Going Underground: Review of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg

It’s been four years since the fourth M:I film, Ghost Protocol, was released and made over $600m worldwide. Cruise’s career has gone through its ups and down since but Mission: Impossible is a film property that still seems to engage with audiences. The fifth film sees the team on the back foot as the evil Syndicate, bent on bring the IMF down, tries to force them into a corner. This time around we have Alec Baldwin as CIA man Alec Hunley and Rebecca Ferguson as assassin Ilsa Faust, who may or may not be an ally of the team. There are some nice set pieces here and McQuarrie, now an established collaborator with Cruise, knows how to direct action well. Cruise is likeable here and Ferguson is an interesting new foil for the IMF. Sean Harris as villain Lane, the head of the syndicate, is suitably evil, Pegg as Benjy is annoying as ever and Renner returning as William Brandt continues to be bland and characterless. However the formula is an enjoyable one and so if you found its predecessor entertaining, then you’ll find this diverting too. Perhaps Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is the ultimate summer blockbuster: enjoyable and entertaining over the two and a bit hours you watch it but you’d be hard pressed to remember much of it after you leave the cinema. It will probably clean up at the box office and inevitably, at least while it continues to make money, there will be a sixth Mission: Impossible film.