Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation—Movie Review

by Peter J. O'Connell

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. Released: July 2015. Runtime: 131 mins. Rated: PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, and brief partial nudity.

Is it possible for films in the “Mission Impossible” franchise not to be huge hits? Maybe, but that hasn't been the case for the past 20 years, and it isn't the case now with the fifth entry in the franchise, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

This entry, directed by Christopher McQuarrie, finds the Impossible Missions Force imperiled by two other forces. One is the CIA, whose head, Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin in the type of bureaucratic role he does so well), succeeds in having the IMF disbanded and absorbed into the CIA, which exposes IMF agents to great danger. The other, and very deadly, enemy is the Syndicate, an international criminal and terrorist organization.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), the key IMF agent, is captured by the Syndicate but escapes from a torture chamber with the help of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a quondam British intelligence agent and putative Syndicate operative. Searching for Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), whom he believes to be the head of the Syndicate, Hunt, in a lengthy sequence at an opera house reminiscent of Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much, seeks to foil an assassination attempt. Events go awry, however, and Hunt ends up pursued by both the CIA and the Syndicate. But other IMF agents (Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames) seek to find and aid him.

A suspenseful underwater sequence and spectacular car chases, shootouts and hand-to-hand combat follow as plot complications (including ones involving the relationship of Hunt and Ilsa Faust) unfold. Identities and allegiances are in flux until the dramatic climax. Are bad guys foiled? Does Hunt survive? Is the independence of the IMF restored? Does Tom Cruise actually do some of his own stunts, such as the spectacular sequence of hanging off a plane in flight that begins the movie?

The answer to the last question, at least, is yes. Cruise, now more than old enough to be in AARP, still is in great shape and does, in fact, do many of his own stunts in the film. The standout performance in the movie, however, is by Rebecca Ferguson. Ferguson, with British parents but raised in Sweden, emanates an aura of intelligent beauty, rather than “glamour,” which has led to her being compared to the great Swedish star Ingrid Bergman. Yet Ferguson also handles herself quite convincingly in fight and stunt sequences. Interestingly, her character's first name is the same as that of the character Ingrid Bergman played in the classic Casablanca—and part of Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is set in . . . Casablanca.