Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. The IMF gets shut down, leaving Ethan Hunt on the run from the CIA whilst trying to take down an organized crime group called ‘The Syndicate’. More than in the past few movies this feels like it’s completely merged into the Bourne/Bond universes – it’s particularly Skyfall-y. IMF is outdated and up for debate (like the 00 program), ‘The Syndicate’ are a collective that trigger world events (hello SPECTRE!), and the main villain is pretty much Raoul Silva (Bardem) from Skyfall, but with no development beyond ‘he’s villainously European and wears turtlenecks’. True to the franchise the big action set-pieces are fantastic (Plane opening, Motorbikes, Opera Fight) but it digresses into foot chases and pistol fights, which are ten-a-penny these days. The opening half is everything you’d expect from an M.I. film, but the second part loses momentum with twist after twist after twist, which leaves the story feeling bloated and stretched: it’s 2hrs 10 long! A big problem for this movie is that Ethan “the living manifestation of destiny” Hunt is never on the back foot and has an air of invisibility – worse still Tom Cruise is an action star that can act, but he’s wasted here, coasting as the cocksure and invincible agent. The main female (Ferguson) – an equally kick-ass, deadly, and capable agent in her own right – is presented as a strong heroine, yet made to prance about in leggy frocks, bikinis, and even topless (from the back) for no real reason. When you think of the best scenes in the Mission Impossible franchise and I bet they’re wringing out tension and suspense during the ‘impossible’ missions – hence the name – but Rogue Nation gets tangled up with simple thrills and a flabby, tortuous plot.
Score: 6/10
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible II
Mission: Impossible III
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Paragraph Film Reviews 
I saw this in the theater and I loved it. It’s funny you mention the connections to the Bond universe. At the beginning of the auction, you can see Bonds Aston Martin in the parking lot. In a perfect world, I wish Bond and Hunt could team up in a crossover film 😊
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This was definitely the first time that the M:I films lost their identity for me. Bourne action and a Bond plot. Still fun to watch for the most part though.
Bond and Hunt would be an awesome pairing. I’d rather see that than Batman / Superman!
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I know right? I don’t think it could ever happen though, the two studios would have to come to an agreement of some kind, but it’s nice to dream about :)
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I’m surprised you didn’t like this one more. I found it to be a great action/spy film. The plots of MI5 and Spectre are very similar, but MI5 made it work while Spectre collapsed in on itself. I think MI5 is doing Bond better than Bond these days (and Bourne, I mean, did you see Bourne 4? ugh!). The loss of identity you mention probably comes from every film having a different director, and giving it their own mark, which in a sense is its identity. I do agree that Cruise is invicible, and doesn’t have to do much acting here, so it’s a valid complaint. Overall, I’d say this was the best MI outing apart from the original.
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Loved the action in the first half of the movie, and the Opera sequence was particularly outstanding. I even said to my Mrs half way through “they don’t make enough films like this any more”. I just don’t think it was too memorable or original – and I’d seen the second half loads before. Even a few days after watching it the plot’s a grey mess in my head. I think the ‘villain’ was particularly poor too, no backstory or development other than shooting the IMF agent at the start. Original is still the best in my eyes too (it’s De Palma!), but i’d go III, IV, V, then II in descending order.
I’d even argue that MI-2 is better than this (far more memorable), but just went too far in the action stakes (Read as John Woo totally Woo’d it up)
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These movies continue to get better and better. Nice review.
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I think I’d rate them MI:1, 3, 4, 5, and 2 in order personally. Just think this one merged in to ‘generic action film’ in the second half more than the previous movies. Still a good film though.
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Yes, yes, yes. I do not get why this was so universally loved when it came out. Can’t remember the plot of the film. Just that Tom Cruise was in it. And that ridiculous stunt at the beginning. And some quips from Simon Pegg’s character.
Watchable but far from a great action film.
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YES YES YES TOO! Something about it didn’t feel ‘Mission Impossibly’ to me, especially when they started bringing in the British MI5 (we get it, it’s MI:5 too!), and the double/treble crossing of the capable – but MUST BE PORTRAYED AS SEXY AT ALL TIMES – British agent.
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Ugh, yes, did not get her appeal. She got so much praise for get acting in the film. Honestly, something that probably could have been just as well by Jordana Brewster.
Gonna go back and watch the first film. Now that’s a Mission Impossible film. Heck, I’d probably take John Woo’s one over this.
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Poor Jordana Brewster!!! (Actually LOL’d at that dig)
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Was trying to think of an actress that’s in action films and is pretty lame. I feel bad for her that she’s the first one that popped into my head!
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