Movie: Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
My Rating: 3 stars
These Mission Impossible films are fun. They’ve never been anything that I’ve eagerly anticipated. And, I haven’t ever gone out of my way to see one. But when I have, I always had a good time. Or, at least I have for the last two or three movies—ever since they decided to start having a bit of a sense of humor. That’s kind of the same way it was for the Fast & Furious movies. They got way better once they just embraced how ridiculous they were. And, since Tom Cruise is probably the most humorless man ever, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames are the ones who provide the comic relief between all the face kicking and cars exploding.
I love a good strong female, murderer/assassin character. I know that’s not what I was supposed to take away from this film. I imagine that Mr. Tom Cruise would prefer that all attention be directed toward his plastered-on grin. But, I really liked the character of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) the best. She’s the mysterious ally (or rival?) to Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. Not only is she beautiful and intimidating. She also takes out gangsters with her bare hands, she has a mastery of all kinds of weapons, and the moves she can pull during a high-speed motorcycle chase are masterful. I’m a little jealous. Ilsa is supposed to be kind of a love interest at first. But, she’s way too enigmatic and dangerous to stay that for long.
As usual, Ethan Hunt and his team are saving the world. This time, they’re hunting a group of former intelligence operatives turned anarchists—“The Syndicate”. These bad guys are intent on sowing discord throughout the world by means of random acts of violence. And, it’s up to our competent heroes to stop them. They’ve got all the tools they need. Now they just have to figure out who they can trust. I guess it would also help if they could count on their government for support, but that isn’t about to happen after all the mayhem they caused the last time they hunted down some baddies. So, the team is on its own, once again.
This is a good, fun, implausible spy movie. The action is ludicrous. The missions . . . well, they’re impossible. And, everyone is way to beautiful to be a spy. Those people are supposed to melt into the background. They’re certainly not supposed to be the most stunning people in the room. But, it’s all good fun. And, anyone who likes silly action movies will like this one. Of course, I feel obligated to give you the disclaimer that the movie is very violent. (My mother would want to be warned). Lots of Eastern European thugs get their skulls bashed in by our Ilsa. But, that’s really what I liked best about the movie. So, use your judgment.