Tom Cruise's passion for this franchise continues to elevate it above more generic fare

Rating: 9/10 (30 July 2015)

There aren't many film franchises that can have five solid installments, but Mission Impossible has managed it, and that's a real testament to Tom Cruise's passion for this franchise. He'll produce it, he'll throw his considerable Hollywood clout behind it, and he'll literally put his body on the line to make the most thrilling narratives. But not only are the narratives in the film brilliant, but the narrative of "hey look what crazy stunt Tom Cruise did for his new movie" is the best free marketing the film could ever get. That alone is worth admiring Tom Cruise for.
Christopher McQuarrie, who won an Oscar for penning the brilliant The Usual Suspects, and also wrote one of my personal favourite films Valkyrie, was an interesting choice for director, but he does a truly fantastic job of it. The action scenes are crisp, the performances are great and the whole film strings together really well. When you watch the big conspiracy revelations, that's when you can really feel McQuarrie's mark on the project, which is always great considering that no director has stuck around for multiple films in this franchise. Brad Bird was a big step up from JJ Abrams, who was a step up from John Woo. McQuarrie I think is the best of the lot.
Rogue Nation fixes all of the problems I had with Ghost Protocol. It brings Ving Rhames back and gives him something to do (but not quite enough), it has a fairly decent villain (not quite Phillip Seymour Hoffman level, but a big step up from GP) and the narrative feels complete, it doesn't climax and peter out like in Ghost Protocol did. Tom Cruise is in his element as the back-against-the-wall Ethan Hunt, as always. Simon Pegg was a funny minor character in MI3, a frustrating failure to replace Ving Rhames in GP, but here I really think he hit his stride. He was terrific in the comedic relief, but he also carried one or two of the dramatic scenes with surprising skill. In one scene, Benji is called up for a polygraph and berates the examiners about how Hunt is not his friend. Its really well done by Pegg. Baldwin is always fun to watch, and his character is a believable quasi-antagonist with a great character arc. Renner is amazing in everything, even though he is sidelined with Rhames for much of the film.
The film's real standout is Rebecca Fergusson, this kickass female lead who came out of nowhere to be the most talked-about part of this film. Fergusson has just the right amount of sex appeal to make her engaging, but its her superb action star capability that made her so thrilling to watch. I was never really sure where her loyalties lay, which was one of the best parts of the film, and her chemistry with Cruise was terrific. What I enjoyed most, however, was that her relationship was Hunt was a respectful friendship, and they did not degrade her character by making her another love interest like they did with Thandie Newton in MI2.
The action sequences are thrilling - particularly the car/motorbike chase and the underwater sequence. The latter is no Burj Khalifa or Vault sequence, but those bars are set very high and that doesn't denigrate these. They're also much more memorable than anything Mad Max Fury Road has to offer. I also found the cinematography to be a noteworthy highlight, and the sound mixing and editing is probably the best of the year so far.
Tom Cruise's passion for this film franchise, and the abundance of new talent flowing in to be discovered, will keep Mission Impossible alive for many years, and I can't wait to see what they do next. But I really hope Fergusson remains a part of it.