“Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” is an avalanche of thrills that successfully balances fun with danger to craft a perfect action-espionage extravaganza.
A big problem with modern spy movies is just how downright depressing they end up being. Even James Bond can’t go a single movie nowadays without getting wrapped-up in a metaphorical cloak of broody tears. Sure they’re still good, but there’s something lost in all that darkness. The charm and pure, uncut ridiculous of spy films of old are lost in a modern world of broken Bonds, boring Bournes, and dour Baurs. Meanwhile Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt latches himself onto planes, gleefully jumps into piles of gadgets, and cracks a smile from time to time. “Rogue Nation” is a refreshing blast of fresh air that I never knew I needed.
This fifth installment in the M:I series picks up where “Ghost Protocol” left off with the Impossible Mission Force (have I mentioned how much I love these movies?) on the outs from the government while bad boy of espionage Ethan Hunt is on the hunt for a mysterious terrorist organization called the Syndicate. With everyone thinking he’s crazy and no official support from home, Hunt will have to go rogue, assemble a rag-tag team of lovable scamps, and save the world from being thrust into utter chaos.
What makes “Rogue Nation” a better caliber of spy movie than other recent entries into the genre is how it always knows when to have fun. “Kingsman” also knew how to have fun so I’m glad we’re seeing a trend start to form, but along with walking in the path of legends that came before “Kingsman” is also half-smirking during the whole film, acting as something of a parody. “Rogue Nation” is the real deal, it takes every dalliance of fun either deadly serious or with a cocky grin.
While the action set pieces themselves aren’t exactly breaking the mold, they’ve taken what worked before and stirred the pot to a creamy mixture loaded with spices. We’ve seen opera infiltrations, bike chases, and tense torture room break-outs before, but nothing quite like how they’re done in “Rogue Nation.” This film has that beautiful stupidity that should be in every spy movie, but it knows exactly when to stop and get serious before getting back to having more fun.
There is a moment later on in the film that is unnecessarily tense, trying to make you guess where a certain character’s loyalties lie, but it’s all for not because clearly that person isn’t going to betray the team. Other than that, the tone of every scene is spot-on.
The cast is delightful. These are the people who in other movies would be a nice ray of sunlight, even in the movies than shine brighter than all others. These are you Ving Rhames’s and Simon Peggs of the acting world. Everyone from Jeremy Renner to Alec Baldwin round out the charm and endearing performances to the point where you could swear that instead of an action film you were watching a petting zoo full of baby rabbits doing backflips.
And despite what certain sticks in the mud might say, Tom Cruise has always been good in movies. He’s almost always playing Tom Cruise, but he does it so well I never want him to stop. Stay gold, you beautiful alien-worshipping, big-teethed bag of nuts.
Something that is both a problem and a positive for this series is the lack of a consistent female presence. The IMF is something of a boy’s club with female members coming and going at the drop of a hat, making the female presence in the series almost non-important. But in a strange twist of fate, every lead female character in every installment almost always has the most interesting plot going on in the movie.
This was true with Paula Patton’s blood feud against an assassin in “Ghost Protocol” and even Thandie Newton in “Mission: Impossible II” with her delicate balancing game of loyalties. It was still garbage, like the rest of that particular movie, but it was one of the least stupid bits in that movie. Maggie Q had admittedly nothing going on in “Mission: Impossible III”, but at least you can remember her, which is more than you can say for Jonathan Rhys Meyers who is the human equivalent not-quite-dry-yet white paint.
This trend continues with Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust. Like Newton’s character in M:I-2, Faust is playing a delicate game of loyalties as she jumps between both sides of the conflict in order to achieve her own goals. But unlike other movies where this would probably be setting up some ridiculous third act conspiracy twist, Faust is doing it for reasons that make her the most sympathetic figure in the movie and one of the best characters in the entire series. She also gets the best one-on-one fight scene in the movie that ranks as a genre best.
Sean Harris is also a great leading villain. He’s a bit too much of a moustache-twirling “oh look at me, I’m killing my own henchmen because that will obviously instill loyalty” jerk in some bits, but he still manages to be threatening and poses a serious threat to Hunt and his team right off the bat. A sympathetic villain is always preferred, but making them dangerous is always the first requirement and the movie gets that right. Harris may not as good as Philip Seymour Hoffman in the third movie, but he’s definitely a competent second and I hope they bring him back in a future installment.
Even the directing itself was top-notch. I was worried about Christopher McQuarrie being selected as director for this movie since “Jack Reacher” was such a pulse-stopping slap in the face, but it seems like he just needed to get in some practice before the main event. Everything comes together, from the editing, to the writing, and there was never any intrusive uses of CGI. Which is always nice.
“Rogue Nation” is a finely-tuned machine, with all the parts working in perfect synchronization with one another. I’m glad to have seen it in theaters and I can’t wait to watch it over and over again as the years burn by like a lit fuse.
