Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Normally, when a series has reached it's fifth film, it usually means it's bad (I'm looking at you, almost every horror franchise ever). However, that's not the case with Mission Impossible, and it's fifth film, Rogue Nation. Once again, Tom Cruise returns to the role of Ethan Hunt, and Rogue Nation also has some returning actors, such as Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner. It also features a few newcomers, being Rebecca Ferguson, Alec Baldwin, and Sean Harris. The film follows Ethan Hunt as he is trying to taking down the syndicate, which is I guess Mission Impossibles version of the illuminati.
Now I haven't always been an especially huge fan of the Mission Impossible movies, least of all MI2, but with MI3 and Ghost Protocol I feel like the series found it's niche and ran with it. That niche being a nice blend of non-stop action and really cool spy gadget stuff, with absolutely impossible stunts. And the action is great, just as good as in Ghost Protocol. It's all really well co-ordinated, and is really well directed. There's one really fantastic opera scene fairly early on, one of the most memorable parts of the film.
As for the more stealthy spy, espionage stuff, it's also pretty cool. Although the film is a bit more focused on shootouts and action sequences, that's by no means a bad thing. If anything, it makes the scenes based on just gadgets all the more special. There's also a lot of scenes which aren't gadget based, but involve these really complex situations that Ethan has to think his way out of, which were all really cool.
Speaking of Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise is about 53 now, and somehow he still totally kicks ass. Not just with action sequences, of which he still does all his stunts, but I still think he's a talented actor. As for the newcomers, Rebecca Ferguson really surprised me. I had no idea who she was prior to Rogue Nation, but as an action star this is a stellar first action role. And Sean Harris plays a fantastic villain, between the way this character is acted, and the way he's written, absolutely fantastic.
Final Rating
After Ghost Protocol being an absolutely amazing film, I can't honestly say Rogue Nation is any bit of a surprise. It's still a great action movie, and a great spy movie. Don't wait too long to go check this one out, go see it as soon as you can. This is a great start for August and one of the best movies I've seen all year.
Yeah, we've seen this story a million times before, in fact in a few Mission Impossible movies as I recall. The difference here is The new, more likeable Tom Cruise, who has become a sort of American answer to Jackie Chan; doing all his own increasingly stupendous stunts and coming off more genuine and funny thanks in part to director Chris McQuarrie...and I for one love him for it!
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