Review of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) by Allan C — 01 Jan 2017

Terrific action film from writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. I've always found the Mission Impossible films interesting in that the first three films were so distinct from each other based upon the director, but starting with number three and JJ Abrams producing the series, the films have now developed a more consistent of tone and is a better franchise for it.

In this film, Tom Cruise's "Jack Reacher" director takes over the writing and direction duties and takes us on a exciting tale of double crosses and espionage. The story here is more interesting than most of the prior films, which generally had fun scripts that mainly served action set pieces together.

Without spoiling any plot points, the story here involves the IMF team being disbanded and rolled into the CIA, with Ethan Hunt being disavowed when he insists on taking down a rogue spy syndicate. Writer/director McQuarrie is someone who I've always thought was underrated and he does a great job here.

His first film as director, "Way of the Gun," was a wildly subversive action film that included slow moving car chases and some supremely unheroic shootouts and fight scenes. McQuarrie is much more in mainstream of territory here, but he brings an indie film inventiveness to the action that makes it a lot more interesting than your average summer blockbuster simply filled with bland noise and fury.

On the downside, Tom Cruise is still annoying and I wish this film had another star, but he's surrounded by a strong a cast of supporting actors (Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Alec Baldwin) who make him bearable.

Also, there are some terrific set-pieces, which are really what make the Mission Impossible films so good, particularly a motorcycle chase in Morocco and an opera house assassination sequence right out of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much," make this a very cool film.

Overall, Rogue Nation is well worth watching for action film fans. PS: The Lalo Schifrin theme music fifty-something years later and channelled through composer Joe Kraemer still rocks!