Rebecca Ferguson

Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Furgeson, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, America Olivo, Alec Baldwin, and Ving Rhames

Let’s be honest. For the most part, this summer has been a dud for quality summer blockbusters. Oh sure you have the occasional Mad Max (a film I feel is overrated) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (a movie, believe it or not, I feel is underrated). But underneath the bombastic surfaces of Jurassic World and Terminator Genisys, they were two of the most forgettable summer sequels to come down the pike in quite some time. For this reason, I walked into Mission Impossible Rogue Nation with a huge hint of skepticism. It is hard to believe this series, which started off as a 60s TV show of intrigue, and revamped by Cruise in 1996, has only had 5 films in 20 years. In that time, there have been good ones (1 and 4), great ones (3), and a downright awful one (2). So Mission Impossible 5 was not at the top of my most anticipated summer movie list. However, not only is Rogue Nation one of the most entertaining films of the summer, it may be my favorite film of the year so far.

The storyline is not unlike anything we have seen before. After the IMF is shut down by the CIA, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his returning teammates Luther (Rhames, Brandt (Renner), and Benji (Pegg) are after The Syndicate. The Syndicate is a band of angry spies led by the brilliantly named Solomon Lane (Harris). The real wrench in their plan is Ilsa (Furgeson), a spy within the program who may or may not be working for The Syndicate. Threads are cut, ties are severed, and once again it is up to Hunt to do things like hang on a plane and go on a kick ass motorcycle chase to level things out and get them back to normal. But where does Ilsa fit in all this?

Mission Impossibles of the past fell into the stylings of the people who were behind the cameras. Brian DePalma played with intrigue and mystery in the first film. The second one was dominated by bombastic propensity at the hands of John Woo. JJ Abrams bought a human element to thankfully bring Cruise back to Earth in MI 3. Brad Bird played with the human element started by Abrams and combined it with stylistic touches in 2011’s Ghost Protocol. What’s interesting about director Christopher McQuarrie’s (Jack Reacher) approach is it doesn’t seem to build on any one type of style other than that which tells the story. He weaves the plot’s twists and turns like a master craftsman, and though I could not stand Jack Reacher, Rogue Nation proved that McQuarrie (who also scripted) has the goods to be at least on par with at least two of the past directors of this series. No pomposity is ever on display here, and I respect the way he makes Hunt matter without having him be the center of everything.

If the supporting cast is going to be more in plain view, you better make them interesting. And once again McQuarrie was more than up to this challenge. The only one who doesn’t do much is Renner’s Brandt, who does little other than run across a parking lot. I didn’t mind this development, but all this scene made me think is how in a couple years we can expect Renner to call out McQuarrie for not giving him much to do. Fans of Simon Pegg are going to walk out happy, as his scenes with Cruise border on comedic gold. However, the real enigma of the Rogue Nation cast is Furgeson, whose Ilsa teeters back and forth from heroine to damsel in distress on more than a few occasions. One minute she is saving Hunt, the very next she is in trouble. Though what made this plot point work is that her hat is never tipped to what her real motivations are. It was the sheer perplexity of her character that intrigued me the most about Rogue Nation, and I respected how McQuarrie messes with our expectations without making the plot too complicated. Plus, in Harris’ Soloman Lane, we finally have a villain this year whose motivations are not only loud and clear, but also understandable.

Another thing that surprised me about Rogue Nation is how consistently exciting its action scenes were. For all those who were afraid that the film’s trailers gave too many of its action scenes away have absolutely nothing to worry about. To give you a bit of a preview to what I mean, the aforementioned plane hugging stunt which is on such prominent display in all preview materials is our pre credits scene. There is an awesome car chase and even a scene that I don’t want to give away which I’d say at least matches the famous safe cracking scene from the very first movie. McQuarrie knows we have seen those movies, but instead of weaving slick nods and winks to films prior, he makes Rogue Nation a near perfect companion piece.

Loaded with entertaining laugh out loud comedy (like last year’s Edge of Tomorrow, Cruise once again proves he can laugh at himself), brilliantly staged action scenes, and a plot that is just complicated enough for you to look down into your popcorn without fear of missing anything important, Rogue Nation is the near perfect movie I have been waiting all summer for. Though a bit overlong, I would highly recommend chewing the fat of this movie instead of once again watching dinos and Adam Sandler chew scenery.

9 out of 10