Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation Review

Rating: 8/10 (23 September 2015)

The IMF (Impossible Missions Force) is now disbanded and Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is left on his own while a new threat emerges, the Syndicate. The Syndicate is a network of highly skilled former government operatives with a goal of establishing a new world order by an escalating series of terrorist attacks. Facing what may be his most impossible mission, Ethan gathers his team William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and also joins forces with a disowned British agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) who may be part of this organization.
Everybody knows the Mission Impossible theme. I haven't heard it too much lately so when I heard it at the beginning, I started getting chills. The film starts with action and does not let up. What added to the excitement was the lack of CGI used during the action sequences, from various stunts to fight sequences to various vehicle chases gave them a more authentic feel. The story was very much on par here bringing humour, excitement, thrills, and suspense. Tom Cruise really brings in this installment as he entertains and is able to handle all that is asked of him here. The supporting cast does not disappoint either even though I did not see them as much as I would like. My favorite of those was Simon Pegg's Benji as the lovable, fish-out-of-water, computer nerd providing great one-liners as he is often not able to handle and/or not ready for what he is about to do next. I was not impressed by the villain Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). I did not find him very menacing as the story built him up into being a lot worse than what we actually got to see. Gadget fans will not be disappointed as you will have it all despite the fact that they probably would never exist. Other than the acting, the best part of the film happens to be the cinematography as all the locales we got to see were depicted in such a beautiful way that really gave you the impression that you were really there and the variety of shots and camera angles were able to catch all the action. Rebecca Ferguson's Faust holds her own as sort of a female version of Ethan Hunt who manages to keep up and does not feel out of place amongst the returning cast. Some may not be a fan of the ending as it feels a little rushed and a little abrupt when compared to the rest of the film but I was fine with it because it fit with the story. Overall, this is a perfect Summer movie as it has everything a Summer movie viewer would want: action, explosions, suspense, plot-twists, etc. What works is that it does all of those incredibly well. I have not seen all of the Mission Impossible films but I don't think that would stop anyone from enjoying this.
Score: 8/10 keithlovesmovies.com