'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation' Review

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation is a blast! This film has the best elements taken from each of the previous installments with an incredible motorcycle chase sequence, insane stunts, suspense, and great performances. 

The director, Christopher McQuarrie, does a terrific job behind the camera and brings freshness to the franchise. The motorcycle chase is probably one of the best motorcycle chase sequences I have seen in any movie because of the inventive use of great camera angles including one that makes you feel as though you are riding the motorcycle. 

Probably one of my favorite scenes in the film is the opera house scene which is very suspenseful and contains a little humor to balance the tone. There are two insane stunts featured in the film. One where Tom Cruise must hold on to a plane as it takes off that kicks the film off with a bang. The other being one where Tom Cruise must hold his breath for 3 minutes to help ensure the success of a mission that is filled to the brim with tension aided by the film's score. 

The film's cast is incredibly well rounded once again exploring a team dynamic introduced in Ghost Protocol. Tom Cruise is phenomenal as usual once again performing insane stunts in addition to a great performance. 

Rebecca Ferguson shines as the female lead yet doesn't outshine the ensemble cast around her and does quite well in action sequences specifically the hand to hand combat sequences where she kicks butt and takes names. Her character's intentions and alliance are unknown so she adds an element of mystery to the film.

 Simon Pegg is enjoyable as always adding quite a bit of humor to the film as he did in Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol and has a slightly bigger role this time around. 

Jeremy Renner returns with more comedic beats, and he does quite well in terms of performance. Ving Rhames reprises his role as Luther as the only actor to have been in all of the film's aside from Tom Cruise, and is enjoyable when onscreen. He and Renner are given a B-story line in the middle of the film and they worked quite well together. 

The film's villain is one of the best the franchise has seen since the third installment. The villain is portrayed by Sean Harris and is a compelling and intimidating villain much better than the usual villains for these films. 

Overall I highly recommend you go see Rogue Nation if you enjoy action flicks or are a fan of the franchise and would go as far as to say that it's probably one of the best action movies to come out all summer if not the entire year. By far my favorite of the franchise narrowly beating out Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol.

Film Assessment: A

Throwback Thursday Review: 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol'

This week's new release is Pixels but I had trouble finding a film relates to Pixels that I wanted to review and since next week I will be out of town with no cell reception, Internet, etc. I decided to go ahead and review a film that is the predecessor to Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, which is next week's new big release. This also with no doubt so far my favorite installment in the franchise but that could always change when I see Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. 

'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' Review

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is my favorite installment in the franchise for a number of reasons. It's probably the only Mission: Impossible film to contain humor as well as some large scale crazy action sequences and another insane stunt that Tom Cruise actually performs, given that he does his own stunts.

One highlight of the film that I particularly enjoy is to see the spy tech utilized in the film which is quite interesting and somewhat realistic given modern technology. An aspect about the spy tech that is quite interesting regarding how it comes into play in this film is that the technology is constantly breaking and messing up, making the mission that much more "impossible"and also adding an element of humor to the film.

This film was also Brad Bird's first foray into live-action, and he did a splendid job re-imagining the franchise to differ from previous installments. All of the actors do an incredible job in this film, but the team of IMF agents stand out in particular. Tom Cruise once again portrays Ethan Hunt and is given much more to explore for his character. He is really quite enjoyable to watch in the action sequences that put you in the edge of your seat.

Another aspect that adds to the suspense is knowing that he performs his own stunts, especially when he is climbing the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. Cruise appears to be solo climbing, but in actuality is attached to multiple cables. It is also quite interesting to see Tom Cruise run, which he seems to be quite the pro at it, and there are several jokes about Cruise's running even though he runs in a manner that is entertaining to watch.

Simon Pegg's character is very enjoyable and injects humor into the film with numerous one-liners. He manages to steal numerous scenes that he is included in and I can't wait to see him in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation!

Paula Patton and Jeremy Renner both deliver great performances as their respective characters and were enjoyable in numerous action sequences. I really enjoyed Renner's performance as he makes his character quite compelling with what he is given and brings some great acting chops in some dramatic scenes.

Michael Nyqvist portrays a compelling, quite evil villain, but can be regarded as a typical villainous caricature who's merely out to incite nuclear warfare for no apparent reason aside from destruction. The plot of the film is very intricate and kept me engaged the entire running time despite having seen the film numerous times.

If you haven't seen any of the Mission: Impossible films I highly recommend you watch them all in preparation for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation and give Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation a chance next weekend!

Film Assessment: A