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Mission Impossible-Rogue Nation (2015)
Here we have the fifth in the series to be more pedantic. I remember watching the first Mission Impossible film in the franchise when we were children. Tom Cruise had just started his new career as an action hero after Top Gun and the lesser known Days in Thunder. I have now seen the last two in the franchise in cinema including Ghost Protocol (2011) which was better received than the second and third in series. Tom Cruise has maintained his action hero cult by making the role of Ethan Hunt his own.
We have the ever present Luther played by Ving Rhames who like Cruise has been present in all 5 in the series. Joining us from the last film we have William Brandt (Jeremey Renner) and Benji played by the ever dependable Simon Pegg for all the comical laughs. Joining the cast is Alec Baldwin as Alan Hunley, Director if CIA and potential Rogue agent Ilsa Faust played by Rebecca Ferguson. The film starts off with the familiar trailer clip of Tom Cruise jumping onto the plane to retrieve sacred hardware. Afterwards our hero becomes a man on the run like in Ghost Protocol to track down an anti-IMF organisation called the Syndicate.
All of the cast do what is expected of them. Alec Baldwin is unusually calm with Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) as the main villain. The makers of the film have learned not to focus so much on the villain like they did with Dougray Scott and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Instead the villain is treated like a mystery character in the old fashion sixties sense with the hero being allowed the steal the show as should be the case. Rebecca Ferguson does well the as the possible double agent and carrying the weight of replacing the likes of Lea Seydoux, Michelle Monaghan and Paula Patton as the main female lead in the film.
The film starts off well with the classic Mission Impossible theme before watching Pegg struggle to read Russian when opening the door for Cruise. The film is effective in its delivery of a cheesy sixties secret service caper. The action chase scenes are very impressive especially the bike scene in Morocco. The film uses many locations including Vienna and London. The film seems to pay tribute to London as a great and popular filming location. When the film stopped being a chase film like Mad Max Fury Road one has the have patience with a key Mission Impossible style retrieval scene.
The key relationship in the film is the one between hero and comical assistant i.e. Cruise and Pegg which in effect is the comical version of Jack Bauer and Chloe O’Brian of 24. Though Mission Impossible films are the opposite of 24 that relationship is pinnacle to the plot of the film being carried. That friendship of doing everything to have each other’s backs in is very refreshing to see and is similar to Pegg’s friendship with Captain Kirk in the current Star Trek film directed by J.J. Abrams (who also produced this film along with Cruise).
The film is for many generations and even parents to take their children to see. Teenagers can see the film along with older viewers who have grown up observing Tom Cruise develop into the action star he is today from the first Mission Impossible film. The film does well in its familiar territory and does well not to risk any new tricks or meets all the expectations. If Fury Road started off the summer blockbuster season this is the one the end it given the stream of unappealing summer blockbusters in between. We look forward to more action flicks from Tom Cruise in the next decade.
Here we have the fifth in the series to be more pedantic. I remember watching the first Mission Impossible film in the franchise when we were children. Tom Cruise had just started his new career as an action hero after Top Gun and the lesser known Days in Thunder. I have now seen the last two in the franchise in cinema including Ghost Protocol (2011) which was better received than the second and third in series. Tom Cruise has maintained his action hero cult by making the role of Ethan Hunt his own.
We have the ever present Luther played by Ving Rhames who like Cruise has been present in all 5 in the series. Joining us from the last film we have William Brandt (Jeremey Renner) and Benji played by the ever dependable Simon Pegg for all the comical laughs. Joining the cast is Alec Baldwin as Alan Hunley, Director if CIA and potential Rogue agent Ilsa Faust played by Rebecca Ferguson. The film starts off with the familiar trailer clip of Tom Cruise jumping onto the plane to retrieve sacred hardware. Afterwards our hero becomes a man on the run like in Ghost Protocol to track down an anti-IMF organisation called the Syndicate.
All of the cast do what is expected of them. Alec Baldwin is unusually calm with Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) as the main villain. The makers of the film have learned not to focus so much on the villain like they did with Dougray Scott and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Instead the villain is treated like a mystery character in the old fashion sixties sense with the hero being allowed the steal the show as should be the case. Rebecca Ferguson does well the as the possible double agent and carrying the weight of replacing the likes of Lea Seydoux, Michelle Monaghan and Paula Patton as the main female lead in the film.
The film starts off well with the classic Mission Impossible theme before watching Pegg struggle to read Russian when opening the door for Cruise. The film is effective in its delivery of a cheesy sixties secret service caper. The action chase scenes are very impressive especially the bike scene in Morocco. The film uses many locations including Vienna and London. The film seems to pay tribute to London as a great and popular filming location. When the film stopped being a chase film like Mad Max Fury Road one has the have patience with a key Mission Impossible style retrieval scene.
The key relationship in the film is the one between hero and comical assistant i.e. Cruise and Pegg which in effect is the comical version of Jack Bauer and Chloe O’Brian of 24. Though Mission Impossible films are the opposite of 24 that relationship is pinnacle to the plot of the film being carried. That friendship of doing everything to have each other’s backs in is very refreshing to see and is similar to Pegg’s friendship with Captain Kirk in the current Star Trek film directed by J.J. Abrams (who also produced this film along with Cruise).
The film is for many generations and even parents to take their children to see. Teenagers can see the film along with older viewers who have grown up observing Tom Cruise develop into the action star he is today from the first Mission Impossible film. The film does well in its familiar territory and does well not to risk any new tricks or meets all the expectations. If Fury Road started off the summer blockbuster season this is the one the end it given the stream of unappealing summer blockbusters in between. We look forward to more action flicks from Tom Cruise in the next decade.