Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

While still a pretty good movie, this mission impossible doesn’t add up to the previous iteration and ghost protocol. The cast is largely the same, which lends itself to more time on the job. But they dedicate this time to Moore one on one time between cruise and Ferguson, instead of giving us an easier to understand backstory and building out some of the actual dialogue and conflict. The set pieces are good as always, but there’s just not enough substance to it to make up for all the jumping around. This was the weakest one since MI 2, which is still to say it’s a good movie. It just fails to follow up a string of two good films in a row.

Perhaps if Uncle Sam had just taken the view that what it doesn't know wouldn't do it any harm, then "Hunley" (Alec Baldwin) wouldn't have managed to get them to shut down the IMF! They do, however, and that casts "Hunt" (Tom Cruise) and his team even more into the shadows. Their timing could hardly have been worse as just at this point, a sophisticated "Syndicate" is out for world domination. They are starting out by innocuously disposing of some key global figures - all looking like accidents, but despite his protestations to the sceptical CIA, "Hunt" remains on the outside and needs to rekindle the gang to thwart their intentions - intentions that have their roots deep within the establishment. Nope, it's not original. Not in the least. This is just another excuse for Cruise to show of his stunt-man skills, for the CGI boys to let rip and for the deadly and nimble assassin "Ilsa Faust" (Rebecca Ferguson) to flirt with menace. I still can't get my head around why Simon Pegg is here (or in "Star Trek") as I find his characterisations linear and annoying, but Ving Rhames brings an amiable bit of less is more and Jeremy Renner also works well as sidekick "Brandt". There's plenty of action, pyrotechnics, gadgets, rubber faces and though the denouement isn't exactly Pulitzer stuff, the whole film moves along entertainingly, if predictably, for just over two hours with an increasingly distinctive British slant to the proceedings. Like all of these, they really do need a big screen to come alive but once there, they are usually quite good - this one is.

So after all that, I’m pretty convinced that the _Mission: Impossible_ series just isn’t for me. That being said, how many film franchises can say that their fifth instalment was also their best? Probably just this one, and, maybe _Fast & Furious_. There’s actually a lot of parallels between those two lines of movies. Pertaining specifically to _Mission: Impossible_ though, this one truly is the best of the bunch in my opinion. It has it’s most complete female role to date, in fact, you could say that of any character. This is the first film that doesn’t feel like it entirely hinges on Ethan Hunt’s input. The characters surrounding him are actual people with their own personalities and ideas. And maybe it’s just that I’ve watched him do it five times in the past three days, but honestly I even sort of bought Tom Cruise in an action role this time around. Crazy. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._