Mission Impossible: Rogue Nations (12A.)
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie.
Starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin and Simon Pegg. 131 mins.
One of the best things about Mission Impossible movies is that they are nicely spaced out. They pop up every four to five years, just when you think they aren't going to do any more, and audiences have built up some excitement for them. And Rogue Nation is fuelled with its own excitement, it's so pumped up on how great it's going to be, that after a blast of an opening that has Cruise dangling from a plane as it takes off, the credit sequence is a mini trailer for the film we're about to see. It's like a child that has to wait half a decade for Christmas.
The evolutionary path of the Mission Impossible films more or less follows that of the Fast and Furious film. From nothing-special beginnings they sunk into the depths before improbably starting to get the hang of themselves and becoming top notch summer blockbusters. This new instalment marks the moment when its development levels off. MI5 is much the same as MI4 and just like No 4 Ghost Protocol, the film peaks at the end of its second act with a breathless, giddy action sequences in an Arabic location, (this time Casablanca rather than Dubai) and can't really rev itself up for its final half hour. Indeed, this is the first M:I film that really feels like a direct sequel, rather than another reinvention.
The plot, should you choose to follow it, pretty much self destructs within 30 seconds: the film lives or dies by its ability to make audiences enjoy the implausibility. Mission Imp is very self reflexive*. The IMF gang whiz about the world dreaming up mad improbable schemes on the hoof to break into maximum security vaults or dupe Prime Ministers to try and keep one step ahead. The script does much the same, knocking up action sequences designed to keep us distracted enough not to start questioning the film's basic shallowness.
Part of the reason why the M:I films have improved is that they have gone from hiring established but just beginning to slide directors (De Palma and John Woo) and given the director's chair to people with something to prove: a pre Star Trek and Wars J.J. Abrams, Pixar star man Brad Bird for his first non animation. This time the director is McQuarrie, a man still best known for scripting The Usual Suspects and introducing Keyser Soze to the culture. Soon after that he took on the role as Cruise's designated script lackey: not a seemly or dignified position, though the previous incumbent was Hollywood script legend Robert (Chinatown) Towne. The script here rehashes ideas we've seen before but does it effectively: the set pieces work through all the major adrenaline groups and give us little twists to old familiars, like the car chase or the heist. The film's humour is always used to enhance rather than detract from the tension and suspense, and the film's major new cast addition, The Girl (Ferguson), is actually the film's strongest character.
There is no I in team, but then there is no “team” in a Tom Cruise Production. Though they are nominally a group the others in the group, even Pegg’s comic relief, are basically the straight-men, feeding Cruise stunt opportunities. Mr Does-His-Own-Stunts Cruise approaches these films like a global, fancy dress, parkour course, running and leaping about tourist locations while in disguise. The Mission Impossible films suit him best because the character of Ethan Hunt exactly matches his self image as an adrenaline junkie do gooder. It may also be that Hunt, and the films, are nothing apart from their need to keep busy. Rogue Nation is sharp, funny and relentlessly exciting, a showcase for some of the best set pieces you are likely to see in any film this year, the zenith of a modern espionage action drama. But it'll never be better than a Bond film because Bond means something. Ethan Hunt doesn't stand for anything really. When MI is gone, it's like it was never there at all.
*There's also a repeated motif of having Rebecca Ferguson take off her high heels to show that she's not that tall. What could that all about?
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie.
Starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin and Simon Pegg. 131 mins.
One of the best things about Mission Impossible movies is that they are nicely spaced out. They pop up every four to five years, just when you think they aren't going to do any more, and audiences have built up some excitement for them. And Rogue Nation is fuelled with its own excitement, it's so pumped up on how great it's going to be, that after a blast of an opening that has Cruise dangling from a plane as it takes off, the credit sequence is a mini trailer for the film we're about to see. It's like a child that has to wait half a decade for Christmas.
The evolutionary path of the Mission Impossible films more or less follows that of the Fast and Furious film. From nothing-special beginnings they sunk into the depths before improbably starting to get the hang of themselves and becoming top notch summer blockbusters. This new instalment marks the moment when its development levels off. MI5 is much the same as MI4 and just like No 4 Ghost Protocol, the film peaks at the end of its second act with a breathless, giddy action sequences in an Arabic location, (this time Casablanca rather than Dubai) and can't really rev itself up for its final half hour. Indeed, this is the first M:I film that really feels like a direct sequel, rather than another reinvention.
The plot, should you choose to follow it, pretty much self destructs within 30 seconds: the film lives or dies by its ability to make audiences enjoy the implausibility. Mission Imp is very self reflexive*. The IMF gang whiz about the world dreaming up mad improbable schemes on the hoof to break into maximum security vaults or dupe Prime Ministers to try and keep one step ahead. The script does much the same, knocking up action sequences designed to keep us distracted enough not to start questioning the film's basic shallowness.
Part of the reason why the M:I films have improved is that they have gone from hiring established but just beginning to slide directors (De Palma and John Woo) and given the director's chair to people with something to prove: a pre Star Trek and Wars J.J. Abrams, Pixar star man Brad Bird for his first non animation. This time the director is McQuarrie, a man still best known for scripting The Usual Suspects and introducing Keyser Soze to the culture. Soon after that he took on the role as Cruise's designated script lackey: not a seemly or dignified position, though the previous incumbent was Hollywood script legend Robert (Chinatown) Towne. The script here rehashes ideas we've seen before but does it effectively: the set pieces work through all the major adrenaline groups and give us little twists to old familiars, like the car chase or the heist. The film's humour is always used to enhance rather than detract from the tension and suspense, and the film's major new cast addition, The Girl (Ferguson), is actually the film's strongest character.
There is no I in team, but then there is no “team” in a Tom Cruise Production. Though they are nominally a group the others in the group, even Pegg’s comic relief, are basically the straight-men, feeding Cruise stunt opportunities. Mr Does-His-Own-Stunts Cruise approaches these films like a global, fancy dress, parkour course, running and leaping about tourist locations while in disguise. The Mission Impossible films suit him best because the character of Ethan Hunt exactly matches his self image as an adrenaline junkie do gooder. It may also be that Hunt, and the films, are nothing apart from their need to keep busy. Rogue Nation is sharp, funny and relentlessly exciting, a showcase for some of the best set pieces you are likely to see in any film this year, the zenith of a modern espionage action drama. But it'll never be better than a Bond film because Bond means something. Ethan Hunt doesn't stand for anything really. When MI is gone, it's like it was never there at all.
*There's also a repeated motif of having Rebecca Ferguson take off her high heels to show that she's not that tall. What could that all about?
