Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Rating: 9/10 (30 August 2015)

The franchise starring Tom Cruise and a solid cast of characters doesn't let off the accelerator, this time featuring his IMF team "gone rogue", with Alec Baldwin as a CIA head using his clout to get the government to "dissolve" (dismantle) the team because of their supposed recklessness. That "their luck has run out" with Jeremy Renner unable to convince his superiors to reconsider. While out in London, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) meets a new nemesis in the form of an "anti-IMF" using terrorism to "prepare a revolution", with different points across the globe to ignite chaos through violence. Lane (Sean Harris, pompously insidious) is in charge of this "The Syndicate", using a "former British MI8" (Rebecca Ferguson, who is sensational) as a means to get close to Hunt, hoping to secure a flash drive containing unlimited monetary funds to support his global terrorist agenda. During the film, it seems Lane is always one step ahead of Hunt, but can our hero turn the tables on this new brilliant enemy?
Stunts and action are as spirited and lively as any of the franchise, including an incredible car-motorcycle chase through the streets of Casablanca/Morroco, including Hunt (who had just been resuscitated back from the dead after nearly drowning!) having to back his vehicle out of an alley enduring its flipping multiple times as Simon Pegg's computer whiz Benji freaks out (rightfully so!) in the passenger seat. There's the incredible underwater safe sequence (made famous in the advertisements with Cruise leaping into the pressurized vortex that leads to it), opening plane sequence where Cruise hangs from a door while it takes off (to free a cargo of nuclear missiles in possession of terrorists), interrogation cell escape fight (where Ferguson shows her stuff), and Vienna Opera backstage (and above stage!) assassination attempt on the Chancelor of Austria where Hunt must try and thwart multiple Syndicate members from shooting him.
The plot is twisty and slippery, with the hero and villain having to play the usual cat and mouse games, with lives on the line. Benji is eventually kidnapped and used as a pawn by Lane. Ferguson is the wild card, abandoned by her country as the MI8 head leaves her out to dry when she secures the flash drive from the water vault. Cruise and Ferguson are really good together, show nice chemistry, and have plenty of cool united fight scenes and shootouts together. Not only are the two physically impressive but their flow when battling the bad guys is smoothly performed. Also the complications of what they are both going through, with their respected governments disavowing them, gives them a chance to show their acting chops as well. Also fascinating is seeing how Ferguson teeters between helping Hunt and maintaining an "alliance" with Lane. It is a razor's edge poor Ferguson must endure, while Hunt continues to believe in her. Ferguson's knife fight with Lane's chief heavy in a tunnel of London is badass.
It is hard not to look at MI franchise as an alternative to James Bond, but I love knowing I exist in a time when both can thrive. Cruise is as big a movie star as ever. Renner, Rhames, and Pegg meeting up with Cruise as the CIA are breathing down their necks is a cool "come together" moment where the IMF decide to tackle a difficult adversary with all they have at their disposal. Full throttle pace and plot that doesn't let up. Superior summer entertainment.