Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) Review

Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation (2015)

Rogue Nation follows Ethan Hunt, who, after the IMF is disbanded, goes deep undercover to expose a secret terrorist organization known as the Syndicate, joining forces with British agent Ilsa Faust, as their respective countries disavow them. 

Damn! Back to back bangers for the Mission Impossible franchise. What little I knew about Rogue Nation heading into it primarily centered on it’s absolutely ridiculous stunts, and boy did they smash it out of the park, opening with Tom Cruise actually hanging off the side of Airbus A400M in mid air, followed by him holding his breath underwater for (a then record) 6 minutes (my smoker ass can hardly push 20 seconds), and even throwing some fun car chases in for good measure. It’s a little thing but that’s consistently the best part of these movies is Cruise’s desire to push the limits and showcase his stunt capabilities with death defying practical stunts. Luckily, that’s not all, giving us another really fascinating story centered on bringing down a mysterious secret organization, proving how much easier it is to satisfy the viewer with a simple but effective plot. 

And for a series known (or I guess unknown) for it’s lackluster villains, Sean Harris’ Soloman Lane stands out among the best of them. Something about him shaving that usually gnarly beard instantly gives him a darkly intense facade, one that can finally stand toe-to-toe against Hunt and even best him more often that not. But keeping with the trend of this new era of Mission Impossible movies, the spy work here, while not as stealthy as Ghost Protocol, is still wildly entertaining and full of plenty of unique twists and turns. 

We get possibly one of my favorite casts yet, starring Tom Hollander, Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Sean Harris, Rebecca Ferguson, and Tom Cruise. As I stated, Harris is nothing short of excellent, producing a cold and calculating performance that works brilliantly across from Cruise and Ferguson, who may be my favorite new addition to the franchise. 

Rogue Nation, directed by frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, is another intense and exciting sequel, putting much more of an emphasis on a true villain this time around and it paying off in strides, finally giving Ethan a true equal. 

8.8/10