Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation English Movie
Warning: Never mind if you're a Marvel fan or a DC fan or a Fast and Furious fan (or, unfortunately, a Transformers fan), the perpetually charming Tom Cruise's latest entry in the galloping Mission Impossible series is the best piece of blockbuster action extravaganza that you'd have seen in some time.
The 19-year old franchise, which hit a (minor) low point with the J.J. Abrams-directed third installment before bouncing back in a better-than-ever avatar with the wildly entertaining fourth installment helmed by Brad Bird, manages to find a way to stay relevant in today's oversaturated market place and hit a new high under the less-outrageous-is-more-outrageous approach of incoming writer-director Christopher McQuarrie.
You might think you've seen it all. Hell, you saw Cruise wall-climbing the Burj Khalifa in Ghost Protocol, for crying out loud. But McQuarrie, also the writer on Cruise's last -- the fantastic and wildly underrated Edge of Tomorrow -- and writer-director on Cruise's last to last -- the hugely disappointing and unappealing Jack Reacher -- refuses to partake in action-spy film cliches and carefully builds a film that gives as much importance to brains as it does to brawn.
Ethan Hunt goes rogue to stop a shadow terrorist organization called Syndicate, after his IMF taskforce is dismantled by the CIA and its operations are taken over by them. But he realizes he has finally met his match against the head of the Syndicate, a mastermind named Solomon Lane. So, he calls on his former team for "one last mission together". Or so they say.
Rogue Nation works on the same plane as the energetic and fun Furious 7, but in the opposite direction. Much like Furious 7, it works as an eclectic mix of suave action and witty comedy. Much like Furious 7, its action encompasses all, from heists to crashing cars to plain old punching-and-kicking. Much like Furious 7, it works on the values of treating friends like your family and doing impossible things for their sake.
But unlike Furious 7, which took preposterousness to a whole new level (there are literally cars raining down from the sky in the film), Rogue Nation chooses to go the understated route. The much-talked-about plane sequence, where Cruise is seen hanging on to its door for dear life, is a brief one and nothing post that comes even close to matching the Burj Khalifa stunt or driving at unbelievable speeds through the crowded streets of Mumbai.
Sure, there are car chases and bike chases and underwater heists and weird technology that makes you wonder why your life sucks so much while these fictional spies get to have all the fun in the world. But there are no scenes of mass property destruction, no helicopters shot down, no cars jumped from one building to the next one. Which is what makes Rogue Nation more thrilling and plot-oriented than your average would-be blockbuster.
McQuarrie the writer wins over McQuarrie the director because the writer in him takes the road less traveled by trying to make more out of less. He relies on hand combat over huge action pieces. He keeps the pace snappy without bombarding you with one explosion after the other till they melt together into one giant ball in your mind. More so, he rests his film on wholly predictable but ridonculously applause-worthy twists, and in an unheard-of move in big-budget actioners, relies on mind games over violence to reach its final conclusion. There's nothing particularly or obviously extraordinary about his script, but McQuarrie knows his spycraft, he knows his audience's expectations and he knows how to skillfully defy them without betraying them.
He also knows not to play around too much with the titular character of Ethan Hunt. In an era where Tony Stark is getting darker as a character, Batman and Superman probably exist in an altenate superhero dimension where there is no light, and Bond is closely mimicking Bourne (all undoubtedly good developments), Hunt still remains a character who can be deathly serious when it comes to taking the hard decisions, but can be jovial when you least expect it, a hard balance to find.
Hunt is also anything but infallible. He might appear totally in control, might give the appearance that he's thought two steps ahead of his opposition, might even appear superhuman at times. His friend Benjy certainly thinks so, not giving a second thought to the notion that Hunt could hold his breath underwater for 3 minutes. But the truth is that most of the time, he's just winging it and making it up as he goes. He dies and has to be brought back to life, gets lured into traps by his nemesis and has to be rescued by his friends, crashes his car during chases and barely escapes the bullet from a goon's gun.
So yeah, he might not show a lot of emotions or let on what's going through his head, but Ethan Hunt is a human after all -- just a really well trained one. And with Tom Cruise embodying the character of the world's most skilled spy, the likability of the character goes up a few 100 notches. Cruise remains one of the last "film stars" in the world, who can even take a mediocre character and elevate it to a different level just by flashing a charming smile. As Hunt, he's suave and mysterious, but there's never any doubt where his heart lies. Hunt drives cars like a maniac, jumps from 10 storeys high and climbs atop a moving plane like nobody's business, and Cruise does it all with his game face on and presumably, with his insurance papers handy.
Jeremy Renner, as Hunt's cohort William Brandt, gets a lesser part this time around, but is still fun to watch. Simon Pegg plays tech expert Benjy with the right touches of humor and emotion and is a thrill to watch as always. Rebecca Ferguson reinvents the femme fatale character with an impossible amount of ease, so much so it's hard to take your eyes off her whenever she's on screen. Alec Baldwin is likable, but his part is sadly too minor and irrelevant. Sean Harris might not be the most threatening villain ever, but surely makes for an effective one, spitting venom through a coarse whisper.
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation is a film that, should you choose to accept watching it, gives you a 135 minute long rush of adrenaline and warm and funny feelings in the pit of your stomach for Tom Cruise. A rare action comedy film that actually exercises the most important muscle in the human body -- the brains -- it'll be hard to find a more fun way to spend some time this weekend.
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