Review of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) by Nathandrake007 — 07 Aug 2015

Chemicals are being loaded on a cargo plane, engines are about to start, those doors need to stay open and that cargo needs to get off the plane. Problem is... The doors are closing, the plane is starting up and the cargo is still on board.

Simon Peggs Agent Benji Dunn is waiting for someone and they are nowhere to be found. Jeremy Renner’s Agent William Brandt, on the other end of the line is stuck behind a monitor and is not even there to help.

The mission is about to turn critical... With no one else around my heart starts racing. The plane hits the tarmac and starts to rev its agents and Tom Cruises Ethan Hunt, runs up, out of seemingly nowhere, ready to jump on and risk his life fictionally and literally hanging from the doors of the plane as it lifts off! This is what mission impossible is all about.

This amazing set up is what begins this new chapter, now the fifth in the franchise (there will be a sixth) and all the characters and team that were so brilliantly put together in the previous instalment 'Ghost Protocol' (directed by the wonderful Brad Bird) is mostly all intact apart from the loss of ' Paula' Also we finally see the proper return of Ving Rhames as 'Luther'

It is nice to finally have a team we can rely on returning. Unlike the first three films in which the only real characters to stick around was the ageless Cruise and the always witty Rhames.

This time around we see them once again going rogue and on the run from a threat known only as The Syndicate. A very clever shadow organisation that seems to be dead on eradicating the Impossible Mission Force once and for all.

This premise is exciting and it starts off so damn well. Until we start seeing more and more of the organisation and its brains. Such a generic villain is what gives this otherwise brilliant spy flick a kick in the teeth. Played by Shaun Harris (From TV Series The Borgias). He gets his role through and does the job he intends. But with a lot less threatening whim as any previous villain we have seen in the franchise yet. I still think Philip Seymour Hoffman in MI3 was by far the best (Who doesn't like a secret weapon called a Rabbit Foot?).

The break out star of this show is the beautiful and witty Rebecca Ferguson (Duane Johnsons 'Hercules') ‘Seen Pictured’.

She plays such a great character. Who doesn't love a strong female lead? Those eyes are so mystifying and you’re never quite sure where the hell she is going to end up, or on which side she lands. I hope we see more of her in years to come.

The Director Christopher McQuarrie (Edge of Tomorrow and Jack Reacher) brings all the cards to the table here. He makes us gasp at the right moments and laugh out loud in others. He seems to do everything right and yet it just never reaches the heights of the previous film Ghost Protocol (That Tower - Dubai's Burj Khalifa, 123 stories up was an incredible piece of movie making) the feeling that Ethan Hunt was in control and brought a brand new fiercer team together. It was so tightly woven, not a moment passed that I felt I could look away. Rogue Nation treads a lot of the same ground and to a lesser extent. It tries to be the same with more of the same. That’s not always a good thing. But it works here. I just want to see the next one take the risks that Ghost Protocol did and move the franchise forward in exciting ways. I still hate the fact they killed off Josh Holloway (Sawyer from Lost) so quickly.

The music throughout the movie, composed by Joe Kramer hits all the right notes and some clever new ones. For a little known composer (previous movies Jack Reacher, Way Of The Gun) it has some excellent scores!

If you love the series so far and you can handle seeing a lot more of Tom Cruise doing what Cruise does best (putting his life on the line for entertainment) you won’t be disappointed. It definitely has a lot more laughs than previous films and I believe its now comfortable in its new shell. Just don’t go in expecting anything more.