Lucas
Versantvoort / 6 Oct 2015
The Mission
Impossible franchise has been going strong for quite a while now. After the
first film in 1996, sequels have been made every five years or so. I have yet
to see the first three, but I did see Ghost Protocol, although I can't seem to
remember much of what happened. I do remember watching Tom Cruise swinging on
the side of a building and wondering what Jeremy Renner was doing in that film.
Rogue Nation on the other hand is a different story...
After a rather
dull opening action scene, the film begins proper. The central story revolves
around a shadowy group known as the Syndicate. Ethan Hunt is determined its
existence to the CIA, but he is captured by one of its members, Janik Vinter.
He escapes and decides to get his revenge, though he'll have to do it behind
the government's back. He slowly teams up with his usual merry band of misfits
and together they start figuring out ways to eradicate the Syndicate before
they are themselves eradicated. They're aided by one of Janik's accomplices,
Ilsa Faust, who gets to play double agent.
Written and
directed by Usual Suspects and Edge of Tomorrow-alumnus Christopher McQuarrie,
this film benefits from a tighter and better flowing experience. Aside from a
rather uninteresting opening, the rest of the film is tightly paced and
consistently interesting and entertaining.
One of Rogue
Nation's greatest assets is Ilsa Faust. Spy films have often relied on a female
agent or a femme fatale. More often than not, these films fall into the trap of
relegating her to a supporting (aka useless) role or by turning her into the
damsel in distress. Rogue Nation avoids any of these pitfalls by making Ilsa
the hero's equal. She saves his life at least twice and doesn't even need
rescuing herself. She eventually has a knife fight with this hulking giant and
I feared that Ethan would predictably rescue her just as she was about to lose,
but no, she takes that guy down with style to spare. Not only is Ilsa written
to perfection, she's also played to perfection by Rebecca Ferguson, a natural
beauty who also doesn't skimp things in the acting department. And to top it
off, she and Ethan ride off into the sunset without actually doing so. She
alone rides off, telling Ethan he knows how to find her. The film thus confirms
the romance while still allowing her to preserve her independence, but I can
still easily accept this romance when both characters occupy the same level of
badassery and importance to the story. Thank you, McQuarrie, for implying the
romance and not succumbing to the trap of actually showing it for no other
reason than to please a bunch of oversexed nerds. It's a character you can take
seriously. Needless to say, she steals every scene.
All in all, I
was incredibly pleased. Ghost Protocol? Please, give me Rogue Nation any day of
the week. You're not going to walk away like you feel you've reached
enlightenment or anything, but you are going to walk away feeling you've
finally seen a really great Mission Impossible film again and isn't that why
we're here in the end?
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