Movie Review: "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation"

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)

PG-13

4.5 Stars out of 5

Director/Writer                 Christopher McQuarrie
Cinematography               Robert Elswit
Music                                  Joe Kraemer

Tom Cruise                         Ethan Hunt
Jeremy Renner                  William Brandt
Simon Pegg                        Benji Dunn
Rebecca Ferguson             Ilsa Faust
Ving Rhames                      Luther Stickell
Alec Baldwin                      Alan Hunley
Sean Harris                         Lane

 

“Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” is the fifth in the Mission: Impossible series using the movie format, all starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. It is possible that this entry is the best to date. But how does one separate out one movie in such a series; a series that features missions labeled as impossible and has a hero/superman that specializes in just such missions? One cannot look to great acting (unless one considers stunts as a sub-category of acting) or thoughtful writing featuring deep underlying themes that illustrate human needs. Moral quandaries that drive the human condition are not going to be part of the discussion. And yet Christopher McQuarrie as both writer and director has created a film that manages the pace of the thrills and intervening set up scenes in such a manner that the excitement and tone are so superior to its contemporaries, that Rogue Nation definitely stands above most movies in the action/spy genre.

Like the preceding entries in the Mission Impossible series, Cruise as Ethan Hunt leads a team that consists of two colleagues, Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames); both seem to be hackers or electronics experts of some sort; the nerds that support their heroic and athletic leader, Hunt. In each entry, Hunt and pals must confront some arch-villain intent on destroying the existing world order. They must penetrate some impenetrable fortress employing a rich variety of awe-inspiring stunts (often done by Cruise himself), use all sorts of advanced electronic gear and at some point, they must wear masks that allow someone to impersonate someone else (ala Scoobie Doo). All of these elements will be used in Rogue Nation; so why does it stand out? For movies of this sort in general and in the case of Rogue Nation in particular, the movies that stand out will also introduce some amazing stunts/chase scenes that appear almost as a highly choreographed dance that maintain the tone and intensity of the movie, they will have unusual co-heroes (extra points for female heroes), and most particularly for Rogue Nation, such movies will introduce some embedded tropes that help illustrate some aspect of the story. Rogue Nation nicely does this latter point by using Puccini’s 1924 opera, Turandot; an opera describing a princess and a suitor that must past three riddles in order to marry her or face death if he fails.

Obviously, to over-interpret the use of Turandot in a spy movie is a move that should be avoided by the amateur critic, and yet, I still think it is a nice touch. In this theme, Rogue Nation brings in a female character/spy/superhuman in the form of the amusingly named Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). It goes without saying she is very attractive, showing off her leggy beauty at almost every turn. One clever aspect of her character is to whom does she owe her true loyalty: Hunt’s IMF team, the British spy agency MI6, or to this movie’s arch villain, Lane (Sean Harris)? What Lane wants as the villain is of no note in this movie, though quite frankly I did puzzle over it as the movie progressed, and I never came to a conclusion. He’s just a bad guy, and Ilsa either works for him or pretends to – it really doesn’t matter very much. Adding to the pseudo-complexity of the movie is the sub-plot that CIA Chief Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) has convinced the US government to shut down the IMF group, their leader William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and Hunt/Cruise.

As the movie rolls through the Hunt stunts and the complicated machinations of Lane and Hunt as they oppose one another, the female Ethan Hunt character, Ilsa Faust proves to be in every way Hunt’s equal in skill and intelligence. She saves him, compromises him, helps him, and proves to be at least superficially of unknown loyalty; but we know, don’t we? And of course Ethan Hunt knows her true self, no matter that she periodically appears to be at cross purposes with him. I do like the apposition of Faust to Hunt. It’s not mind bending in a particular way, but it helps set Hunt and Faust up as the supermen they are and to hint at some impossible love in the making. Being godlike in their abilities, there relationship must remain pure, platonic and unrequited, or so I imagine.

In any event, “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” is a very entertaining movie for a movie in this genre. From the amazing opening stunt on the side of an airplane to the one in the depths of some kind of memory storage unit underwater (requiring Hunt to hold his breath for three minutes – surely no one but Hunt, Faust and other supermen could do that?), to the best chase scene (this one on motorcycles) I have seen in years, this movie delivers its quotient of amazing stunts. There is cleverness in the presentation of the gun fight within the Vienna opera house and in the allusion of Turandot’s story to the competing spy-craft of Hunt and Faust. But best of all, is the way the excitement introduced by the stunts, chase scene and fights are presented to the audience in such a way that the tension brought about by these elements are paced so skillfully throughout the movie. For aficionados of this genre, “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” is a great example of the action movie.