disavowed again?

Rating: 7/10 (4 August 2015)

Wash, rinse, repeat. I thought finally this time they'll come up with a story that's a bit more original than the previous four but it didn't happen. If you've seen the first four, you've already seen this one. You can literally just skip to the chase, or rather, the actions scenes, and you've pretty much seen all that's different in this movie from the others.
To be sure, the action scenes were great, but outside of that, the movie was slow and dull. This film nearly matches the second as the worst of the series. Interestingly, it was the second that had the most original plot and yet it was the worst of the series. Perhaps that's why they didn't want to come up with anything original anymore.
Part five started out promising with a credits intro that was reminiscent of the first and the original TV series and an exciting action sequence to boot but it eventually delved into the very familiar. Keeping a few familiar elements from the first film and TV series makes sense, but do you have to recycle the entire plot? Another NOC list, another betrayal, the IMF is disavowed yet again, etc.
The IMF, like the Avengers, is actually causing more problems than they solve. It seems we'd be better off if they didn't exist and I don't think that's the kind of message the filmmakers are trying to send. Perhaps in the next film the writers could come up with a problem that wasn't caused by the IMF themselves. At least it would be more original.
Recycled plot aside, this film just seemed slow and uninteresting, despite some spectacular stunts. There was little chemistry among the IMF members and no reason why any of them would care about Ethan at all. And Jeremy Renner, and the other returning actors, were generally unnecessary. It could've been, and probably should've been, other actors playing Ethan's teammates. Because when you see key familiar faces returning, you expect them to do more this time. You expect their characters to grow. But that didn't happen. It was still the Tom Cruise show.
I'm curious what they'll do with the number six. Perhaps the sixth time will be the charm.