Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (12A)

USA 2015 131 mins Dir: Christopher McQuarrie Cast: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin

Far from being killed off by the freshly rejuvenated Bond series, the Mission: Impossible franchise has instead gained confidence and strength over the years. These are films that have successfully reinvented themselves since 1996, largely thanks to star Tom Cruise’s insistence that each new director be allowed to impose their own stamp. First up was Brian de Palma’s overplotted and convoluted but stylish original, followed by John Woo’s operatically ridiculous second movie which risked losing any connection with the original TV series. J.J. Abrams’ third entry was an improvement, largely due to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s schemingly sadistic villain.

However, it was 2011’s Brad Bird-helmed Ghost Protocol that marked the most confident M:I movie to date, mixing together a series of stylishly nail-biting set-pieces with an increasingly emphasised team dynamic, all hung on a sensibly threadbare plot that was little more than an excuse to propel the action forward. The same principle underlines Rogue Nation. And tempting as it is to see the movie as little more than a Cruise stunt showreel, there’s more than enough stylishness in Usual Suspects Oscar winner Christopher McQuarrie’s direction, plus intelligence in the handling of the supporting characters, to make it a more than worthy inclusion in the series.

Curiously the opening gambit, the heavily trailed Tom-Cruise-hanging-off-an-airbourne-plane extravaganza, is perhaps the most gimmicky sequence in the film. Spectacular though it is, the film’s later set-pieces escalate the tension in far more effective ways, ranging from a seat-gripping bike chase to a thunderously mounted life or death struggle at the Viennese opera. Having infiltrated said plane with help from his fellow Impossible Mission Force teammates Benji (Simon Pegg), Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and Luther (Ving Rhames, whose last substantial appearance was the third movie), the motives of Cruise’s fearless Ethan Hunt are revealed: it’s the latest link in his international pursuit of a mysterious organisation known as the Syndicate.

The Rogue Nation of the title, the Syndicate have been staging various disasters and conflicts in order to upset the established world order – but only Ethan is convinced they exist. However, his suspicions are realised when he’s captured by their operatives, something that brings him into contact with the ambiguously motivated Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), whose allegiances appear to wobble between the good guys and the villains. There’s another problem too: following the explosive events of Ghost Protocol, steely CIA boss Hunley (Alec Baldwin) is calling for the IMF to be dissolved. But of course as we all know, keeping our plucky IMF agents suppressed and cowed is the most impossible task of them all. Ethan must go off the grid and, with the seeming help of Ilsa and his closest allies, attempt to bring down the Syndicate’s shadowy leader Solomon Lane (the ever-creepy Sean Harris, whose strangulated whisper of a voice is put to excellent use).

If Hunt breezed through Ghost Protocol without breaking a sweat (most famously in the extraordinary Burj Khalifa climbing sequence), Rogue Nation is pleasingly grounded in something more vulnerable and human. Hunt may be a superhero without a costume, and his escape from the stickiest situations is always guaranteed, but Cruise and McQuarrie work hard to build a sense of danger, most notably in a genuinely riveting set-piece where our hero must infiltrate an underwater databank by plunging through an impossibly narrow concrete tube. After that, it’s just a case of holding his breath for several minutes. Cruise’s close-up look of impending panic prior to the stunt plays into one of the film’s key innovations: Hunt and his fellow agents are now freshly vulnerable, something that makes the dastardly Lane’s masterplan feel all the more potent.

The casting helps enormously. The excellent Ferguson is an alluring new addition, never reduced to the level of a romantic foil but instead treated as Hunt’s more-than-capable equal who may be being manipulated as much as she is manipulating the situation herself. Pegg rises above the simplistic sidekick stereotype that he has been saddled with in the previous two movies and Benji’s involvement in the drama feels more substantial than before. Harris meanwhile is a chilling embodiment of a particularly faceless kind of evil, a behind the scenes manipulator capable of orchestrating carnage without getting his hands dirty himself. And even if Renner’s characterisation doesn’t quite catch fire as it should, he does get one killer gag emphasising Brandt’s seemingly bland desk jockey status.

It’s a likeable ensemble that helps ground a relentlessly energetic thriller, one that in its final stages makes intelligent use of fog-bound London streets that’s more than just empty tourist eye candy. Propelled by Joe Kraemer’s thrilling interpretations of Lalo Schifrin’s classic TV themes, it’s a stylish and dynamic thrill-ride that action junkies will be more than happy to accept.