But like all Mission: Impossible films (of which there’s yet to be a dud), it’s not so much about the outcome as it is the breathlessly thrilling journey Cruise takes us on to get there.
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If all of this sounds familiar, well it should because Rogue Nation follows a very similar template to that of the first Mission: Impossible movie.
The Syndicate remains a shadowy antagonist throughout, but not in a good way. Joined by Luther and two other agents, Ethan and his team are helped by International Monetary Fund technician Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg). Simon Pegg is terrific as his jokey sidekick and Rebecca Ferguson is stunning and sexy as the “Do I trust her, or do I shoot her?” gal who hooks up with the Impossible Mission Force. For Ghost Protocol, he was placed on the side of the world’s largest building. “You kind of realize, Okay, the camera’s rolling, I gotta give a performance here”, he says. Yes, Harrison Ford has played Indiana Jones in four movies over the course of 27 years, but that fourth movie is such an outlier and it’s not the same Jones we watched in the first three films.
Someone could write a book describing these sequences; their cinematography, editing, score, shot composition, not to mention the mind-boggling specifics of Hunt’s missions (the one in an underwater computer is absolutely insane). While this is the most stylish scene, there are multiple action moments that top it later on.
Tonally Rogue Nation swerves all over the place, flipping between intense, crunching violence, old-school espionage tension and excruciatingly awkward comedy. I feel really privileged to get to see the real man, you know?
One of the pleasing things about the Mission: Impossible franchise is that it isn’t all about Hunt. Rogue Nation may not be the best, the tightest, or even the most logically coherent M:I flick, but there should be more movies like it: relentlessly thrilling, smart entertainments for folks who can’t tell the difference between Quicksilver and The Flash-and aren’t particularly interested in trying to learn the difference either.
“Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation“, also starring Alec Baldwin, Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames, opens July 31.
Tom may be 53, but he’s in better shape than ever, thanks to his strenuous work-outs for the role.
Best known for playing Elizabeth Woodville in the BBC’s Golden Globe-nominated 10-part historical drama The White Queen, she has shaken off her corsets to show off fighting skills you’re more likely to associate with MMA stars Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano. So shutting them down is the ideal storyline for Rogue Nation.
Less impressive, however, is British actor Sean Harris, who plays Solomon Lane, the leader of The Syndicate. When I worked as a closed-captioner, we got a contract to do “Mission: Impossible“, and I must have done twenty episodes of it myself.
After months of diligent investigation and plane-hanging, Hunt discovers the existence of an ultra-secretive “rogue nation” terrorist group he calls “The Syndicate”. Even as its 20th anniversary approaches, the Mission: Impossible series is still finding ways to make us hold our breath.
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The 45-year-old actor thinks “there is a lot of mythology” surrounding his “Mission: Impossible – Rogue nation” co-star and insists he is “different” than his public persona.
