Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015), PG-13, ★★★1/2

Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson kicking butt. 

Think of the infamous Mission: Impossible theme song and it will make you either strut like a cool and charming bad-ass or kick some ass. As I was typing this review, I was thinking about this year regarding a certain genre. 2015 has been a good year regarding action and spy films: Kingsman: The Secret Service, Spy, Run All Night, Furious 7, Mad Max: Fury Road, etc. Is 2015 a return to action glory? Taking Terminator: Genisys, The Gunman and Taken 3 out of the equation, yes, so far, it is. We just need to wait for The Man from UNCLE, Spectre and a few other movies to come out. However, it becomes more likely that studios try to really up the ante or make a story become different to other characters. With this series, it has the rarest of birds of having the series getting better and better. Even though Rogue Nation is a nearly great movie, it is not as tight as its predecessor but this movie is a whole lot of fun filled with spectacular stunts and set pieces as usual.

The movie starts with the heavily advertised sequence in Minsk where Benji (Simon Pegg) cannot open the door for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) with Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) controlling the technical stuff and Brandt (Jeremy Renner) watching the satellite from Washington. Without giving anything way, Hunt takes off hanging on the side door of the plane with the door being close and the cargo door being open. But while in London in a record store, Hunt receives a recording saying that he successfully stopped the missiles from the plane from getting in the wrong hands. However, the message says that the Syndicate is behind this but it is the Syndicate giving out the message.

Back in Washington DC, Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) meet with the Senate Committee to have the IMF disavowed and they successfully do. Meanwhile, Hunt is being freed from the Syndicate from a mysterious lady who later is named Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). Six months later, Benji is working at CIA Headquarters and he finds out that he won tickets to Vienna which he does go to receive a package from a mysterious person which he contacts Hunt to have him tell Benji that the Syndicate's next movie is to assassinate the Austrian president at the opera house.

After the events at the Opera House, Benji and Hunt team up to find out the man who's behind these random killings as they are creating a "rogue nation." Hunt has a lipstick that is really a thumb drive to track down Ilsa who is at Morocco, as Brandt and Luther also go down there. Hunt has to achieve the impossible to break into the facility as he has to dive into the water cooling unit system where the profiles are stored conveniently. And, boy, what a scene that is.

Brandt and Luther Stickell in the game. 

This movie achieves the impossible by having this latest movie continue a franchise successfully. This is the best "fifth movie" in a series which really competes only with Fast Five. In one action sequence after another, the stunts and set pieces are well-crafted and extraordinary. The filmmakers go through all that trouble to make the effects and sequences as realistic as possible without threatening one's life. The one sequence that I thought that had the best stunt in the film was the motorcycle sequence as the camera's point of view is very efficiently staged as Hunt is on a motorcycle chase with the Syndicate members. One mistake and you're dead. I liked how the heavily advertised plane scene was in the beginning but it could have easily been a gimmick and the filmmakers reminded us that there is a lot to offer on the table.

Tom Cruise, at the age of 53, goes through all that trouble to entertain the audiences to deliver some of the most sensational action sequences to offer and even though he is a crazy actor, he establishes himself as a true action star. Simon Pegg balances more of the dramatic tension with his humor in this movie as he does a little bit more in this movie, but also turns things as he is sort of the "damsel in distress" type of character in the climax. Jeremy Renner is good but he is sort of sidelined this time and it is great to see Ving Rhames back in this next movie. But, the real discovery is Rebecca Ferguson as the femme fatale and female Ethan Hunt type of character as she plays this tricky and physical character that we do not know if we can trust her. Also, Sean Harris plays a steely-looking villain that leads the Syndicate. I think he is the 2nd best villain in the series behind Philip Seymour Hoffman from M:I-III.

Director Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher, the writer of The Usual Suspects) is now helming this latest movie and creates some atmospheric and tightly edited action sequences that nobody could ever possibly realize and it is quite fantastic. Even though there is suspense and action, the movie gets a bit overwhelming as we reach the third act when we see the pay-off and its pay-off is a bit weak. And, also there are a few holes in the main plot, but that's very minor. It is my 2nd favorite movie of the franchise behind Brad Bird's Ghost Protocol. The movie is a hell of an action film the reaches the maximum velocity at the edge of your seat that thrills you from start to finish. It is one of the best movies of the summer. Mission: Accomplished once again, Mr. Cruise and Mr. McQuarrie.

***1/2