Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Movie Review

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is a 2015 action spy film directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson and Simon Pegg. It is easily the best entry in the entire franchise.

This movie surprised me on so many levels. First of all, it is so admirable that a franchise can become better and better as it progresses instead of being the other way around which is more usual. The first and the second movie were quite bad, the third one was okay, ‘Ghost Protocol‘ was pretty solid and Rogue Nation is the only one that is clearly quite good and the most entertaining of the bunch as well. The story here is quite solid and the character interactions are once again pretty good. The characters are mostly pretty good with the newly introduced Ilsa Faust being the highlight of the movie and the only memorable female character in this entire series. She is so good and such a complex and well realized character.

The acting is pretty good. Tom Cruise is solid and of course respectable in his action stunts, but he and his character is unfortunately overshadowed here by Ferguson. Ethan Hunt has always been such a bore, but Ilsa is not and Rebecca Ferguson is so good in her role, delivering in dialogue as well as in action sequences. And Simon Pegg continues to be one of the highlights in this franchise as he is so incredibly likable. Jeremy Renner is also pretty good, albeit underused. But the relationship between Brandt and Hunt I really liked and especially their facial expressions towards each other which are so endearing and the highlights in this movie when humor is concerned. I loved that the we finally got a lightweight entry in this usually dull and serious series. That was a lot of fun.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation has its problems mainly the pacing which is problematic and the film is overlong. Some scenes are unnecessarily long and some are quite boring. Also, there are many typical action scenes here as well. Ethan Hunt is again so incredibly boring and the villain in this movie is forgettable and not particularly well utilized.

But the action is very good and the fights in particular were some of the best in the franchise as they were so thrilling to watch and so well executed. The tone is also good as is the direction and acting. I liked the score as well, but the music was admittedly overloud at some points. The use of various locations brought a lot of eye candy here with London, Vienna and Casablanca all being really well utilized and beautiful to watch. It is a fun and very entertaining and even charming movie that even has some classy feel to it which was so refreshing to witness. It is undoubtedly the finest entry in the franchise and I respect the filmmakers for managing to make such a good and fun fifth film in a mostly dull and weak series.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation has its problems which are some typical action scenes, still boring Ethan Hunt, some too prolonged sequences and a weak villain, but it has such well executed action sequences, an excellent female character in Ilsa Faust and such a charming feel to it that it is undoubtedly the finest entry in the franchise which is so admirable and it is not just the only Mission Impossible film that is quite good, but also the only one that is immensely entertaining as well.

My Rating – 4