Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Rating: 6/10 (28 September 2015)

I was neves a huge fan of the Mission: Impossible franchise. The only other installment in the series I had seen was Ghost Protocol and I would probably just describe it as "meh". So when my friends and I decided to go see Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, I was expecting that same meh quality, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The film follows Ethan Hunt, who is forced to track down the Syndicate, a network of highly skilled operatives who are dedicated to establishing a new world order. He and his team must also face the CIA, after the IMF is disbanded. The biggest problem I had with the movie was the use of exposition. Many of the scenes were just people talking to each other, and over-explaining the plot. This is something that frequently occurs in action movies, and is the biggest issue with the genre. What I enjoyed about films like Mad Max: Fury Road is that it knew it was an action movie, and didn't have a large amount of boring talking scenes, just action. I enjoyed the characters, even though they were very clichéd. My favorite character in the film was Simon Pegg's I thought he was the most unique, and was much easier to relate to than Ethan Hunt. I am glad he got more screen time in this film than in Ghost Protocol.
The thing that this film by far does the best is action. Everyone has now heard of Tom Cruise hanging on to a plane, but there were also many other fun action sequences I was glad they didn't spoil in the trailer. My favorite scene in the movie was the opera scene. I loved how we were discovering what was happening while it was happening. They realized the audience was smart enough that they didn't have to explain to us what was going on, something many action movies do. I also enjoyed the underwater sequence, even though it was very cheesy and over-the-top. I also tried and miserably failed to hold my breath along with Tom Cruise. The car/motorcycle chases were also fun.
I would not go to this film if you are expecting anything more than a good time. If you liked any of the other Mission:Impossible films, you will like this one. I thought it was done well, or at least could have been done a lot worse.
(This review was originally written on Movie Forums August 2nd 2015)