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'Mission: Impossible ' Rogue Nation': Solid spy action with elegance
Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, the agent of deep-cover espionage agency the Impossible Mission Force (IMF)
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Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, the agent of deep-cover espionage agency the Impossible Mission Force (IMF).
After climbing up the world's highest skyscraper Burj Khalifa and saving the US from nuclear missiles bombardment in Mission: Impossible ' Ghost Protocol, Hunt is on a mission to prove the existence of and take down the Syndicate, a network of exquisitely trained renegade spies aiming at destabilizing the world order.
After intercepting a nerve gas sale linked to the Syndicate, Hunt starts collecting more clues about it. But, he is one step behind. The Syndicate captures and takes him to an underground chamber ' where Syndicate member Janik 'Bone Doctor' Vinter (Jens Hultén) prepares his knife set to torture him.
Just before the Bone Doctor puts his blade to Hunt's skin, a disavowed MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) helps him to escape.
At the time when Hunt needs his team the most, fellow IMF agent William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) breaks the bad news: A congressional committee has disbanded and dissolved the IMF into the CIA following a request filed by CIA director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin).
To prevent Hunt from pursuing the IMF mission, Hunley vows the CIA will capture Hunt within days.
A CIA fugitive and alone, Hunt goes undercover and follows his only lead: a blond man in glasses later identified as Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), an ex-British agent who takes the helm of the Syndicate.
Originally, the Syndicate was the brainchild of MI6 to perform missions without oversight. The British Prime Minister cancelled the project, but Lane hijacked it and utilized it for his own sinister plans.
To get Lane to approach him, Hunt steals something that is much needed by the villain ' a ledger containing the names of all Syndicate agents and access to bank accounts hidden under a secure facility in Morocco.
With the ledger in hand, Hunt seems to have Lane within his reach. But the tables turn when the Syndicate abducts his colleague, tech guy Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg). Hunt is forced to follow Lane's order to collect the British Prime Minister's biometrics to gain access to the encrypted ledger. This means he must kidnap the prime minister.
The thrilling action begins from the first minute with Hunt clinging to the outside of an in-flight A-400 military plane carrying canisters of nerve gas for terrorists. For the film, Cruise does not only rely on his charms but impressively, at the age of 53, pulled off the daring gravity-defying stunt eight times to complete the scene.
Viewers may hold their breath when Hunt free dives to infiltrate an underwater security system without oxygen tanks for a lengthy time. Cruise reportedly trained under diving specialist Kirk Krack to be able to hold his breath for six minutes to perform it in a single take.
In addition, there are scores of seemingly generic motorcycles and car chases along the city streets and hairpin turns of Morocco, which becomes a perfect product placement opportunity for BMW.
The most impressive action scene comes in the first half of the film, where Hunt and his former colleague Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) search for Lane in Giacomo Puccini's Turandot opera in Vienna but they end up preventing the Syndicate's shooters from killing the Austrian chancellor.
It is sheer elegance meets sleek action. With the opera's songs playing in the background, Hunt follows a shooter backstage and starts a fight at a precarious height.
As 'Nessun Dorma' is sung, Hunt lays his eyes on Ilsa, in her alluring yellow silk, ready to shoot down the chancellor. The song's melodies reemerge later on in some key moments between Hunt and Ilsa, which brings a romantic nuance to the scenes.
Impressively playing the role of the femme fatale, Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson is one of the strongest points of the spy action.
She does not only impress viewers with her alluring martial arts skills of strangling an enemy with her thighs, Ferguson perfectly captures the maturity, allure and complexity of Ilsa, whose allegiance is divided between the Syndicate, MI6 and Hunt.
But it does not mean Cruise is completely overshadowed by her. With his bold commitment to the stunts and his abundant charm, Cruise maintains his spot as a leading action star.
Director/writer Christopher McQuarrie suavely manages effective dialog and pace that deliver another strong installment in the Tom Cruise action franchise. Previously, McQuarrie worked with Cruise on the 2014 sci-fi thriller Edge of Tomorrow (as writer) and the 2012 action thriller Jack Reacher (as director).
McQuarrie dedicates plenty of screen time to British actor Pegg. Playing as a technology expert and Hunt's sidekick, Pegg throws some brief but effective jokes that complement the action side of the film.
However, McQuarrie fails to write a memorable villain. Solomon Lane has a creepy look and voice, but his motive and evil motives feel a bit unclear.
Alec Baldwin performs terrifically as a control-freak CIA overseer until he delivers the most annoying line of the whole 131 minutes, 'Hunt is the living manifestation of destiny', in a warning to the prime minister.
The film, with its US$150 million budget ' or $10 million more than its predecessor ' also marks the first Hollywood film investment of Alibaba Pictures, the film production arm of China's e-commerce giant.
In its opening week, the film raked in $121 million ' with $56 million in the US and the remaining from 40 percent from international markets. It comes as no surprise then that Tom Cruise recently revealed he would appear for a sixth Mission Impossible, which could begin filming within a year.
With its spectacle of adrenaline-pumping action and interesting plot, Mission: Impossible ' Rogue Nation, which hits theaters here in Indonesia on Aug. 5, delivers satisfying spy action. It surpasses its predecessor, Ghost Protocol, and, indeed, deserves a sequel.
'Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures
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Mission: Impossible ' Rogue Nation
(Paramount Pictures, 131 minutes)
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris and Alec Baldwin
