Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) - Movie Review

The Mission: Impossible franchise has experienced a mixed reception across its four prior installments, with the most popular being 2011's Ghost Protocol. I'm not entirely with the series, only that its pretty much Tom Cruise and co pulling off dangerous missions with some cool action and a catchy theme music, although I did end up watching Ghost Protocol one random night. Despite this, I have very little recollection of the actual film, and it obviously didn't leave much of an impression on me.
Suffice it to say though that Rogue Nation is the first Mission: Impossible film I saw the trailer for, liked the look of and went to the cinema to see it, and my expectations were pretty reasonable - cool action, good stunts and an entertaining watch. I guess I got what I expected.
The story follows the disassembling of the IMF, while Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is pursuing The Syndicate - a rogue nation that causes havoc across the world. Hunt teams up once again with Benjamin Dunn (Simon Pegg) to destroy the anti-IMF organisation once and for all, with help from a mysterious inside source (Rebecca Ferguson), and former IMF allies (Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames).

Among all this are some great action sequences, ranging from a hilarious opening sequence with Tom Cruise actually holding onto a plane during take-off, to an underwater heist and a motorcycle chase. The range of different types of action in these sequences is very large and director Christopher McQuarrie seems more than happy to make them as exciting as possible, which makes it all the more disappointing that the film ends on such a small little foot-chase. After such brilliant and exhilarating sequences, the ending falls a bit flat and is about two minutes in length, meaning that any lingering questions are left unanswered. More for the sequel, I suppose!
The cast are pretty good all round, with no real standouts. They're all action movie characters and are thus designed to particular roles in their team and in the plot, and therefore never really transcend their respective stereotypes. This isn't a bad thing per say, but the actors have such little to really work with that no one is ever going to be able to win an award for this film. Simon Pegg was probably most noticeable, although mostly for his comedic timing and reactions to everyone else, as opposed to great lines for him to say. The dialogue is all very good, and its all quite tongue-in-cheek by this point, with a rather flat but villainous villain (very much akin to a Bond villain in this film's case) being villainy, and our action heroes occassionally making the odd quip. It all works very well for the film, and means that you don't get the script trying to be deep by one character explaining their tragic backstory or something - Rogue Nation focuses on the plot at hand, and so do the characters.
The cinematography and production design all looked particularly great, with some extremely well-crafted fight scenes and some intriguing twists and turns along the way. The music feels very Mission: Impossible-esque, and the CGI is thankfully sparingly used. Rogue Nation isn't ground-breaking at all, but its so solid in its formation that its incredibly not to get wrapped up in the exciting and entertaining nonsense of it all. Yes, its cheesy. Yes, there is a lot of unrealistic stunts (it is Mission: Impossible, after all). And yes, there are probably plot holes, but the film is so slick and entertaining that you just get engaged in what's going on as opposed to actually thinking about it all.
Overall, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation is an excellent fifth outing for the franchise. While not perfect, it never strays off its set course and gives you a great time watching. If you like your action movies, even if your not a fan of this particular franchise, I would still definitely recommend checking Rogue Nation out.