Friday 7 August 2015

REVIEW: Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation


"You may not like a person, but you can be the admirer of his work", that's how I feel about Tom Cruise. I am not a fan of him as a person, but I really do like the movies he worked on. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation further strengthened that belief, because he worked really hard to get the movie done and the end result is quite immense.


Mission Impossible Rogue Nation set up after the events of Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) is on the find the existence of the Syndicate. However, before anything continues, Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) from CIA shut down the IMF. The team have been disbanded and Ethan Hunt has gone into hiding and gone rouge.


It's basically a very Mission Impossible-ish plot, yet still the movie feels very fresh even after the fifth installment. This is due to Christopher McQuarrie is the fifth director of Mission Impossible as many as the number of films. So, this makes each entry feels very fresh and each movie has its own audiences and fans.


The action sequence itself is the highlight of the show, with Tom Cruise himself doing all the crazy stunts without the use of a stuntman. This makes the action sequences feel very real because the actors are feeling all the stress and tension, these feelings are directly felt by the audience because we all the action shots are all real. The scenes did feel slow and dragged out in between the action sequences, as the script doesn't seem to know how to move the story at a smoother manner. Other than that, the movie is rock solid.


Tom Cruise, say what you want about his personal life, I personally don't like his real persona, but his movies are really enjoyable. I mean, he really strapped himself onto the plane during takeoff and take a deep dive during crucial action sequences, The reason he does that because by using real actors, we all with immersed with the movie, and he's right, Mission Impossible feels a lot better than action movie these days because it felt real, not some stuntmen strap on with makeups.


Beside Cruise, Simon Pegg as Benji is as funny as ever, with himself have more action chops this time around, which is great to see. Ving Rhames is back and make it a lot better. Jeremy Renner, who is my sister's personal favourite, is back this time around once again as William Brandt, the character has given more comical relief which is weird at first, but makes sense in the end. Rebecca Ferguson as Syndicate operative, Ilsa Faust is both masculine and feminine as well, even though her character is inconsistent. Alec Baldwin's character as Alan Hunley is just an introduction, and an interesting one. It's excited to see where they will bring the character forward in the future.


However, the main problem with Rogue Nation is the villain. Once again, Rogue Nation suffers the issue of weak villains, like previous Mission Impossible and other movies. Sean Harris as Solomon Lane isn't intimidating or pose enough a threat to IMF and he is easily played by other characters in the film. I'm not sure what it is, is it today's society can't accept a proper villain, because villains usually are not suitable to the politically correct audiences.


That being said, Mission Impossible is another solid entry of the Mission Impossible franchise, Tom Cruise and co. is able to keep the franchise fresh after so many years is something worth applauding. Not many series can get consistent, let alone getting better, but Mission Impossible managed to pull it off. If you're into action movies with espionage themed, it is worth a recommendation. It is a blast!

P.S. Kuala Lumpur made a cameo!

Score: 4.5/5

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