Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation movie review

Director Christopher McQuarrie understands these productions are essentially tall tales wrapped in humour, which skates on the edge of parody while trying to maintain a serious face – so sit back and enjoy this lengthy, sometimes predictable, roller-coaster ride.

Nobody cares about holes in the plot, the “impossible” feats from the stunts department and our intrepid hero, agent Ethan Hunt, relentlessly battling heavily armed baddies while running, hacking and jumping. His latest escapade begins with a burst of action, where his character is holding on for dear life on the side of a plane as it takes off. This incredible stunt was done by Cruise himself (and I’ve seen the original clip to prove it).

The film is peppered with high jinks and moments of tense action and there is a suspenseful sequence at the Vienna State Opera during a performance of Puccini’s Turandot that cleverly mixes high drama on a different level with an operatic performance. The basic plot concerns a former British rogue agent Solomon Lane (a creepy Sean Harris) who heads a shadowy, terrorist organisation called The Syndicate, comprising rogue agents, who are intent on blowing up things – even though the big heads in Washington and London don’t believe The Syndicate actually exists.

There are also problems within the Impossible Mission Force, which has disbanded. This means Hunt is now on his own. However, he manages to bring in his tech buddie, Benji (Simon Pegg) and they set out to outsmart Lane and his nefarious cohorts.

There is also a smart and beautiful woman assassin, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who works for Lane and is determined to kill Hunt. But we are never sure if Faust’s allegiance is with the British or The Syndicate because she keeps catching Hunt and freeing him, then beating him up and
saving his life again.

Also, one mustn’t forget fellow agent William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and CIA honcho Alec Baldwin who are deepl concerned about Hunt’s hunt through Europe for Lane. Another character on the scene is taciturn Ving Rhames as hacker Luther Stickell, brought in to help Hunt.