Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)

I have liked all of the Mission: Impossible movies so far to some degree. Maybe I'm just being taken in by the expensive special-effects, the slick camera work, or I'm just impressed with the way that they manage to make Tom Cruise look way taller than he actually is. I know the stunts are really spectacular in most of these movies, and the reason they are is usually because Tom actually does his own stunts with limited CG help. This movie is no exception to that rule.

There isn't really much to say about Tom Cruise in this movie. He pretty much plays the same character, runs into similar issues, and gets out of them with alacrity and cunning. From that perspective, the movie is written pretty well. With the spy movies, you have to stick your hero in bad positions, make him do odd things, and eventually come out on top. Well, that's exactly what happens in this movie. I don't think anyone is surprised.

I wonder if the resemblance between this film's female lead, Rebecca Ferguson, and Tom Cruis' ex-wife Katie Holmes caused anyone a bit of concern. I suppose Tom has been at this long enough that he could deal with the coincidental similarities between the two women, but I have no idea how Scientology may wind up being involved in this, so I can't rule anything out. Rebecca plays a British field agent who helps Tom out with his issues… Well, she helps his character out with his issues. Tom has to deal with his own issues in real-life, and that shouldn't be her problem.

Returning for this movie in the roles that they've been playing for the past few movies from the series are Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Ving Rhames. I was actually pretty surprised that Simon Pegg's role was as large as it wound up being. I think Simon might be getting tired of being comic relief in these kinds of movies, and he might be looking for more serious roles. I'm not saying he can't do it, but he should really stick to what he's good at.

Unlike a lot of action movies, these movies rely on a fairly complicated plot with some kind of significant twist. Much like an M. Night Shyamalan movie however, you start to anticipate the twist, so it's not really surprising when it happens. You can really only go into that bag so many times before people know what's coming out. What? Four people we know go into a room and one of them needs to confess or the whole plot falls apart? Well, I guess this is where we stick in one of those rubber masks that is an absolutely perfect disguise. Nope, never saw that coming.

Based on these numbers, I will be playing this
character until I'm 70.

Will they make another one of these? Yeah, probably. This movie cost $150 million to make and raked in $682 million just at the box office. When you can cash in that easily, you keep this train rolling. Honestly, given the budget of movies lately, $150 million seems kinda cheap. Yes, it might be six times the budget of the Transporter reboot, but I'm probably at least six times more likely to watch this movie.

Acting was very good
Effects were excellent
Action was very good
Story was sufficiently interesting
Cinematography was excellent

Bottom Line: This franchise doesn't show any signs of stopping.

3.5/5