Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) Director: Christopher McQuarrie
“Hunt is uniquely trained and highly motivated, a specialist without equal, immune to any countermeasures. There is no secret he cannot extract, no security he cannot breach, no person he cannot become. He has most likely anticipated this very conversation and is waiting to strike in whatever direction we move. Sir, Hunt is the living manifestation of destiny—and he has made you his mission.”
Mission Impossible has proven itself to be that rare franchise which only gets better with age, and Tom Cruise’s image as a slightly unhinged celebrity (cue the scientology memes) has somehow continued serving his status as the leading action star of the 21st century. And the fifth Mission Impossible installment is no exception –here, we see Tom Cruise dangling off the side of an airplane as it takes off, plunging hundreds of feet into a swirling whirlpool, nearly drowning, and whizzing around in a high-octane motorcycle chase. This series has somehow managed to overcome the modern infatuation for unending zombie franchises which inevitably grow stale. Amazingly, Mission Impossible has lifted the modern action movie out of the doldrums from the likes of the Fast & Furious franchise.
In Rogue Nation the future of Impossible Missions Forces (IMF) once again hangs in the balance. There is now increased scrutiny come over the IMF as CIA Director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) seeks to shut down William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and the whole IMF division. Hunley is rate about the near-nuclear strike on San Francisco in the previous film. Meanwhile, against the instruction of the CIA, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is busy trying to prove the existence of a shadowy organization known as “The Syndicate” which is filled with rogue operatives. One of whom entraps Ethan inside a record store booth and kills the undercover secretary right in front of Ethan. Along the way, Ethan is forced into hiding in order to evade capture by the CIA. He meets a covert double agent named Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a twisted torturer known as “The Bone Doctor” (Jens Hultén), and the head of the Syndicate named Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). From Havana to Casablanca, we are treated to a classic Hollywood opera house shootout (perhaps a nod to Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much), an intense underwater ploy to steal a disk containing details on the Syndicate, and a masked kidnapping of the UK Prime Minister. The many twists and turns bring Ethan Hunt back together with his old IMF team of Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) as they dramatically hunt and capture Solomon Lane in a gratifying conclusion for the fifth Mission Impossible film.
As with Ghost Protocol, I thought Rogue Nation was another surprisingly compelling movie, a rare achievement for a 21st century action flick. With flashes of Jason Bourne’s ingenuity, James Bond’s theatrics, and Jack Ryan’s everyman heroism, Ethan Hunt’s Mission Impossible is a terrific rollicking thrill ride.
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- Director: Christopher McQuarrie
- Screenplay by: Christopher McQuarrie
- Story by: Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce
- Produced by: Tom Cruise, J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise…..Ethan Hunt
- Jeremy Renner…..William Brandt, an IMF Agent and intelligence analyst transferred to the CIA when the IMF is disbanded.
- Simon Pegg…..Benji Dunn, an IMF technical field agent transferred to the CIA’s cyber operations division when the IMF is disbanded.
- Ving Rhames…..Luther Stickell, an IMF Agent, Ethan’s closest friend, and computer hacker who retires when the IMF is disbanded and returns when Brandt calls him for help finding Hunt.
- Rebecca Ferguson…..Ilsa Faust, a disavowed MI6 Agent undercover in The Syndicate.
- Sean Harris…..Solomon Lane, an ex-MI6 Agent who became the leader of The Syndicate.
- Simon McBurney…..Atlee, MI6 Director and founder of The Syndicate.
- Tom Hollander…..the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- Alec Baldwin…..Alan Hunley, Director of the CIA.
- Cinematography by: Robert Elswit
- Edited by: Eddie Hamilton
- Music by: Joe Kraemer
- Production Companies: Skydance Productions, TC Productions, and Bad Robot Productions
- Distributed by: Paramount Pictures