Everything that an "ol' school" action movie should be

Rating: 8/10 (2 August 2015)

"Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" (2015 release; 131 min.) is the fifth movie in the MI franchise, starring once again Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. As the movie opens, we are in Minsk, Belarus, where a large military cargo plane is about to take off with a payload of bombs. The plane must be stopped at all cost. When seemingly the plane is about to leave, pout of nowhere comes Hunt, who jumps onto the plane and holds on for dear life. He succeeds. All this is even before the opening credits roll! The eventual story is about stopping the Syndicate, a rogue league of terrorists who will stop at nothing, and the parallel struggle of the Impossible Missions Force ("IMF") to retain independence from the CIA. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: first, this latest installment of the Mission Impossible franchise is written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, no stranger to Tom Cruise (they made "Jack Reacher" together a couple of years ago). Second, this movie truly represents the "ol' school" of action flicks at its very best (the only other franchise still to equally do so is of course the Bond franchise). From the get-go, we are thrown into the action, which basically is non-stop and relentless, rendering the specific plot points almost meaningless, other than there being the "good" guys and the "bad" guys. Third, I love the international scenery of the movie: London, Paris, Vienna, Havana, Casablanca, etc., they are all featured prominently, and then some. The 15 min. sequence at the Vienna Opera (while Puccini's Tarandot is playing) is nothing short of brilliant, even Hitchcock-esque in its approach and build-up. Last but not least, there are some great performances in the movie, in particular Sean Harris as baddie Solomon Lane, but even more so fairly newcomer Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa, another undercover spy who may or may not be "bad". Surely we will see much more of her after this role. But in the end, this is Cruise's movie all the way. Now approaching his mid-fifties, Cruise looks about 10-15 years younger, and almost freakishly so. That said, no-one dominates the action genre like Cruise does. Seeing Cruise hanging on the side of the plane is just one (but probably the best) of the many "can you believe this?" moments in the movie.
"Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" opened this weekend. The early evening screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati was PACKED and the audience absolutely ate it up, giving a spontaneous applause when the end titles started rolling. Based on the excellent word-of-mouth, I can see this movie having some serious legs at the box office. If you love action movies, you cannot do better than this. "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!