Review of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) by Mitchell B — 27 Mar 2016

See Tom Run - Part V - This Time It's Earnest.

I really have no idea what's going on in these Mission Impossible films anymore, but I gave up any real interest in the plot or suspension of disbelief long ago when it because quite obvious that this series is not set on this planet. I think it was in MI:III when Tom Cruise was doing his weird not-how-a-normal-human-does-it run towards camera and then a missile explodes directly behind him, sending him hurtling to the right for some reason. Real earth physics do not apply to Tom Cruise. I think it's due to Scientology.

Also, the name of Tom's super secret team is IMF, which stands for Impossible Missions Force. Impossible. Missions. Force. "Oh hi Ethan, how was your day... in the Impossible Missions Force?!".

Add to the sheer ridiculousness of the premise is a series of increasingly convoluted plots about even secreter organisations, double agents, triple agents and top secret doomsday information on USB drives and I find myself just waiting for the next set action piece. But that's where I think the Mission Impossible films excel, in the missions. The films boil down to a simple formula... here's an impenetrable fortress, infiltrate it using gadgets and masks and abseiling. And then a lot of earnest running by Tom Cruise.

And this is probably where your enjoyment of these films hinge. What is your Tom Cruise tolerance level? Because these films are Tom Cruise to the max. If they continue on this track Mission Impossible 10 will just be Tom Cruise running for two straight hours (and I think he could). However, thanks to the incredible performance of Rebecca Ferguson, I think there now a chance to introduce a deserving foil for Ethan Hunt and expand the dramatic tension beyond "how will Tom Cruise repel out of this predicament?" There is a limited life span to watching Tom Cruise do extreme sports and Rogue Nation uses the introduction of a new villain/ally/love interest to great effect.