Mission Impossible Rogue Nation Raises the Bar
Let’s face it, we were all eager to watch the newest installment of the Mission Impossible franchise. Well, I was not disappointed. I think Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation raises the bar for all the MI movies! Right off the bat we start off with an intense action sequence that they played in the trailer: the super spy Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) hanging off the side of a jet as it takes off into the air. The director, Chris McQuarrie, provides us a few more action set pieces that made me feel like I was hanging onto that same jet. One scene involves Ethan Hunt holding his breath, and the other is one of the most action-packed motorcycles scenes I’ve seen in a long time.
It’s not just the action that kept me white-knuckling the arms of my chair. The introduction of Ilsa Faust (played by Rebecca Ferguson) had me guessing which side she was really on. Her ability to play cat and mouse with the brain of Ethan Hunt was fun to watch. And her stoic facial expressions teased us with the wickedness and charm that spun around her own head. Ethan Hunt found his intellectual match in this female spy.
If Ilsa Faust is Ethan Hunt’s intellectual equal, then Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) is his strategic and physical match. Not only did he keep Ethan Hunt in check by a few paces, but he had wanting more. I liked that McQuarrie introduced the perfect evil match for Mr. Hunt. It raises the stakes, and takes everyone out of there comfort zone.
Of course, Ethan Hunt must stop The Syndicate (an anti-IMF group) all the while the CIA is looking to shut down IMF for their past behavior. Once again, Ethan Hunt recruits his specialists: Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, with the help of Jeremy Renner.
