Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Review

What is a spy to do without the element of surprise? It would be terribly easy for the Mission: Impossible franchise to sputter out right off of it’s massive comeback. After all, once all eyes and hype levels are on a particular film, that is very often the one that falls short in the end. Going for a different feel by again opting to change directors from Brad Bird to Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher) is already a gamble, as it would be very easy to just re-hash what worked like gang-busters back in 2011. However, judging off how well this mission was pulled off, we may very well be saying the very same things about whatever the next ‘Mission’ ends up being.

Following the mayhem of ‘Ghost Protocol’, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has spent the year in between hunting a shadowy group of operatives called The Syndicate, made up of former black ops soldiers previously presumed dead who act as a counter IMF. Just as his trail starts to come up hot through his discovery of The Syndicate’s leader Lane (Sean Harris), the IMF is disbanded by a testimony by bureaucrat Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin). Now a fugitive looking to take down an entire agency, Hunt must rely only on his friends, Benji (Simon Pegg), Brandt (Jeremy Renner), and Luther (Ving Rhames), as he finds himself in deep mistrust of his closest link to The Syndicate, a British agent named Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) who seems to be constantly switching sides to suit her own needs.

Rogue Nation distinguishes itself by returning to the more suspense oriented tone of the original, while still cranking up the massive action sequences that have made the sequels more beloved. This is the first time that a Mission film has had a writer/director, and it shows. Christopher McQuarrie spins a masterful web of espionage here, and then brings it to life with some of the most spectacular craftsmanship seen in a blockbuster film in quite some time. He potently captures a sense of paranoia that kicks in from the moment the movie starts. Anybody can be a friend or a foe, and there is always a new complication around every corner. For the first time in a while, it feels like Ethan Hunt is genuinely in danger, and that vulnerability only adds to just how amazing the film is once it blows up into action.

Cruise jumps at the chance to make Hunt a more human hero again, and the screenplay backs up his near-perfect performance by never taking him out of character. There is no forced love affair between he and Ferguson (who is a revelation here), or silly decisions made for the sake of action. We want Ethan to survive because while he is a human being, he is also a fiercely intelligent tactician who refuses to give up, and McQuarrie understands this better than any other MI filmmaker has to date. Harris also shines as one of the most chilling adversaries Hunt has gone against to date, who always seems to be one step ahead of the game with an icy cool that makes it look easy. Where some of this rich characterization begins to suffer just a little is in the supporting team members. Pegg’s Benji might get a great deal to do, including his most emotional moments he’s shared with Hunt to date, but Renner and Rhames are unfortunately sidelined a bit. This is especially a shame for Renner, who adds such a sobering sense of humor to these movies, and in yet another franchise finds himself sidelined as a third banana. The movie may not make the mistake of becoming ‘The Tom Cruise Show’ again, but we don’t quite get that team camaraderie that made Ghost Protocol such a delight.

Not only is the pace here relentless, with constant action, but those combat sequences are a consistent delight. McQuarrie firmly establishes himself as one of the strongest directors of mayhem in the business here, weaving his camera in the perfect positions to make sure every one of these beautifully practical stunts get to be shown off in all their glory. There’s weight and brutality to every single hit here, and McQuarrie will often opt to draw out the tension to the point that there won’t be a single breath in the entire audience. Most people will naturally draw their attention to the much publicized plane stunt that opens the film, and while that’s an amazing sequence, the one I would highlight is a fifteen minute dance of death in an opera house that might be the best single scene in the entire franchise.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation might not be quite as much fun as it’s predecessor, but it makes up for that by being perhaps the most impeccably written/directed film in the franchise thus far. It’s a masterful concoction of blockbuster mayhem, that will catch you by the lungs, run your heart on overdrive, and not forget to make you laugh every once and a while. If this franchise can keep on chugging at this quality level, we may be seeing Cruise hanging off a mountain in a wheelchair in twenty years, and not question it one bit.

