Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Review

My apologies for taking a while with the next Mission: Impossible entry. With the success of Ghost Protocol, it only made sense to keep the train moving by having Tom Cruise do an even crazier stunt. For awhile, between the last entry and this one is where Cruise had a run of box office disappointments. You had films like Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow that were trying to do something different but not making a dent financially. Albeit Edge is one of the best sci-fi films of the 2010s and Oblivion is underrated from what I gathered. In any case, Rogue Nation is easily up there with the best franchise. 

1. The Syndicate

        It’s one of those things where the trailer easily sold me with wanting to watch the film. With that famous shot of Tom Cruise hanging on to dear life on the side of an airplane. And the fact that we see it takeoff the runway and veer was just one of those things where Cruise was certified insane as a stunt man. And it took awhile to finally watch this one, I’m weird where the sequel to this one was my first exposure and then I watched Rogue Nation. I’m peculiar what can I tell you. 

        We follow Ethan as he and the IMF have been disbanded after the events of Ghost Protocol and III. I think I put down that the sequels operate as independents, but if you’re a purist such as me, prior events are brought up at the detriment of the IMF. Ethan gets word that an alliance of former agents have banded together to dismantle the world order through assassinations. And the way he receives that news I think is one of the best reveals of the villain in the franchise so far. It’s practically needed that every entry has to have a mission brief and for Hunt to be told that the message will self-destruct. 

        Not in this one, I love how it gets subverted when the message starts off innocently enough, but soon turns antagonistic when Ethan finds out that the Syndicate is aware of him. By following them would result in his death and to the point that he’ll be disavowed of any knowledge. And I love how Ethan along with Benji now have to work within their own means to uncover the Syndicate. It’s a callback to the last entry, and I think it’s the best way since we see Hunt and Benji operate as a team. Between them and the CIA’s Brandt along with Luther is like a cat and mouse plot line where the former comes out on top. 

        We have a different female lead as Rebecca Ferguson seemingly joins the team as Ilsa. Her character is interesting where her actions lead us to think that she’s helping Ethan and helping the Syndicate. She’s sort of playing both sides but one where we’re interested with how she get one up as far as both parties are concerned. Her introduction is great since we see the physicality on display when she frees Ethan from capture. But the best scene involving her is when both her and Ethan are at the Opera. It gives us an understanding that Ethan must choose weather to kill her or stopping the rogue agents. More so that she leads Ethan along to trip him up. 

        Lastly, there’s a new level of action on display that is cranked up in this entry. It’s sort of in line with what 2 was doing but it still manages to make it more engaging without going over the top. Most of it feels gritty since we see Ethan’s physicality on display as well as with the car and motorcycle chase. The stunt work is impressive since we Ethan take out the rival cyclists all while having the car in reverse with Benji. It manages to balance being a spy film with an action film without any discombobulation. 

It’s hard to even rank which stunt in the film is the best. With every entry, there’s one stunt that practically encapsulates the film. This one has the distinction of having two. While the airplane scene is great, to the point where the digital cover has it emblazoned, I feel that the underwater stunt is also great. Ethan is tasked with going underwater in a secure vault to swap a data file. Just reading with how Cruise had to do intensive training to hold his breathe made the scene intense. More so that there’s obstacles in the way and that he gets help from Ilsa to do the swap. I think it works since it sets up a twist and inevitably leads to a car chase.

2. Christopher McQuarrie 

        I didn’t mention this before when talking about Ghost Protocol but director Christopher McQuarrie had a hand with the writing process. Though uncredited, he was brought in to tighten up the script and to shape how the stunts would appear on film. He got his start as a writer in the 90s and then transitioned to director in his debut The Way of the Gun. Him and Cruise have been frequent collaborators way back in 2008 with Valkyrie and it would stay like that as McQuarrie would helm the remainder of the Mission: Impossible films. One thing that separates him and Brad Bird is that he’s a very straightforward director. 

        And it’s not a bad thing since the film isn’t bland and I’ll even say that the action is noticeably better in Rogue Nation. You got the action setups, but the one thing that keeps the movie going is that character intentions constantly change due to the nature of the story. I like that both Ethan and the film’s antagonist Solomon try to one up each other but know that either side is expecting them to do what they want to achieve. It has that thriller angle that’s imbued with the espionage albeit it’s exciting when something goes wrong where Ethan has to adjust to the situation. In a way, McQuarrie changed the style of the film without losing what makes it fun. 

3. Overall 

        Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is a great entry to the franchise.