Whatever you may say about the Mission:Impossible franchise, it is undeniable that when you watch these movies each of them feel uniquely distant to each other yet similar enough to work organically in the franchise. The stylistic changes throughout can be attributed to the regular change in directors. I think with each of the opening 'fuse' intros of these movies lies its directorial stamp for example John Woo's over-stylistic approach, or Brad Bird's more slow and suspenseful take among others. So what does Christopher McQuarrie's take look like. Well, it feels tighter, more fluid and a bit more gritty and it is fair to say this comes up to one of the best this series has offered yet.
The story follows IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is tracking down a shadow organisation comprising of ex-spies known as the Syndicate. The catch here is that there is no IMF since it has been absorbed into the CIA by the efforts of its director Alan Hunley (Alec Bladwin), and has made a point to hunt Hunt (lol) down. So Hunt and his team are against the system and against a clock. As Benji says "Difficult, but not impossible".
An 'anti-IMF' seems a bit un-imaginative to some in the way superheroes battling villains with the exact same powers. However, in this case it really adds a breath of fresh air from chasing nuclear codes and bio-weapons and also uses it to justify the existence of the IMF. I for one did find the story a bit better than its prequel. This one added more intrigue and political espionage. McQuarrie has done a great job with the pacing of the movie where everything feels has been given its deserved time/development. My only nitpick with the story is that they could have explored more with the vastness of the Syndicate network since the story focuses on very few characters than what you might expect from such a large organisation. Although its not that bad of a thing since it keeps the story tight. The film also adds a pinch of humour here and there and is well balanced overall.
The action is up to the standard one would expect from M:I. Nothing really mind-blowing like Dubai, but still awesome. The action takes influence from the more gritty direction of the film so I felt it to be much more grounded and fluid than before. One example that comes to mind is Hunt trying to stop 2 snipers shooting a political figure in a opera house. Do not get me wrong though, there are some big action scenes here such as the motorcycle chase scene (calling back to M:I 2 in ways), infiltrating an underwater data bank and of course the A-400 plane trailer shot. But it balances between the two quite brilliantly. Of course all the stunts and action is real which is complete insanity. However insanity is commonplace in M:I. Also, the movie boasts some stellar sound design to levels where in the aforementioned underwater sequence it managed to create a sonic vacuum of sorts that I actually felt my ears closing up like water pressure but it didn't actually happen to me.
There has been a natural progression to Ethan Hunt where he gradually has become an enigmatic and heartfelt personality and trusting of his team which is a nice overall arc considering the beginnings. Tom Cruise is really the glue that holds all these films together both on screen and off-screen with his duties as producer. The guy is committed I tell you, he performs all the stunts for real at the age of 53 is quite mind-blowing and he certainly keeps that trend going here with a strong performance.
The rest of team includes Benji (Simon Pegg), the bumbling tech-guy who plays Halo 3 on his 3 monitor set-up at his office at CIA and he and Hunt work together (illegally) to root out the Syndicate. It is also good to see Benji's increasing experience in field-work. The other part of the team is Jeremy Renner as IMF agent William Brandt and Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, the cool tech-guy work together under the CIA's nose to find Hunt before them. There was a nice dynamic between the two as the old friend of Hunt working together and getting to know the new friend and vice-versa. Series fans must have noticed that this is the first all-men team (for the most part) in the series and all of them have previously appeared. This pays dividends to both performance and character development. All the four really play off with each other add a sense of camaraderie and friendship that I think we haven't seen before.
As for the additions to the cast, Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, an Mi-6 agent is a great character whose true allegiance is not entirely known. She is sort of like the female Ethan Hunt in their motivations and expertise. Plus they do share a good chemistry. Her story does maintain mystery throughout the movie which keeps things interesting. Even the villain Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) is one of the better ones in the series. Alec Baldwin as Alan Hunley as the determined CIA director bent on shutting the IMF down for good was a source of constant threat and his arc is also well done.
Of the reviews I had read, many of them state this one as a 'Greatest hits' version, combining the best elements of all the previous 4 movies into one. Even though I do agree with that I wouldn't say that it was unoriginal cherry-picking because it did contribute to the franchise in a whole lot of ways. And as for the Ghost Protocol being the best of the franchise, it still probably is the better movie with more layered characters, better humour, more suspenseful action and more accessible than the rest. But considering the premise and all, I just liked Rogue Nation a wee bit better.
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