A Terrific Addition to the "Mission: Impossible" Franchise

Rating: 9/10 (6 August 2015)

Action directors are underrated filmmakers. Sure, they're better equipped when it comes to their brawn, not their brain; but to make a shootout, a car chase, a skyward explosion, and/or a fist fight look and sound convincing is much trickier to helm than a particularly savory round of conversational chess. Some are better than others - you cannot (under my watch) blurt out that Michael Bay is as skilled as Joss Whedon - and the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, which made its debut way back in 1996, has fortunately been blessed with the best throughout its long run.
It's welcomed Hitchcock successor Brian De Palma, Hong Kong action legend John Woo, sci-fi king J.J. Abrams, animation mastermind Brad Bird, and, for 2015's "Rogue Nation", Christopher McQuarrie (director of Tom Cruise vehicle "Jack Reacher", co-writer of "The Usual Suspects" and "Edge of Tomorrow"). And as if the franchise is cursed with the greatest luck of any ongoing series, "Rogue Nation" is the finest addition to the blockbusting array. Cheekily dubious, vigorously thrilling, and lip-smackingly jubilant, it's an actioner of the highest quality.
If the missions of the past were already impossible, consider the mission of "Rogue Nation" to be the most impossible: right off the bat, the IMF is dissolved, a terrorist organization known as the Syndicate becomes an overnight sensation, and Ethan Hunt (Cruise), along with his loyal groupies (Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Jeremy Renner), become wanted fugitives after refusing to comply with the CIA's orders to disband. Normally, Hunt would follow orders, being the good guy that he is - but the destruction of the IMF is one big, messy misunderstanding; it's the result of too many sabotaged missions, at the hands of the previously unknown Syndicate, no less. Knowing full well that the U.S. government isn't fully aware of the situation, Hunt's crew decides to leave all ethics behind, band together with Ilsa Faust (a fantastic Rebecca Ferguson), a British agent who can't seem to be trusted by anyone, and take down the organization once and for all.
I've only described a portion of the plot, mostly because "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" is so ingeniously intricate and because the film's much better when you go in completely unaware of what to expect. It's such a successful action movie that I can hardly remember the rant I delivered to a bunch of horrified friends over the current state of the genre a few days back. I suppose that's the magic of the movies: pessimism can be completely flipped on its back so long as the film doing to the persuasion is fresh enough to cajole.
But the "Mission: Impossible" series has always maintained a certain kind of enrapturing, no doubt because of the continuous changing of the directors and the consistent unpredictability of its plots, its action sequences. Only remaining the same is the idea of Hunt and associates battling modern-day evils. The rest is all lovable pomp and circumstance, smartly rendered and action-packed (but not too action-packed). Cruise is the only actor who can really head a movie like this (his name and demeanor alone are synonymous with blockbuster sass); the opening, which sees him clinging to the side of a passenger plane as it takes off, would seem ridiculous anywhere else but works here because Cruise is merely there.
I won't go in depth regarding the action sequences (all head-spinningly gripping), and I won't go in depth praising Rebecca Ferguson (who will certainly become a leading Hollywood player in the near future) - that would cause the review to go on for pages, and time should be spent going to the theater instead of sitting in front of a computer. "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" is a rare fourth sequel that proves further evidence as to why the "Mission: Impossible" franchise is doing it right: whereas Marvel is breaking us down with their multiple-superhero-movies-a-year-for-more-money! attitude, the sporadic reintroductions to Ethan Hunt and his adventures only get better with age - they're flashy, but not annoyingly so.