Rating: A

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Review

In 2011, the Tom Cruise controversy had certainly calmed down, but he was by no means back on top. His last movie was a goofy little flop called Knight and Day, and the conventional wisdom was that he was on his way out as a movie star. Enter ‘Incredibles’ and ‘Ratatouille’ director Brad Bird, who made the decision to take the five years dormant Mission: Impossible franchise and give it a kick in the balls for both the sake of the brand, and Cruise. He planned to incorporate more classical spy elements with a sense of fun that had been missing in some of the other installments. It takes such a visionary to save a franchise, and that is exactly what Bird did.

Ghost Protocol opens with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) being freed from prison in order to carry out a new mission. He, Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), and Jane Carter (Paula Patton) must stop an insane terrorist by the name of Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) from attacking the Kremlin. The mission fails, and the sacred building is destroyed, sparking tension between America and Russia. After the IMF is disavowed, our agents along with analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) must operate only with sparse resources in order to keep Hendricks from striking again and starting nuclear war.

The strongest aspect of Ghost Protocol is it’s pitch perfect cast of characters. While MI3 finally made sure a team was heavily incorporated into the story, this is the one where each and every one of them not only have great camaraderie but become fully three dymensional characters. Cruise is as stalwart and controlled as ever as Hunt, but isn’t devoid of emotion either. A twist midway through that ties up some plot elements from MI3 requires him to convey a great deal of subtle pain, which he does with ease and gravitas. Meanwhile, each of the new additions pull their weight. Renner in particular shines, acting as both an audience avatar in the movie’s more ridiculous moments, while folding into a very interesting character with a solid emotional arc in his own right. Patton and Pegg both play a bit more in the beat-seat as far as the main story to go, but the former has a solid emotional back-story to fuel things, and the latter injects a great deal of humor because Simon Pegg simply cannot resist being funny. There’s a reason that MI:5 is mostly bringing back characters from this one, they’re by far the best ones in the series so far, with the exception of Ving Rhames’ Luther, who only makes a brief appearance.

From the moment Pegg’s Benji frees hunt from the prison to the tune of ‘Ain’t That A Kick In The Head’, Ghost Protocol reveals itself as both the most fantastical and humorous installment of the franchise yet. Bird, making his live-action debut here, directs as if he’s a seasoned blockbuster veteran here, with a perfect penchant for controlled chaos. While the action sequences are absolutely bananas, they fit perfectly within the loose, 70s spy flick tone Bird is going for, unlike a certain other director who just made it crazy to show off just how well Cruise can move around on a bike. With that said, Cruise gets to do his most impressive stunt-work to date here, the now infamous Burj Khalifa sequence just as thrilling now in it’s dizzying height and sheer scale as it was for the very first time in the IMAX theater. Bird is simply a master of not only camera placement in these action sequences, but the placing of the audience inside of them. The car chases rush by, the midway trek though a sandstorm is blinding, and when a character falls down or gets hit, we feel the impact. Beyond that, the added wrinkle of limit gadgets that don’t always work properly make the mission feel all the more insurmountable, making the team’s victories all the sweeter.

There is however one gaping flaw here that keeps this from being a perfect film, Hendricks. While Michael Nyqvist certainly is a fine actor and does what he can with the very limited amount he’s given, he is given nearly nothing at all. We know nothing about him beyond that he’s a former professor who went crazy and now wants war, and as such he never feels like anything more than a mcguffin. While too much screen-time for him certainly could have thrown off the pacing a bit, Bird would have been wise to just sprinkle in a little more just to make us care about stopping him more. With that said, his character has what is by far the best showdown with Hunt in the series so far, so at the end of the day, all is forgiven.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is not only a stunning tribute to an older, looser kind of spy thriller, but simply a masterwork of fun in it’s own right. Brad Bird asserts himself as a major player here (until Tomorrowland came around a sullied that for the moment), and Cruise gets back the mojo that lead to a string of moderate hits like Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow. Oh, and speaking of Jack Reacher, Christopher McQuarrie, it’s director, is the one taking us on our next impossible mission. Let’s see how that turns out…shall we?

