Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation roars into theaters today with an even more amp'd up reality and over-the-top nature but is another mission worthy of your time? Click through for my review of the 5th installment of Ethan Hunt and his merry gang.
Everyone and their grandmother should already know about this scene in Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation!
Yes it's real, in fact old Tom Cruise sure has kept things close to the vest with his choices in the latest IMF story.
Rogue Nation's reality is easily the best element. From the very opening sequence you easily are wrapped back into the power of Ethan Hunt and his indestructible agent persona. The plane isn't the only amazing bit of awesomeness either. The action in this 5th installment is easily some of the series' finest work. The globe trotting IMF folks tackle Vienna's famous Opera House in the film's most enjoyable segment. Casablanca is a beautiful location choice and getting to see the landscape via car and motorbike chase is rather enjoyable if not a bit predictable. Honestly, if you want to enjoy a kick ass ride than don't worry the movie delivers on that front. The music is a major part of this full paced journey. Unlike Ghost Protocol which had it's down moments this film seems to always be at full speed all the time. The constant tone setter that is the famous MI music is a character in itself.
Cruise gives his usual stone faced performance. Simon Pegg is generally fun as joking Benji and Ving Rhames is always worth his weight in gold, even in these small short doses. But the real star turning performance of the film is Rebecca Ferguson (Ilsa Faust). The Swedish beauty is easily the most captivating character. She is the catalyst for literally every sequence of Christopher McQuarrie's rapid fire script. Her character is the one that is always in the grips of the villains. She as you could say has "sold" herself to the evil side (ala her name sake). But it's also in recognizing how good she is that the main issues of the film arise. Why do we need Ethan Hunt and his gang? The film has given us an amazing strong willed woman who is always ahead of the curve and yet we have to watch the bumbling of the debunk IMF, the failures of a lost CIA and honestly an evil Syndicate who can't actual kill anyone (outside of poor "dark" people across the globe). The script of McQuarrie has painted this big bad organization of rogue former agents from the worlds' elite forces only to have them easily outwitted, outsmarted and outdone by a lil girl in a pretty yellow dress. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying Chris, Tom and the bad guy Lane (played nicely by Sean Harris) deserve to be more in the spotlight. On the contrary, the film is an obvious masculine dream. Let the lady do all the heavy lifting and allow your limp ass to just sit back and wait for the final climax. The epic ending sees Cruise honestly at his weakest, Harris totally acted like a moron to be just waltzing into an obvious trap fall. But all the important killing, spying, shooting, driving and thinking is done by the lady. Yet we truly end the final scene with a committee of ALL men including a now "smart" Alan Hunley (quite dumbly played by Alec Baldwin) discussing the future of IMF. It's insulting to watch another blockbuster film that just loses a real chance to showcase a victorious woman.
BUT!!!
"But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing, not one little thing, without a woman or a girl
He's lost in the wilderness
He's lost in bitterness, he's lost lost"
Couldn't agree more James! Christopher McQuarrie has made a wonderful action film that is just another sad excuse of shitty choices by it's male leads. Just once it'd be nice to see the bad guy actual kill one of these moron guys. I mean Sean Harris is suppose to be the evil mastermind of the Syndicate who broke free of the manipulating British MI5, but he has to rely on Faust for EVERYTHING. The all powerful CIA are made out to be this amazing organization that is on the HUNT to kill HUNT! But they are never even in the same damn country as Ethan, hell Jeremy Renner's William Brandt (mostly useless in this film) literally points Hunley and the CIA in EVERY direction. Ethan and Benji fall into mess up after mess up and somehow they only get shot once between the two of them. Hell I wish Mcquarrie had the guts to just kill Benji, there were at least 6 chances for this to happen. And the mighty Hunt? Well check this crap out.
Well guess what he doesn't live through that scene. It's Faust who has to save him and shock him back to freaking life! She would have had completed her mission if she'd let him remain drowned and just capped ol' benji in the head. I know I'm revealing a lot, but for fuck's sake why do we have to see another shitty script with quality action. How about sticking with a dynamic character and giving this series a proper burial, with a woman's smart intelligent hands being the catalyst for Ethan Hunt's ultimate fate.
Then Simon Pegg could go back to funnier films. Tom Cruise could go back to intelligent roles like Magnolia, Born on the Fourth of July, or Rain Main – o wait is he still talking to PT Anderson, Oliver Stone or Barry Levinson? Ving Rhames is honestly just as funny and says as much in his Arby commercials. Jeremy Renner, dude WTF happened to that bad ass. He's the worst Avenger (now just a sappy hubby waiting to be killed off basically), he was TERRIBLE as Bourne, and Brandt is just a boring "plead the 5th" bureaucrat. Alec Baldwin, um the head of the CIA is just plain useless, o wait that actually might be accurate. Sean Harris gives the only worthy performance opposite Ferguson's Faust. Their scenes are tense, slightly sexual, and actually somewhat scary. But McQuarrie is to busy jumping back to relying on fast car chases and such to give us a real meaty script. What happened to the brilliance of Usual Suspects, o wait that was also all just a lie. Hmmmmm.
Honestly if you just want to see kick ass stunt work than by all means help support the movie. The action is done amazingly well. If you want to see a quality performance from a female lead make sure you just watch Ferguson. Otherwise just wait for James Bond.
For Mission: Impossible 6 how about letting a lady direct and killing off all these boring fellas?
M:I Rogue Nation – MEH! Except for HER! But seriously does the best female character basically have to be made into a bond like girl. Check out the advertising of her intelligent character, it's all about that ASS.
She even has a walking out of water scene in a skimpy black bathing suit. I mean yes Rebecca is hot, but she's not the hottie for the lead, she is the LEAD! At least in James Bond's last few films he has had to get his orders from a WOMAN, a well respected and highly decorated Dame. Shame on McQuarrie for giving us nothing but the same old usual hoops to watch. Go see Trainwreck or anything else in the theaters. Hopefully Rebecca Ferguson gets fully recognized for this great role though.
