(Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures)
Still Captivating Despite Longevity
Lights! Camera! Action-packed is what audiences are in for when watching the fifth installment of the popular MI franchise, “Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation.”
IMF (Impossible Missions Force) Agent Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, finds himself and his team fighting to keep IMF, a division of the CIA, from being disbanded by the CIA.
The only way to keep their organization intact is to prove that “The Syndicate,” a group of rogue multinational ex-operatives and killers led by deranged rogue operative Solomon Lane, played by English actor Sean Harris exists.
After being disbanded with no support from the CIA, IMF is forced to go on a mission they did not chose to accept as things seem next to impossible with “The Syndicate” anticipating their every move.
It becomes a game of cat and mouse with both entities not only fighting for the existence of their organizations, but their very lives, all while trying to figure out if everyone is who they say they are and can be trusted.
Known for its “sitting on the edge of your set opening,” “Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation” sticks to its popular shock value by not having the audience wait for the film to climax with drama, but starts out with the stunt seen around the world as Ethan Hunt holds on to the outside of a plane in midflight trying to save a deadly chemical from being stolen and used for chemical warfare.
This scene became well known as Cruise released this clip from the movie showing the world at 52 years of age, he continues to do his owns stunts in the MI franchise and has no plan of getting a stunt double.
This makes “Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation” more exciting and cutting edge as viewers are aware Cruise performs his own stunts at his age.
Since the inception of the MI series in 1996, Cruise has starred in all five movies as well as produced each film.
The only other actor to have starred in all five MI’s is Ving Rhames who plays Luther Stickell an expert computer hacker who works for the IMF alongside Ethan Hunt and has become Ethan's most trusted friend and confidant.
Rhames’ character also appears in the 2003 video game “Mission: Impossible—Operation Surma.”
Returning characters in “Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation” are American actor Jeremy Renner as IMF Agent William Brandt who was introduced in “Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol” (the highest-grossing “Mission: Impossible” film, and the highest-grossing film starring Cruise); and English actor Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn who appeared in “Mission: Impossible III” and “Ghost Protocol” making him the only actor to appear in three of the MI franchise films.
Two additional characters introduced in “Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation” are Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson who plays Ilsa Faust, a disavowed British agent and Syndicate operative who offers no explanation for her actions making it difficult for Hunt and his team to trust her; and CIA director Alan Hunley, played by veteran actor Alec Baldwin who demands that the IMF be disbanded and absorbed into the CIA before they can cause any more “world havoc!”
“Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation” is a must see!
With talks of MI 6 shooting next year, this is one franchise that continues to captivate and thrill its audience.
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