Rogue Popcorn
These are dark times for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the members of IMF (Impossible Mission Force) as Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin), the chief of the CIA, has persuaded the Senate to disband IMF and put Hunt's team under his authority. With William (Jeremy Renner) and Benji (Simon Pegg) forced to work for Hunley they have to deal with his drive to bring in Ethan who has gone off the grid as he is equally driven to bring down an organization called the Syndicate, which brings him in to touch with the beautiful but deadly Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson).
Is it me or does "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" feel more like a James Bond movie than a "Mission: Impossible" movie. That probably comes more from some story ideas such as IMF dealing with the Senate and the CIA trying to close it but there is certainly a James Bond vibe to this one which might work for some but didn't fully work for me. In fact some of the humour which Tom Cruise delivers in this alongside Simon Pegg was reminiscent of the Roger Moore era of James Bond.
But here is the thing about "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation", it is a tick list spectacular. What I mean is that we have various scenes of Ethan doing the impossible with often the comic help of Benji. We also have an evil genius who almost has than Bond evil genius vibe about him with all his henchmen. And then on top of that we have Rebecca Ferguson as the lethal Ilsa who can break a man's neck with her thighs. And don't get me wrong as visually this delivers a lot of mainstream entertainment with lots of action combined with comedy. But in the end the substance of the movie ends up being unimportant as it is all about how much visual excitement they can put in to 131 minutes.
What this all boils down to is that "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" is a very well made bit of popcorn entertainment, delivering all the high octane visual thrills which this sort of movie is meant to deliver. But for me the substance of the movie, the story to drive it forwards and develop the characters is not there and as such it is also instantly forgettable.
