Review of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) by Clarisesamuels — 18 Aug 2015

Tom Cruise really does risk his life in the opening scene of this movie. It is not an optical illusion or a stunt man. It is Cruise himself hanging on for dear life to the side of an airplane that has taken off and become airborne. However, he has been harnessed so that if he had slipped in the filming, he would have presumably survived, falling only a few feet before being secured. But how many actors could perform that stunt even with a harness? One gets the impression that Daniel Craig takes an island vacation when it's time to film the stunts—he relies on a professional double to do the risky stuff.

This film may at times be a little overwhelmed by the many chase scenes, but the plot keeps the audience guessing about which double agent is betraying whom. Cruise's character, the indefatigable Ethan Hunt, is a man who has a guardian angel sitting on his shoulder so that no real harm can ever befall him. He is a strict purist, a defender of the peace, a human superhero, and as the CIA head (Alec Baldwin) puts it, “the living manifestation of destiny.” (A few critics commented on the guffaws provoked by this line—nobody laughed at my showing in Montreal, but oddly enough, at the end of the film there was a round of applause.) In short, Hunt is to spies as the Dalai Lama is to Buddhist monks.

The IMF (Impossible Mission Force) is trying to stop the latest incarnation of evil, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), from assassinating all the heads of state as part of a master plan conducted by the Syndicate, an international crime network. Lane is an insanely criminal mastermind, and in no time at all, he has Hunt captured and hanging by his wrists in a torture chamber. Even Hunt cannot escape from this dilemma until a beautiful double agent, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) enters the room and miraculously releases him. Like Hunt, she is unflappable, invincible, and incorrigible. She is neither Bond girl, nor Bourne girl, nor any kind of girl. Ilsa Faust defies categorization. She is unique.

Thus begins a bizarre relationship between the two spies based on mutual respect, mutual desire for self-preservation, and mutual attraction, although consummate professionals that they are, they keep their distance from each other. Romance is clearly for mere mortals, a weakness that disciplined ninja-like warriors cannot afford to indulge. For them being impassioned means that you would do anything to save the world, whereas more carnal inclinations are to be derided as juvenile distractions.

In the end we have what has been termed the American answer to James Bond, and though Ethan Hunt is somewhat lacking in that droll British elegance, our roll-up-your-sleeves kind of folksy spy is actually more appealing. In a world where everyone has been speculating for years about who is going to replace Daniel Craig as the next 007, no one ever asks who is going to replace Tom Cruise. There's a reason for that—he is incontestably irreplaceable. Fortunately, Liam Neeson has set a new precedent with the Taken series, where aging spies who just want to retire are forced back into action because they are simply too good to hang out their gone fishin' sign. Neeson still inspires admiration at 63. Cruise is only 53, and like the character of Ethan Hunt, he can only get better with age.