(May contain spoilers)
I am currently writing this review on a Microsoft Surface while my Nokia 830 sits on my lap. Why is this information relevant do I hear you ask? Well, it would seem Microsoft phones and laptops have the same caliber of stardom as Tom Cruise himself in Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation. Oh, and don’t get me started about the BMW product placement. I understand that films need to get financing from companies in order to get the film made, but the amount of product placement is a tad excessive. I don’t think a few scenes go by where there isn’t some form of product placement. What is even funnier is that in one of the scenes Tom Cruise is holding his phone the wrong way up. At times the product placement took me out of the action and away from the story. Instead of focusing on the plot all I cared about was which phone was who’s. I was even concerned about phone water damage at one point. I can’t be too harsh though as overall the film is fantastic at getting you right in the zone.
Now that I’ve got my bad point out of the way, lets start with the good stuff. Misson: Impossible- Rogue Nation is a great stand alone film. Usually you have to have seen all the prequels to understand the fifth installment of a series. Admittedly, I have not seen any of the Mission Impossible films before watching this one and I was slightly worried that I wouldn’t understand it. Even though the action started from the off, the situation was explained in enough detail so I knew who was who and what the organisation was which they worked for. The information was subtly placed in the form of a court hearing and was not just jammed in here and there through claggy dialogue. Note that the court hearing is an important plot point too. The way it relayed the information did not insult the big Mission series film buff and was enough to refresh and educate viewers.
The cast is fantastic. Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Alex Baldwin and Jeremy Renner are all recognisable actors with good acting abilities. The film also featured some up and coming actors and actresses like Rebecca Ferguson. Simon Pegg’s performance was specifically memorable. Simon Pegg often gets type cast as the same character time and time again. You know, the funny, foppish distant dreamer? It was nice to see him in a completely different role wherein he played a loyal and competent character, of which is still believable. However, his character of Benji still offers some comic relief. An example of this is when he is camouflaged as grass next to a plane runway while trying to open a door to a plane remotely with a tablet. Overall, the cast jammed well together.
Another aspect of the film which I really liked was that there is no tutti frutti love story. Often a love story will serve as a side plot in action adventures and though there was a mysterious woman, love and sex was not a part of the plot. In fact, it didn’t really get sexual at all, which is refreshing. (I guess we do see a bit of side boob, but nothing to raunchy.) Mission Impossible in some ways can be seen as the American equivalent to James Bond. However, whereas James Bond films tend to focus on women while over sexualising them Mission Impossible portrays Ilsa (main female protagonist) as a strong and independent woman who doesn’t have to take her clothes off to prove it. It is a shame that the film did take on the damsel in distress approach and it is an even bigger shame that there was literally only one woman in the film. But hats off to the writers for not shaking lady parts in our faces just because. Instead it focuses on action, friendship and there are plenty of car chases. Brum, brum!
For those of you who are fans of the first four I should imagine you will really enjoy this one. For those of you who haven’t seen any of the ones before this, it is still worth a watch. Would I pay full price to see this film? Maybe? Would I watch it on DVD? Definitely. It is full of action and it has a great cast!
Unfortunately one and a half stars where left on a plane. I give Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation three and a half stars.