DARKMATTERS - The Mind of Matt

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Friday, July 31, 2015

Darkmatters Review: Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation


Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (12a)

Dir. Christopher McQuarrie

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

“Let me guess. Presumed dead?”
“… tonight, I just made it official!”

If the thrilling Mission Impossible films have shown us anything, it’s that Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is a veritable trouble magnet. From being set up and hunted in the first film, to having to fight terrorists packing bio weaponry in part 2, a weapon dealing mastermind in part 3 and more terrorists, this time with nuclear launch codes in Ghost Protocol.

"riding his luck"

Well, the bad news for Hunt and his IMF (Impossible Missions Force) pals is that the day very much needs saving again as new baddie Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) has created a ‘Rogue Nation’ which calls itself The Syndicate.

The Syndicate might be bad news for the world but it’s great news for cinema action lovers as Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation blasts straight in to a turbo charged adventure that crackles with exciting, jaw dropping set pieces. The stand out scenes for me included seeing Cruise at 53 clinging to the outside of plane as it takes off and an incredible car / motorbike chase / battle. Everything is slickly produced and beautifully shot too.

"girl power, but can you trust her?"

Cruise is still incredible in the lead role, delivering audacious fight scenes, high speed chases, death defying stunts and more than a little cool agent swagger. The IMF core team of Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner all give good support and each get a few moments to shine.

Female empowerment comes in the shapely form of Rebecca Ferguson who plays Ilsa Faust – a syndicate agent who just might hold the key to helping Hunt.
There are some excellent cameos too such as a fun turn as the British Prime Minister by Tom Hollander and a return to the spy games for Alec Baldwin.

"you'll believe BMWs can fly"

Rogue Nation feels right at home as a wining continuation of the Mission Impossible franchise and stands as both an over-the-top summer blockbuster action overload and a great piece of entertainment.

The iconic Mission Impossible theme is effectively used throughout (much like the Bond music in the Brit super spy films) and there is refreshingly limited use of CGI special effects – in a summer where we’ve had an overdose of fake effects in Terminator Genisys etc.

Director Christopher ‘Jack Reacher’ McQuarrie has got form of effectively working with Cruise and here he sets you a mission you should definitely accept.

Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters:

öööö

(4 - another strong Mission for Cruise)

Awesomeness öööö – incredible action scenes

Laughs ööö – some real fun

Horror öö –  not overly grim violence

Spiritual Enlightenment ööö - self belief is powerful

Caution: BMW placement overload, in what must be the most far-fetched element of any of the Mission Impossible films to date - bear with me as I know you will find this hard to believe -  but there are multiple scenes of BMWs being driven where the driver ISN'T either drug dealer or a total w&º¶er... come on Hollywood, you can only push things so far... :)

Darkmatters review of: Mission Impossible III

"don't mess with Faust"

1 comment:

Unknown said...

While it doesn't quite live up to the fourth installment of this franchise, Rouge Nation has some tremendous action scenes and a nice sense of unity about it.

Watch Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Online