Rating: A

Mission: Impossible 3 Review

Mission: Impossible 3 could not have come out at a worse time. Not only was the previous installment almost unanimously perceived as weak, but Tom Cruise in the blink of an eye became a couch jumping, Scientology studying, Brooke Shields slamming PR nightmare. As such, while it certainly didn’t flop, it definitely didn’t over-perform either. It’s a shame really, because with fresh faced TV guru JJ Abrams at the helm of his very first feature, the entire creative team seemed determined to make up for the failings of their previous film. They promised a gritter, more exciting story that fit more within the vein of the wildly popular Bourne films and and Daniel Craig’s upcoming Bond debut, and man, did they ever deliver.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) starts this story having been out of the game for a few years, resigning to training new IMF agents. You see, he’s got a wedding to Julia (Michelle Monaghan) coming up, and he’s not planning on running into any gunfire anytime soon. That is until he finds out that Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell), the only trainee he ever approved for active duty, has been kidnapped by vicious arms dealer Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). After their attempt to rescue Farris goes horribly wrong, Ethan is thrown into a deeply personal game of cat and mouse with Davian, and must rely on his team to keep him out of danger until he tracks the mad-man down.

It seems that a Mission: Impossible film is only as good as it’s director, and although his style is not fully refined in his directorial debut, JJ Abrams absolutely nails it in the director’s chair. The pace here is absolutely relentless, with either a massive action scene, or an important piece of character development standing front and center. No matter what is happening, it’s injected with enough spirit and energy to feel more like a roller coaster than a movie. That kind of pacing could easily wear thin in lesser hands, however, there is a simply perfect amount of attention paid to the characters to ensure that this doesn’t just feel like a bunch of action figures running around.

Out of all the MI films, this is the one where Cruise shines the most. Unlike the forced romantic subplot in MI 2, Ethan’s relationship with Julia feels incredibly natural and human due to an easy chemistry with the endlessly watchable Monaghan. This not only grounds him as the vulnerable every-man that made him so compelling originally, but makes the personal stakes that much higher once Julia finds herself in danger. It’s also incredibly refreshing to finally see Ethan have a true team behind him, made up of characters played by Ving Rhames, Maggie Q, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. While they might not be the most three dimensional characters, they’re each charismatic and vital to the missions in their own way, particularly Rhames, who is given the most he’s ever had to do in the series. However, the biggest stand-out might just be the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the venomous Davian, who absolutely oozes hatred as he vows to destroy everything Ethan cares about. It’s a brilliant piece of unconventional casting by Abrams, only problematic by under-utilization. Hoffman isn’t in the film nearly as much as he should be, and if he had been, something tells me Davian could have been an all time great villain.

The action sequences are not only constant, but beautifully put together. Gone are the over-stylized, slow motion filled bores of before, with Abrams taking on a much more Spielberg-like flavor. Complications are constantly building on each other, forcing our heroes to often adapt to three or four problems at a time, ensuring that the action never descends into repetitive shoot-outs as many spy movies unfortunately do. All of it brought to life with Cruise’s always impressive practical stunts, and just the right amount of hectic camera-work to keep up the pace while still keeping things clear. It also helps that because the characters are so well drawn, and the tone of the story is so dark, that it always feels like people are in danger.

Mission: Impossible 3 is not only a perfect rebound for the franchise, but a rock-solid an action film in nearly every department. It’s a dark, character driven story that still never forgets to pepper in a little camaraderie and adventure to keep things going. The entire cast of top notch actors does a wonderful job, and Abrams proves himself to be a major force to be reckoned with. If it had just taken advantage of it’s stellar antagonist a little more, it could have even been the very best installment in the franchise, but believe it or not, we’re going up from here.

