Mission: Impossible [5] - Rogue Nation (2015) [Blu-ray]
Action | Adventure | Thriller

Ethan and team take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate - an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF.

Storyline: CIA chief Hunley (Baldwin) convinces a Senate committee to disband the IMF (Impossible Mission Force), of which Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is a key member. Hunley argues that the IMF is too reckless. Now on his own, Hunt goes after a shadowy and deadly rogue organization called the Syndicate.

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, December 1, 2015 -- Staleness and franchise fatigue, with the former usually begetting the latter, are two of the biggest dangers facing any high dollar, razzle-dazzle Action movie series, including those featuring Jason Bourne, James Bond, or Mission: Impossible's Ethan Hunt. That filmmakers may become complacent with merely pushing the action envelope -- playing a game of one-upmanship either with a franchise's peers or, perhaps even worse, with the franchise's own previous entries -- and counting on "bigger," "faster," "slicker," and "more death-defying" to equal "better" is a temptation too difficult to resist and a fate to which many movies and series have succumb. And there's only so many ways to blow something up, shoot a bad guy, or drive a car at high speed. How many perfectly choreographed and precisely executed stunts can audiences devour without beginning to feel like they're all just pressed out in the same factory and slapped into whichever movie is currently in production? Every new Action movie trailer seems to only promise more of the same, the movie equivalent of a locker room measuring contest in the quest to plaster the screen with the most death-defying stunts, the biggest explosions, and more frenetic gunfire. Trailers for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation certainly seemed to go in that direction, promising more incredible action and...who knows what else. In a franchise that has defied the odds and maintained a pleasing freshness throughout its lifespan, can this fifth film live up to the excellence of its predecessors, or will it show that time has finally caught up to Ethan Hunt's globetrotting, break the rules, attain the unattainable, save the day heroics?

Impossible Mission Force super agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has successfully thwarted delivery of deadly nerve gas destined for terrorist use. He believes the intercept can lead him to the top of the elusive criminal organization known as "The Syndicate," but with IMF folded into the CIA following an oversight hearing involving CIA Director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) and IMF Chief William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Hunt is left to his own devices in the field and declared a rogue operative. He's captured by The Syndicate but freed when an operative working on the inside, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), aids in his escape. With Faust on his side -- along with Brandt and Agents Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) -- Hunt finds himself ever closer to bringing The Syndicate down, and its top man Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) with it.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation certainly flirts with the disasters of franchise fatigue and betting on bigger action to draw in more viewers. Parts of the film feel like little more than a playground in which the filmmakers indulge in pushing the limits of Action movie extravaganza. The story doesn't break new ground and the characters aren't pushed all that hard outside of their physical demands -- their spirits don't feel quite so burdened as their bodies -- leaving parts of the movie feeling less story driven and more bridges to the next big, extended stunt. The movie begins with a sequence so spectacular that it could probably end most Action movies. It sets a breathless, death-defying tone but also a tone that establishes the idea that the movie is more about dazzling audiences and less about telling a good, meaningful story that challenges the characters. But gradually the film regains its equilibrium, blending in what becomes a healthy, though not fully robust, story, certainly not one that's going to redefine the franchise but one with enough earned dramatic credit -- thanks in large part to a richly developed and portrayed villain courtesy of Sean Harris whose slyly evil performance is classically understated yet intensely dangerous -- to keep it flowing in its narrative and present the action with a bit more purpose beyond pure spectacle.

But even as the film works hard to balance its elements, action definitely takes center stage. Rogue Nation goes through all of the usual series permutations, which include infiltrating impregnable facilities, donning lifelike disguises, close-quarter car chases, motorcycles zipping perilously along a mountain road, and so on, but the film absolutely succeeds in presenting them in a very tangible, dangerous, high intensity way that elevates them well above standard. The filmmakers have meshed practical and digital to the point that there's essentially no demarcation, all of them presenting as one fluid and believable realistic sequence after another. A sequence in which Ethan Hunt must navigate an underwater database is easily the film's best. It's wildly creative if not a bit impractical, but the end result is perhaps the series' most intense "break-in," arguably surpassing the first film's iconic, yet now almost two decades later somewhat cliché, descent into the laser-protected facility. Cruise is once again excellent. The part doesn't really challenge him but he's up to the film's exhaustive physical demands while finding a somewhat darker and more intense front the deeper he gets into the mission of exposing and stopping The Syndicate at all costs.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation is the series' most physically robust movie to date, but it's not the best overall Mission. The movie feels always on the precipice of overindulging in the physical and underwhelming in the drama, but even as the Action is easily tops in the franchise, the filmmakers muster just enough supportive content -- thanks in large part to Sean Harris' terrific work -- to build and maintain an equilibrium that keeps the movie, and the franchise, feeling fresh. Paramount's Blu-ray release of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation features stunning video and audio. Extras include a commentary and a handful of featurettes, all of which are of very high quality. Recommended.

[CSW] -2.8- Well-done action thriller with chills and spills and great foreign locations. Every dollar spent in making this movie is on the screen. The problem is there is no chemistry between the stars and the story is ludicrous. In the end it's just like every other well made action/chase/spy thriller. I generally love this genre but too many films just like it exist. Someone new needs to come along and shake up these big budget, high body count movies. QTarantino changed cinema forever with Pulp Fiction. It's time for a new vision to come out of someone for this genre. It's old and tired. I could barely sit thru this till the end.
[V4.5-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box codes were available at the time of this rental but they are available now.


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