Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015)

★★★½
If Ghost Protocol writers André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum and director Brad Bird laid the groundwork for increasingly stacking the deck against mission success to test Ethan Hunt's resolve and make the plot compelling, then Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation director Christopher McQuarrie was the perfect man to bring in to follow that blueprint and develop challenging adversaries who will push Hunt to great lengths to finish the job. Whereas James Bond can quip a one-liner to decompress after a near death experience, Ethan Hunt remains alert. His missions are too multilayered to allow him any respite. This isn't surprising, as McQuarrie wrote The Usual Suspects, a dense and complex crime thriller the ending of which slowly unfolded in a way to force us to rethink everything. Previous Mission directors didn't write the scripts. McQuarrie not only wrote this one, but he will also write and direct the rest of the series. A film universe that needs an I.M.F. perfectly plays to McQuarrie's strengths as a writer.

How does a script like this come together? I toy with the idea that McQuarrie and his various writing partners deliberately paint themselves into a corner by crafting an impossible situation for Ethan Hunt to overcome, only to leave it at that and let the scenario gestate for a few days until inspiration hits and McQuarrie can then give Hunt a way out and gain the upper hand on his enemy, who then regains it and loses it again to Hunt. Repeat the cycle until Hunt emerges victorious. I have no idea if that's the thought process used when storyboarding these plots, but it perfectly illustrates the kind of progressively dangerous situations that follow one another in the latter half of this series. This time around, he faces the Syndicate, a network of former spies from various countries who have banded together to cause havoc around the globe. Using their training and resources, these rogue agents are what Hunt ally Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) calls an anti-I.M.F. It's a fitting description.

After a pre-credit teaser that shows Hunt (Tom Cruise) capturing a stash of nerve gas, he receives the standard mission briefing in a record shop, but McQuarrie shockingly turns the tables and sets up his latest opponent, the mysterious Soloman Lane (Sean Harris), as a highly resourceful and cunning villain who tops anyone Hunt has faced so far. Hunt is captured but escapes thanks to undercover agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a character who will prove to be one of the series' most important. On the run, Ethan Hunt is tracking the Syndicate's crimes, but back home, he must contend with C.I.A. director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin), who wants to shutter the I.M.F. due to its methods that he views as reckless. William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) is back as an advocate for Hunt's unconventional procedures, which have resulted in victories notwithstanding the numerous close calls. Hunt clandestinely recruits Benji Dunn to assist him in Austria when he closes in on Lane's whereabouts.

Unlike in previous installments, Ethan Hunt doesn't assemble his team in the usual manner. He doesn't go through the extensive I.M.F. roster to select allies based on their skillsets. Hunt's own status as a rogue agent due to Hunley's efforts means he has few options. Ethan and Benji are it until Ilsa Faust re-enters the picture with her own agenda and until Brandt and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) join him despite Hunt being on the run. The movie's signature break-in sequence involves an underwater database with security features so elaborate that even Hunt himself is hesitant to proceed. It's a nerve-wracking segment of the story made even more tense with the constant obstacles that McQuarrie throws into it. A Mission: Impossible movie needs its chase scenes, and Rogue Nation features an exciting chase on the streets of Casablanca that's good enough to stand alongside the sandstorm chase in Ghost Protocol and the motorcycle chase in Mission: Impossible II.

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation is an exciting piece of entertainment that operates like a highly efficient machine and never loses momentum. There is an array of neat gadgets, double crosses, hidden motives and great locations. I loved the scenes in Vienna. There is also plenty of good humor that feels appropriate and doesn't distract. Benji Dunn went from being a bit part in the third movie to becoming a welcome constant. With all these moving parts running at the same time, there is one person who holds it all together—Tom Cruise. He has proven his acting chops in plenty of dramatic roles (Vanilla Sky, Magnolia, The Last Samurai), so if he's having fun doing these action movies late in his career, then by all means have at it. Everyone benefits. For him, there's the personal satisfaction of performing his own stunts. The opening teaser here is as good as anything in a James Bond pre-title sequence. For us, we get to watch a series that will accept nothing less than the best from everyone involved.

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