Rating: A-

Mission: Impossible 2 Review

Even though the original Mission Impossible was doubtlessly a hit, it faced criticism for being a touch too convoluted and confusing for it’s own good. After all, as much as audiences love their movie spies, they sometimes just want to see them leap into action and get to the business of killing people that they know best. People wanted more Tom Cruise being blown off of a helicopter by an explosion, and less tense conversations about bank accounts and biblical verses. “Well,” Tom Cruise thought, “who better to transition this into a straight up action franchise than shoot em’ up proprietor, Jon Woo?” It was a decent prospect, as Woo’s films generally ride the line of extreme insanity while giving their crowds a little something to grab onto as well. As such, Cruise packed on some muscle mass, grew out his hair a few inches, and jumped into action with Woo, hoping that by throwing everything at the wall, a little more would stick with the general audience this time around.

We find Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) scaling a massive canyon when we first reunite with him. He seems to be having a grand old time on his vacation when he receives yet another assignment through a pair of sunglasses (not kidding). His task, stop former IMF agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) from distributing a deadly experimental virus to the masses, planning to make bank on the cure. In order to infiltrate Ambrose, Hunt tracks down Naya Hall (Thandie Newton), a thief who recently ended a relationship with the traitorous agent, and asks her to shack up with him once again to gain intel. However, Ethan almost instantly becomes enamored with Naya, harming both parties’ ability to get the job done as well as they’d like.

From the very first frame, Mission Impossible 2 almost completely throws out the intrigue and deliberate pacing of De Palma’s original. You see, this one is all about style. Style over substance, story, character, or just about anything that makes a movie worth watching. Woo, who in other efforts has let his actors breathe and create characters underneath his insane action sequences, goes completely off the rails here. There are hardly any scenes of dialogue here that aren’t essentially montages with talking spliced into them. It’s as if Woo is worried about losing the audience’s attention for even a second, often cutting to things like the salsa dancers in a club or the roaring ocean as opposed of focusing in on what the characters have to say. Between that, and Woo’s obsession with having characters perform tiny actions as slowly and lovingly as possible, the pacing in almost every scene just feels completely off, the movie never really gaining any true momentum until the very end.

The characters are so horribly composed by the screenplay, which was amazingly enough written by Robert Towne who penned Chinatown, that the actors suffer as a result. While Cruise as always gives it everything he has, the character of Ethan Hunt is so completely butchered here that he feels like an entirely different person. While Hunt certainly did have his fair share of emotional turmoil in the first movie, he never really let get in the way of him acting like an efficient spy. He was a human being who still knew exactly what he had to do to get the job done. Here, because for some reason he’s found himself in love with a woman who he’s known for all of five minutes, he spends the entire movie making some of the stupidest moves a spy could ever possibly make for her sake. With his long flowing hair and dark shades, he seems more like a model posing as a spy than anything else. While certainly looking beautiful, Newton also suffers from this slapdash relationship plot-line, her initially icy persona melted in almost a minute by this smoldering action hero. Dougray Scott also falls completely flat as a generic bad guy who is never given a chance to establish any personality traits besides, “I want to do bad things for money,” and never really finds any moments to establish any believable chemistry with Cruise. They’re just two mad dogs fighting over a girl.

As for the action set-pieces, they stand as the only reasonably entertaining aspect of the film, even if they are incredibly silly and over stylized. We’re talking shoot outs where people twirl on the ground, kung-fu fights between two injured men on the beech, and a motorcycle chase that goes on for so long that it’s a miracle the bikes don’t run out of gas. It’s all reasonably well filmed, with clear camera angles and practical effects bringing all the mayhem to live. However, it’s hard to really care about what’s going on since the rest of the story is so badly paced and written that almost all the action is just slapped into the last thirty minutes. It feels more like a ballet then anything, and while this has worked for Woo in the past, in the context of a spy story, it just feels out of place.

Mission: Impossible 2 is a classic case of “trying to please everybody.” It feels like a little kid who is desperately trying to prove to his parents how much cooler he is than his “boring” older brother. None of the humanity that made the first film so engaging is found here at all, instead settling for the same over the top action movie that has been made a million times, while not even particularly excelling in that department. If all of the ‘Mission’ sequels turned out to be like this one, something tells me that the franchise would have been dead a long time ago. All I can say is, thank heaven for JJ Abrams.

Rating: D