin and newbie Jessica Ferguson and all put on a good show.  While this one does entertain, it doesn’t have the punch of Ghost Protocol.

The film opens with super spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) jumping on the wing of a huge air freighter and then working his way into the jet interior. Surviving the ordeal and destroying the dangerous cargo of the terrorists, Hunt finds out that he’s up against a diabolical spy organization called The Syndicate. In the meantime, CIA agency director Alan Hurley (Alec Baldwin) has gone before a US Senate Committee asking them to disband the IMF (the deep-cover espionage agency to which Ethan Hunt belongs).

In the midst of investigating, The Syndicate run by Solomon Lane (Dean Harris), Hunt finds himself a rogue spy when the Senate Committee approves Hurley’s recommendation. Determined to keep the IFM going, Benji (Simon Pegg) the computer genius of the group and fellow agent William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) join with Hunt to help him take down The Syndicate.

The film goes on from there crafting the usual up in your face chase scenes and impossible getaways. Director and writer Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher) helms this episode of the Mission: Impossible franchise. He puts his cast in motion from a script laden with spy traps, explosions, assassinations and the much needed comedy provided by Simon Pegg. Much like his Jack Reacher though, he makes his film mediocre and long winded. Dragging a bit between every change of exciting scene, the movie takes too much time to unfold.

That said, there’s always something new when it comes to Ethan Hunt’s tactics and McQuarrie includes a lot of spy versus spy in his film. Taking on the job of the main antagonist, Rebecca Ferguson plays the mysterious Ilsa Faust, a devilish spy with a proclivity for martial arts as her lethal weapon. Ferguson does a very good job in her first major film proving she can captivate her audience by annihilating anyone who comes up against her. Using both sides of the coin she takes orders from The Syndicate creating havoc on Ethan Hunt, yet she’ll do anything even collaborate to survive her present dilemma.

Then there’s Faust’s boss. Keeping The Syndicate secretive becomes no easy task for Solomon Lane played by Sean Harris. Looking very wicked, Harris makes a good match as the toughest adversary in Hunt’s quest to take down the super-spy organization. Sending his network of spies and henchmen to stop Hunt, Lane’s secret organization tries to put anything he can in Hunts way to defeat him.

Rogue Nation provides a thrill ride from fast exciting motorcycle chase scenes to a breath holding dive into a whirling pool. And of course there’s the copious amount of mayhem in between. The production crew outdoes itself in bringing this action attraction to the screen. They use modern special effects to create a one man attack of an airplane filled with explosive gas cylinders to start off the adventure putting audiences into action mode. Using many cameras to get some of the most amazing shots underwater, in the air and on the streets of London, the cinematography team is the real winner in this spy thriller.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation has been rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, and brief partial nudity.  The action gets intense, the violence includes some very brutal scenes and the very quick partial nudity works as eye candy for the male targeted audience.

FINAL ANALYSIS: This one ranks third best of the five Mission: Impossible movies. (B-)

Review By: John Delia