"Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" completes mission, captures critics
"Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" delves straight into the action as the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) is shut down, leaving Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) without an agency. The tight-lipped, fast-paced agent gathers his small, trusted team to take on "The Syndicate," a system of highly skilled operatives mounting a series of escalating terrorist attacks.
The power-packed cast includes Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin and Simon Pegg who join forces with Ilsa Faust, an enigmatic outside agent played by Rebecca Ferguson.
With almost 20 years under its belt, the "Mission: Impossible" franchise has a lot of weight to carry. "Rogue Nation," written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, had one true mission at hand: keeping its momentum.
From the very start, the fifth installment sees Cruise, 53, latching onto a plane in
takeoff -- by his fingertips. And in Cruise's usual fashion, he performed the stunt himself, ensuring the audience a nail-biting thrill.
The film features sharp writing and just enough fantastical violent escapades to keep adrenaline pumping, reviewers say.
See what the critics had to say below:
"The formula of ingredients is familiar and time-tested, to be sure, but some cocktails go down much better than others, and McQuarrie and company have gotten theirs just right here. The protagonists' dilemmas are quite extreme, the surprises come in all sizes and the ultra-smooth professionalism displayed in all departments early on encourages the sense that you're in good hands," Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter
"The older Cruise gets, the more he relies on his fists. (And his abs, and his nerves - he'll never let you forget he does his own stunts, and why should he?) His body is the wonder-gizmo, and Christopher McQuarrie, writer and director of the fifth entry, 'Rogue Nation,' keeps the camera on him like a nature show about a hungry lion," Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly
"Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie ('Jack Reacher,' 'The Usual Suspects') skillfully assembles each of these sequences, but the film might have benefited from excising at least one of them," Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
"Regardless of whatever off-screen P.R. briar patches or on-screen missteps Cruise has weathered over the past decade, the 'Mission: Impossible' films have remained the actor's safe harbor-his Teflon franchise. He'll always be embraced as a returning hero as Ethan Hunt. Maybe that's because it's one of the few remaining series (along with 007) where slick, globe-trotting derring-do is still appreciated." -Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly"
"Yes, you'll recognize individual bits and pieces from all four prior Mission: Impossible films, but the ingredients are boiled into an unquestionably crowd pleasing and relentlessly entertaining stew," Scott Mendenslon, Forbes
"The result is an existential quandary that writer-director Christopher McQuarrie negotiates with characteristic cleverness and a sly respect for the sheer durability of genre; at once questioning and reaffirming the pleasures of cinematic espionage, this is the rare sequel that leaves its franchise feeling not exhausted but surprisingly resurgent at 19 years and counting," Justin Chang, Variety
"'Rogue Nation' is an uneven film: in the plus camp we have Ferguson, the wonderful Sean Harris as a psycho with the voice of Baron Greenback from 'Dangermouse' and a fistful of tight, not-too-flashy action scenes," -Tom Huddleston, TimeOut
"'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation' has some of the best-shot action sequences of the year - a cinematic thrill ride in the best possible sense," Jordan Hoffman, Mashable
"Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" opens on Friday.