FILM REVIEW: Mission Impossible Rogue Nation

The other half and I have been mostly M.I.A. regarding Hollywood's summer blockbusters (We have seen Inside Out and Jurassic World and that's about it). Actually, we haven't done a very good job of watching movies in the theater this year. This is primarily because we've grown increasingly picky about only seeing movies in the theater that have rottentomatoes ratings over 90%. However, one of the movies we did shlep out to the Edward's Renaissance 14 in Alhambra to see was Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation. It got such excellent reviews (90% from audience reviews and 93% from critics) that we felt we should definitely check it out. (It should be noted that just because a movie does got excellent reviews doesn't mean that we will go see it. After all, Mad Max: Fury Road had a 97% rating from critics and 88% from the audience but we received word-of-mouth reviews from friends who had seen the film that ultimately influenced us not to see it in the theater.)

Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation opens with an incredible sequence where apparently Tom Cruise did his own stunt while holding on to the outside of a huge cargo plane while it took off. It's quite an astonishing sight to see one of the most famous people in the world and the star of the film clearly risking his life to make the film even more compelling.

As usual for most of these films, the plot itself is basically irrelevant. The enjoyment of the film is in its clever execution of multiple "impossible" sequence one after the other, with some leavening of humor expertly applied by Simon Pegg (Star Trek Into Darkness, Shawn of the Dead). Other standouts in the cast are Rebecca Ferguson as the enigmatic Ilsa Faust, who aligns herself with Cruise's Evan Hunt and claims that she is a double agent, but is she possibly a triple agent?

Overall, the film is a fun diversion and well worth the time and money spent to enjoy it in the theaters.


Title: Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation.
Director: Christopher McQuarrie.
Running Time: 2 hours, 11 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, and brief partial nudity.
Release Date: July 31, 2015.
Viewing Date: August 23, 2015.

Writing: B.
Acting: B.
Visuals: B+.
Impact: B-.

Overall Grade: B (3.0/4.0).