Directed by:
Christopher McQuarrieScreenplay:
Christopher McQuarrieCinematography:
Robert ElswitComposer:
Joe KraemerCast:
Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris, America Olivo, Simon McBurney, Jingchu Zhang, Tom Hollander (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
With his elite organization shut down by the CIA, agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) race against time to stop the rise of a new global threat, The Syndicate, a dangerous network of rogue operatives turned traitors. To stop them, Ethan must join forces with an elusive, disavowed agent (Rebecca Ferguson) who may or may not be on his side as he faces his most impossible mission yet. (Paramount Pictures)
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Reviews (13)
It's as if I were seeing on the screen my first spies, my first car chase, my first badass fight scene. As if Christopher McQuarrie were in a room I know well, using Ethan Hunt's hand to open a door that has been carefully hidden. And as if beyond it, a game is afoot from the old school, where there is room for London fog, surprising paraphrases of Casablanca, and in the spirit of the series, even truly impossible missions, above all with a water tank where I was almost holding my breath for the main hero at the end. Before viewing, I didn't have much hope for stepping in the same river a fifth time, so getting up from this ever more appealing team is getting tougher and tougher. Welcome to the IMF.
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I cannot deny that I really enjoyed Rebecca Ferguson and all that neatly shot, imaginative and various actions scenes without overt-the-top CGI (especially the motorcycle scene is simply perfect), but what is the best thing about it (apart from Rebecca Ferguson, of course) is the final minimalist personal London third, when it definitely turns into a classic British-style spy film, where the well-written characters (not only in terms of action blockbuster) mess with each other using dialogs "I know that you know and you know that I know" at the airport, in the room or on the restaurant terrace, and it completely does without any action. And it works, because it's not silly at all, while respecting the principles of the genre, and McQuarrie makes you forget that twenty years ago, in terms of script, he was able to do with one room and unfortunate narrator. As you can clearly see from this, he was mainly concerned about the characters and the plot and the action and tinsel were sidelined; which is an unprecedented thing for a summer popcorn movie, which in fact it is not.
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I don't remember a spy blockbuster that was ever this tight. I was fascinated by the way in which McQuarrie primarily tells the story and works with the characters, keeping the action more incidental, as a means to move the plot along and not the purpose. At a time when all explosions and chases are compulsory attractions, Ethan Hunt's world ends up as a pulsating but not frantic action movie, which will probably be blamed for being boring and long-winded. However, the light "low-profile" fits it perfectly, even if it is crafted with bravura (the Turandot editing) or technically imaginative (the shooting down of two motorbikes by a car). Yet here, it's all about the protagonists, the minimally portrayed villain (compare to the underused Nyqvist from last time), the perfectly written and superbly acted female lead (I admit that the ambiguity kept me tense until the final denouement), and last but not least, Hunt himself, who has parked himself as an ordinary member of the team with a trio of chattering sidekicks on hand. I was excited right after the screening, but I didn't really know why. In hindsight, I see this as an outrageously complex and thoughtful film that will be hard to compete with this season, and if it scores at the box office, Cruise will definitely pull a distinct persona into the film world. I hope he succeeds.
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The strength of the Mission: Impossible franchise has always been the combination of clear constants and creative deviations between individual instalments. Iconic elements had already been established by the original television series (the disguises, assignment of missions with messages that self-destruct, the burning fuse), and the movies use these original attractions as identifying elements that can be altered or simply set aside. The individual films place greater emphasis on the distinctiveness of style and inventive action sequences, both of which are provided by the fluctuation of the directors. In this respect, the fifth film of the franchise is precisely crafted but, at first glance, it is seemingly the least distinctive of the M:I movies. Judging from his work as screenwriter, Christopher McQuarrie gets along very well with Tom Cruise and has precise command of the filmmaking craft, but he is not a filmmaker with a distinctive formalistic signature or a clear concept of action sequences. With the precise spatial arrangement of the action scenes and the inventive interconnection of those scenes with attractive settings, McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible picks up where Brad Bird left off. However, the distinctiveness of Rogue Nation and thus the benefit of having the screenwriter in the director’s chair are reflected in the dialogue, as well as in the interaction of the characters and their motivations. More than in the previous instalments, this time the story relies more on teamwork and thus loyalty, friendship and professional ethics, which form the foundation of the key narrative twists and are embodied in the fascinating, ambiguous character of Ilsa Faust. Ilsa draws attention to herself not only due to the charisma of the actress portraying her, Rebecca Ferguson, but also as the prototype of a new action heroine. Not only is she equal to the main protagonist in terms of ability and tenacity, thus forming a perfect professional team with him, but she also doesn’t slip into any traditional clichés and takes on some key privileges of her male colleagues (rescuing the hero, the final fight). In fact, she superbly balances between charm, toughness, exaggeration and fatefulness, flawlessly epitomising the entire film and its personality. ____ P.S. Who would have thought that an ambitious character actor would become the Hollywood equivalent of Jackie Chan (from the golden era of Hong Kong cinema)? And, what’s more, in an era when American cinema does not have any action stars, at least not the kind whose name is synonymous with or guarantees a certain type of attraction. Starting with the fourth Mission: Impossible, interviews with Cruise and making-of videos absolutely evoke Jackie Chan’s ethos. Like Chan, Cruise emphasises that the breakneck sequences and the permanent exposure of himself to real danger are done for the viewers and their sense of amazement. From Ghost Protocol to Rogue Nation, Cruise’s passion, determination and fanatical hard work deserve all the more recognition for forcing the competition to also back away from deceiving audiences with computer-generated sequences and camera flourishes, thus making Mission: Impossible the vanguard of a new era of spectacular action films.
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Numero uno this year. This sequel to Mission: Impossible delivers exactly what you’d expect: a frantic, dynamic pace that will give the faint of heart a heart attack. The most well thought out story of all the installments, Tom Cruise in more excellent form than ever, surprising and unexpected twists, a solid villain with an interestingly snarky voice, and fantastic diverse action (the motorcycle chase is among the best of its kind). Just a good dose of intelligent thrills. 100%
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