Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

This review may contain spoilers!

This film is something that has really revitalised this franchise in my eyes. I would give Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation an 8.5/10.

This is such a seamless spy/thriller film; one that's just immensely enjoyable. There were a lot of twists within the film and the moments of tension were perfectly timed. One of the best parts of the story of this film was how the bad guy was constantly contrasted to Ethan Hunt; the ending of the film even mirrored this brilliant match off. The action sequences and stunts were some of the best I had seen this year; the best part was that each one was so unique and memorable. The special effects weren't gratuitous but in the scenes they were present I thought they looked really good. The cinematography for this film was exceptional; everything moved to provide a full perspective of the scene and the shots moved quick to cover the action exceptionally too. One of the best things about the Mission Impossible franchise is that the score will always stand out; the music within this feature was brilliant.

Jeremy Renner, who played William Brandt, was used in a significantly different way within this film; I liked how he embraced a more political and lawful element within this film. Simon Pegg, who played Benji Dunn, has fast become one of the characters that is the heart of this franchise; Pegg's natural comedy and energy makes him a stand out role within this film. Rebecca Ferguson, who played Ilsa Faust, had some exceptional chemistry with Cruise in this film; I think what really made her stand out was that she played the duplicitous nature of her character incredibly well. Ving Rhames, who played Luther Stickell, was a role that was sorely missed after Ghost Protocol only gave him one scene; in this film Rhames' great chemistry with Cruise and Renner is front and centre and his comedic talent really brings Luther back in a big way. Simon McBurney, who played Atlee, was very good at playing quite a standard cloak and daggers British Intelligence head; he was very bureaucratic in his performance and certainly was a very shifty character. Alec Baldwin, who played Alan Hunley, had the natural gruff edge that set him against Cruise and Renner really well; I liked the menace behind him and how a by the books character was made quite humourous by Baldwin.

However the best performance of the film came from Tom Cruise, who played Ethan Hunt. Cruise is the Mission Impossible movies; that's just how naturally these films come to him. He plays up the cocky side of his character well, so he banters exceptionally. He also has a great presence within the action scenes, I think it's great that Mission impossible can still pull out all the stops with Cruise in these scenes. Furthermore Cruise really let out a darker side to Hunt in this film, we see Hunt out on his own and fearing failure so constantly that there are a few scenes where Cruise brings him to a breaking point. Cruise works great with his co-stars and has some fantastic chemistry with practically all of the main cast.

Where Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation suffered was it's pacing; the film had some great narrative and exceptional action sequences but the whole thing took far too long to play out. Beyond that the antagonist of the film, the Syndicate, didn't feel like all that big of a threat. In fact beyond chasing Cruise we only see the Syndicate commit one major act of terror that warrants them as any sort of threat to the world as a whole.

Sean Harris, who played Solomon Lane, was a terrible antagonist; he too often strayed into playing up quite a stereotypical villain by using a very stock voice and downplaying his presence in scenes.