Mission Impossible: Bond Nation

Rating: 7/10 (16 November 2015)

Once again, Ethan Hunt is on the run and forced to conduct a lone mission. This film is oddly paced. We flit from location to location, proving that the mysterious lethal organisation named The Syndicate is well and truly global. Establishing landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben orientate us through this mission. But it doesn't exactly feel much different from one another, but rather like a video game campaign where each leveled mission takes us through another setting. There is a high speed motorcycle chase in Morocco which quickly exits the distinct and dusty architecture of Rabat for a sleek highway that could be anywhere in the world. The final chase scene features yet another scuffle with the goons of our main villain Lane and is utterly drab in the night. For all the heroic stunt manoeuvres on the side of a plane (and no, doing his own stunts does not make a movie better, but it is admirable somewhat), Hunt spends some weird moments boxed into confined and uninteresting environments. After escaping from a torture chamber in what is an utterly incomprehensible action scene featuring a flurry of cuts for each punch or kick thrown, he runs down a hallway and then inexplicably is in some phone booth in the city elsewhere. In the climatic showdown, the hero and villain pair run into some abandoned museum, fall into a vent thing (where it all started right) and viola, there you have the master plan.
Sean Harris is the villain, and not a very good one. Like so many before him, he is good turned evil, and thus his has concocted nefarious intentions in his payback. He has several monologues, none of which are assisted by his raspy voice which ends up rather wimpy (I suppose menacing is what they were going for), and he waxes lyrical on how he must bring about change to the world and metaphorical comparing himself to a surgeon and blah blah blah this is a very bland and shallow character. Not helping is the blocking and coverage which seems bizarre at times; Ilsa and him meet at a cemetery (and the ridiculous abundance of shallow focus all but obscures the background anyway), and some sort of threat is once again issued, and he demonstrates his hold over her, but meanwhile they walk and stop and walk again so casually it might be some romantic stroll in the park. Harris' best moment is his trembling facial tics as he struggles against Hunt reversing the odds on him in the climax, but the countdown timer does not seem particularly necessary. Surely a trigger would offer a lot more control?
It's not surprising, but much of Rogue Nation's plot is dished out via exposition in rooms upon rooms. Renner, Baldwin and Rhames are all criminally underused because of this, and they spend most of the film idle but somehow being in the right place to explain the right thing, somehow having the means to magically further the plot. Newcomer Rebecca Ferguson fortunately does not fall to that same fate, and plays a crucial Bond girl type role in the two best action sequences. The mission to steal the Syndicate ledger from a highly secure facility is classic Mission Impossible, and its entertainment value speaks for itself. As always, they go over the plan and each intricate detail, discussing in voice-over, and this sort of thing is common in this genre, but it's done really well. Partly because they it is treated lighter than usual, with Pegg chiming in with his impeccable comedic delivery ("That doesn't sound impossible!") and soft nodding to the previous installments of the series with both Benji and Hunt inquiring about alternate methods. The scene itself is gripping. Silence is used effectively here; there is nothing but the swimming strokes and bubbles in the track as Hunt makes his way to over to 108, but we still know that something is about to go wrong, and it's all the more tense when it finally does hit him. The camera drifts away slowly as he loses consciousness, and only after a extended wait, where we are almost actually made to believe our hero is done for, then the soundtrack flares in and Ilsa makes her rescue.
The other sequence, and perhaps the best scene in the movie, is the attempted assassination in the opera in Vienna. Voyeuristic overhead angles shots and effective cutting between the opposing perspectives of the snipers orientates us within the backstage of the opera stage, and we are treated to this tense but slow moving chase between several combatants to the backdrop of Turandot and the blaring operatic tune of Nessun dorma. The sound mixing here is particularly excellent and appropriate; it dips and rises in volume as Hunt plays a game of cat and mouse backstage, and it all but drowns out any noise that the urgent fist fights cause. But this only adds urgency to the perilous battle on top of those platforms; the choreography is desperate but subdued as they are silhouetted in the blue lighting while the crowds below are unaware.
Admittedly, I haven't been diligently following this franchise but it is successful at what it does and Cruise shows remarkable ability even at this age. Ultimately this is one of those movies that you wouldn't hate to discover while flicking through channels. In several cases, Renner's Brandt attempts to be the voice of reason and tries to dispel any notion of heroics or peril, but Hunt waves him away and maps out yet another mission impossible. And isn't that what we want to see anyway?