A Classic Summer Blockbuster!

Rating: 7/10 (1 August 2015)

I'll get this out of the way early, Tom Cruise is one of the best actors in Hollywood. He is easily the most passionate about the quality of his work and it absolutely shows. And the Mission Impossible franchise is where he is able to perform at his best and craziest. Over the years he has done some out of control stunts, a knife millimeters from his eyeball, free hand rock climbing, scaling Burj Khalifa, and holding his breath for six minutes just to capture real life thrills for the audience. How can you dispute or not appreciate this in today's CGI heavy world? Tom Cruise is great.
Looking at Rogue Nation, the movie features everything you have come to love from the franchise, outlandish action sequences, real stunts, great humor, and over the top hacking abilities. Everything is put together in perfect fashion and carried by a great cast. This time around Simon Pegg gets a lot more screen time which is always a plus because he is flat out hilarious. We also get a bit of background on Ethan Hunt the character which is interesting and helps drive the story. But the standout feature of the movie had to be Rebecca Ferguson, she played her part perfectly and when the story needed her to be a badass, she was more than capable. That of which is surprising because I know quite a few people (including myself) were disappointed seeing Paula Patton not returning to the franchise after Ghost Protocol. But Rebecca was a wonderful surprise, and possibly better than Patton, hopefully she returns for the next installment! Outside of that, this is the type of movie you go into expecting over the top action sequences and elaborate heists and the movie delivers on both fronts. It's a fun ride with a sound story and great characters (honestly I was glad to see Jeremy Renner take a smaller role this time around in order for Simon Pegg to get more screen time).
Rogue Nation might not have the strong thematic undertones and production design of Mad Max: Fury Road, but it does have some of the best action sequences of the year. This is the epitome of the classic action summer blockbuster that the public has come to love. Great acting, real stunts, and plenty of humor makes Rogue Nation one of the best action movies of the year (and possibly the past decade). This might be the only franchise in the world where it seems like the franchise isn't slowing down and each entry is a great stand-alone movie!