After the grandly entertaining and furiously intense "Ghost Protocol," I came in with higher expectations for "Rogue Nation," the fifth in the "Mission: Impossible" movies. I rank it higher than the first three in the series but it is not nearly as explosive as "Ghost Protocol." Still, I imagine you will not leave wanting more after it is over but you might still want more depth.
As "Rogue Nation," the crazy Tom Cruise plays the equally insane Ethan Hunt, a daredevil of an IMF agent, who has to get a "package" inside an airbus. How does he do it? He grabs onto the outside of a plane as it takes off and is waiting for his computer hacker agent, Benji (Simon Pegg, always animated and comical fun) to deactivate the door to enter. This is an astounding sequence to marvel at and you almost assume Cruise must have had a safety wire attached to him (apparently, he did not) but it is not nearly as hair-raising as the Burj Khalifa tower climbing scene from "Ghost Protocol." Nevertheless, this erratic sequel begins and eventually IMF is dissolved by a disapproving Senate committee and a blustery CIA Director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) due to the IMF agents embroiled (though not responsible for) the Kremlin bombing last seen in "Ghost Protocol." Meanwhile, Ethan is nearly tortured to death before being saved by a possibly duplicitous undercover MI6 Agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) - she has been "disavowed." Hunt is a wanted man and IMF no longer has any function. "He is a man without a country," a quote I've heard many times in other similar movies but I don't go to hear original lines of dialogue in a "Mission: Impossible" movie. Everyone is always getting "disavowed" in these movies.
"Rogue Nation" is fast becoming a nerve-jangling James Bond-type series with impossible, improbable stunts, shootings, elongated fistfights, and vehicle chases in cars and motorcycles at impossibly fast speeds. There is also an underwater sequence that almost made my heart stop. A "Turandot" opera sequence involving an assassination attempt brings up memories of Hitchcock and Puccini, both I love so I am good with seeing both. The ending is a little underwhelming which involves Britain's Prime Minister and the whole business of a data file with the identities of "The Syndicate," operatives who may have been MI6 agents, is not the most interesting MacGuffin since these movies always feature discs or encrypted data files. Of course, it all comes down to money, money, money, hence why I found it less than an enthusiastic finish.
As I said, I don't care too much about the MacGuffins but I still wanted to know more about Ethan Hunt and, after five movies, we don't know much at all. Since he is a superspy to a degree, I guess the enigma makes sense. I don't think he goes home much.
