Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Dir: Christopher McQuarrie

2015

****

1996's Mission: Impossible was like a rusty old car one would only acquire by chance, a barn find if you would. It was once a classic but this particular model is in need of serious work to get it to run again. The initial find was exciting but since its discovery it has been put back together with inferior parts by people without the relative experience, knowledge or expertise. They have put it together thinking only of the money they think they will get for it once it’s done. Brad Bird finally fixed it in 2011 with Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. He let us look under the hood and let us sit in the comfy leather seats, he showed off the shiny new paintwork and paraded all those little fixtures that made it so distinct and so popular in the first place. It was lovely to see it looking like new again, better even than it had looked when first produced. A hard act to follow for director Christopher McQuarrie, so he did the only thing he could do, he lowered the roof, pressed down hard on the accelerator and took it out for a thrill-packed test drive. Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames return and form the IMF team, but while Paula Patton's Jane Carter and Ethan Hunt's wife (played by Michelle Monaghan) are absent and never referenced, it has to be said they were never as likable (Paula Patton) or worked as well in the story (Michelle Monaghan) as the other team members. Enter Rebecca Ferguson as the stories 'is she good/is she bad?' counterpart to Ethan Hawk who finally gives him a run for his money. Every element a good espionage action-thriller needs in order to work is present without it feeling like it's a copy of anything else that has come before, more importantly, it's nothing like the Mission: Impossible films that have come before. It is brilliantly balanced, contemporary and classical, mysterious but action-packed. It has everything audiences enjoyed in the previous films with much more added. Fans of the original series were very happy, as the fifth film of the series finally saw the return of IMF's biggest foe, the mysterious organisation known as the Syndicate. This lead by the most evil of villains, Solomon Lane, a former M16 agent gone rogue, played by bad guy extraordinaire Sean Harris. Alec Baldwin is a new addition to the cast as CIA director Alan Hunley. He plays a key role in the story and isn't just there for the sake of having another big name attached to the series, he's quite good in fact. Someone involved in the film is clearly a fan of the BBC comedy Rev. though as it stars two of its best, Simon McBurney as the director of M16 and Tom Hollander as the British Prime Minister (from MP in In The Loop to PM in a Mission: Impossible film is quite the jump). Christopher McQuarrie seems to me to be the perfect choice of director so far in the franchise. He clearly has a good relationship with Cruise from past collaborations and knows how to get the best out of him. I admire Tom Cruise for sticking with the franchise in many respects, I've only liked two of them so far but I feel it was worth the wait. You've got to give the man credit for his perseverance, and for holding on to a moving plane for that matter.