Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation


Mission: Impossible is a series I can't devote my time to. At least not like the James Bond series. As much as I love Tom Cruise and admire his devotion to stunt work and such, and as great as these movies are developed, they're always no more than a popcorn flick when I'm bored and looking for something on TV. Rogue Nation is no different. It doesn't mean it's not a great movie.

Rogue Nation is the fifth Mission: Impossible movie since the original installment back in 1996. It's astonishing that after nearly 20 years, Tom Cruise is still pumping out movies in this series, whilst some other notable series's in this genre can't keep a lead actor for more than five minutes. But here we are, and I can only give good remarks to this movie.

MI5 tells the story of Ethan Hunt's final discovery of the Syndicate, as the movie immediately kicks off with the discovery that the Syndicate has been watching Hunt's moves for a while now. Ethan is captured, but finds aid with the beautiful double-agent Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who helps him and Benji (Simon Pegg) find and track down all members of the group, including their leader, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). After many crosses and betrayals, an assassination attempt at an opera, and some swimming in a power plant, they all find themselves in London, as Solomon is threatening to kill Benji if Hunt doesn't hand over a file containing all names of the Syndicate agents. Hunt manages to talk him down, and a chase ensues through the London streets. It all ends with Hunt taking Lane into custody.

This year's been really good for spy movies, huh? We've had one which blended comedy and brutal action in a perfect mix (Kingsman), and one which lend a little more towards comedy but still entertained (Spy). Now that we're coming to the latter half of the year, we're getting into the more serious entries, and I honestly can't wait for them. MI5 fit my expectations brilliantly.

Tom Cruise is still amazing in this series. I don't think he really ever wasn't, even in MI2. His dedication to the production of these movies, doing all these crazy stunts and making sure everything is perfect really shows. But it doesn't just all fall on him, the protagonist casting choices were all excellent, particularly Simon Pegg as Benji (I love Simon Pegg...maybe I should do a marathon of his movies).

So, where does this movie fall short? I'm not much of a fan of how rushed it feels in the beginning (the movie practically starts on the note that the Syndicate is real), but it sorts itself out as time goes on. The Syndicate itself seems a little too SPECTRE-ripoff for my tastes, and the main Antagonist, Solomon Lane, acts too much like the offspring of Blofeld and Voldemort.

Either way, I'm giving Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation 4 out of 5 stars. It's a lot of good, action-packed fun full of great performances and a decent plot, and while the antagonists are a little weak, it doesn't really ruin what's mostly a very good movie.

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