★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation finds agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his cohorts returning from another successful operation to find that the IMF has been permanently dissolved. A terrorist opposition force known as the Syndicate commits to destroying the remains of the IMF, and Hunt must retain the loyalty of his team and earn the respect of a mysterious Syndicate infiltrator in order to bring the enemy down. finds agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his cohorts returning from another successful operation to find that the IMF has been permanently dissolved. A terrorist opposition force known as the Syndicate commits to destroying the remains of the IMF, and Hunt must retain the loyalty of his team and earn the respect of a mysterious Syndicate infiltrator in order to bring the enemy down.





is constitutes an ever-ridiculous series of action scenes starring Tom Cruise, held together by the wavering strings of what was once a discernible story. As is the prevailing problem with many of its contemporaries, Rogue Nation has a plot that twists and turns and dodges around here, there and everywhere too fast for the audience to get a proper grasp before throwing them into yet another jaw-dropping feat of danger and death. This is what the film pretends to be about: what it actuallyconstitutes an ever-ridiculous series of action scenes starring Tom Cruise, held together by the wavering strings of what was once a discernible story. As is the prevailing problem with many of its contemporaries,has a plot that twists and turns and dodges around here, there and everywhere too fast for the audience to get a proper grasp before throwing them into yet another jaw-dropping feat of danger and death.





What’s weird is that the film-makers clearly know by now that Cruise is a reliable money-spinner and sheer vehicle of charisma, but spend most of the film treating Ethan Hunt more like a ragdoll than a fully-fleshed character. Whatever their faults, previous films in the series have at least added something to the character and his mythos, but now he’s just there to be tossed around the various high-octane set pieces that – whilst deftly entertaining in the moment – never amount to more than elaborate distractions from the increasingly higgledy-piggledy plot.





Mad Max’s Imperator Furiosa on the growing list of badass action heroines of 2015 as Ethan Hunt’s rival-turned-partner in crime. The supporting acts offer much more: the dynamic between Pegg, Rhames and Renner is as fresh and diverting as ever, and I grew a little soft spot for Alec Baldwin as the CIA chief running around after the bunch like an exasperated parent trying to rally Haribo-fuelled school-children. But the true star of the film is up-and-coming Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson as double-agent Ilsa Faust, a deadly and sleek combo of old school femme fatale and modern Bond girl. She joins’s Imperator Furiosa on the growing list of badass action heroines of 2015 as Ethan Hunt’s rival-turned-partner in crime.





real plane as it really takes off is marvellous on a sizeable screen, and the heavily-marketed sequence of underwater chaos manages to swim the distance unscathed by the slightly wobbly CGI work. These are the sections of the film that really stand up, and it’s hard not to be massively enthralled as Joe Kramer’s top notch score gives boisterous, brassy oomph to the proceedings. For all my complaints about the paper-thin connections between the set pieces and the narrative, the former are certainly something to see. The now famous stunt in which Cruise clings to the side of aplane as ittakes off is marvellous on a sizeable screen, and the heavily-marketed sequence of underwater chaos manages to swim the distance unscathed by the slightly wobbly CGI work. These are the sections of the film that really stand up, and it’s hard not to be massively enthralled as Joe Kramer’s top notch score gives boisterous, brassy oomph to the proceedings.



