Sociable Movie Guy
REVIEWS
ANOTHER ADRENALINE-PUMPING SEQUEL TO THE MI FRANCHISE 2015 is definitely the year of spies. Up until now, there are at least three spy-themed films that have been invading theaters around the world (‘Kingsman’, ‘Spy’, and the one that we’ll talk about in this review). Not to mention there are another two (that I’m aware of) upcoming films that involve spies as their main characters. The soonest one is Guy Ritchie’s ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E’ and the other one is the 24th Bond film, ‘Spectre’. While waiting for those movies to come out, let’s discuss about the newest installment of the famous MI franchise, "Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation". While visiting one of the IMF (Impossible Missions Force) quarters in London, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is kidnapped by a mysterious villain. It turns out that the man who kidnaps him is part of the highly-skilled terrorist group the Syndicate, the one that he’s been trying to prove the existence of. Meanwhile, the whole IMF team is accused by the CIA of being ineffective after a series of events that prove whenever the team goes, chaos will follow. The government then shuts down the entire IMF and relocates all of its valuable assets to the CIA. Faced with that situation, Ethan and his team is forced to work undercover (well they always do, but this time from the CIA) to vanish the Syndicate once and for all. Will they make it? Let’s first talk about the obvious stand-out of the film, the action scenes. Thanks to the assured direction from Christopher McQuarrie, all of the action scenes in the film are guaranteed to make your heart beats faster. It’s thrilling and well-executed. If you think the plane scene you saw in the trailer was thrilling enough, wait until you see the underwater scene in the film. That particular scene is the star among the already great action scenes. Another highlight of the film is the world-famous score. I personally think the score really makes the opening scene goosebump-worthy. In fact, it is the best opening-scene I've seen so far this year. Credits also go to the sound department who successfully made the score, the gun shots, and the punches sound so clear and heart-pounding. They deserve some award recognitions for doing that! And what’s a good sound without the equally good performances? Tom Cruise is more than capable to carry the weight as the main character. Can we all just praise him for being so fit in his 50s? I mean, come on, his physicality will make all the young guys in the world feel as ashamed as they feel envy of him. Including me (poor you, Dan!). Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Ving Rhames (even funnier than Pegg with his one-liners) are good too in their respective roles. Let’s not forget about Rebecca Ferguson as the newest addition to the film. She gives a convincing and attention-demanding performance as the femme fatale Ilsa Faust. I’ve spilled all of the positive notes of the film. Now it’s time for its counterpart, the not-so-positive ones. My main problem of this film is I find it not memorable despite all the glorious action scenes. The story is indeed smart (how nice I am to still put compliment in the supposedly all-negative paragraph) but the writing is just a bit weak for me. Yesss I know some of you might argue that this kind of film is not the appropriate place to talk about some writing stuff. But forgive me I just can’t stand not talking about that. The motivation behind Hunt’s obsession in chasing down the Syndicate isn’t convincing enough. (MINOR SPOILER ALERT!) There’s this one scene where he’s being confronted by his team mates about his motivation and he replies with some unclear response, neither confirming the accusation nor giving his actual reason behind it. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s not revealed until the end of the film. Still about the writing, the conflicts revolving Illa Faust are unnecessarily too convoluted. Maybe it was my brain that wasn’t bright enough to digest all that. What I’m trying to say is it could have been, and it should have been, simpler.
There's another thing that crossed my mind while watching it. The film is somehow exploitative towards Fergusson's character. As much as I adore her striking figure, something just felt wrong every time she appeared half-clothed. It almost felt the only reason she did that was only to arouse the viewers. But then again, spy films do have the tendency to make its women showing off their bodies. Maybe it's to emphasize the sexy-yet-deadly quality in those characters. Or maybe it is just what it is. Overall, ‘Mission:Impossible Rogue Nation’ is an above average action film that will entertain you, though it may not remain in your long-term memory. Score: 3.5/5
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AuthorA self-acclaimed movie guy who likes to socialize |