MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION Review by Josef Rodriguez.

If something resembling mathematical certainty exists in cinema, one of its principles should involve the probability that Tom Cruise is one of the most talented and consistent movie stars working today. Without an honest-to-god bomb for nearly three decades, Cruise is the kind of star that they “just don’t make anymore.” As both an actor and producer, he offers reliable quality, something that’s become an illusion in the modern Hollywood landscape.

In Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, the series’ fifth installment, Cruise stars once again as Ethan Hunt, the seemingly invincible leader of the IMF, now leading a team of specialized operatives – Benji (Simon Pegg), Brandt (Jeremy Renner), and Luther (Ving Rhames) – who have set their sights on taking down the Syndicate, an anti-IMF that is possibly responsible for many of the world’s most recent major “accidents,” including a freak plane crash and a devastating tsunami.

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With nothing but speculation to guide them, Hunt and his team are given precious intel by Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), an undercover British Intelligence agent who is working to regain the trust of the Syndicate’s leader, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). But ever since the IMF’s official disbandment, a result of a case against them by CIA director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin), Hunt has nothing but his wit, his will, and his team to uncover the Syndicate and foil their plan to wreak further havoc on the global economy.

Helmed by Jack Reacher director Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise’s second collaboration with the director is one of the most satisfying Mission: Impossible films yet. Boasting incredible action sequences, a healthy sense of humor, and strong chemistry amongst its leads, Rogue Nation is everything that an M:I movie should be. Cruise continues to impress in his starring role as both a commanding presence on screen and a daunting display of physicality. His stunts in Rogue Nation may be the most impressive of the entire series, with enough plane hopping, underwater diving, and motorcycle riding to send any normal human being into a coma.

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Like Gareth Evans’ Raid series, the more recent Mission: Impossible films have functioned mostly as a series of seemingly, no pun intended, impossible stunts performed with minimal CGI by their leading man. And while Rogue Nation might not be the most logically coherent film of the series, often finding excuses to jump from one action set piece to the next, it never fails to provide thought-provoking, well-made entertainment for spy fans the world over. Its villain, in particular, is one of the strongest in recent memory, and the film itself has a chance at superseding fan favorites like Mad Max: Fury Road and Furious 7 as the best blockbuster of the year.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be surprising if Mission: Impossible 8 somehow won Best Picture at the 2030 Oscars. How this series bounced back so strongly, and so consistently, after its disappointing second installment is as impressive as ever, and if Rogue Nation is any evidence of what’s to come, audiences can probably look forward to another decade or two of Ethan Hunt and the rest of the IMF.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE ROGUE NATION is now playing in theaters nationwide.